Electric cars sales slow; battle comes down to Volt or Leaf
 

Which one do you prefer?

Neil Winton - DETROITNEWS - April 28, 2012

Count the number of electric cars you see on the way to work today, and that will give you a clue as how sales are going. You're not allowed to include the ones stranded by the side of the road with dead batteries.

Unless you're in central Paris or London, you are probably in shut-out territory.

According to British newsletter Automotive Industry Data, sales of electric cars in Western Europe totaled only 4,856 in the first three months of 2012 for a market share of 0.15 percent. This included the Nissan Leaf, and Peugeot and Citroen city cars based on a Mitsubishi model. There were some sales of the Opel Ampera, the European equivalent of GM's Chevrolet Volt now being launched across Europe. In France the biggest seller is the Bollore Bluecar, used in a Paris-based car sharing scheme.

Renault of France is launching the Fluence electric sedan, the Kangoo electric van, a smaller battery only Zoe sedan and its Twizy commuter vehicle. Ford has an electric Focus on the launch pad. Toyota's plug-in hybrid version of the Prius will muddy the waters of definition because it can run just on batteries, but then uses a mixture of gasoline and electricity to power the car when the battery runs dry.

But these are early days for electric cars, and it doesn't mean that someday they won't be ubiquitous, and arguments are raging about what is the best way of providing transport that progressively cuts the use of dwindling fossil fuels like gasoline and diesel.

Currently, the two main automotive contenders are the battery-only powered Nissan Leaf, and the Chevrolet Volt, ... [Read More]

Re: Electric cars sales slow; battle comes down to Volt or Leaf
 

You know which I lean on this question. ;)

So Reid, do you still have a Leaf on order?

Re: Electric cars sales slow; battle comes down to Volt or Leaf
 

No, we are in the process of selling a house, building a house, and recently learned we will be adding another member to the family and thus, a new car purchase was not the wisest choice at this time. Nissan returned my deposit with no problems.

Re: Electric cars sales slow; battle comes down to Volt or Leaf
 

Why is the Volt considered a factor in EV sales. It is not an Ev. It is a hybrid, and not a particularly good one.

I'm looking forward to see how the Leaf, Fit EV and Focus EV compare. The Fit has always been one of my favorite itty-bitty cars.

Re: Electric cars sales slow; battle comes down to Volt or Leaf
 

The Volt is a extended range electric, good comparison :rolleyes:

Re: Electric cars sales slow; battle comes down to Volt or Leaf
 

The Volt is a BEV until the battery runs down, then it becomes a hybrid.. the Leaf is also a hybrid but with a remote power plant, often powered by fossil fuels. Not hard to understand but you could make a strong argument that the PIP stretches the definition a bit.

The article is good, perhaps a bit biased towards the Volt.. its very hard for us dinosaurs to bend our mind around a car with limited range yet the statistics backs it. I would be happy with 150 miles of range at 55mph plus 30 minute fast recharge ability.. that could be done with a 30% larger battery in a Leaf.

Re: Electric cars sales slow; battle comes down to Volt or Leaf
 

I met someone last summer to see his Volt and he let me drive it. It was a nice drive, lots of power, quiet, tons of info available. I was impressed with that initial drive. My disappointment is still in the CS MPG and the premium fuel requirement for it. But, for my typical driving, I'd be filling up very infrequently assuming I'm diligent with the plug.

That said, the price tags are currently keeping me out of the running. Maybe in a few years when used ones start to hit the market and you can do some refurb batteries, etc pretty reasonably. I'll have to get rid of a motorcycle, though, to be able to afford a change in transportation options.

Re: Electric cars sales slow; battle comes down to Volt or Leaf
 

a dealer friend of mine used to say that the extra monthly payment was just a couple of lunches extra a month :)

Re: Electric cars sales slow; battle comes down to Volt or Leaf
 

Has the "Volts catch on fire" hysteria(mainly online hysteria from folks who had an anti EV, anti GM bias,anti GOV bailout bias) died down??

If gasoline prices would co-operate-and spike to $5-the Volt would look a lot better.If GM drops the price to $33,000-instead of $40,000-that would certainly help also.
Charlie
PS The Prius in all its iterations- is always the main problem for every other FE car.It is sooo good and sooo cheap-not much point in buying anything else.

Re: Electric cars sales slow; battle comes down to Volt or Leaf
 

That would definitely help, along with the fed tax credit then it would drop down to $25,500. How about if GM just brought it down to the average US price of $30k including the tax credit ?.. that should be doable and would only require GM to lower the price $2500.

The Volt still has a $10k battery that must be accounted into the cost plus the two motors and inverters. If you converted a Cruze to a BEV with quality cells it would cost you more than $20k