GM Volt And Nissan Leaf – Which Is Better Value? And Which Is Greener?
After the PR face-off a couple of months ago between the next-gen Toyota Prius and Honda Insight, two more green motors are now jostling for the attention of environmentally-conscious drivers everywhere. Last week Nissan launched their Leaf, its “competitively priced” hatchback that can go over 100 miles on a single charge of its battery; and yesterday GM launched their Chevy Volt for what feels like the 10th time with a bunch of new information, including its headline-grabbing claim of achieving 230mpg.
Just like any 21st-century squabble worth its salt, the attempted thunder-theft of Nissan by GM yesterday was addressed on Twitter – “Nissan Leaf = 367 mpg, no tailpipe, and no gas required. Oh yeah, and it’ll be affordable too!”, read Nissan Electric Vehicles’ feed after the announcement. Oh, snap. Nissan hasn’t said just how affordable it’ll be, but estimates are currently between $15,000 and $25,000, which is considerably less than the projected $40,000 the Volt will cost. GM is saying the Volt will cost 40 cents to recharge, while Nissan are going for the figure of $13 a month – impossible to properly compare though, as they’re based on American and Japanese energy prices respectively, and anyway, there’s already debate over the veracity of the energy prices GM’s used. The pricing estimates don’t include the price of leasing the battery to owners, which Nissan is planning on doing; it looks like GM will not be leasing batteries to customers as Nissan will, thus raising the price of the Volt as it comes with a battery thrown in (though obviously then has risk of replacement costs).
The mpg predictions are also debateable, considering they’re attempting to place a gallon-based value onto an engine that doesn’t do gallons of anything. One can expect the Nissan though, with its trim chassis, to trump the Volt, which is chunkily styled like something out of a Hollywood vision of the future, and shows that GM just can’t kick its hatred of little cars.
The comparison water gets muddied all the more by the fact that the Volt is a hybrid with a wee little petrol engine as well, while the Leaf is all-electric – the Leaf’s zero-emissions distance is better, but the Volt can go further if you count in the contribution of its petrol engine. The Volt’s engine can also be filled with E85 biofuel though, a detail that hasn’t been particularly trumpeted, and was heard by some eavesdropping folks at The Auto Channel – it can therefore make a slightly better claim to be a truly non-petrol car. In short – it’s bloody difficult to quantify just how green these cars are.
And of course the green-ness of these vehicles is also affected by where they get their electricity from, like a coal-fired power station. And then there’s the strain on the grid – the Leaf battery can accept an 80% charge in 30 minutes from a special charger, but that involves a heavy load on the grid. A hypothetical future situation is one where commuters are charging their cars en masse on the way home from swift-charging power points, creating a massive drain on the grid.
So while the manufacturers are likely to carry on bickering about whose car is better, we’ll just have to wait for some clearer pricing information before trying to begin making a comparison about which is better value.
Posted by Ben Beaumont-Thomas in Green Rush | August 12, 2009 11:52AM |
August 12th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
* The Leaf is being first released in areas in the US that use substantial alternative and renewable energy sources, such as hydro, wind, solar and biomass.
* Why would people stop in congested lemming throngs on their way home to top off their power packs, when their vehicles can top themselves off automatically at home in the middle of the night while their owners sleep for a full charge available first thing every morning (try that with gas)? Possible any time the vehicle isn’t moving near any electric outlet (there are hundreds of millions of those in the US) opportunistic electric topping off is far more convenient than going to one of the limited number of leaking, flammable gasoline stations in the US.
The writer of this article obviously has no long term personal experience with using a modern electric vehicle on a daily basis.
On the other hand, this is brilliant:
“the Leaf’s zero-emissions distance is better, but the Volt can go further [without topping off, which currently takes a little less time with petrol] if you count in the contribution of its petrol engine.” This makes it clear that you’re comparing apples and oranges. Fortunately, most folks like both.
August 12th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
well,the volt is more expensive but u can drive farther with no need to charge thanx to the small 10ga tank. Say you are going to vegas with the leaf u would have to charge every100mi with the volt u can go all the way as long as u have your ten gallon tank of gas or biofuel full. id rather drive farther without the need to refuel or recharge, The leaf needs a recharge every 100 mi thats just not good enough,you want a car that can go the distance so i think that the idea of a small combustible engine to charge the main battery after initial charge has depleted is a much better idea than a electric car who can only run as long as the charge permits. The self perpetuating charge is the way to go rather it be from mechanical rotation of wheels or the use of a small combustible engine, which can use biofuel.
November 11th, 2009 at 4:29 am
I see the Leaf as strictly a commuter car. Back and forth to work. I see the Volt as not only a commuter car, but an all around vehicle for road trips, etc. I don’t think most folks want to stop every 100 miles to recharge a battery on their way to Grandma’s Thanksgiving dinner..
March 23rd, 2010 at 6:04 pm
I’ve done some calculations for UK costs of running a Nissan Leaf on my blog
http://www.jaffacake.net/nissan-leaf
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