Home » The Cheapest EV In America Is An $18,000 Hatchback That’s Going Out Of Style

The Cheapest EV In America Is An $18,000 Hatchback That’s Going Out Of Style

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Automakers have been working hard to make EVs cheaper. So far, they’ve struggled to approach the cheapest gas-powered cars on sale. Paying less than $20,000 for a brand new EV has seemed like some crazy, far-off fantasy. Until now, that is.

Officially, the Nissan Leaf starts at $29,280 for the Leaf S, and $37,330 for the more luxurious SV Plus. Those figures already make it cheaper than most of the competition—undercutting vehicles like the Tesla Model 3, Fiat 500e, and the Hyundai Kona Electric. Anyone will tell you, though—the price you pay for a new car is seldom what it says on the sticker—and the Leaf goes a long way below sticker.

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With the current discounts on offer, the Nissan Leaf is now the cheapest EV in America by a long shot. If you shop around and know what you’re doing, you could score a brand new EV for well under $20,000.

2025 Nissan Leaf White 36
Under $20,000, it starts looking pretty handsome, right?

Discount Bin

Early in the new year is often a great time to look for bargains in the new car market. Dealerships will often have older models from the previous model year still kicking around, and you can get strong discounts on that basis. When it comes to the Leaf, though, that’s almost an afterthought. Even 2025 models are extremely cheap right now, and we’re not talking about Colorado specials either.

The cheapest example we spotted is a 2025 Nissan Leaf S, over at Marlboro Nissan in Massachusetts. At $17,505, it’s been discounted a full $12,530 below MSRP. That’s a wild saving for a $30,000 vehicle. $3,500 of that discount comes from the state EV rebate, but the rest is all from Nissan and the dealer itself. They want this car to move.

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Cheapleafs
Twelve grand off a Leaf S? That’s pretty compelling.

Maybe, though, you live in New York. Over at Nissan of Westbury, there’s an even better deal—a 2024 Nissan Leaf SV Plus for just $18,675. That’s almost $20,000 off compared to MSRP ($38,215). For your money, you get 63 miles of extra range and 67 more horsepower than the cheaper Leaf S. That price is so good in part due to a $2,000 New York rebate and a $3,750 Federal EV tax credit.

These aren’t one off examples, either. You can find the Leaf S for under $20,000 at multiple dealers, from Wisconsin to Las Vegas to Washington. In most cases, you’re getting a discount in the realm of $10,000. If you want the more powerful SV Plus, you can get even better deals. There are tons available for under $22,000 in Washington, and plenty for less than $25,000 in Florida, California, and Illinois. In most cases, you’re getting at least $14,000, if not a lot more.

Cheap Leaf
Nineteen grand off a Leaf SV Plus is even better.

So why is the Leaf so cheap? There are a few reasons. Nissan’s compact EV doesn’t excel in the range department. The Leaf S only achieves 149 miles on the EPA cycle. Charging is also a hassle. Peak charging power is just 50 kW, and you’ll need to find a fast charger with the now-obscure CHAdeMO connector to hit that. Otherwise, you’re limited to slower AC charging at just 6.6 kW by comparison.

The Leaf SV Plus is a bit of an upgrade, boosting range to 212 miles. It’s also got 214 horsepower compared to the 147 horsepower of the cheaper trim. Even still, though, it has the same charging limitations and old-school connector, and it doesn’t really have comfortable highway range either.

These limitations don’t make the Leaf useless. It’s a very competent city car, and very practical if you have home charging available. At the same time, it’s poor road tripper, and not the best car to use as a total replacement for a gasoline-powered vehicle.

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Chademooutoffavor
The Nissan Leaf uses the CHAdeMO port for fast charging—which has lost the format war to CCS and NACS in recent years.

Notably, it appears the discounts on the Leaf are coming from the top. Most dealers are listing these vehicles with $7,500 of Nissan Customer Cash and $1,000 of Nissan EV Customer Bonus Cash. Basically, Nissan is slashing $8,500 off sticker right off the bat. Combine that with a little incentive from the state or your dealership, and you’ve got a cracking bargain on your hands.

