Speaking with the Nashville Business Journal, GM North America president Mark Reuss talked about different topics, including the Chevrolet Volt. When asked about the Nissan Leaf, Reuss voiced his opinion,
“(The Leaf) has a finite range and requires infrastructure and charging to run it, where the Volt is really an extended-range electric vehicle,” he said. “The Volt can really be the only car you own. You better be living within a certain range for the Leaf. … It’s a lot different market, a lot different car and a completely different driver.”
Yikes. But Reuss didn’t stop there…
“I’m not sure if I’d put the leaf in the hands of my three kids,” he said. “Say, what if they can’t charge it? What if they get to school and can’t charge it? The Leaf is a single-purpose car.”
Funny, something smells like burning Leaves at the moment.
Source: Nashville Business Journal
Comments
There’s something to be said for a simple design like the Leaf; motor, battery, electronic speed control. For a family like mine, driving to work/school each day and conveniently plugging in at home (instead of stopping at a gas station) is appealing (no oil, gas, filters, antifreeze).
I’ll save the weekends for the convertible and motorcycle.
I say the same thing if my competing car only went 35 miles on an electric charge, and cost $7,000 more. However he is correct that the ultimate range is higher and you can travel further in the Volt. The Volt is an electric vehicle with range extended by a gasoline motor.
It’s a ridiculous argument.Most people drive 10 -15 miles to work.Plenty of reserve for alittle “running around” on the way home.Most people also have 2 vehicles,so the closest takes the leaf.Big deal.But,this is America,and we dont want to change the way we do anything.I drive 70 miles round trip and get to work and back in one charge,cost about 2 -3 bucks.At 25 miles per gallon in my Ford Ranger 12-15 dollars per day.It’s an easy choice for me.Keep one gas vehicle and buy a Leaf.I would not buy the Volt,GM turned their back on the electric car market about 15 years ago and I cannot support their Volt now,it still uses gas and has a very limited electic range. They want to support the “old” oil markets instead of being bold and step out.So be it. Imagine if they had stuck with the EV1 for the last 15 years where the country would be with the oil situation.The consumer would have been the winner.
@Bob Gm didn’t turn it’s back on the electric car market. There was no market at that time. At least not enough to support mass production. People that keep blaming GM for dropping the EV1 need to take their blinders off and look at the whole picture. I do believe GM handled ending the EV1 poorly but they owned the cars so it was their right to destroy them. Dropping the EV1 was one of the very few smart things GM did back then. GM developed a lot of technology in making the EV1 that other manufactures now use in their hybrid/electric vehicles.
The Volt & leaf cover two different market segments. The leaf is limited to people that drive short distances and live in urban areas and the Volt is a car for everybody no matter where you live.
So if it’s new and not yet popular we dont support it?Once again the American markets have to play catch up with a technology they had 15 years ago.This is why the Asian markets will beat us in the energy and auto arenas.We’re stuck in the past and afraid to be bold and step out of “conventinal” thinking. With the oil markets where they are and the mideast totally unstable we seem to be content to rely on big oil to be our main source for transportation.How much per gallon would it take to change Americans thinking?A company that is willing to put a 100% electric vehicle on the road even though today it will hit a small market may well benifit greatly tomorrow.It could have been GM.The Volt is a toe in the water,35 -40 mile electric range then you are right back to 4,5,or6 dollar gas.Plus why pay the extra cost for the gas engine(and maintenance) when 90% of the people wont need it.However,most people will not support the 100% electric for some years to come I feel.We shall see.At least options for the consumer are just around the corner.
I personally don’t feel like you can compare the Leaf with the Volt.
They’re two different types of cars designed for two different types of audiences.
In-so-far as the EV-1, there’s a lot of mystery surrounding its demise. After watching “Who Killed the Electric Car?” many questions were asked why kill the EV-1 when the demand exceeded GM’s expectations? I was hoping there would be a televised meeting between GM executives and the producers of that movie. A lot of EV-1 owners were very upset that their leases were cancelled without an option for renewal. Many, many, letters were written to GM asking why. GM’s explained that there wasn’t sufficient interest in the EV-1. That doesn’t seem to hold its own according to the movie.
If you’ve never seen “Who Killed the Electric Car?”, it’s good. Really good!
For clarifacation,I will not be without a gas powered vehicle.I have a Ford F150 for hauling hay for my horse and will need it for awhile.Also I have seen the movie and was left wondering why?I just feel 15 years of production would have had us a long way toward avoiding what is going on with the oil industry now.The market truely will decide,I just hope people give electric a fair shot instead of just thinking it’s “too different”.
It’s funny to read Bob statements and how he blames GM for not sticking to EV1. Don’t you know that it’s all political stuff and nothing we can do to change that? There is still plenty of oil left for Governments to make money. A better technology has been invented years ago but we won’t see it anytime soon.
