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GM Leads Nissan In December Electric Car Sales As Supply Trickles In

 
1,955 views Jan 3, 2011

2011 Chevrolet Volt test drive, Michigan, October 2010

2011 Chevrolet Volt test drive, Michigan, October 2010

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Chevy’s electric hybrid vehicle, the Volt, beat out the cheaper Nissan Leaf in electric car sales in the last month of 2010 as each manufacturer struggled to keep up with demand for their newest rides, the Associated Press reported today.

The Volt went into production in mid-November and hit dealerships a few weeks later, just in time to compete with the Nissan Leaf. So far it looks like the Volt has won out in terms of sheer numbers — GM sold between 250 and 350 Volts in December. Only around 10 Nissan Leaf cars were actually sold in the past two weeks.

There are around 50,000 people on the wait list for the Leaf, but Nissan initially limited rolling out its new electric vehicle line to around 200 cars in December across five states. The Leaf is around $8,000 cheaper than the Chevy Volt. Leaf supply will continue to be limited well into early 2011, and Nissan has advised dealers to be careful about what kind of orders they sign for the Leaf.

Each Nissan Leaf ordered in August was supposed to be built in Japan in September, and orders that come in September had a slight chance of being filled in December. Most Leaf orders are expected to dealer lots in January. California may get theirs first, since the cars are first shipped to Los Angeles before being sent to the rest of the Northwest.

It’s already looking like the electric car market is going to explode over the next several years as GM and Nissan, as well as others, ramp up production of their models of electric cars. Coda, a new startup that makes an electric sedan, expects to sell around 14,000 cars in its first year after release. Tesla Motors, despite some woes with its shares, has a pretty aggressive timeline for its Model S electric sedan and expects a prototype by the end of this year and deliveries to start in 2012. The company plans to build up to 20,000 Model S cars a year and currently has about 3,000 reservations for the car.

Granted, the success of each car is going to depend on whether their owners change their lifestyles to account for a few hours of charging the batteries each day (even VentureBeat’s GreenBeat writer Iris Kuo isn’t exactly sure the world is ready for that yet). Now it’s just a waiting game to see which company comes out on top once each manufacturer finally catches up to demand for the electric cars.

This story, written by Matthew Linley, was originally posted on VentureBeat's GreenBeat, an editorial partner of AllCarsElectric.





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Comments (13)

  1. By George Parrott Posted: 1/3/2011 8:45am PST

    Yes, we are watching the trickle of LEAF vehicles arrive at actual customers. According to my read of the LEAF forum only 7 cars actually made it to buying customers in 2010. I ordered on "day 1 of confirmed orders" and my LEAF appears to now be scheduled for FEBRUARY delivery. We are also getting the Chevy Volt, and that should be in our home garage by mid-January; the chargepoint for both cars will be installed this week courtesy of the DOE program attached to the Volt for the Sacramento area.
     
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  2. By Jason M. Hendler Posted: 1/3/2011 10:24am PST

    George, that's interesting that you were able to install one charger to support both vehicles. Did you have to find it on your own, or did Chevy / Nissan help you identify a unit compatible with both? Does the charger have two plugs, so that you can charge both vehicles at the same time? I can see a scenario where one vehicle gets starved, as the other takes a lot of kWhrs.
     
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  3. By Mike D. Posted: 1/3/2011 11:30am PST

    Jason, there is a standard charge port for all electric vehicles moving forward, so any charger will work with any vehicle.
     
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  4. john_v avatar John Voelcker Posted: 1/3/2011 12:06pm PST

    @Jason: The J1772 standard plug will work with any electric car now on sale except the Tesla Roadster. But I presume that Mr. Parrott can only charge one vehicle at a time.
     
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  5. By Mike Posted: 1/3/2011 1:13pm PST

    Battery technology just around the corner will enable charging to become much quicker. Charging will be available at places other than home as more EVs enter the market.
     
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  6. By Jason M. Hendler Posted: 1/3/2011 3:01pm PST

    John et al, thanks for clearing that up - though I heard rumblings that Europe may go another way and that the J1772 std was starting to become "overcome by events", so wasn't 100% sure. Also not sure if George went with Nissan's or GM's recommended vendor - just curious.
     
