Chevy Volt or Nissan Leaf?

I’m leaning toward the Leaf myself, although I hear there’s still a long wait for them. They have outsold the Volt so far.

The Chevy Volt is more of a hybrid than an EV. It does 40 or so miles as an EV before switching to gas and it suits those who worry about the battery becoming depleted. Motor Trend ran a Volt through its paces here in LA recently and (averaging it out) they got 127 miles per gallon for sedate driving and 75 for driving it hard, which is impressive (story here). Lately the Volt has had some bad press because when the vehicle reaches speeds of 70 mph and the battery isn’t fully charged, the gas engine helps in turning the wheels indirectly, which improves fuel efficiency, but it offends EV purists. But this is a non-issue really. GM never promised a 100% EV. From what I hear the Volt’s battery pack comes with an 8-year, 100,000-mile warranty. The problem though is the price — around $41,000. With the $7,500 federal tax credit (assuming you have a tax liability that large), the price comes down to about $33,500. Both score high in safety in crash tests.

Even the base price for the full-EV Nissan Leaf is under that - it is now around $36,000, which after tax breaks can come down to just over $26,000. It is supposed to do around 100 miles per gallon. As a family second car, that’s perfect.

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