cts | Volt a Day | Rolling with the Rays September 24, 2010

Now I am just joining things left and right. I signed up on SolarChargedDriving. I saw one of their blog posts about how the Leaf people and the Volt people should really share a little love and realize they are on the same team. In a larger sense.

GM, of course, gets some of the blame here since their marketing department seems to think that they need to bash the pure-electric cars in order to sell their new car. That's too bad (and wrong). I appreciate the effort to try to keep things civil and reduce the bashing of one car over another.

The truth is the market is so small that we just damage the overall effort. This is true in the aviation community and they, for the most part, have figured it out. And, like the plug-in car world, they know that the products are different enough that they can't be compared directly.

The Leaf is a lightweight vehicle that goes a hundred miles on a charge. After that, you need to find a way to get it charged again. The Volt goes only 40 miles on a charge, but then it kicks on a generator, using gas to re-charge the batteries. Because of the gas-powered generator, it is a 250+ range car that you could drive to Las Vegas and back, if you were so inclined. The Leaf you cannot.

Although the Volt detractors can talk about the price difference, the truth is the cars can't be compared. There are some people who just can't use the Leaf. And there are some people (who might want to carry five people, for instance) who cannot consider the Volt. That's how it goes. The best thing to do is to clearly elucidate the differences between the two, to illustrate their strengths and suggest missions that each is suited for.

It would be great if both of them sold their entire volume in the first year. Obviously, they would sell to different people. That's the market. Someone is pooh-poohing bother and is awaiting the Model S. What we have in common is a love of new technology and a desire to move off of foreign oil.