Despite Nissan’s huge head start in the EV market, the Leaf has never been a big winner for the company in the US.  Sales peaked at 30,200 in 2014 with the first generation model, and have never reached those same heights again.  The second generation model hit the market in 2017, and it’s mumbled long selling less than 15,000 units a year. The model is due for replacement soon, with the next version likely coming along for the 2026 model year.

2025 Nissan Leaf White 37
At under $20,000, it’s this or the Versa. Last I checked, the Versa’s badge doesn’t light up.

Against that backdrop, it makes sense that Nissan would be running out the last of the existing models. Previously, we’ve seen cheap leases on the Leaf, but much of that was down to Colorado state incentives. This is a much more widespread offer available in many places around the country.

It seems for now that Toyota will hold the crown of the cheapest car on sale in the US. When it comes to EVs, though, Nissan is in the lead by a country mile. If you want one, though, you’ll want to move quickly—it’s unlikely these cars will last long with so much money on the hood.

Image credits: Cars.com via screenshot, Nissan

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Kevin Cheung
Kevin Cheung
7 days ago

Unless it’s a city runabout like the Chinese mini EVs in Tycho’s piece, its hard to get excited about an EV with air-cooled batteries anymore, especially in 2025. DC fast charging really doesn’t mix well with air-cooling.

I just did a road trip in my own air-cooled EV, which included driving and multiple fast charging stops in near freezing weather (1-3c). I had an OBD app running that displayed cell temps; after a few charging stops the cells near the pack exterior were around 25c, while the cells squished in the middle were nearing 45c. The car refuses to charge at all if pack temp exceeds 50c; I’d be really concerned about battery longevity with that sort of temp delta.

I guess for the price (and the new car warranty) it’s a good entry to the EV world, but VW’s iD3 would be my choice if I was shopping for an electric hatch. RWD, great looks, decent handling, liquid-cooled battery (!). Shame it’s not sold in the US

Fix It Again Tony
Fix It Again Tony
7 days ago

Mirai is an EV.

JDE
JDE
7 days ago

it could be if the Hydrogen Fuel Cell was replaced with a battery I suppose.

Fix It Again Tony
Fix It Again Tony
7 days ago
Reply to  JDE

BEV or FCEV, both are EVs.

Gubbin
Gubbin
7 days ago

They support vehicle-to-grid so it’s not a bad way to get a massive home backup battery on wheels, but I don’t know if there are reasonably-priced home-grade V2G chargers out there.

Joke #119!
Joke #119!
7 days ago

The market has spoken, and the dealers are finally listening.

It is tough to get a larger battery pack into a smaller car. Solve that problem, and I’ll start getting interested (until I see the price for THAT, of course).

Jsloden
Jsloden
7 days ago

Not that i would buy either but for the money I would come a lot closer to buying this than I would the ID buzz.

Boris Berkovich
Boris Berkovich
7 days ago
Reply to  Jsloden

I’ve been curious about these… is it a decent car? What did you have before it?

Boosted
Boosted
7 days ago

Most people are better off buying the slightly less but still heavily discounted Ariya. I did and it’s been great.

Huja Shaw
Huja Shaw
7 days ago

Is there a such a thing as an after-market charger mod? That would seem to be a useful thing to make these cars more appealing to buy . . . but probably also most likely to catch fire.

Jason Hinton
Jason Hinton
7 days ago
Reply to  Huja Shaw

Yes there are plug adapters to allow you to charge a car with a Chademo socket like the Leaf into a CCS or Tesla charger. That solves the plug interface problem but not the charge speed. The low charge speed on the Leaf is due to the battery design and wiring size.

The Leaf is the only EV car on sale in the USA without a water-cooled battery. Even charging at 50 kW can cause battery overheating and a reduction in charging kW in hot temperatures.

Balloondoggle
Balloondoggle
7 days ago
Reply to  Jason Hinton

On the other hand, this lack of active battery conditioning is exactly why our 2017 now has a brand new battery with 30% more capacity than the OEM battery. It hit the threshold for warranty replacement and the 30kWh battery was replaced for free with a 40kWh unit. It’s perfect for my college daughter making her way to and from school and social activities. City car, definitely, but it’s also more comfortable and better riding than my ’19 Bolt.

Huja Shaw
Huja Shaw
7 days ago
Reply to  Jason Hinton

I knew plug adapters existed – I was referring to something that upped the charging speed.

