GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

Yesterday New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg showed the Big Apple is fully on board with the many benefits of hybrid and electric vehicles, as he announced the city’s acquisition of 50 Chevrolet Volts.

The new Volts were part of a total 70 new battery-petrol-powered vehicles to join the city’s fleet which now totals 430 advanced-tech cars and trucks.

Along with the Chevrolets, the city’s order includes 10 battery-powered Ford Transit Connect cargo vans and 10 Navistar eStar electric utility trucks. The Navistar vehicles are being leased for two years at $1 per year, the mayor said.

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announces the addition of 50 new Chevrolet Volt electric vehicles to the city’s fleet.

In addition to the gift/lease from Navistar, Bloomberg noted funding for the new vehicles came from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the New York Power Authority.

As for the Volts, they will be used in a number of functions, including as the first electric police cars, according to Chevrolet. The city also uses electric scooters and golf carts where practical.

“This is the latest and largest-ever addition of electric vehicles to the city’s fleet, which is already the largest municipal clean-air vehicle fleet in the nation,” Bloomberg said in a press statement. “We will continue to lead by example, but we also must provide New Yorkers with tools to make environmentally friendly choices in their own lives.

The mayor’s announcement was made at the EV charger-equipped sanitation department repair facility in Maspeth, Queens.

He said there are a host of reasons why New Yorkers – and, by extension, Americans – should embrace EVs and hybrids.

“I can quickly run out of fingers counting the benefits of electric vehicles,” Bloomberg said. Among reasons cited were an effort to reduce greenhouse gases and global warming and the mayor said New York’s goal is to reduce its overall carbon footprint by 30 percent by 2017.

Carlos Francica, a New York Department of Sanitation worker, cleans the front windshield of an electric vehicle before the start of the press conference.

A reduction in tailpipe emissions also improves basic air standards, Bloomberg said, which will stand to ameliorate present rates of respiratory illness and heart disease.

Bloomberg noted each Volt will also save about 4,000 gallons of gasoline the city estimates will equal about $15,000 in the life of each car.

Calling the Volts “hybrid” vehicles, Bloomberg said the intent was nonetheless to operate them as EVs by limiting them to under 35 miles per day in all-electric mode. By using them at this easygoing daily rate, the mayor said he expects them to last 10 years, a rather long time for a fleet vehicle.

Another big reason for endorsing EVs, the mayor said, is to reduce dependence on petroleum. He noted the U.S. now imports about 50 percent of its oil, and this puts the country in a vulnerable position – an obvious statement to readers of this site, but one some would agree cannot be stated often enough, particularly from those in positions of influence.

Speaking of which, the mayor’s announcement was staged at the same time New Yorkers were planning to see a free screening of “Revenge of the Electric Car” in Central Park later yesterday evening.

In what was a major thrust for EVs yesterday, the mayor also announced a New York-based Web site to inform people about their choices. Bloomberg encouraged New Yorkers to check into battery-electrics and hybrids, saying research shows 20 percent would consider one if fully informed on their benefits vs. cost.

“When provided with the facts, people become far more likely to choose an electric vehicle. Our job is to ensure the public has the facts, ensure they can make their own decisions and ensure that if they want to drive an electric vehicle, we are providing the infrastructure needed. It’s all part of our PlaNYC agenda to create a greener, greater New York City.”

Mayor Bloomberg holds a power cord used to recharge the battery of a Chevrolet Volt during the press conference. For a full video (we were not able to embed) you can go to New York’s Web site to see it in low res or high res.

The city said the new vehicles will be used by city agencies, including the departments of sanitation, corrections, parks, environmental protection, transportation, police and fire. New York taxi companies also operate a growing fleet of over 4,980 hybrid taxis.

To help charge the city’s fleet, the New York Times reported New York now has 70 EV charging stations, installed with assistance from the Energy Department.

Overall, Bloomberg said New York intends to remain a leader in the acceptance and proliferation of hybrid and electric vehicles.

GM, Wheels Blog, New York City Web site

As the first mass-production extended range electric vehicle, the Volt represents an American solution toward sustainable transportation.

Recently Chevrolet documented that the total number of Volts on the road have surpassed two million miles, and two-thirds of these miles were on all-electric power.

