Nissan Leaf... the well thought out Volt killer
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVwtwhvmK0I

Much attention to detail in all aspects of design including instrumentation and aerodynamics. I want one

Hardly a Volt-killer. Aside from the fact that there's enough of a market out there for both, the Volt would appeal to people who want to drive more than 100 miles or so.

Now if Nissan really wanted to make a Volt-killer, they'd cut the size of the Leaf's battery in half, and add a small APU-type generator.

If you're a person who regularly drives over 100mi, the Volt is still the wrong car. The charge sustaining MPG is pretty unimpressive, so a Prius would be a better choice.

I doubt people with $41k to spend on a car are single-car families anyway, so most of them could get away with a Leaf.

First accessory you will see for the Leaf is a tow behind APU. Then you can hook it up when you need it, if you want to own only one car.

Beats dragging one around when you don't need it.

regards
Mech

Its yet another Pig-in-a-poke... Seems the Chevy Volt is designed for one purpose and one purpose only... So that GM can point to it complete and utter failure and say:

"look... we built it but Americans don't want EVs"

Such a shame... they could have updated the EV1 and been the market leader

I think the Coda electric car is going to do much better in the real world, leaf has a 65-100 mile real world range and the Coda has a 85-120 mile real world range, like hybrids it has a better city or rush our traffic range and the lower range is high speed highway driving.
I'm a little disappointed that there isn't much news about the WheeGo Whip Life as well.

I only drive over 100 miles per day a few times a year and it's often with other people and we normally take mine because it gets the best mileage... part of why I own the gas car I do, I'd like to own a higher speed electric car but as it is my electric car that tops out at 40mph works for most vehicle needs I have.

I don't think GM is all that far off with the Volt theory, i.e. that range anxiety is keeping hoards of potential "EV" customers out of pure EVs; and also that the typical customer is not going to fool around with tow-behind APUs and whatnot, so the solution has to be plug-n-play even if that means there is no choice but to add stuff that dilutes the pure EV functionality.

...anybody investing in EverReady or Coppertop battery companies?

I'm surprised they didn't use the airconditioner on reverse for heating, seems like an obvious way to reduce power consumption.

Now I just need to win the lottery and wait for it to go on sale in New Zealand. :)

First Full Range Test of Nissan LEAF Yields 116.1 Miles | PluginCars.com

Video: Nissan Leaf's Eco-mode boosts range up to 10% — Autoblog Green