Who says people aren't willing to pay upwards of $30k for a car that can only go 100 miles before needing to be tethered to a wall outlet? Evidently
Nissan has struck a chord with the US populace, as the automaker just announced that 8,000 orders for the
all-electric Leaf were booked in a mere nine days after orders went live. According to Mark Perry, the company's North American director of product planning and strategy, Nissan is "on its way to have 25,000 firm orders by December," and considering that it'll only ship initially in California, Arizona, Washington, Tennessee and Oregon, that's a pretty bold assumption. Better still, Nissan plans to "make money at the price that it announced," though we've no doubt that the $7,500 Federal tax credit has urged fence-sitters to jump in the pre-order line. Still, it's good to see consumers
putting their money into unconventional automobiles, but we can't say we're eager to see a special run of Parking Wars dedicated to brawls over what motorist gets the last charging socket on Main Street. Or maybe we are, in a sick and sadistic sort of way.
posted May 2nd 2010 5:11PM
It doesnt look much like a leaf.
It's blue
@SamTatr if they call it leaf they blew it
@untersucher Hahaha They blew it...
Because its a leaf... Hahaa....
No?
Suit yourself.
@SamTatr
Ha Ha GM just got owned even before the POS VOLT is released...
No thanks... Nissan I think that I will stick with my MAN car that has a nice V8, 4 barrel and gets 100 meter per gallon..
I can get that rough idle, make lots of noise and F-up this planet all at the same time!
@AppleDrank
by the way since I wont be having any kids (liability reasons) I'll get myself fixed, and me and the future wife will just "keep trying" if you know what I mean! :D
@AppleDrank
You, married?
If I were Lord Vader, I'd be telling you about a disturbance in the force right about now.
@AppleDrank
Why the F- would u ever fix urself. it would hurt like a motherf*cker
@untersucher
Still not tired of these. For now.
@SamTatr : can't wait till Apple releases their EV. :)
@SamTatr
obviously you've never heard of the Toronto Maple Leafs (it's blue)
@SamTatr
w/ that title, i was def expecting a link to mgmt electric feel...but for some reason its not here
@One Love
Apples version would be an Electric Beatle.
@PCG
I think you mean... "invents" the EV.
@SamTatr
Actually, in a lot of languages (including Japanese) the colour "green", especially of the "greenery" variety, is often referred to as "blue"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distinguishing_blue_from_green_in_language
$350/mo? That's what I pay now for my little sports car. I didn't think electrics would be this affordable already.
I... would like a change. Sounds like it's time to get a sticky accelerator.
@Smurf
Little sports car? Sticky Pedal? What sports car Toyota makes?
@Sea Urchin This should be a figure of speech that applies to anyone who intentionally wrecks their car / defrauds their insurance company. Not just silly Toyota drivers. (And I'm not referring to the "silly" people who had a real problem... just all explosion of "stick accelerators" that came up after the story hit the news)
@Smurf I'm paying less than that for my 350z, though I purchased this one (my second) used. I'm looking at getting a Leaf for commuting here in the Bay Area (south of SF, CA). With an 8 mile commute to work an electric car looks to make perfect sense to me. Cheap lease, no gas, room for the wife and kid, and I can keep miles off my 350z.
With the tax incentives for the car, and even for the charger it looks like it will be a great deal for me.
@Sea Urchin
Toyota Spyder
@Christoc
I would like to get one for my wife. She drives a half hour 2 work everyday. this would save a lot of money! 3.50 to charge to full.
Plus i think it would be really cool to control it with my phone!
Seems like GM is already falling behind Nissan. So much hype about the volt and it will cost 30+ after the taxes. The real player in the segment will come in 2011 or 2012, Toyota Prius.
@Sea Urchin
Um....Nissan has ALWAYS been ahead of GM, lol.
The leaf isn't a bad car, but Tesla will make better ones...they need to just hurry up and hit that cheaper price point... I think the model S will do very well at launch.
.
@Sea Urchin
The difference is that the Volt can still go 300+ miles.
I look forward to seeing a bunch of dead-batteried Leaf owners on the side of the road.
@Sea Urchin
40 miles electric plus ~300 more miles on gasoline > 100 miles on electric, and then getting it towed back to your house after it runs out of battery.