Some have said they are waiting to hear of a Volt driver somewhere who will be shown to have used the car as a conventional petrol car, and rarely or never plug in.

Another Chevrolet Volt using no gasoline.

It would appear the majority are at the opposite spectrum and this makes sense, as the Volt was first heralded by forward-thinking people, and they have been first to begin logging miles.

As a fairly typical case example, Chevrolet highlighted the story of Kory Levoy, a manufacturing manager from Yorba Linda, Calif.

His previous car was an Audi TT Roadster and his gasoline bill was $50-60 per week.

Since owning a Volt for the past six months, he has only filled up the gasoline tank three times in 7,500 miles of driving.

“I was tired of spending roughly $200 plus a month on gas,” Levoy said. “The ability to not even consider finding a gas station or worry about fuel pricing is a phenomenal experience.”

His commute is 25 miles each way, and he is getting about 40 miles of all-electric range, he said.

While detractors have been quick to point out the Volt before subsidies costs about twice what the Cruze does, cost of ownership is another matter.

Levoy said the amount he pays per month in electricity to charge his car is $25, and estimates he could save $2,000 per year in gasoline costs.

A similar story comes from Carey Bailey, an electrical engineer from Cottage Grove, Ore., who has had his Volt since January.

He estimates he cut his monthly transportation energy bill by about $100 per month, and expects it to be further reduced.

Bailey said he used to spend $500 per month for his 75-mile round trip, and now spends about $1.10 per day to charge his Volt.

“Each day, I use about a quarter of a gallon of gas to get to work, which is hardly anything,” said Bailey. “Being able to charge at work is an added benefit and I love the fact that I am reducing my carbon footprint by not consuming as much gas.”

Chevrolet said it is collecting this kind of Volt owner data, and is sure the car is a success out of the gate, and where the company wants it at this point still early since its introduction.

“About two-thirds of the more than two million miles driven by Volt owners to date have been powered by domestically produced electricity,” said Cristi Landy, Volt marketing director. “We are hearing from owners like Kory and Carey who are able to charge both at home overnight and at work during the day. These owners are able to maximize driving on electricity alone, seeing real saving at the pump and in their wallets.”

Invitation

How about you Volt drivers? You know GM is trying to jump start the anecdotes by posting these kinds of stories, but I bet some of you may have your own story to tell.

Yesterday we read a story offered by Bill Destler, and the week prior, we heard from Kurt – A.K.A. Captbently – who shared his solution for fast charging at work and his son’s house.

People sharing from the heart with other people is powerful.

If you have a factual Volt-related anecdote to tell, you have a couple options: You can either write a complete story (subject to edits as needed), or you can email or talk to me and I can write the story as I did about Kurt.

These kinds of owner accounts, as GM has said, are the most authentic, and among the best ways to support the Volt. They are also clinically proven to give forum trolls migraine headaches.

OK, just kidding on the last part, but you never know!

And, whether you are interested in telling a story or not, that is fine. As always, feedback is welcome in the readers’ comments section as well. Thank you.

Note: This is a guest article sent to us last week.

By Bill Destler

I’m a regular reader at GM-Volt and have owned this astonishing vehicle for about 4 months and 4000 miles. I’m also president of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), and some of our engineers worked on the Volt’s battery development. A lot of people seem to think that the Volt is cheap to operate because electricity is cheaper than gas, but that isn’t the reason and it isn’t true in general anyway.

A gallon of gas contains about 33 kWh of energy, and at the national average price for electricity of about $.11 per kWh, the same amount of electrical energy as is available in a gallon of gas costs $3.63. This is almost exactly the same as the national average price for a gallon of petro. In terms of cost, the two sources of energy are comparable.

A Chevrolet Volt drives past Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant.

So how can the Volt go 40 miles or so on an 11 kwh charge? That means its equivalent gas mileage in electric only mode is about 120 mpge. The answer is simply that electric drivetrains are much more efficient than internal combustion engine (ICE) drivetrains (about 75 percent vs. 25 percent). In fact, there is little hope that ICE drivetrains could ever compete with electric drivetrains in terms of efficiency.

