Nissan Leaf Outselling Chevy Volt
The downturn in the United States economy and the continual rise of gas prices has cause Americans to look for more fuel efficient vehicles. Nissan and Chevy make the two most fuel efficient cars on the market today with the Leaf and the Volt. Both of these cars are electric cars, which requires them to have their battery charged before driving. While both cars have a fuel economy of over 90 miles per gallon, the Nissan Leaf is outselling the Chevy Volt in the United States.
Due to the fact the Nissan Leaf is a fully electric automobile, owners of the car will never have to buy gasoline again. One problem that occurs with a fully electric car is the battery life. The Nissan Leaf has battery range of only 73 miles. Since electric cars are rather new to the market, there are very few cities that have places to charge a car. This basically eliminates any long distance trips being taken with the Nissan Leaf. Since the Leaf does not use gasoline, the car’s fuel economy is measured by looking at the amount of energy it takes to charge the vehicle. Nissan is currently reporting that the Leaf has an equivalent fuel economy of 99 miles per gallon of gasoline.
Unlike the Nissan Leaf, the Chevy Volt features a hybrid electric engine. This means that after the battery is no longer charged, the Volt’s engine starts to run on gasoline. The Chevy Volt can only go about 35 miles on a fully charged battery before the gasoline has to kick in. With the battery fully charged, the Chevy Volt has a fuel economy of 93 miles per gallon. When running just on gasoline, the Volt gets about 37 miles per gallon of gasoline. This gives the Chevy Volt a combined fuel economy of 60 miles per gallon. While this is much less than the Nissan Leaf, the hybrid engine increases your travel distance. The chance of getting stranded due to a dead battery are also eliminated with the Chevy Volt.
Through the first six months of 2011, the Nissan Leaf is maintaining a slight sales lead over the Chevy Volt. This may be due to the price tag of both vehicles. Nissan has sold 3875 Leafs so far this year, compared to the 2745 Volts that Chevy has managed to sell this year. The over 1000 unit sales advantage may be due to the retail price of both of the vehicles. The Chevy Volt has a sticker price of around $41,000 in the United States, and the Nissan Leaf is about $9000 cheaper with a price of $32,000. Production of the Leaf has been slow, but they are becoming widely available throughout the United States. This helped Nissan sell over 1000 cars in May and June after barely selling 100 in the four previous months. As technology increases and more manufacturers start to make electric cars, it will become more and more likely that everyone owns an electric car.
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