overall cost of prius vs nissan leaf
 

I was wondering if a car like the prius at ? $24000@ 50mpg would compare to an electric car like the leaf at ~$35000
@100mpg with gas at $4.00
for 20 years driving in the city. Which would be cheaper to own?

Last time I did the math, the Prius is the cheaper option @ today's prices well past 200,000 miles, if you take into account that you're still paying something for electricity on your Leaf. However, if we're paying $10 per gallon in 5 years, the Leaf would be a much better investment.

My thoughts are, I'd rather own a very cheap car right now (90's Honda or Geo) and see how things pan out. Battery prices are likely to drop significantly, and gas prices are likely to rise significantly, but it's not quite time for EVs. I wouldn't invest in an expensive gasoline vehicle either as their era is obviously coming to a close.

In LA with legal lane splitting and atrocious traffic, consider a motorcycle like the Honda CBR250R.

regards
Mech

At 15,000 miles per year the cost to "fuel" each vehicle, according to the EPA's Fuel Economy web site are as fallows.

Prius $1,014
Pruis V $1,207
Nissan Leaf $612
Nissan Versa $1,811

Compare Side-by-Side

I included the Nissan Versa because it's the vehicle that the Leaf is based off of, so it's a fair 100% gasoline comparison, other whys you might as well compare a Ford F150 to a geo metro, they are different vehicles that are used for different uses and fill different roles.

Prius fuel cost = $6,760 per 100,000 miles (50MPG $3.38/gallon which is average right now)

Leaf electricity cost = $3,944 per 100,000 miles (340Wh/mile $0.116/kWh which is average residential electricity right now)

Both have tires and wipers, but the Prius would cost about $2,500 per 100,000 miles ($50/5k, $150/15k, $450/30K miles)

Total difference is $5,316 per 100K miles.

But it'd be $8,046 to fuel the Prius V for 100,000 miles and the Prius V is closer to being the same size and shape as the Leaf, so unless you want to compare the Leaf to a vehicle like the first generation Honda Insight (seats two people) or to a moped, it's not as fair of a comparison and it's not even a big jump, but it is $6602 to drive the Prius V compared to the Nissan Leaf.

Base price of the Prius V is $27,160
Base price of the Leaf is $27,700 after tax credits.

Ah, I wasn't thinking about tax credits. :o

The Versa is a bit smaller than the Leaf; but the regular Prius is virtually identical in size to the Leaf.

Another angle is getting solar panels installed for zero money down and running your Leaf on that energy. This cuts the cost of what you pay for electricity by about half. So, you *save* money and still can drive, so effectively you drive for free.

Other cost items
 

As a Leaf owner I did this calculation before buying and included another category, maintenance, for a 5 year /100,000 mile total cost of ownership (TCO) comparison.
The only Leaf maintenance costs in that interval involve transmission fluid, brake fluid and brake maintenance. The Prius requires those plus oil changes, belt maintenance, radiator maintenance, fuel pump maintenance, etc. that I estimated as an additional $1000. For my driving habits, I concluded that the Leaf should have a significantly lower TCO, assuming gas prices rising to $5.00/gal over the interval.
The energy costs for the Leaf also contribute to job creation in the country where the vehicle is charged due to the fuel sources (coal and nuclear, and, in my case solar). They do not fund dependence on foreign oil.

While it is true batteryb prices wil come down over time, tax credits will expire.

I essentially got a $10,000 off the cost of the technology by buying now. It won't be too awful long before the states figure out how to tax EV'ers since they no longer pay taxes at the pump. I believe it is a case of buy right now, or much later.