Guru
Joined: 16/12/2005
Location: AustraliaPosts: 873
| Posted: 09:16am 21 Jan 2021 |
Hi friends,
When a WA chap started importing ex British army "Champ" 4WDs, the station owners and farmers were delighted, but not the trade. just saw the story on ABC re the Tassie "Good Car Co." importing Nissan Leafs into Oz from Japan, where they encourage drivers to part with their cars after three years.
Prices start from $20,000 and what made me lust after one is the fact, that once regulatory hurdles are ironed out, the Leaf can be used as your home battery. The 40 kWh battery for some models and larger (60kWh?) are certainly larger than a Powerwall.
The "Solarquotes" site then had a link to a story of one disenchanted Leaf owner, who related his travail to the "Daily Mirror". After paying $53k and only getting 150k instead of the advertised 170k with a new battery, his car is now worth $12,000 after four (?) years and greatly reduced range and Nissan offered him a swap with a new 23kWh battery for the pittance of only $33,000! That quote is reproduced from the "Daily Mirror".
After the story broke, Nissan back pedaled and offered the swap for $11,000 (inc. labour and GST). That story quenched my thirst to save the planet plus one reader of Solarquotes reminded me that that offer of a new battery for $11k is only available to cars bought through dealers and not "grey" imports.
So what about all the proud Leaf owners, who bought a cheap and "grey" import? Just like mobile phones with "welded in" batteries, can you now throw a Leaf away like a mobile phone?
Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up.
Winston Churchill