Chevy Volt versus Nissan Leaf versus Toyota Prius: There is a clear winner
Is the Prius, and hybrid cars, passe?
And it’s not just the consumer
Hybrid cars, plug-in hybrid cars and battery electric cars – built by major automakers – are now available to consumers, and there is a lot of talk about which technology is the best. Obviously, that’s not an easy answer, especially today, as some consumers simply can’t even plug-in, for example.
Nevertheless, there is a clear winner in this ‘best of’ debate.
Today, the Toyota Prius is the king of hybrid cars, and while some call such hybrids passe, they couldn’t be more wrong. For the next two decades, according to a plethora of studies, hybrid sales will squash plug-in sales. Ultimately, plug-ins will simply be too expensive, or just not feasible, for most mainstream consumers.
Still, the Prius is not the clear winner.
Plug-ins like the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf will eventually overtake the Prius, but which technology is best to overtake the Prius? Pure battery-powered plug-in electrics like the Leaf, or plug-in hybrids like the Volt that can take advantage of both electricity and conventional fuels?
Today, the range anxiety caused by the 100 mile Leaf is a major concern to most consumers. Therefore, the Volt’s ability to use gasoline to extend the range of the Volt is a significant advantage. Of course, that advantage comes at a cost.
Compare the drive trains of a Prius and a Leaf and the Prius is complicated with more parts. The Volt, on the other hand, is much more complex than both the Leaf and the Prius, and that complexity increases the Volt’s price tag significantly compared to the Prius and the Leaf.
And costs do matter to most consumers, especially when the Leaf is both cheaper than the Volt, cheaper to operate and cheaper to maintain. Of course, until that nasty range issue is resolved – if ever resolved – the Volt will resonate better with consumers despite the higher costs, at least the consumers that can afford to buy a plug-in vehicle, which might only be 5 – 10 percent of new car consumers.
Consequently, neither the Leaf nor the Volt is the clear winner.
Ultimately, there is a case and a consumer segment for each of these vehicles and drive trains, and there will be for decades. Therefore, any full line automaker needs to relatively address all three vehicle types: hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery electric. Fortunately, most major automakers appear headed in this direction.
Therefore, the clear winner in this debate is choice.
well.. of course… the cost would have to be the total cost of the car + battery but as far as I know both batteries are expected to go 100K and the Leaf battery costs 17K and the Volt battery 10K.
So if Nissan makes their own, how come it costs twice as much?
Also – both cars have tremendous 5 year depreciation numbers on them which I suspect if what they are worth minus a battery, i.e. needing a replacement battery.
I just don’t see how Nissan pays 17K for their battery and the Volt 10K and the Nissan is what 5-7K cheaper?
how does that work?
@Larry – Break-even for the car owner? Leaf costs less so Leaf will break-even sooner.
If you are talking about the battery cost to manufacturer, Nissan probably has the edge since they make their own battery. GM buys the cells from LG Chem Korea.
USB – I was not going on the warranty period just the 100K standard for both cars.
most conventional cars are expected to go 100K no matter the warranty, right?
So I also gave the benefit of the doubt to the battery cars.
Now I did not address the Volt which has a battery than is 7K less than the Leaf battery – almost half.. and so the break-even for the Volt would be much sooner.
right?
Larry,
If you are going to count the Leaf’s battery life up to the warranty expiration (8 years / 100k miles), then why don’t you use the gas engine warranty expiration (3 years / 36k miles) also?
Would they die the next day the warranty expires? Absolutely not.
Larry,
I’m guessing the lower cost for the Leaf is due to the fact that the electric only drive train is so much simpler.
Not only does the Volt have the additional cost of an ICE motor, but there is the extra cost of everything it takes to integrate that ICE, including R&D costs.
Still trying to figure out how the battery for the LEAF costs 18K and for the Volt 10K and yet the LEAF sells for less.
How can that be?
If you calculated the battery as “fuel” for 100,000 miles…..the leaf would roll for 18 cents a mile (not counting the recharge costs). If you got a conventional car that got 40mpg and gas was $3.50 a gallon – it would cost about 9 cents a mile.
Maybe I screwed up the calculation but it appears that gasoline would have to go to $7.00 a gallon because the leaf could compete head to head with a conventional fueled car.
wrong?
Dahc,
You are correct. We need choices.
One of the biggest problems the past 100 years is the fact that we have one and only one choice. Oil-based fuel.
The key to an oil-free world is variety.
That choice should expand beyond hybrids an EV’s though. Let’s not forget about alternative fuels.