Regarding Leaf VS Volt, I’d go with the Volt in a heart beat, many Leaf owners find them self’s on the side of the road with a dead battery, and towing is not cheap these days, plus those tow trucks use more then 3 times the fuel per mile compared to the Volt.
Lex (Leaf vs Volt),
This supports my previous statement. They’re two different types of cars for two different types of audiences.
The Leaf isn’t marketed for your type of driving, but the Volt is.
A better comparison for the Leaf would be with Tesla.
So let me get this correct now,the Govt killed the ev1 and they are currently in control of this “new technology”.Enlighten the world,tell us what it is!!
Yes, but I read articles about Leaf where it ran out of juice way before computer estimated miles. It read 65 miles left, she drove for 30 and it died. Leaf still competes with Volt due to the fact that it’s electric, and if you drive less then 40 miles a day, your Volt won’t use a single drop of gas, But if its really cold outside? The Leaf dies on the road, but you can still make it home with the Volt on time.
Yes, as I understand the Leaf shows your driving range based on the current energy draw. If you add an additional load, your range decreases respectively. If it shows a driving range say of 90 miles, but the person only needed to travel 30 miles one way, then 30 miles back home. A total of 60 miles round trip.
They got to their 30 mile destination without a problem, but when it was time for them to come back, the weather had turned bad and it was dusk. They had turn on their Lights, their wipers, and the heat was turned on too. That reduced their range down to only 20 miles & they didn’t have enough power to get home.
This is why you cannot compare the Leaf to the Volt.
The Volt is not 100% electric so the playing field isn’t even. You have an internal combustion engine to “assist” when the batteries are near depletion.
That to me is like trying to compare a sailboat to a sailboat that has a built-in 10hp gasoline engine. So if there isn’t any wind, you can use the one with the engine to move when your competition (the 100% wind powered sailboats), are stuck in calm seas. Now how is that a fair comparison?
You need to compare “Apples to Apples” and in this case, 100% electric vehicles with 100% electric vehicles to be fair. When people say the Leaf will run out of electric power due to range limitation, then they are not the targeted audience for the Leaf.
As has already been pointed out by other commenters – these are two different vehicles, for two different situations. I have no need for a truck, so I don’t own one. I do have a need for an efficient vehicle that gets my family around town safely, so I do own one. It’s called a LEAF. I also have a minivan that we can use when we take road trips. You don’t hit a nail with a saw, you use a hammer. Cars are tools with optimized purposes. Our minivan was our all purpose tool. It is now relegated to backup status. We spend significantly less on energy (electricity vs. gasoline) with the LEAF. Also, keep in mind that the Volt is a four-passenger vehicle. This is also a limiting factor for some families – for instance, it would not suit our five-passenger needs.
As we move forward in the electric car movement, it should not be about “us vs. them” when talking about other forms of electric/hybrid transport. The Volt, a plug-in hybrid marketed as an extended-range electric vehicle, will still do its part to reduce oil consumption. GM should applaud Nissan, and Nissan should applaud GM – each for creating products that will both work toward using less oil – something that is in everyones’ interest.
My point is simple.It’s the economics.70 mile round trip to work in the leaf around 2-3 bucks.In my 4 cyl ranger 12-13.Ok,you want to spend more,fine.I have been checking the leaf out for about 6 weeks on here and am surprised at the negativity for this car.Yousaid you spend “significantly less” with the Leaf.However go to youtube and watch some of the review videos and look at the comments section and people will tell you that you’re wrong.Why cant this country embrace this technologhy and move ahead and make it better?Nope,most think its a fad. Now for the Volt,my one main point is Gm had the EV1 that had an approximate range of about 100 miles 15 years ago.Why go backwards and give the Volt 35-40?Give it 100 mile range and the gas engine and use the gas a lot less,why not?The Asian market will beat us again because of a lack of forward thinking by American auto makers.Check out the BYD E6 from China,due late this year.180 mile range.Now thats a step in the right direction!
Thanks, Bob, for your perspective on this.
We have had our LEAF about two months now. With our experimental SDG&E rate of $0.075 per kilowatt hour charging from midnight to 5AM (it usually will charge in just a few hours, depending on how much we’ve driven) I can be more specific on our costs – if we ONLY got 70 miles out of a full charge (your commute), it would cost us $2 for that commute. While most people will average closer to 70 miles per full charge than Nissan’s claimed 100 miles, it can still make sense, if your situation is right for it. Nissan’s 100 miles range is calculated with no freeway driving (EPA LA4 test cycle). When you include freeway speeds, your mileage will likely to closer to 70. If a buyer knows that going in, he won’t be angry about it when it happens.
And to answer your last question – GM gave the Volt a 35-40 mile range to save cost. A 100 mile range would have increased the battery size and weight – and cost of the vehicle. It is already over $40K. It would have been a much more difficult sell at close to $50K. It is a useful vehicle for many as it is. As battery costs fall in the future, you will see the Volt range increase for the same cost, just as you will see the LEAF (and others) increase over the next ten years.