Why are ICE drivetrains so inefficient? There are many reasons, including heat losses and inertial losses of various kinds, but ICE’s are also thermodynamic systems with efficiencies limited by the heat cycle they operate under. Engineers have done amazing work in improving the efficiency of gas-powered cars, but they are up against fundamental limits.

So in any efficiency comparison between a Volt operating in all-electric mode and an ICE driven car, the Volt wins hands down. It isn’t even close. But even more amazing is the fact that a Volt can get 40 mpg in charge sustaining mode.

Let me explain this statement a bit further by comparing the Volt to a Chevy Cruze. The Cruze uses an ICE connected to a transmission to drive the wheels directly. So the energy cycle goes from potential energy stored in the gas to heat to mechanical energy which drives the wheels. In the Volt when operating in charge sustaining mode, the potential energy in the gasoline goes into heat and then to mechanical energy to drive the generator, and then to electrical energy from the generator which powers the AC motor providing mechanical energy to turn the wheels.

Chevrolet Volt chassis.

Now a Cruze weighs significantly less than a Volt, but it gets about the same mileage as the Volt in charge sustaining mode. The extra weight, along with the additional energy conversion cycles in the Volt when it runs on gasoline, should make the Volt in this mode less efficient than a Cruze, but the overall efficiency of the whole Volt system as engineered by GM has, remarkably, produced about the same operating efficiency.

I think this is primarily because of the high efficiency of the electric parts of the drivetrain and the fact that the gas engine in the Volt can operate closer to its optimum efficiency rpm more of the time than can an ICE powering a mechanical drivetrain, which operates through several gear changes over a much wider rpm range.

So in the future, electric drivetrains will probably dominate whether the power source is a battery, a fuel cell, or even biofuels. There’s just no other way to get this kind of efficiency gain from an ICE drivetrain.

Since before the production of the Chevrolet Volt, we have been hearing of more electric vehicles to be launched, including a Mitsubishi plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, and before that, the lowest-price, highest- MPGe EV yet is due in U.S. dealerships this November.

The “i” is what Mitsubishi is calling the “wide body” version of its EV, and just 2,000 will be made available of the 2012 Japanese minicar that in its homeland comes in a few electric and petrol iterations and is known as the MiEV.

The cautious launch is to prep the ground for more EVs and PHEVs. Next after the i will be the PX-MiEV compact SUV plug-in hybrid electric vehicle first seen as a concept in 2009, and due in a couple more years.

Mitsubishi i.

As for the pending i model, yesterday Mitsubishi began amping up the buzz by announcing EPA numbers for the car due to cost $27,995 before incentives, and a even showcased a new solar charging station at its headquarters in Cypress, Calif.

The all-electric i city car earned 126 MPGe in city driving, and 99 MPGe on the highway (112 MPGe combined).

Packing a Volt-sized 16-kWh battery, and capable of 81 mph top speed, the rear-wheel-drive commuter will weigh a few hundred pounds more than the approximately 2,400-pound Japanese version. Exact weight has not yet been announced.

A city and suburban car mostly, but freeway capable.

As it is, this will be several hundred pounds lighter than the larger bodied Nissan LEAF, which Mitsubishi does not consider a head-to head competitor.

To test its range, the i was put through the “LA4” driving cycle which simulates aggressive driving and operating the vehicle in higher ambient temperatures with the air conditioning on. The cycle covers approximately 7.5 miles and includes numerous brief stops to mimic in-town driving as well as starts and stops for traffic signals.

A conservative estimate Mitsubishi is promising is “real world” range of 62 miles (100 km), and under the EPA’s LA4 cycle, the car is actually rated at 98 miles.

The company said it worked to improve potential travel distance, and attributes the 98 mile range to software upgrades and a revamped regenerative braking system, which delivers a 20-percent efficiency boost.

They look smaller, but those are said to be 15-inch wheels.

“We feel that with the combination of capability, affordability, and high level of efficiency offered by the 2012 Mitsubishi i will be prove very appealing to consumers considering EV transportation”, said Yoichi Yokozawa, President and CEO of Mitsubishi Motors North America.

Although tiny, and considered a “second or third vehicle,” for most Americans, factoring in a $7,500 federal credit, it will cost $20,495, and boasts a long list of standard amenities.

