A pity that GM killed the EV-1, now all they have is the GM "Short Circuit"
Which electric car will win?
BY MARK PHELAN FREE PRESS AUTO CRITIC
The Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf will square off later this year in a battle that could determine the course of the 21st-Century auto industry.
The Volt and Leaf electric cars take two radically different approaches to reducing oil consumption and emissions. The compact Volt will cover
40 miles on a charge and use an on-board generator for longer trips. The subcompact Leaf?s bigger battery pack promises a 100-mile range but won?t be capable of longer trips and will require hours of charging time after a long drive.The vehicles? prices will also differ significantly. Nissan has announced the Leaf will retail for $25,280, after a $7,500 federal tax credit. Chevrolet has not revealed the Volt?s sticker price, but it?s expected to cost around $32,500 after the same tax credit.
The Volt arrives in dealerships this November. The Leaf follows a month later.
The cars represent multibillion-dollar bets by GM and Renault-Nissan. The winner will be the early leader in a new technology that?s expected to eventually dominate the worldwide auto industry. Electric cars have their ups and downs
You can't get lower than zero. You can't drive farther than forever.
In a nutshell, those are the key selling points for the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt, respectively -- the first new electric cars expected to sell in large numbers in a century.
The cars promise different things, but they'll be direct competitors as General Motors and Nissan-Renault try to define what a modern electric vehicle is, what customers should expect, how much they'll pay and whether they should accept any compromises compared with conventional cars.
The company with the winning approach will have an early lead in the technology likely to dominate the 21st-Century auto industry.
The Leaf promise: Zero, zilch, nada direct petroleum consumption and exhaust emissions. Your car will never burn a drop of gasoline.
The Volt guarantee: No emissions or oil used on the 40-mile and shorter drives that constitute daily driving for around 70% of Americans, and absolute certainty you'll never be stranded by a dead battery.
The Volt and Leaf's underlying technical approaches are radically different.
The Leaf is a pure battery-electric car, or BEV. It has lots of batteries and can go up to 100 miles on a full charge.
Its drawbacks are:
? It takes eight to 20 hours to recharge the batteries, depending on whether you install a 240-volt outlet for your car.
? Electricity is not like gasoline: You can't assume there'll be a filling station around the corner when you run low, and topping up drained batteries takes hours.
? The 100-mile range assumes good weather and driving conditions. Very hot or cold conditions, fast driving, or stop-and-go traffic may reduce the Leaf's range considerably.
"Range is a big deal," said Joe Phillippi, principal of AutoTrends Consulting in Short Hills, N.J. "The Leaf can't be anybody's sole vehicle."
The Volt, meanwhile, uses a smaller set of batteries and should cover about 40 miles on a full charge. It charges from an outlet in about half as much time as the Leaf.
A small gasoline-powered generator produces more electricity for longer trips. You never have to stop to recharge, and most drivers will only occasionally need the range-boosting generator. The Volt is called an extended-range electric vehicle, or E-REV.
The Volt's disadvantages are:
? It has two power sources -- batteries and a generator -- so it will cost about $7,200 more than the Leaf.
? It does not allow the driver to completely divorce himself or herself from the possibility of ever consuming oil.
GM and Nissan speak of their differing approaches with evangelical zeal.
"It's the first affordable zero-emissions vehicle," Leaf product planning director Mark Perry says. "The question of its range is an issue of perception more than behavior. If you charge overnight, you wake up with 100 miles' range. Ninety-five percent of the world's drivers go less than 100 miles a day."
GM's counterpoint:
"No battery-electric vehicle can match the Volt's 350-mile range," says Tony Posawatz, GM vehicle line director for electric vehicles. "The Volt can also operate in all temperatures, climates and geographic areas" because the generator supplements its batteries.
The cars will appeal to different types of customers, but the automaker whose approach draws more will have an early lead in the electric-vehicle race.
"The Volt has the standard range people expect from a car. That's an advantage," said Jim Hall, managing director of 2953 Analytics in Birmingham. "The Volt could conceivably be a person's primary vehicle. The Leaf is a perfect second car for most people."
GM will build the Volt at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant. Nissan will initially import the Leaf from Japan and build it in Tennessee starting in 2012.