@Kevin6432 And the tow truck runs on diesel.
@Alex
The Model S does 300 miles on battery power.
Just cause it plugs in, doesn't exactly make it a "gadget". What's Engadget gonna cover next??
@Rpie74
I'll take this over another cell phone story.
@Sea Urchin
unless it's about the EVO 4G...
@Rpie74 Just cause your name has "pie" in it doesn't mean I like you.
@Sea Urchin
Or Apple story!
Its an impressive car, and an impressive price, but i think i'd still buy a volt if it was my money, it costs about $10k more, but at least when you really need to get out of town your car can still take you where ever you need to go.
but for those living in a city, this might make the perfect second car.
@SmilinGoat
Exactly, this is a great second car. Volt can be a primary/only car. Problem for city-dwellers though: where do you plug it in at night if you park in a lot? Or on the street?
@DTJ Agreed. At this point, recharging options away from home are waaaay too scant to totally eschew liquid (or even gaseous I suppose) fuels that can be purchased as needed from most anywhere.
"the 100% electric, zero emmision* Nissan Leaf"
*Please note that electricity factories burn just as much fossil fuel as cars do - making this product pointless. Thank you for shopping with Nissan
@SamTatr That really depends on where you live.
@Smurf Does it Smurf, DOES IT?
Oh wait. It does
@SamTatr
No it doesn't. An increasing number of places rely upon renewable energy resources to generate electricity, for example; Hydroelectric energy powers places such as:
> Ffestiniog, Wales
> Bonnington, Scotland
> Aswan Dam, Egypt
> Vianden, Germany
These places all use renewable energy, And if you try to retort that none of these places are in the USA, I shall remind you of the Hoover Dam, I also ask for you to look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroelectricity#Proposed_major_hydroelectric_projects
Not to mention the several other sources of renewable energy (such as: Solar Power, Wind Power & hamsters in wheels).
@SamTatr
Producing energy from a single large source will always be more efficient than millions of small internal combustion engines on the road, even if the factory itself is producing emissions.
@SamTatr
That is absolutely not true. You have no idea what you are talking about.
@ConradOBrien To be honest, I dont care
@SamTatr You sir are a complete idiot. If you're going to badmouth the car, at least use valid points you moron.
@maattp And you are an idiot for having the ignorant Jobs as your avatar
I hope Engadget does some REAL research on the real cost of ownership of this thing - including the battery life (and cost of replacements), convenience of charge time, etc..
@42 Did Nissan claim that this car will pay for it self in the long term? This is a first generation of these cars, think about the future, 10 years from now this car may have a battery that will last 20 years and will become even more efficient.
100 miles just isn't far enough for most of us in the usa, the volt seems like a good option for most everyone. If I had city driving only the leaf seems great, as long as they have a quick way to charge it
My guess is once these become more popular , the price of electric will soon match that of gas = no savings
@Hydra At this point, electric cars aren't about saving. It's about putting money where you mouth is.
I don't want to send any of my money to the middle east / OPEC countries. I'll pay a premium for nearly anything I can do to cut down on my consumption of oil. For me, the green thing is a nice bonus.
@Hydra
I'm not sure where I read it, but something like 80% of US drivers go less than 40 miles total in a day. And 95% go less than 100. So this could work for nearly everyone, if you didn't need to haul stuff all the time.
It's a very feasible second car, but you'd probably not want to rely on it all the time, because of the limited range.
@Smurf
You're both wrong. Electric is super cheap, and will be for a very long time when compared to gas.
It's not just about appeal or putting ur money where ur mouth is. Most people don't commute more than 50 miles one way...even ruraly.
Still teslas future cars at this price point are sure to go farther...like 200-300 miles.
I'd wait for tesla to come out with something more affordable.
.
@Bakerdk Yes, after you have the car and the charging station, electricity is very cheap. However, that car is no more nice than a Toyota Yaris, which can be bought new for $12,600. You're paying the premium for an electric car, at this point. Do you know how long it would take you to save $15,000 in gas? You'd have to buy new batteries before then. It just isn't here to save money, YET.
Again, this is bunk to me. I just want to stop sending money to the oil cartel.