i did. the volt cost $10k more than the leaf. gm can't get the batteries to last more than 40 miles, which means 30 miles to me, or 15 mile trip and back. (as a pilot you never get close to running the tanks dry). the leaf is 10k cheaper, 100 miles, and has nissan quality.
But the Volt gets 300 miles on gasoline, it is a hybrid.
Personally, I'll wait for a plugin hybrid with a 300 mile gasoline range plus a 40-50 mile electric range, engineered by Toyota, Honda, or Nissan.
no sense spending money on the markup of gasoline hybrid cars when 100% electric is here. why go backward in time. just keep the old gas car that's already paid for. if i bought 3 volts that would be $30K more plus i'd still have to buy gasoline for it. the leaf saves our family $30 up front and no more gas purchases. the spreadsheet i did was so obvious. plus you can buy 4 leafs for the price of 3 volts which will doom the volt i'm sure of.
I Think the best solution is what was suggested in an earlier post.
Multi-car family: A Leaf, or Leafs, plus a gasoline car.
Single car Owner: A single plug-in Hybrid.
If you're going to have three Leafs at home and you want to charge them all at the same time, I suggest adding some additional power capacity (multiply 220 volt plugs) from the grid. You'll probably need that; more amps to charge everything.
restoring quick profitability, getting this sucker out in a very short time since the bailout, and saving 1 million jobs, as per cbo estimates, is another Obama success. If you're going to dispute the effects of the bailouts and stimulus, you need to have some rigorous data. Don't simply deny what the economists have reported.
It didn't make sense to spend the extra gas every week plus $10k per car up front for an old technology Volt hybrid when for $10k less we could have a gas free and emissions free Leaf.
The range of the Volt is too short, the gas engine is a consolation for failed engineering, GM has a poor reputation, and we don't know if GM will be around after Obama isn't around to take bribes from Detroit.
As a farmer, I understand at the micro level, business risk, yields, long term capital investments.
The fact that Nissan could bring to mass production an electric car, promise to back it up for decades with confidence is a modern miracle.
Nissan quality is legendary.
\"What about the day that you need to go 201, 301, or 601 miles in one shot.\"
If you need to go long distances a lot, you\'d buy the Volt. It\'s going to allow you to drive all electric for most of your daily driving, then you\'d use the gas to go long distance. If you rarely drive long distances, you\'d go with the Leaf and rent or borrow a gas burner for the occasional long drive.
Actually, the grid nationally is only 45% coal now. Several large coal plants have shut in the past two years due mostly to the recession.
We added over 11 gigawatts of new wind energy last year and about 1 gW of new solar. That's enough renewable energy to power over 10 million EVs. We'll be installing more renewable energy to the grid much faster than the EVs will be built that can use it.
So, in reality, the grid will constantly get cleaner as we roll out the EVs.
It'll take a few decades to make the switch, but it all starts in December.