After the General Motors EV-1 got torn from owners’ hands and sent to the crusher, all-electric cars for the mass market seemed doomed. Even electric sports-car maker Tesla, of the $180,000 zoomer, priced its low-production 2009 sedan at $50,000 base–a price not in reach of most families I know. So here comes Nissan, zooming
up from the back of the pack with the sleek Leaf hatchback, which it says
will be competitive with its current sedans (which means $20,000 to
$30,000, though probably with a leased battery). And "fill-ups," says
Nissan, will cost 90 cents.
Nissan’s hoopla is still just that–no reviewer has driven it for real–yet it seems a bit more real than the Chevy’s plug-in
hybrid Volt (likely price $40,000 base). Nissan revealed the Leaf’s
final body over the weekend (Autoblog has a pile of stats)
and says it will be on the market next year. Short off-road test drives were positive. The maximum range of its
lithium batteries will be 100 miles, making it a commuter car, though
it has the ability to take an 80% charge in under 30 minutes on a
commercial 440-volt charger.
I hope the Leaf succeeds. And the Chevy Volt. And the new
conventional-hybrid Honda Insight, despite its initial bad reviews. I
hope the Prius keeps up with the competition. They’re all good
alternatives to the petroleum culture.
With oil is still selling for more around $70 a barrel during the
worst recession in generations, plugging in a hybrid or e-car car
overnight to fill up on cheap excess electricity production is making
permanent sense.