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Nissan has accumulated about 13,000 orders for the 2018 Leaf in the US, Engadget reports, citing a conversation with Nissan during the 2018 Detroit Auto Show.
The 2018 Leaf entered US production in December, and deliveries are expected to begin en masse early this year. While it's also built in Japan, US-spec Leafs are built right here in the ol' US of A -- Smyrna, Tennessee, specifically.
This swell of demand means that Nissan is doing something right with the Leaf's redesign. Whereas the last Leaf was a bit too futuristic for my tastes, the new one fits right in alongside the rest of Nissan's recently refreshed rides.
Source: CNET
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2018 Nissan Leaf Touts a Claimed 13,000 Preorders
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QOTD:
"My life is a soap opera, but who gets the movie rights?"
(Score: 2) by FakeBeldin on Monday January 22 2018, @09:47AM (11 children)
From the source:
So, half-again as much range... instead of 160km, you can now drive 240km on a full charge (and maybe even more on the fancy big battery).
I'm thinking that will account for a large part of the demand - reducing range anxiety. With the old one, you pretty much would want to park at a charging station for any trip beyond the city limits. With the new one, if it doesn't work out that way, it's not necessarily the end of the world.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by bobthecimmerian on Monday January 22 2018, @02:11PM (9 children)
But I still don't understand the 13,000 preorders. The Chevy Bolt is on sale now, http://www.chevrolet.com/bolt-ev-electric-vehicle [chevrolet.com] - four seats like the Leaf, 238 mile range (~350+ km) on the battery. I know General Motors earned an honest reputation for abysmal quality from the 1980s through the early 2000s, but my understanding is that they're managing pretty well these days. So why spend $30,000 on a 150 mile range Leaf when you can spend it on a 230 mile range Bolt?
(Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @02:40PM (2 children)
Nissan are selling the Leaf everywhere, but GM are only selling the Bolt in California.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @03:12PM
Wrong. From https://electrek.co/2017/12/01/chevy-bolt-ev-us-sales-records/ [electrek.co]
2017 sales total about 20,000 Bolts.
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Monday January 22 2018, @04:40PM
My neighbor has extended the lease on his current Leaf. I assume that he has a preorder on the new Leaf. We are in California.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Monday January 22 2018, @03:25PM (1 child)
Well, that is probably it right there. Still have that reputation. And they have that seedy bailout from 2009.
(Score: 1) by bobthecimmerian on Wednesday January 24 2018, @11:54AM
A lot of people are angry about the bailout, but GM still sells a colossal amount of trucks and SUVs, so a big portion of the country just don't care.
I suspect the real difference is just what bob_super wrote below: https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=23693&page=1&cid=626165#commentwrap [soylentnews.org] - there's a nearly $7,000 price difference between them, and a lot of people don't need a bigger range than 150 miles.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday January 22 2018, @06:19PM
The bolt's MSRP starts at $6600 over the Leaf's ($36.6k vs $30k). I didn't compare the options.
That means that the leaf can be had for $25k, after incentives and tax. Don't underestimate the difference, because the extra range is not useful for daily commutes.
One is a Nissan with a long history (though arguably not good at holding value), the other is a new Chevy.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RedBear on Tuesday January 23 2018, @05:03AM (2 children)
A lot of people are still pissed at GM killing the EV1 around the turn of the millennium, and setting back the progress of the EV revolution by at least half a decade. They forcibly rounded them all up by refusing to extend the leases and refusing to allow the owners a purchase option, which many would have taken advantage of. Then they lied that they wouldn't destroy them all, and proceeded to crush all but one or two that were saved for museums. This was all documented in the film "Who Killed the Electric Car?"
It was one of the biggest PR debacles in GM history, and even 20 years later a surprising number of people still remember and aren't interested in rewarding GM by buying their EVs now that they are finally starting to come around.
On the other hand, Nissan made a real effort to build an affordable EV, and it's been on the global market selling in high numbers (relatively) for years before the Bolt existed. It's still difficult to get a Bolt outside the US. Nearly every Leaf owner loves the Leaf, describing it as a solidly built vehicle similar to a sixth generation VW Golf, a very popular vehicle. A lot of Leaf owners just want a new Leaf with more range.
There are a ton of people who wanted to buy a Leaf for years and were just waiting for a new version with enough range to fit into their driving requirements. So, even in the face of more EVs on the market with greater range now, it's not too hard to understand why Nissan was able to pull in a few thousand preorders from people who were already planning on buying the car anyway. It makes perfect sense to me given what I've seen in the world of EVs and EV fans over the past decade.
¯\_ʕ◔.◔ʔ_/¯ LOL. I dunno. I'm just a bear.
... Peace out. Got bear stuff to do. 彡ʕ⌐■.■ʔ
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 23 2018, @05:18AM (1 child)
GM learned their lesson with the Corvair. They built a car that was "different" and product liability lawsuits came fast, by the hundreds, although the Corvair I had was a perfectly good car. While many liked the EV-1, all it would take was an accident or two and the ambulance chasers would be all over GM. Safest thing in this hostile legal climate was to get rid of most of the EV-1 cars.
The other thing about the EV-1 is that, while it was as good as it could be with the battery tech of that era, lead acid batteries just don't cut it for ev use. Too heavy and not much range, unless driven very carefully.
(Score: 1) by bobthecimmerian on Wednesday January 24 2018, @11:51AM
The early Corvair rear suspension design was such that if you swerved suddenly it would 'buck' and your risk of a rollover was substantially higher than it was for other similar size cars. So the problem wasn't "It's different", the problem was "It's less safe even than other similar size cars of the same period". After the lawsuits started coming GM fixed the rear suspension design, but by then it was too late - sales dropped because of the bad reputation.
I really don't think fear of lawsuits was the problem with the EV-1, or they never would have built it. I think there must be some other story - like they made a deal with some senator to get some legislation they wanted in return for investing in electric cars, and they fulfilled their end of the bargain and then ditched the program.
(Score: 2) by bryan on Monday January 22 2018, @06:06PM
My 2013 Leaf has a mere 24 kWh battery, which means I definitely need to watch my range even around town. While limiting yourself to light 40 mph roads may get 75 miles of range, zipping around at highway speeds will bring it closer to 60 miles of range. Because I only initiate the multi-hour charge cycle at home, a round trip distance of 30 miles away max really does give me a bit of range anxiety. The 2016 model increased the battery to 30 kWh, and now with the 2017 further increasing it to 40 kWh I'm liking the yearly improvements.
P.S. I thought the "Alien/Bug Eye" [wikipedia.org] styling was kinda cool and futuristic looking. The picture of the new model looks a little bit boring.