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BTW. I stayed away from it, but the Leaf having problems in Arizona helps illustrate one of the key differentiators between the 2 cars.
1) The Volt has an liquid cooled battery, in which the fluid is either warmed or cooled and circulated around the battery to keep its temperature in an acceptable range. This even happens when the car is in a parking lot unplugged. The Leaf, however, does not have this system and is strictly air cooled. A big help in minimizing battery degrredation to heat.
2) Leaf owners are allowed to fully charge and fully discharge their batteries. As previously stated, GM only allows the owner access to 10 kWh of 16 total. You aren't allowed to discharge the battery to empty. And since there are reserve cells, the range of the Volt will be constant for a longer period than a Leaf, as reserve cells come online when original cells degrade.
3) People in a car like a Volt dont have to worry as much about battery degredation. As their EV only miles diminish, they can still drive on gas. Not ideal, but in my case, it may change me from getting 800+ MPG to around 200+.
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