Base corolla is 21k. Base leaf with 40kwh is 27k. (Please double check my math on this, but Im pretty sure its correct) Corolla gets 32 mpg average. If you dri

Base corolla is 21k. Base leaf with 40kwh is 27k. (Please double check my math on this, but Im pretty sure its correct) Corolla gets 32 mpg average. If you drive 10k miles a year, you spend about 312 gallons which is about $1000 in fuel costs give or take at regular 87 octane gas prices. Nissan Leaf is 7$ to recharge the 40kwh pack, for a range of 140 miles. For 10k miles, you need about 71 charges, which is about $500. Thats $500 per year difference, so you need >10 years to break even for the cost of the cars. And then, if you live in an area without convenient chargers, you pay secondary non-monetary costs for planning around charging. Insurance costs are also higher for a more expensive car. As far as battery goes, if you look at something like an ebike battery made out of LG 18650 cells, you get an approximate cost of $10 per cell including bms and assembly. Nissan leaf has 192 cells, but the battery pack costs way more than $1920, its closer to $4k. Huge markup. Lets hypothetically say that leaf had appropriately priced battery pack, which was $2k in stead of $4k. Thats still a $4k markup over corolla. There is no way an electric motor and controller cost an extra $4k over a ICE engine. Like I said, novelty. You are getting scammed.