Included are energy-efficient electric air conditioning with micron filter, speed-sensitive Electric Power Steering (EPS), driver seat heater and LED rear combination tail lamps.

Coming to dealers November.

Advanced safety features include dual-stage supplemental front air bags, driver and front passenger seat-mounted side impact supplemental air bags, roof-mounted curtain side-impact supplemental air bags for front and rear-seat outboard passengers.

Does this sound like a fair bit of safety? It was considered necessary for this small car testing the waters in the demanding North American market – and there are more safety features besides, including Active Stability Control (ASC) with Traction Control Logic (TCL), 4-wheel Anti-Lock Braking system (ABS) with Electronic Brake force Distribution (EBD), Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS), high voltage cut-off system and an Approaching Vehicle Audible System (AVAS).

All this safety technology will come standard on every Mitsubishi i.

Solar charger

Keeping its electric cars fully charged is a new Eaton solar-powered charger at the HQ of Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA, Inc. (Mitsubishi Electric) and Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA).

The charging station is powered by 96, 175-watt photovoltaic modules from Mitsubishi Electric. It will help support CHAdeMO compatible electric vehicles and is able to charge up to four vehicles at once.

Charging station, Cypress, Calif.

The station actually features three types of chargers with different voltages: standard level 1 voltage will deliver a 100-percent charge in 22 hours for the Mitsubishi i; level 2 which can charge the vehicle in six hours; and 480-volt level 3 CHAdeMO Quick Charge, which can charge to 80 percent battery capacity in 25 minutes.

This level 3 charger is the first of its kind CHAdeMO Quick Charger certified for U.S. sale and public utility.

DC quick charger. Looks just like a gasoline pump.

“This project will build awareness of solar power’s versatility and efficiency,” said Katsuya Takamiya, president and chief executive officer, Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA. “As electric vehicles’ popularity grows, we expect to see more charging stations at large employers, automobile dealerships, shopping centers and schools, where cars can charge while people work, shop or study.”

Pending PHEV

According to Mitsubishi’s Moe Durand, manager, product PR, very little is being announced about a potential competitor to the Chevrolet Voltec platform, except Mitsubishi says it is a “North Star,” meaning it is the end goal.

While the i EV is to be limited quantity, with future increases played by ear, the PX-MiEV plug-in hybrid will be more of an everyday car.

Durand said Mitsubishi expects to ramp up from a launch some time in the next two years to significant quantities, but otherwise said the vehicle will have a gas-electric powertrain and is “very much under development.”

PX-MiEV concept.

If it is anything like the concept vehicle shown at the Tokyo Auto Show in October 2009, it ought to be interesting. That vehicle was able to function as either a series or parallel hybrid, and also could operate in front or four-wheel-drive.

The PX-MiEV concept had one electric motor for the front wheels, another for the back and an estimated 30 miles of all-electric range.

It was powered also by a 1.6-liter, 114-horsepower, four-cylinder gasoline engine able to work either as a generator at low speeds or a source of supplemental propulsion at higher speeds.

Perhaps by the time the PX-MiEV is launched, Chevrolet will have its Voltec MP5 or another competitive vehicle in production too?

Mitsubishi, Mitsubishi

We received a few e-mails over the past couple days from GM-Volt forum member Captbently about his efforts to acquire a portable level 2 charger, and with his permission, are turning his account into a story for others to learn by, as well as offer their knowledge and opinions.

Captbently – whose first name is Kurt – lives in Connecticut, and has access to 240-volt outlets at his son’s house, a barn, and his office in New York. In choosing a solution, he had to tackle several issues.

Kurt leases Volt number 2161, he said, and has been interested in electric propulsion for 20 years since his dad first got an EZGO golf cart.

Charging is easy – if charging is available. Owning an electric car can require some resourcefulness too depending on how far you want to travel.

“I really believed the Volt was going to be something special and it has not disappointed,” Kurt said.

We have observed some of you have previously said you do not see as much need for 240 (aka 220)-volt charging for your Volt – at home, let alone on the road.

Since the car has gasoline power as well, it enables flexibility, and assuming drivers stay within all-electric range (AER), they can make due with the standard 110-volt home charger overnight.

This said, some drivers – like Kurt – may want more daily AER and ability to charge on the go.

