Another LEAF review... range anxiety, again.

[stuart22]

But Leaf isn't about to sell to typical buyers. Just like Volt isn't.

As limited in range as the LEAF is now, few typical buyers would ever consider buying one, even when its high price is ignored. Why would somebody who is used to being able to drive their car all day long with only brief stops for refueling pay $37k up front for a car that might give them an hour or two of driving before having to be parked for half a day before being able to drive again.

On the other hand, they would absolutely consider buying the Volt because unlike the LEAF, the payoffs the Volt offers are far greater than the adjustments to their lives owners have to make. Lower its price and the Volt will sell like hotcakes.

[frankydude]

In Canada, the Volt as the Leaf are far from being available to buy. To illustrate this,
I placed an order october 24 2011 on a 2012 Volt, and the dealer thinks I should get it around may or june 2012.
In Quebec, electricity is at $0.07 per kWh, and regular fuel is at $1.30CAN per litre, which makes it at around $5.05 per US gallon.
Quebec's electricity is 95% produced from hydro (absolutely no gaz emissions). That makes electric cars an economical and ecological choice.
So there is a very big interest around here in those cars, which don't stay long on the dealer lots. Quebec's government has a tax
incentive of $7783CAN for the Volt, and $8000CAN for the Leaf. Further, my insurance company has a green car rebate, which makes my
Volt fully insured for $343CAN per year, as compared to a Grand Caravan 2010 fully insured for $650CAN per year.

Time will tell how Leaf's versus Volt's sales goes around here, but I am confident most people who will buy electric cars will go with the Volt.
As for the sales statistics so far, I don't think we can make any valid conclusion because of the limited availability of either cars.
But I look forward to the GM sales statement on december 2...

Francois