Nissan Leaf gets boost from US Govt

[IBrake4Rainbows]

Well there's your problem, roosterjuicer.

You are applying logic to a comment that clearly has none.

[wwgkd]

Well there's your problem, roosterjuicer.

You are applying logic to a comment that clearly has none.

All I could think was that if bigger countries means bigger items then I feel sorry for the women of luxemborg.

[IBrake4Rainbows]

Could be worse.

Feel for those ladies of the Vatican City

[culver]

Could be worse.

Feel for those ladies of the Vatican City

Wow... there are just so many places that comment could go...

[culver]

Damn, I thought the Volt wasn't going into production:
Review: Chevy Volt is electrifying drive - MotorHead- msnbc.com

[pimento]

Damn, I thought the Volt wasn't going into production:
Review: Chevy Volt is electrifying drive - MotorHead- msnbc.com

I'm not sure GM (gm) were ever planning on not letting it get to market. I'm looking forwards to real world reviews of it now to see if the hype is lived up to.

[kingofthering]

Culver,

Can you tell us why GM, which was a leader in zero emission vehicles (ZEV), decided to crush their EV - 1 vehicles, using high cost and low demand as an excuse for such destruction, only to settle with the development of the Volt---a sort of mediocre hybrid vehicle, a few years later, given that Toyota has over 2000 patents on hybrid technology of which GM itself may or may not pay royalties to Toyota for using certain hybrid technologies on the Volt????

Toyota Builds Thicket of Patents Around Hybrid To Block Competitors - WSJ.com

Well, 10 years ago, we didn't have the foresight to see that there would be an end to our good fortune. It's easy for us to look back and say that it would all come crashing down. But low gas prices combined with a crappy technology where you could barely move out of town meant that GM put their money elsewhere.

Gas has always been f-king expensive in Japan, so it's no duh that they would embrace this type of technology.

[wwgkd]

Well, 10 years ago, we didn't have the foresight to see that there would be an end to our good fortune. It's easy for us to look back and say that it would all come crashing down. But low gas prices combined with a crappy technology where you could barely move out of town meant that GM put their money elsewhere.

Gas has always been f-king expensive in Japan, so it's no duh that they would embrace this type of technology.

Yeah, when the number one selling vehicle of any kind world wide has been a ford pickup for 30 years, it does make sense that they would try to pursue that market. And to be fair quite a bit happened all at once to bring this about. Monday morning quarterbacks...

[culver]

Funny that Nissan also chased the full size truck market.

[wwgkd]

Funny that Nissan also chased the full size truck market.

And toyota. Honda was getting there. Pretty much everyone tried a full size SUV.

[nota]

The ev-1 was extremely expensive to build,

for the answer as to why, see quote #3

even more expensive to maintain,

engine maintenance? radiator & trans services? timing belts? water pumps?

and was a very limited model that they didn't make any money on.

see quote #1

Nobody bought them,

nobody could buy them, they were never offered for sale

and nobody really wanted to buy them outside of some fleet buyers which is really what they were intended for.

I don't believe that nobody wanted to buy the EV-1, or that they were intended for fleet buyers. Or that, by inference, private consumers don't want to buy, own or lease electric-powered vehicles.

Btw Japan's outright best selling vehicle in 2009 was the Toyota Prius.

Electric cars are silly and with current technology will never be more than a niche car in America. Thats the whole point of the volt. It does everything an EV-1 did (drive short distances using nothing buy electric power)

Ironic that GM's old-tech EV-1 could travel more than twice as far on one charge as will GM's 'current technology' Volt.
For electric-only distance, even this [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henney_Kilowatt]Henney Kilowatt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame] a 50 y/o antique beats the Volt.

During the recent Global Green Challenge (held in Oz on public roads) an '09 Tesla Roadster travelled 501 kms on a single charge.

only its better because once you hit that 50 mile mark, YOU CAN KEEP DRIVING WITHOUT HAVING TO PLUG THE CAR IN AND CHARGE IT FOR 8 HOURS!

Speaking of "better" a company called 'Better Place' are a purveyor of electric vehicles and related infrastructure, and will vend both in my city (Canberra) by 2012, utilising the Renault Fluence which is a sister car to the Nissan Leaf. They recently held a public demonstration of their 'Quick Change' battery-swap stations which changed a complete battery pack of one of their electric vehicles, from standstill to driveaway, in just 90 seconds.

Try bettering that time when refuelling your petrol guzzler.

[pimento]

Speaking of "better" a company called 'Better Place' are a purveyor of electric vehicles and related infrastructure, and will vend both in my city (Canberra) by 2012, utilising the Renault Fluence which is a sister car to the Nissan Leaf. They recently held a public demonstration of their 'Quick Change' battery-swap stations which changed a complete battery pack of one of their electric vehicles, from standstill to driveaway, in just 90 seconds.

Try bettering that time when refuelling your petrol guzzler.

I think I can fill my motorbike in about 90 seconds.. but that's about 3 litres of fuel.

[G35COUPE]

So you just proved everyones point about japanese people being more willing to accept "hybridization" than Americans due to differences in culture.

But for the sake of argument, apply the reasoning in your post to this: Japan is bigger than germany. Germany makes a lot more fire breathing dragons than japan.

Geographic size may influence culture, but it is in no way equated to culture in of itself. We shall never know whther Germany has more fire breathing dragons than Japan. Last time i checked, the Nissan GTR was still in the leading crowd of fire breathing monsters.

[Ferrer]

Geographic size may influence culture, but it is in no way equated to culture in of itself. We shall never know whther Germany has more fire breathing dragons than Japan. Last time i checked, the Nissan GTR was still in the leading crowd of fire breathing monsters.

Oh yes, we do. It's all about needs and culture.

Germany has unlimited autobahns. That means they need big powerful cars which can sustain high speeds during a long period of time. And that's why they have their big Audis, BMWs, Mercs and Porsches. Italy on the other hand has lot of small roads and small towns. Which is why Fiats are small and have little tiny revvy engines and slick gear changes. And Japan is all about space and start-stop traffic, which why the Kei car with an auto regins supreme. A finally the US has cheap fuel and no corners at all, with huge distances to travel. So American cars are big and comfy with huge lazy engines.

Culture has such importance that some manufacturers even have different cars for different geographic areas. And Japanese manufacturers are a clear example of that.

[G35COUPE]

Damn, I thought the Volt wasn't going into production:
Review: Chevy Volt is electrifying drive - MotorHead- msnbc.com

So, which is it, spring time release date or mid-November 2010? See article below. Why is GM inconsistent with the release date of their dear Mr. Volt? Spring is almost here and there is still no Mr. Volt, why?


Chevy Volt Exact Launch Date Will be Mid-November 2010, Tens of Thousands in 2011

My thinking here is that when a company throws out so many release dates for their car, it suggests that they may have lied about some aspect of the car.