New Tax Credit Eligibility Means You Can Buy A Nissan Leaf For Less Than $25,000

Photo: Nissan

The Nissan Leaf isn’t the most exciting electric vehicle you can buy—not by a long shot–but if you want a daily driver that can get you around town efficiently and without costing too much money, it’s hard to beat. Currently, the Leaf starts at just over $28,000, making it more than $10,000 less expensive than the Tesla Model 3. Recently, though, Nissan announced that the Leaf should be eligible for half of the $7,500 federal tax credit, bringing the final price below $25,000.

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There are, of course, some restrictions. According to Nissan, you need to purchase and register your Leaf by December 31, 2023 and also meet the income requirements. So if you make $150,000 or more as a single person or have a combined income above $300,000, sorry but no tax credit for you. Which is probably fair. Do you really need help buying a car if you’re pulling in more than $300,000 a year even in a high cost of living area?

Considering how few people actually make that kind of money, the bigger issue for potential Leaf buyers is range. The base Leaf only has 149 miles of range, which should be plenty for driving around town as long as you’re able to charge at home, but it’s still not a lot. You can always upgrade to the Leaf with the big battery, but even then, it only has 212 miles of range. And getting that extra 60 miles or so will cost you an extra $8,000.

We’re not going to pretend the Leaf is for everybody. If you live out in the country past the city limits sign where there’s a honky tonk near the county line, a Leaf probably isn’t going to work. It’s also probably not ideal if you have an hour-long commute each way every day. But for folks who don’t need to drive a lot, it’s still a pretty darn affordable way to go electric.