Cheapest EV Lease Deals for September 2026

What Car Shoppers Need to Know

• Numerous lease deals allow shoppers to get into a new electric vehicle for less than $300 per month.
• Leasing lets you find out if an EV fits your lifestyle without the commitment of buying.
• The Kia Niro has the best EV lease special in September, at just $299 per month.

Leasing is a low-commitment way to get into a new car because you hand the car back over to the dealership at the end of the lease term. So leasing makes a lot of sense for first-time EV buyers — rather, first-time EV lessees — as it allows you to figure out if an EV fits your lifestyle without the long-term commitment and larger financial outlay of buying a vehicle.

EVs on average are more expensive than traditional gas-fueled vehicles, but car companies have been busy filling in the affordable end of the EV market. With the EV lease deals below, shoppers have numerous choices for less than $400 per month. And if you’re ready to commit to an EV, be sure to check out our list of the cheapest electric vehicles you can buy.

Related: How to Buy a Car, According to Cars.com Experts

Best EV Lease Deals in September

All of the leases listed below are valid until Sept. 30 and include an annual mileage allowance of 10,000 miles. They are listed in order of effective monthly cost, which is a metric devised by Cars.com to allow direct comparison of leases with different term lengths and amounts due at signing. For an explanation of how we calculate it, see the section below. The chart below lists the leases in order from cheapest to most expensive effective monthly cost, and ties are broken by the shorter lease term.

*Kia EV3 lease excludes: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont and Washington.

**Nissan Leaf allowance is 40,000 total miles over 48 months.

Kia EV3 Lease Deals

It’s unusual for a car company to offer a lease deal on a brand-new model; the 2027 Kia EV3 has only just arrived in dealerships. It’s also interesting that the promotional lease rate does not apply to the entry-level Light trim, but to the step-up Wind trim. The EV3 Wind is fitted with the larger of the two available batteries, an 81.4-kilowatt-hour pack versus the Light’s 58.3-kWh unit. That gives this affordable electric SUV a remarkable EPA-rated 321 miles of range with front-wheel drive, significantly more than any other vehicle in its price range. With dual-motor all-wheel drive, the EV3 still manages 280 miles on a charge.

Cheapest EV Cars and Hatchbacks

Not only are the electric cars on this page cheap, but there’s a lot of excellence here, too. We named the Nissan Leaf our Best Car of 2026. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 picked up Best Electric Vehicle of 2024 and 2023. The Kia EV6 is mechanically similar to the Ioniq 5, so it catches some reflected glory. And the Kia Niro collected Best Car of 2023. The Tesla Model 3 has no such laurels, but it is the only car on our list of cheapest EVs with more than 300 miles of range in its standard form. Other than the Niro, all are available with dual-motor AWD.

Best Electric SUV Lease Deals

The EV3 might be the newest model on this page, but it’s far from the only fresh face. The Subaru Uncharted was all-new for 2026, and the Subaru Solterra received a major refresh at the same time that gave it significantly more power and range. At a maximum of 288 miles, the latter figure still falls short of the Uncharted’s EPA-rated 308 miles, but the Uncharted achieves that figure with FWD while AWD is standard on the Solterra. The AWD Honda Prologue EX can cover an EPA-estimated 294 miles on a charge, while the RWD Ford Mustang Mach-E Select has a range of 260 miles.

EV Lease FAQ

What is the cheapest EV to lease in September 2026?

The 2026 Kia Niro is the cheapest EV to lease this month. Shoppers can get a 36-month lease for $3,999 at signing and $299 a month. Divvy up the total cost of the lease over that three years and you get an effective monthly cost of $410.

How is the effective monthly lease cost calculated?

Effective monthly cost is a metric devised by Cars.com to allow shoppers to compare leases with different amounts due at signing and term lengths. We calculate it by adding up the upfront costs and all of the monthly payments, then dividing that total by the number of months in the lease contract.

Do EV leases qualify for the $7,500 federal tax credit?

No. Leasing did provide a convenient loophole for avoiding price and income caps on the federal EV tax credit, but the tax credit ended for all EV purchases and leases on Sept. 30, 2025.

Is it better to buy or lease an electric vehicle in 2026?

Leasing tends to net you a lower monthly payment than financing a vehicle purchase. However, if you buy an EV, you’re building equity in it that allows you to partially recoup your investment when you sell it. Leasing a car is like renting a home; you get none of the money out of it that you put into it. And, as with all leases, you want to be sure the mileage allowance fits your needs before you lease an EV. If you exceed your allotted miles, the cost adds up quickly.

What happens at the end of an EV lease?

EV leasing is just like leasing any other vehicle. At the end of the contracted term, you can either return the vehicle to your dealership or purchase it. Be aware, however, that it typically costs more to buy your vehicle at the end of a lease than it would cost to buy the same vehicle on the open market.

How Cars.com’s Editorial Team Found These Deals

Cars.com’s reporters receive deals information from a licensed incentive data feed. Not all information is available publicly, however, so check with your local dealership about which deals are available to you.

Read More on Cars.com:

• What Are the Cheapest New Cars With All-Wheel Drive?
• Here Are the 10 Cheapest Pickup Trucks You Can Buy Right Now
• Pickup Truck Buying Guide: How Much Truck Do You Need?
• How to Use New-Car Incentives, Rebates and Finance Deals
• Here Are the 10 Cheapest New SUVs You Can Buy Right Now
• More Car-Buying Advice

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Cars.com’s Editorial department is your source for automotive news and reviews. In line with Cars.com’s long-standing ethics policy, editors and reviewers don’t accept gifts or free trips from automakers. The Editorial department is independent of Cars.com’s advertising, sales and sponsored content departments.