“The Volt is about three times more efficient when operating on electricity from the grid (about 120 MPGe),” Kurt said, “rather than from the gasoline powered generator (40 MPG).”

As delivered Clipper Creek LCS-25. Note bare leads meant to be wired by an electrician. You can also install a plug and make it more versatile.

At issue is what charging resources or facilities you have access to – if any.

As we are still in the early days of electric vehicles, even in the middle of some cities or suburban areas it might as well be the boondocks for the lack of public EV charging stations.

This is changing as more facilities come online, but it is still a hit-or-miss proposition to find public charging, so being resourceful helps for EV drivers – and others in charge of implementing solutions too will need to make decisions for the future, but we will get to that …

Problem and solution

To charge Volt No. 2161 at home, Kurt installed an SPX level 2 in his garage. In seeking to order a portable level 2 charger from SPX, he was told it could not deliver in a timely manner, he said.

“About one month ago, I noticed on their Web site that the portable charger was showing a price of ‘not available,’” Kurt said, “I called thinking I would place an order, but they said it would take at least 60 days to receive and that they would be charging my credit card immediately.”

So, rather than being charged and made to wait, he contacted Clipper Creek and paid an extra $200 for one of its small home chargers ($995).

LCS-25 with plug installed for portable (or permanent) use.

“I ordered their LCS-25 and received it in about three days. While they don’t market it as a portable charger, it is about the same size as the level 1 charger that comes with the Volt, and it is in a NEMA-4 Outdoor enclosure,” Kurt said, “I simply put a plug on the end of the cord that came with the unit.”

Creativity

As mentioned, the LCS-25 is not designed for this application, but Kurt played MacGyver and re-tasked the simple, compact home charger – that is ordinarily meant to be hardwired – into one he could plug into a 240-volt outlet.

Which brings us to another twist Kurt had to overcome.

“Many of the ads for portable chargers state that they will plug into a standard 240-volt outlet. However, there is no such thing as one standard outlet. Clothes dryers typically use at least two different common 30 amp receptacles. A welder might use one of two different 50-amp receptacles,” Kurt said, “Shop equipment such as a table saw would again use different 15 and 20 amp receptacles. Marine and generators have their own types. Different amperages and voltages dictate the choices and there are both straight blade and twist lock versions for these applications.”

NEMA L6-30P plug.

Does this sound kind of complicated? Even if not, it is at least clear that standards vary, and the EV driver will have to wend his or her way through a plethora of choices if wanting to do something like Kurt did.

“I chose a 30 amp three wire (ground plus two feeds) twist lock plug as my personal standard. It is not too large and I think the twist lock makes sense. It is a NEMA L6-30P. The matching receptacle would be a L6-30R,” he said, “A matching female that would go on the end of a cord would be L6-30C. You might find them at Home Depot of Lowes, but if not, any electrical supply company that sells to electricians will have them. Expect to pay about $20 for the receptacle, $16 for the male plug, and $43 for the corded female end. My dealer in New Cannan, Conn. also chose these plugs for their chargers.”

Clipper Creek’s view

Just to check, we called Clipper Creek in Auburn, Calif., and spoke with Technical Customer Specialist, Will Barrett.

Kurt’s installation of a three-prong plug onto the wiring did not raise any red flags from a product liability or warranty standpoint, Barrett said, as long as he did not open the electronics’ housing.

The sturdy, simple, indoor-outdoor LCS-25 should work fine with a plug, he said, even though it is intended to be permanently installed at a fixed location.

Clipper Creek has been a dedicated EV charging station maker since 2007, Barrett said, and got started helping Tesla customers which require more powerful chargers. A Tesla can handle up to 70 amps at about 17 kW, far higher than the 15-16 amps or so of a Volt at 3.3 kW.

The Volt’s on-board charger, like the Nissan LEAF’s, is an effective bottleneck to quicker charging, but its battery is much smaller than the Tesla’s, so that is OK. The Ford Focus EV however will come with a faster 6.6 kW charger.

Adaptability

To make his home-grown solution work with a different configuration 240-volt receptacle, Kurt also created a patch cord to mate to his twist-lock connector.

Captbently’s home-made patch cord. One end plugs to welding receptacle, the other to charger. We told Clipper Creek about this, and Barrett said it sounded copacetic.