Jason Hinton
Jason Hinton
3 days ago
Reply to  Huja Shaw

That would require a complete new battery. All the connections in the battery are sized for the max charge / discharge current.

Parsko
Parsko
7 days ago

CHAdeMO. Still????

JP15
JP15
7 days ago
Reply to  Parsko

This car came out in 2018 and hasn’t really been updated since. What do you expect?

Beasy Mist
Beasy Mist
6 days ago
Reply to  JP15

Chademo had already fully lost the format war in 2018. That’s what makes this so egregious.

JP15
JP15
6 days ago
Reply to  Beasy Mist

Chademo had already fully lost the format war in 2018.

Not really. The Model 3 had only just barely come out and was still far more expensive than the Leaf, so the Bolt was really the only competitor at the time.

In my area, there was already a well-established DC charging network built around 2013 or so, and since the Leaf was basically the only EV outside of Tesla at the time, that entire network was CHAdeMO. For the first several years we had our Leaf, CHAdeMO stations far outnumbered CCS, with Superchargers of course outnumbering both combined.

CHAdeMO is definitely obsolete today, but it was hardly a dead standard in 2018. Native vehicle-to-load capability was a huge leg up on CCS and Tesla at the time and was one of the reasons we bought a Leaf, though CHAdeMO V2L systems never really launched in the US unfortunately.

Alec Harvey
Alec Harvey
7 days ago
Reply to  Parsko

Why would they spend money updating it when its about to be replaced?

SNL-LOL Jr
SNL-LOL Jr
7 days ago

Hot damn. I’ve been thinking about a cheap runabout EV. The one in Westbury NY isn’t far from here.

lastwraith
lastwraith
7 days ago
Reply to  SNL-LOL Jr

Me neither, but it’s all yours. The negatives are big negatives, though not if it’s an accessory car I guess. Unfortunately we don’t have room for accessory cars.

Dinklesmith
Dinklesmith
7 days ago
Reply to  SNL-LOL Jr

If you get it, post here. I think it would be cool if an article like this actually resulted in a sale

Beasy Mist
Beasy Mist
7 days ago

Chademo is disqualifying, as is air-cooled battery. I guess for the exact right person this car could make sense, but most would be better off getting a lightly used Bolt EV that can fast-charge at any CCS1 natively and most Tesla Superchargers with an adapter.

FndrStrat06
FndrStrat06
7 days ago
Reply to  Beasy Mist

There’s always a reason that a cheap product is cheap.

MrLM002
MrLM002
7 days ago
Reply to  Beasy Mist

To clarify it’s a PASSIVELY air cooled battery, like what your cell phone has. The big advantage it has is a lot less thermal mass than liquid cooled battery packs, which means in places that are very very cold it gets up to temp quickly and stays there easily, which also includes charging from below freezing temps where it take minutes to start accepting a charge whereas the liquid cool battery packs can spend 45+ minutes hooked up to a super charger just getting up to temp before they can even take a charge (outofspec reviews did great testing videos on this).

Optimally the Leaf should have came with an ACTIVELY air cooled battery pack from the factory, sadly they didn’t do that and it’s performance and lifespan suffered in hot climates.

We made cars that relied upon contained explosions that were air cooled. Liquid cooling is not the end all be all, it became standard due to NOx emissions, but there are a lot of advantages with going with ACTIVE air cooling over liquid cooling for BEVs.

Beasy Mist
Beasy Mist
7 days ago
Reply to  MrLM002

Seems like a distinction without a difference when the air cooled system that exists in his mortal coil on that car doesn’t work.

The Stig's Misanthropic Cousin
The Stig's Misanthropic Cousin
7 days ago
Reply to  Beasy Mist

The passively air-cooled battery isn’t that big of a deal. Early Leaf batteries had severe degradation in some climates, but 2015+ batteries have generally held up fine (i.e. most still have 70+ percent of original capacity, and it is not hard to find a car that still has 85+ percent of original capacity). These batteries should still have a reasonable service life of 10+ years if you treat them well. Part of me thinks Nissan intentionally handicaps these cars with CHAdeMO ports. I presume degradation would become a concern if frequent fast charging was possible.

I agree a used Bolt (or Model 3 if you can get past Elon) is probably a better deal, though. I regularly see 3-year-old Bolts listed for $13k. Those are clearly a better deal than the Leaf.

