Battle of the Electric Cars: Is It Really Fair to Compare Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf?
CNNMoney claims "Volt Sales are Kicking the Leaf's Butt." Yes, Chevy Volt is outselling the Nissan Leaf by a better than 3-to-1 margin (321 versus 87, in January). But those numbers aren't the whole story, as the Volt and Leaf are trying to reach different markets.
In a nutshell:
- The Volt is for people who want a transition from the gas-powered hybrids of the Prius variety to a vehicle that can run on electricity but isn't dependent on it -- hence the Volt's small gasoline motor, which kicks in to produce more juice when the battery is drained.
- The Leaf is for people who want all that the electric car revolution promises, right now: no tailpipe and total freedom from the pump. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has in fact placed the Leaf at the center of a strategy by Nissan to push toward not just limited emissions, but zero emissions.
So the two vehicles are really citizens of different EV nations. The Volt is meant to transition us away from what must now be considered old-school hybrids, which are rarely capable of operating in all-electric mode for any length of time. General Motors recognized that plenty of potential carbuyers wanted an all-electric option (Remember the EV1?), but that those drivers also struggled with the issue of "range anxiety."
The Volt serves up the range of a Prius, or any other "normal" car. The Leaf is a different story. Its 100-mile range is designed to fit the needs of commuters who will use their car in a defined area -- a tight radius around their home, for example -- and who won't need to head out on a lengthy road trip. They'll get off on the idea that they're saving the planet right now, while the Volt owners might be content to save the planet a bit more slowly.
It isn't even a fair fight
I initially thought that the Volt was going to get the short end of this stick. GM's plan was to come to market against the Prius, with the all-electric option that Toyota's hybrid technology, however innovative, couldn't match. In the parlance of contemporary biz-speak, the Volt was supposed to "disrupt" the Prius.
Taking on the Leaf didn't make sense, because GM had never engineered the Volt to be a revival of the EV1, its notoriously "killed" electric car from the 1990s. But the mood of the markets established the rivalry early on, with the pre-launch debate for both vehicles swirling around how they would fare against each other.
Nissan's production problems, GM's manufacturing power
Ironically, Nissan is seeing limited early sales (against not unimpressive pre-orders) held back by production issues. On balance, the Leaf ought to be a simpler car to build than the Volt, but GM evidently prepared better for production, and in fact recently added capacity to build more Volts. This is one of those intangibles: GM is just a bigger company, with the ability to deploy more manufacturing oomph than Nissan (although Nissan-Renault has moved into the number three spot behind Toyota and GM globally).
In the end, this battle will be resolved by consumers choosing sides according to their needs, which are very different. At that point, the market itself will differentiate the Volt and Leaf, but until then, expect more butt to be kicked by the Volt, a car that almost perfectly combines what's good about gas and what's even better about electric.
Related:
Photo: Matthew DeBord