Slate article "Prius Killer"

[bodengroden]

http://www.slate.com/id/2279941/

 

[edatoakrun]

Titled: "The Nissan Leaf, an electric car that doesn't drive like an electric car"

The writer does not seem to understand that the LEAF DOES drive like an electric car.

Superior to an ICE or hybrid, in many ways.

 

[johnr]

I think for an average reader who has no understanding of electric cars, the title is reassuring. People are scared of the unknown. And many have false preconceptions of what an electric car is like. So for their target audience, that's just what they need to hear. I might add that at the test drive event I was most impressed with how much the car drives just like my existing gas car. Virtually no learning curve.

 

[hill]

The author talks about the "first electric care" followed by the Volt. WHAT?!? You mean there's an electric Volt? I've only heard of the hybrid version.

So he like the Leaf over the Prius. Great. I wish the kind words he had for the Leaf came from an author who better seemed to know what he's talking about.

 

[SanDust]

The author talks about the "first electric care" followed by the Volt. WHAT?!? You mean there's an electric Volt? I've only heard of the hybrid version.

He probably understands that the drive train, not what powers the drive train, defines whether a vehicle is an EV. Based on their drive trains the Volt and the FX Clarity are as much an EV as a Leaf is. Motors are required. Batteries are optional. IOW while all BEVs are EVs not all EVs are BEVs.

 

[evnow]

Based on their drive trains the Volt and the FX Clarity are as much an EV as a Leaf is.

Clarity is an EV - but Volt is an electric-gas hybrid.

 

[mitch672]

The Volt is an EV, albeit a limited range version (25-50 miles). Many on the Volt forum have driven 600-700 miles using a gallon or two of gasoline, some even less. Its all about how far you drive between charges, and how much time you have when you are stopped. The Volt has a 16Kwh thermally managed pack, GM is using about 10.2KW if it, so a little more than a third of the Leafs pack. Personally, for me the Volt is better, considering my environment... not all of us live in "fair weather" California, and we have extremes of weather and temperature here, that would definitly affect the Leafs battery (and also affects the Volts battery as well). The difference is, when the pack is out, the Volt will still go... thats not a bad thing. The Volt is a good compromise for now, until battery technology improves and is less sensitive to temperature, or is a little larger.

BTW, neither the Volt or the Leaf is a "Prius killer", there are over a million of them out on the roads, saving countless gallons of gasoline. The Prius has already done more to save fuel and lower carbon emissions than the Leaf or Volt will do in the next 5-10 years

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

once again the Volt is an excellent product that will work for a lot of people

but its smaller
much more expensive
does burn gas relatively inefficiently when it does.

problem is, it would not work for any extended trips out of town for me because of its size.

but that is my specific needs. to be honest with ya, if not for price and the fact i have a 2010 Prius and soon to be Leaf, i would be interested to. but will have to see what else pops up in the next few days since like you, except in reverse; it will be several months before a Volt is available in my area

 

[tps]

once again the Volt is an excellent product that will work for a lot of people

but its smaller
much more expensive
does burn gas relatively inefficiently when it does.

problem is, it would not work for any extended trips out of town for me because of its size.

but that is my specific needs. to be honest with ya, if not for price and the fact i have a 2010 Prius and soon to be Leaf, i would be interested to. but will have to see what else pops up in the next few days since like you, except in reverse; it will be several months before a Volt is available in my area

It is almost as if Nissan's game is to take the initial 7 states by storm and concede the rest of the US to Chevrolet. I'm not interested, however, as the mechanical complexity of the Volt is a big turn-off for me. So I'll wait the year or longer until I can get a BEV.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

It is almost as if Nissan's game is to take the initial 7 states by storm and concede the rest of the US to Chevrolet. I'm not interested, however, as the mechanical complexity of the Volt is a big turn-off for me. So I'll wait the year or longer until I can get a BEV.

i think you will find its worth the wait.

without being in the boardroom, we can only speculate on what Nissan is thinking, but they have actually put out a lot of information as to their ideology and thought processes and have made it clear that they are doing everything they can to insure success and that pretty much means getting as many Leafs out there in the areas where they will have the greatest chance of success.

word of mouth is by far the best way to sell a car. for those of you that dont remember, when the 2nd gen Prius was released in Oct 2003, it simply took off and took Toyota completely by surprise. even after increasing the production quotas for the 2004 model year 3 times, they still ended up playing catchup for nearly 3 years.

because they were so far behind, they did not advertise the car at all for over a year. but lets face it, no one could have written a more compelling ad that would have provided half the impact that a few hundred owners personal experiences posted online for the entire world to see.

so here was a car, selling at MSRP or higher. had very little incentives. my 2004 i collected about $400 for a tax credit, my 2006 i got about $2600 back of a possible $3150 for taxes. so ya, not much incentive there. especially considering the average discount off of MSRP for domestic cars was hitting $7-8,000.

either way, i can assure you, Nissan is not conceding anything to anyone. and there is no doubt that if they had 10,000 cars a month to sell right now, they would be nationwide. but even that does not address the infrastructure things and i know this is hard to understand when many places on the East Coast have charging stations that are going to be installed very soon... and that is good

BUT

you have to understand that in my area, we have been pushing for EV for YEARS. i have been charging my Zenn at public charging stations since 2007 and the stations had been there for years before i got there.

so, to be honest with you, we DESERVE to be first. we have been asking for it a long long long time.

 

[mitch672]

It is almost as if Nissan's game is to take the initial 7 states by storm and concede the rest of the US to Chevrolet. I'm not interested, however, as the mechanical complexity of the Volt is a big turn-off for me. So I'll wait the year or longer until I can get a BEV.

Not quite, the Volt is also only availble in 8 initial markets, I am buying from the only New England state in the launch (Conneticut). Yes, NJ and NJ are also in the launch market, buy they are not considered "New England", also CA, TX, MD, MI and VA are included. But, it's only 10,000 Volts divided among 600 Chevy dealers in 8 states, each dealer only gets an allocation of 5 or so Volts, some more, based on their PAST sales of other GM cars/trucks...

So, still not easy to get one, and also a several month wait, once the order is accepted by GM, and the dealer uses one of their "allocations" to place the order into production.

I found a dealer only 65 miles away in CT, that is one of the reasons I am considering the Volt now, that and I kind of like the extended range idea, for the area I live in, for now. To be honest, I'm not sure how practical the Leaf will be in this area of the country, with our crappy weather and huge temperature swings.

 

[tps]

Not quite, the Volt is also only availble in 8 initial markets, I am buying from the only New England state in the launch (Conneticut).

Better hope Chevrolet does not scold you because your billing address is not in a roll-out state. I don't think Nissan would allow this, otherwise those of us in southern PA might just drive down to Maryland to get our LEAFs a bit earlier...

 

[mitch672]

Not quite, the Volt is also only availble in 8 initial markets, I am buying from the only New England state in the launch (Conneticut).

Better hope Chevrolet does not scold you because your billing address is not in a roll-out state. I don't think Nissan would allow this, otherwise those of us in southern PA might just drive down to Maryland to get our LEAFs a bit earlier...

Chevrolet doesn't care. The bigger issue is just getting a dealer to commit to sell one at MSRP, and actually use one of their allocations to place an actual order. The CT dealer I am buying from routinely sells cars to MA customers, so this is nothing unusual for them.