LHD… Weird.
volt is done, gm is recalling it and will prob scrap the project. the names dead… the leaf is useless. car company’s are trying to get as close to a fully electric car as they can. but consumers do not want this change. we are stuck on the 100 year old technology of gas. look at it this way… when they introduced cvt transmissions the biggest problem was complaints about not feeling a shift. what do car manufacture’s do… computer control the system to make it seem like a true old school shift. or wind noise … ppl complain about wind noise in electric vehicles… because were picky and never happy so they had to make them more areodynamic. or the use of body panels… a vehicle nowadays can be one solid body. but because we are use to body panels company’s will continue to put them in or they will still produce body lines to make it seem that way.
reason gas was stuck in the volt was because lack of interest to the low range of travel
lol at this guy^^
GM pissed off owners with the EV1: http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com/
GM failed at the Malibu Hybrid: http://www.caranddriver.com/comparisons/2010-ford-fusion-hybrid-vs-camry-hybrid-altima-hybrid-and-malibu-hybrid-comparison-tests
GM is failing with the Volt.
Looks like Toyota Prius is the answer to the Volt vs Leaf question. It will be interesting to see what the Ford plug in will sell like.
April:
Toyota Prius plug-in: 1,654
Chevy Volt: 1,462
Nissan Leaf: 370
ELR > *.electric
There are a couple test mule Volts rolling around on 20’s, read into that however you want. I always said a $50k+ Caddy electric is a lot easier to sell then a $40k Cobalt electric.
The ELR looks great.
I’ve seen several Volts around here. Just spotted my first Leaf the other day.
They just put in 2 EV charging stations at the shopping center down the street from us here in Raleigh. No cost to charge up … Maybe I should buy a Leaf and keep it there to charge the batteries lol. Volts and leafs are starting to become regular sightings here. I’ve even seen a Fisker Karms (spelling?).
I disagree with failed. They poorly marketed what the technology was. You can not compare it to a full hybrid. It was a $800 option? And got you a couple MPG better.
For the 2013 model they are calling it e-assist with 37 mpg and sell it as the base engine.
Compare it to the marketing blunder of the Civic Hybrid which just has a class action lawsuit for misrepresenting the MPG.
The reason they are gas (and premium fuel at that) is because gas keeps longer. Since the gas generator is a backup, people can go months without fueling it up. Premium fuel doesnt degrade as much as other fuels.
Another reason could be that GM doesnt have any small diesel engines in north america.
the car is fun, it rips. but id never own one.
Has anyone modded one yet to up the Voltage?
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn announced a $6,400 price drop for the base-model 2013 Nissan Leaf. Last year’s base model was $35,200, while the new base-level 2013 Leaf S starts at $28,800. The Leaf SV will be priced from $31,820 for 2013 compared to $35,200 last year. The high-end Leaf SL now starts at $34,840, down from the 2012 model’s $37,250.
I saw this news this morning. A Nissan Leaf in the low 20s it really tempting. I do see that the charger is significantly different. The Leaf S charger is 3.6 kW. The others have a 6.6kW charger.
What is the significance of that difference? How much longer does it take to charge?
a sizable portion (of the price drop) can be chalked up to the Leaf’s production moving from Japan to Tennessee. The 2013 Leaf is not only assembled in the US now, but its lithium-ion batteries and the car’s electric motors are manufactured in the same southern state.
Nice. Explains why when I’m down there I see a lot of them.
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4 hours:
cut the time it takes to charge the Leaf in half, down to four hours from empty to 80 percent full. This will be standard on the SL and SV trims.
http://green.autoblog.com/2013/01/09/2013-nissan-leaf-changes-lower-cost-trim-faster-charger/
Because you didn’t ask for it…
According to J.D. Power and Associates, 2015 Leaf wholesale prices are about 1 percent higher than they were a year ago. It’s just 1 percent, but still. Dixon said the Leaf’s annual depreciation rate has been in the 25 to 30 percent range. “Now we have prices up for the first time ever,” he said.
https://www.autonews.com/used-cars/used-ev-prices-are-finally-heating-little
I could never get one of these unless the charging was so fast it filled in say 5 minutes or less. The second part is the mileage. I drive 20,000 miles a year roughly. This sounds like a hassle to me. Having to worry if the car is charged enough for your day. Having to plan out where to stop if you want to take it on a trip.
If I’m paying 30k for a compact car, I want it to be fun and worry free. These cars require you to revolve and change your life style around them… rather than the car working for you when you need it.
If they get these up to 500 miles and under 10 minute charging without needing a fancy place to do it. I’m interested.
Start getting used to the idea at least, it seems this is where most manufacturers are going.
I’m not opposed to it and just like my phone, if I’m plugging it in every night I’d be fine.