“If this is to be your only charger, then installation would be as simple as having a L6-30R receptacle installed in a convenient location for charging your car. Since I have a 50-amp welding receptacle in another building on my property, I made up a patch cord. It has the welder male plug on one end (about $54) and the L6-30C on the other end,” Kurt said, “I used two feet of 10 gauge (30 amp) extension cord, although 12 gauge would be fine. Adapter cords are easy to make up. The female would always be the same, but the plug would be for whatever receptacle would be used.”

Issues to consider

For our part, we believe Kurt’s thinking makes sense, and his resourcefulness helps maximize the AER from the Volt, which is the whole idea of an EV in the first place.

His initial experience has shown having access to 240-volts is useful, and he recommends it for public access in addition to the public charging stations being rolled out.

“If you are at a store for 45 minutes, you could expect the range on your Volt to increase by about 3.5 miles,” Kurt said of just plugging into 120-volts, “whereas a level 2 charger would increase your range about 8.5 miles. So my point here is that the cost differential to install a 240-volt outlet vs. a 120 volt outlet is minimal, while the cost to install commercial charging stations with a J1772 plugs is substantial and would be prohibitive in most cases.”

We have been hearing the industry is talking of standards. We think many more standards and issues will need to be sorted, and this is one of them.

Kurt said that not long ago he heard a local Whole Foods had installed charging stations. He was excited to try one for the first time, he said, and expected to see a J1772 plug connected to a charger in the parking lot. Unfortunately, what he found were 120 volt receptacles.

“Okay, this was better than nothing,” he said, “but not the Level 2 that I was expecting to find.”

What is needed are 240-volt receptacles for people with their own chargers, he said. There ought to be enough installed where people park EVs during the day.

And here is a question to ponder, Kurt raised:

“Why not shift some of the cost to the owners in the form of portable chargers? But, this only works if everyone is using the same 240-volt plug,” he said. “The industry needs to adapt the use of a one 220/240 volt plug that would become the standard for 30-amp level 2 portable chargers. Perhaps we can get the ball rolling here in this site.”

We would add if common 240-volt receptacles were available – such as already found at RV parks – even if someone did have a different plug, perhaps also patch cords like Kurt made could also add to the flexibility of the concept.

The question Kurt has, is what do you GM-Volt readers think?

“One suggestion that I have would be to get some consensus on a standard plug that would be used on portable chargers,” he said, “This could vastly reduce the cost for the commercial charging station installations.”

Brain storming

Would the EV-driving society we are working to create benefit from commonly available, public-access, 240-volt plugs?

Would this not be an expedient solution in addition to the rollout of more costly charging stations with J1772 connectors ready to go?

Should businesses charge for access?

At the very least, it looks convenient for Kurt, and others who have access to 240 volts at various locations in their regular orbit.

Looks great. Now, can we just get a few hundred thousand or more installed around the U.S. please? And additionally, how about thousands of 240-volt receptacles for the more independent folk?

To those of you technically-minded who may have a view, what plug standard would make sense for 240-volt receptacles into which drivers could plug their own portable level 2 charger?

Or is this not a good idea for any reason? … like theft and vandalism worries?

“One concern that I did not mention in my original email is protecting one’s $1,000 portable charger while in a public parking area,” Kurt said, “So here is a brand new business opportunity – make special locks for portable charging stations.”

That is one security solution. Surely there would be others that could work too – including installing fast chargers in the car.

In all, we like the idea of being more independent.

Thanks to Kurt for pioneering one solution. More constructive feedback is welcome.

Just for some perspective, we thought we would note a few things, including last month marked the first half year for a new era of mainstream EVs begun by Chevrolet’s Volt and Nissan’s LEAF – which as disruptive technology, are being watched closely by pundits of every stripe.

Since the beginning of their production, both electric vehicles were slow out of the gate, initially recording sales in the mere hundreds – limited by supply, their manufacturers said, not demand.

Even so, journalists have been quick to note how low the numbers were, quick to compare the two, and are still making such observations – the latest story du jour being the Volt is losing to the sales king of the month, the LEAF.

Volt Consumer Advisory Board, including: (l to r): Eric Rotbard, Brian Wynne, Colin Summers, Lyle Dennis, Robert Becker, Chelsea Sexton, Kris Trexler, Tom Kuhn and Mark Swain. Sept. 28, 2010.

