Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf

[Oliveloaf]

Don't know if anyone cares, but I am driving the Leaf this week, and recently spent some time with the Volt. Happy to answer any questions about either.

[What Exit?]

Actually I would love a review of both.
How do they drive? How many do they carry? What range? Charge time? Prices? Etc.

[Oliveloaf]

Where to start?

Here's the big news, both vehicles are remarkably normal to drive. With the exception of the absence of engine noise, these cars ride, handle and move much like any other good car.

I just got out of the Leaf, which promises up to 100 miles of electric range. Well, not in 100-degree weather with the A/C always running. This morning I left the house with a 100% charge, drove 23 miles, and
had a reported 55 miles left. Likely the remaining range would evaporate at the same rate as I was already experiencing.

Note also, after running some errands on my drive home last night, I had a reported 20 miles of range remaining. Because I do not have a 220-volt charging station at home (we do at the office) I plugged the car into a
regular wall outlet.

This is significant because: at 8:30 when i plugged the car in, I just barely had time to completely charge the battery before leaving for work in the morning. In fact, 12 hours later, I was still waiting. Result: To allow for
the full charge, I had to borrow my wife's car to head off to the health club. Now, if I had a charging station, I would have been fine. But most folks will only have a station at one end of their travels.

Charging is cheap, however. at 9.8 cents per kWh, my drive to work today cost about, oh, a buck. Typically, that same drive would have cost me $4.00.

Now...the Volt. An amazing technical tour de force made more amazing by how normal it is to drive.

Volt's huge advantage over the Leaf is that, after the battery is depleted, it continues on using a small gas engine. The system works...very well.

The claimed 40-mile electric range has worked out to anywhere from 25-50 miles for us.

My problem with Volt is that I can see this vehicle as obsolete in the not-to-distant future. It's a Betamax player.

At least, it's a Betamax player once two important things happen:

Battery capacity improves about 100%

Charging times are reduced. This, is key.

Right now, charging a battery that could provide 200 miles of range, say 50 kWh, would take 16-18 hours using a dedicated charging station. Get this down to
30 minutes, and you solve half the world's energy problems.

Nutshell:

The Leaf is not the answer to our automotive problems, but it is an excellent first draft. If you have live with the short range and long charging times, congrats. It's a fine car.

The Volt is the solution for a very specific point in time. It's cool as hell and works as promised. But a serious advancement in battery technology will make this car look quaint.

[Oliveloaf]

Also, plugging these cars in once or twice a day is kind of a bother. Filling up once a week is much simpler.

[What Exit?]

Cool, excellent summary and review.

The problem I see with all electrics is they seem to only work well for shortish commutes and for homeowners. These early versions won't work well for my 78 miles per day + side trips or for apartment dwellers. Though the Tesla Sedan is promising a 300 mile range I believe.

The plugging in should be something most people get use to. I have an iPhone 3G so I plug it in at least once a day on average. If I can get use to that for just a phone, I can easily do a car as a routine.