Honda Offers Sweet Deal to Spur Sales of Electric Fit

Honda has reduced the lease price for its electric Fit to spur sales, as other carmakers have done with their electric vehicles (EVs).

The lease price for the Honda fit is now a third lower, dropping from $389 a month to $259, with a bunch of sweeteners: no down payment, free routine maintenance, free collision insurance and even unlimited mileage for the three year term. And Honda is  throwing in a free 240-volt charger.

Part of the problem of low sales may be its limited availability. In June, dealerships that have the Fit in stock will expand from 36 to 200 in California, Oregon, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

The EPA rates the Fit EV’s "gas" mileage as equivalent to 118 MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent). It can maintain a charge for 82 miles.

That’s a greater range than the Chevy Volt (38 miles) and Nissan Leaf (75 miles; 115 MPGe). Still, Honda has sold an embarrassingly small number of cars this year – just 68 vehicles in contrast to 5,500 Volts and 5,476 Leafs. Honda’s goal is to sell 1100 Fits in the first two years.

The Volt leads on sales because it’s a plug-in but not fully electric, so drivers get the comfort of knowing they can switch to gas if they need to. 

Last year, GM and Nissan lowered their prices. The Leaf leases for just $199 a month with  $1,999 down and the Volt leases for  $269 with $2,399 down. $199-a-month leases are also available for the 2013 Fiat 500e (116 MPGe) and 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV (119 MPGe).

Other EVs currently on the market are the Ford Focus EV (105 MPGe) and Mitsubishi i-MiEV (112 MPGe).

Then there’s Tesla, of course, which is zooming along with its pretty expensive electric car that goes on 265 miles on a charge. In a year Tesla will have a coast-to-coast network of solar-powered charging network available to Model S owners free of charge. The stations are powered by SolarCity panels.

Tesla’s stock is currently at $105 – not bad for an electric car company! It announced this week that it would repay its loan to the Department of Energy nine years early ($465 million, including $13 million in interest).