Act Fast, and Get a Ford Focus Electric for Pennies

If you live in California and your demographics are right, your electric car dream is within reach. Yes, even you, baristas and struggling actors!

The website Leasehackr stumbled upon a killer deal for lower-income Californians (assuming they live near charging stations), and spelled out how leftover 2015 Ford Focus Electrics can be leased for essentially nothing.

If your personal life aligns with Ford’s customer incentives and California’s revamped EV rebate program, it can be done.

First, you have to make less than $35,600 a year, or be a member of a household of four with a combined income of $72,900 or less. If you’re able to check that box, just hope you’re also a recent college grad or military member (or first responder), as well as a first-time buyer.

Leasehackr sought out the cheapest dealer-sold 2015 Focus Electric to run the numbers on. The least-expensive model found was $27,200.

Factoring in every possible incentive, including the $12,750 in combined Red Carpet Lease Customer Cash and bonus cash thrown at California Ford buyers, the cost to get into the Focus is essentially halved.

Entering into a 36-month, 10,500 mile per year lease (with a 40 percent residual value) would see the lessee roll off the lot after paying $1,495 in registration, fees, first month’s payment and applicable taxes.

The only cost after that, besides your insurance and electricity, would be an $81 monthly payment. But that’s where California steps in to make your life even more envious.

The state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Program (CVRP) was recently revamped to give lower-income residents $4,000 for the purchase of a battery electric vehicle. Applied for after the purchase, the $4,000 in state cash would virtually erase the $4,055 total cost of the lease.

It’s like winning the lifestyle lottery!

Even if you’re closing in on middle class (or already there), the upper-level CVRP rebate of $2,500 would still make the Focus Electric such a great deal your friends would have to start ignoring your self-congratulatory phone calls.

The deal is dependent on a dwindling supply of 2015 model year Electrics, and Leasehackr points out that Ford’s current lease program ends on April 4. Who knows how that will change the day after.

On your bikes, people.

[Image: Ford Motor Company]