Nissan Leaf outselling GM's Volt

[Richard230]

According to the LA Times, the Nissan leaf is "charging ahead" of the Chevy Volt. So far this year the Leaf has sold 4,134 vehicles, while the Volt has sold 2,745 plug-in hybrid cars.

"Fans of the pure electric vehicles should be pleased", said Mike Omotoso, an auto industry analyst at J.D. Power & Associates.He goes on to say: "The Leaf outselling the Volt helps the EV movement. The more Nissan sells, the more Leafs people will see on the road, and that might encourage others to take the plunge and buy and electric vehicle."

And, I would add, that the more electric cars that are seen on the road, the more likely the public is to accept electric motorcycles. Let's just hope that they don't get a bad reputation in the press due to some examples of early adopters not understanding the limitations of current EV technology and whining about their experiences to the talking heads on the local TV news.   

[WanderLust]

Considering the numbers from earlier this year,
In January, GM had sold 321 Volts and Nissan had sold 87 Leafs (Leaves?) (in the US), (Ratio - 3.69)
Those numbers are from the link below.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/01/autos/volt_vs_leaf_sales/index.htm
By February those (US) numbers had gone up to
Volt 928, Leaf 173, (Ratio - 5.36:1)
Global numbers were
Volt 928, Leaf 3657 (Ratio - 1:3.94)
http://green.autoblog.com/2011/03/11/nissan-leaf-sales-3657-four-times-more-chevy-volt/

Statistics are good, but only when comparing apples to apples...
Comparing the global sales of a car available globally to a the sales of a car sold in just one country, gives a very skewed picture, so here's my question...

Are they comparing US sales numbers for the leaf or global?
If they are indeed comparing US sales numbers and not the global, that would be impressive for more reasons than one.
I'm not sure where the leaf is manufactured, but considering the recent disaster in Japan, it is commendable if they actually beat Volt in the US.

Things would get interesting when the next generations of both come out.

I don't see myself buying one anytime soon though, they don't make financial sense to me (yet). Besides I'm used to the power and response of my V6... I would rather be in the lap of gas fed luxury for longer drives...But for commuting I'm going to stick to Brammo thank you very much!

[protomech]

From Automobile Magazine, July 5 2011:

In the race to sell electric vehicles to the American public, Nissan so far appears to be outpacing Chevrolet. For the first six months of 2011, Nissan sold 3875 Leaf electric cars, while Chevrolet sold just 2745 Volt extended-range electric vehicles.

From Bloomberg, July 19 2011:

Nissan, Japan’s second-largest automaker, sold a record 1,708 Leafs to U.S. drivers in June and 3,875 in 2011’s first half

From Auto Observer, July 19 2011:

[Mark] Perry [Nissan North America's director of advanced planning and strategy] also said that Nissan is "getting very close" to delivering its 10,000th Leaf to retail customers globally.

[Mr.Rodgers]

Considering that Nissan was at 3600 global sales in March of this year, Ill go ahead and say that the number quoted for the leaf is for sales in the US.  Also, production of the leaf is in Japan for now and was severely hindered by the quake.  Production has since sped up and there is a plant in Smyrna, TN that should be online within the next few years

[Gavin]

http://green.autoblog.com/2011/07/01/electric-domination-nissan-leaf-sales-hit-1-708-chevy-volt-at/


sales numbers in US


Gavin

[WanderLust]

Just what I said, it is commendable considering production constraints...
The more they sell the better , especially for us, I'm sure cars are going to sell more than bikes, what ever it takes to get more charging stations out there for us... The more ev/plug in cars they sell, the more they will spend on battery tech R&D again a win for us

[Richard230]

And here is more Leaf news from the Associated Press: Nissan will double the number of states where the Leaf is  being sold by this fall. However, they are also raising the price of the vehicle by nearly $2,500. The new base price for the Leaf will be $35,200. The lease price will be raised $20 to $369 per month. Nissan says the price is going up because they are adding additional standard features to the car, including a battery warmer, heated steering wheel (?) and front and rear heated seats. The company will also include a fast-charging port, if customers opt for the SL trim level, which starts at $37,250. The port has a 480-volt outlet that charges the car in 30 minutes, compared with the eight hours needed for a 220-volt outlet. The fast-charging port is a $700 option on the 2011 Leaf.

[protomech]

The heated seats and steering wheel are intended to reduce the need to heat the cabin as extensively. It uses less energy to run (making numbers up) 500w through seat / wheel heaters than to run a 4kw ceramic cabin heater full-tilt.

[WanderLust]

And here is more Leaf news from the Associated Press: Nissan will double the number of states where the Leaf is  being sold by this fall. However, they are also raising the price of the vehicle by nearly $2,500. The new base price for the Leaf will be $35,200. The lease price will be raised $20 to $369 per month. Nissan says the price is going up because they are adding additional standard features to the car, including a battery warmer, heated steering wheel (?) and front and rear heated seats. The company will also include a fast-charging port, if customers opt for the SL trim level, which starts at $37,250. The port has a 480-volt outlet that charges the car in 30 minutes, compared with the eight hours needed for a 220-volt outlet. The fast-charging port is a $700 option on the 2011 Leaf.

700 for fast charging is a no brainer, I'd get it in a hearbeat if I was getting the Leaf that is...
If Brammo were to add a fast charge option on the Empulse for a similar price, I'd snap it up.

The heated seats and steering wheel are intended to reduce the need to heat the cabin as extensively. It uses less energy to run (making numbers up) 500w through seat / wheel heaters than to run a 4kw ceramic cabin heater full-tilt.

is that 500w total or per seat?
Real world, I use my heated seats in conjunction with the heater when it's cold as F*** outside!, so if there are others like me out there I don't know if it helps...