The used asking price for Nissan Leaf is falling and Malaysians are ignoring it.
Last year as the momentum for electric car ownership gained momentum, many middle class Malaysians asked if they can get a brand new electric car for below RM99k.
Since import duties for full electric cars were removed by the Malaysian government to encourage ownership the interest has sadly been more with premium or sporty electric vehicles (EV).
Meanwhile, it soon became a reality that the Malaysian currency was not strong enough to allow for an EV to be priced below RM99k, even for Chinese made electric cars like BYD (priced from RM149,800) and the Great Wall Motors, Ora Good Cat (priced from RM139,800).
The long established electric car, Nissan Leaf (with a three years/60,000km maintenance service, three years/100,000km vehicle warranty and eight years/160,000 lithium-ion battery warranty) which was launched a few years earlier at RM188k had its asking price moved down by more than RM40k and its 2022 brand new price was just RM145k.
Interestingly, when we checked online we found a dozen or so Nissan Leaf EVs for sale from a low RM85,000 before negotiations to RM100,000 for a used unregistered imported unit. So, why are Malaysians not grabbing ownership of a used Nissan Leaf?
The new Chinese made EV rivals arrived at RM139k upwards and offered bigger batteries with longer driving range and this is why their bookings have been high since launch (300 units to 500 units).
Interestingly, for the wealthy Malaysian, owning a battery powered car like the Porsche Taycan, Tesla or even the Mini Cooper SE (EV) was easy as these owners have a few cars in their garage and they are not completely reliant on their battery powered cars every day.
For the average Malaysian, battery cost will be an issue as they might want to keep their EV for more than 7 years or need to take that balik kampong trip every quarter and a charging station (more than one please) along the way is needed without having petrol or diesel cars parked in the charging spot (common problem today).
Meanwhile, the battery pack is the single most expensive part of an electric vehicle, accounting for about 25 to 30 percent of the total cost to EV owners.
At publishing time, the selling price for a Nissan Leaf battery pack (which happens to be lower than most others) varies from RM23,700 (for the 24kWh) to RM30,000 (for the 40 kWh) and this only when you exchange your old battery pack.
As prices slowly come down and battery chargers get more efficient in its time to charge-up, adoption of a full EV will gain momentum.
