Nissan Leaf Wins The First EV Battle Against GM's Volt
The EV smackdown is about to begin, as Nissan and GM prepare to launch their competing but different EVs in the final quarter of this year. It promises to be quite a show, as both manufacturers have gambled huge sums on distinctly different approaches. The Leaf is a pure battery EV, with an optimum range of 100 miles, but which will easily shrink into some 60 miles under less than ideal conditions. GM’s Volt’s target EV range is forty miles, also subject to the same diminishing influences. Of course, it carries a security blanket gen-set along for the ride. But the first skirmish for the hearts , minds, hands and wallets of consumers has already been decided, in the Leaf’s favor.
The website gm-volt.com was set up three years ago to create a waiting list for prospective Volt buyers. During those unbroken years of Volt cheer leading (no, they’re not responsible for the Volt dance though), the site has tallied 51k prospective buyers to its list. Today, gm-volt reluctantly reveals that the Nissan’s Leaf public reservation list as of today has 115k hand raisers in the US signed up, in just a few months. And as of today, Nissan will be accepting $99 reservation deposits too. Among other things, it probably helps if you know what the car is actually going to be priced at.
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EV Battle? The Volt has an ICE. It's a hybrid, and an unsuccessful hybrid so far.
Nissan was supposed to reveal warranty information by the 20th. Did that happen?
@LectroByte: The Volt is advertised as an EREV not an EV, it's an Extended Range Electric Vehicle. At no time does the ICE connect directly to the powertrain. The ICE is used as a generator to produce a charge for the battery. The Volt is on a flexible platform that can not only support many different types of vehicles but can also support several different generators be it Internal combustion, Propane, diesel or hydrogen. As new technologies develop and become usable they can just be plugged into the platform. With the Volt you never have to worry about going on a trip outside pure EV range and stopping to charge or having to have a second vehicle for day trips. Also the Volt was never advertised as the car that will save GM that was the media hyping that. GM knows that the Volt won't be a big money maker or even break even in the 1st generation. Before bashing GM, Toyota lost money on the 1st gen Prius as well. It wasn't till almost the 3rd gen where they really started bringing in profit from it.
Thanks, but I'm only quoting chevy's web site, haven't seen any advertising for Volts. Seen a few Leaf ads, though.