Jason Hinton
Jason Hinton
7 days ago
Reply to  Beasy Mist

The Bolt is limited to 55 kW charging. Yes it is native CCS but take way too long to charge to make it a road tripping car

That said we still put 12.5K miles a year on out Bolt even keeping it to local and regional trips.

Beasy Mist
Beasy Mist
7 days ago
Reply to  Jason Hinton

Didn’t claim it was a road trip car. I know, I own one. But if you’re in a pinch and need to charge, you’re going to have a better time trying to find a place to do it in a Bolt than a Leaf.

Jason Hinton
Jason Hinton
3 days ago
Reply to  Beasy Mist

With a Chademo to CCS adaptor the Leaf and Bolt are functionally the same.

About 1 1/2 hours for an 80% charge and that is in ideal conditions. My Bolt takes even longer when temperatures drop even into the 50s.

Beasy Mist
Beasy Mist
17 hours ago
Reply to  Jason Hinton

For the low low price of….$900

what are we doing here

Balloondoggle
Balloondoggle
7 days ago
Reply to  Beasy Mist

Chademo isn’t that big a deal if you can charge at home. Our Leaf hasn’t seen DCFC in years. And without DCFC, passive air cooling is sufficient in our climate. It’s a city car that we can charge at home so neither of these is really an issue for us.

Beasy Mist
Beasy Mist
7 days ago
Reply to  Balloondoggle

Then you’re one of the very specific people this car works for.

Balloondoggle
Balloondoggle
7 days ago
Reply to  Beasy Mist

True, it can be a narrow use case, but I think it can work for most people who can charge at home and don’t need it for highway use. Plus, it’s a comfortable car that drives nicely.

JP15
JP15
7 days ago
Reply to  Beasy Mist

CHAdeMO is disqualifying, as is air-cooled battery.

Not really. In our mild PNW climate, we’ve put 68k on our Leaf and it still has full battery capacity. For my wife’s short commute in town and charging at home, it’s been super cheap and reliable. 150miles is enough range for her to get anywhere she needs to, and any more than that, we have my Mach-E and gas Jeep. CHAdeMO and 50kW charging limit is a non-issue as there are still plenty of CHAdeMO chargers in our area, but we only ever need to use one maybe once a year.

We don’t need to use public chargers in either of our EVs more than a couple of times a year, but it is nice having CCS and Supercharger access in the Mach-E if needed.

I had a friend with a Bolt, and he eventually got fed up with the recalls and bought a Tesla. We both agreed the Leaf is roomier inside than the Bolt, though neither is particularly spacious.

Alec Harvey
Alec Harvey
7 days ago
Reply to  Beasy Mist

I bought a Tesla last year, and I’ve never used a public charger, I always charge at home because its just cheaper. Is Chademo such a big deal?

Defenestrator
Defenestrator
7 days ago
Reply to  Alec Harvey

ChaDeMo chargers are pretty rare. It basically means you’re doing L2 6.6KW at home and basically never charging anywhere else. Which is probably OK for most people who are only driving around town and plugging in anytime they’re at home.

Beasy Mist
Beasy Mist
6 days ago
Reply to  Alec Harvey

Generally no, but especially on a car with limited range if you find yourself in a situation where you HAVE to charge out and about wouldn’t you want it to be easy? As I said there are people this car will work for. Great! But there’s better cars out there for equal or less money that don’t have this problem.

Jason Hinton
Jason Hinton
3 days ago
Reply to  Alec Harvey

No, not when there are Chademo plug adapters

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
7 days ago

Apparently these dealers are really trying to turn over a new Leaf.

lastwraith
lastwraith
7 days ago
Reply to  Canopysaurus

They’re still FALLing flat for me.

AlterId has reverted to their original pseud
AlterId has reverted to their original pseud
7 days ago
Reply to  Canopysaurus

That happens when once budding demand dries up and falls off.

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
7 days ago

Time to rake in the deals.

That Guy with the Sunbird
That Guy with the Sunbird
6 days ago
Reply to  Canopysaurus

Trying to make this car make like a tree and “leaf.”

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
6 days ago

If they can’t sell them, they’re going to have a Leaf pile in front of the dealership all winter and you know what that’ll do to the grass.

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