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  7. john_v avatar John Voelcker Posted: 1/3/2011 4:08pm PST

    @Jason: I believe some of the communications protocols for the J-1772 plug differ by region (N America, Europe, etc.) And of course the temporary charging cable in the trunk will vary based on the native wall plug in the country the car is sold in. But wall chargers with J-1772 connectors will all work on all plug-in vehicles sold within N America.
     
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  8. By George Parrott Posted: 1/4/2011 8:12am PST

    Jason, et al,
    There are at least some "dual connect" charging units, but my "free courtesy of Volt-DOE-Sacramento region" was not one of those. Yes, in 9 metropolitan regions in the US, the home charging point comes free with the Volt and in a number of OTHER regions such a program exists for the LEAF. I will need to plan my home charging sequence/schedule, but it also appears that my university will soon have a number of similar grant funded charging stations installed around campus. Hence I am optimistic that I can actually get one of my cars charged at work next Fall when I return to my last semester of university teaching at CSU, Sacramento. My wife is a research biochemist at UC, Davis,and they too are in the final planning stage for where the new generation of charge points will be installed at her campus. Basically we are already on the PG&E special EV electricity rate structure, and with our actual commute distance (wife 11 miles 1-way and 9 miles 1-way for me), we can go several days with the LEAF before need the charge process, so the Volt can be maintained at home most midnight-7am charge periods and the LEAF get home charges when it is absolutely necessary.
     
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  9. By ArtW Posted: 1/4/2011 2:52pm PST

    Just wondering . . . how is all that electricity generated for folks to charge their vehicles? Are you all off the grid? Just trying to figure out how these cars actually save the environment, or even transportation dollars (given the high cost of electricity in the Northeastern US).
    Also - are the "free" charge points really free, or are they funded by people via their taxes?
     
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  10. By Roy H Posted: 1/4/2011 3:04pm PST

    George, I would recommend that you take advantage of all charge opportunities on both cars, but especially the LEAF. The batteries will last longer if not over charged and not discharged too low. The charge limits on the Volt are very conservative, but not so on the LEAF, it will let you discharge well below the minimum desired of 20%. All I am saying is, don't put off charging the LEAF because it still has some range on it. Of course you could charge the LEAF with the charger and simultaneously charge the Volt from a standard 110V outlet.
    Glad to see you are going all out to save our environment!
     
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  11. By Roy H Posted: 1/4/2011 3:36pm PST

    I am astounded at how negative this article is. We should be cheering and shouting congratulations to GM and Nissan for making good on their promise to market these cars and to the early adopters who are buying them. Expecting thousands of cars the first month is just not realistic. Tesla shares went on the market at about $19 and is now around $26 and described as "some woes with its shares" because it has come back down from an unrealistically high peak. In fact when you think about it there is no reason to expect the shares to go up much at all until the Model S hits the market.
    "Granted, the success of each car is going to depend on whether their owners change their lifestyles to account for a few hours of charging the batteries each day."
    Wow! So owners are going to have to change their lifestyle from spending 15 minutes at a gas station to 1 minute to plug in their car in the comfort of their own garage. What a huge and dramatic sacrifice in their lifestyle!
     
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  12. By George Parrott Posted: 1/4/2011 3:49pm PST

    ArtW, Roy H.
    While we are still "on the grid," our home if fully solar powered. We have a 5.7kW PV system AND a solar hot water system on our roof. We generated 1200kW more last year than we used. We moved into this new home 3 years ago, and also have had ALL the landscaping done in zero upkeep, native type planting with a automated drip watering system--that reduced our water use by 70% from the original grass the developer had included.
     
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  13. john_v avatar John Voelcker Posted: 1/4/2011 4:11pm PST

    @Art W: There's a very nice study jointly issued by the electric power industry and the Natural Resources Defense Council that concludes the wells-to-wheels carbon impact of charging an electric vehicle is lower than any 25 mpg car, no matter what grid you charge it on. While obviously renewable power would be better yet, most power grids in the U.S. will gradually get greener (lower carbon) over time. Meanwhile, a mile driven on grid power pollutes less than the average car driven in the U.S., and only a few grids are so dirty that they're worse than the 50-mpg Prius, which has the best gas mileage of any car sold today in the U.S. Hope this helps.
     
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