Actually both cars are still ramping up slowly compared to a number of ICE vehicles, many of which individually outsell both EVs combined many times over.

But to their credit, both Nissan and Chevrolet are the only electric vehicle manufacturers posting their sales performance month after month for the world to praise them, bash them, or at least benignly observe.

Smart, Tesla, and Wheego do not report monthly sales, and their totals are reportedly much lower than LEAF and Volt sales.

What is more, both Chevrolet and Nissan say they have a backlog of orders which defy allegations of lagging demand for either manufacturer at this juncture.

Moreover, both are still predicting huge increases in commitment to their electric vehicle platforms, promising more models to come.

June sales ‘race’

The Volt’s June sales edged up to 561 from 481 sales in May despite no new supply from a closed assembly plant being updated for increased production capacity and due to open later this month. In total, GM said it has sold 2,745 for the first half year.

Comparatively, the LEAF sold more than triple the number of Volts in June, and actually more units in June than the 1,650 or more units Tesla has sold of its elite $109,000-plus Roadster since launching it in 2008.

Now here is a race we fully agree the LEAF won. Under beautiful blue skies at the 89th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb June 27, veteran Nissan off-road truck racing champion Chad Hord and the LEAF made history as the first winners of the Electric Production Class.

The number of LEAFs sold last month was 1,708, by far the best month for the car. Nissan has sold 3,875 total units to date, topping Chevrolet by 1,130 units to date.

Perceived wins and losses aside, both Chevrolet and Nissan are still on track to reach their goals, but – not even counting a few GM/Volt haters out there – media have still portrayed Volt sales as losing to the LEAF.

Examples of headlines

“Nissan Leaf whips Chevrolet Volt in electric sales race” – USA Today

“EV Wars: After early lead, Chevrolet Volt takes backseat to Nissan Leaf in 2011 sales race”
– MLIVE

“Nissan LEAF passes Chevrolet Volt in 2011 sales race” – egmCarTech

More to the story

There is no doubt there is competitiveness between the two manufacturers. Snippy advertising rhetoric we have seen is proof enough, as have been various comments by certain executives.

And it is true, the LEAF has done comparatively well – although we will observe Nissan did not miss its chance to offer the proverbial I told you so.

“We’ve been telling you we’d grow every month, and now you’re seeing more normalized production flow,” Al Castignetti, Nissan’s vice president of U.S. sales said to Bloomberg. “We’re starting to catch up with the reservations.”

But whether or not an early lead is an indicator of anyone really winning or losing a “race” is definitely in question.

In fact, GM has had to bat down what it said were unjustified allegations that the Volt was under-performing since it was launched.

“Many other people will look at the raw numbers and try and either extrapolate that we’re going to come short for 10,000 units, or they’re just going to take the raw numbers and say it’s not a success,” said GM Spokesman Rob Peterson in April, “And I don’t buy that, I think it’s a short-sighted analysis. We’re 100-percent confident that we’re going to get there.”

GM has not changed its word on the subject. Its word was we will see up and down numbers all year, but in the end, it will do what it set out to do.

Nissan may indeed be up, but the good news is the story is only starting, and the race is anything but won or lost by either side.

LEAF and Volt in the cold. (Photo by Motortrend.)

And in the mean time, thanks in part to pioneering efforts by both companies – as well as others – EV manufacturers now have clearer data with which to follow in their footsteps.

Fisker is reportedly due to deliver its Karma E-REV this month, Ford, Coda, and Mitsubishi also have models waiting in the wings, and more are expected in coming years.

Reality

If anything, the more accurate picture between the Volt and LEAF is Nissan did win a couple of proverbial battles, but neither has won any sort of proverbial war.

To put things in perspective, a proverbial “war” has begun, but is only just starting, and people need to realize what the real fight is.

The real fight is to get EV sales numbers above fractions of the ICE total. The actual war, if you will, is to achieve a complete paradigm change toward mainstream electric-powered transportation.

On that front, the LEAF and Volt are well on their way. And as “disruptive technology,” while they do compete against one another in one respect, in another, they are actually on the same side.

Bloomberg