The pending battle between the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt has intensified with the announcement Nissan will match GM and offer an 8-year/100k miles warranty on the battery pack of its LEAF electric car.
The MSRP for the LEAF starts at $32,780; the full Federal tax credit of $7,500 brings that down to $25,280. In California, the LEAF is eligible for an up to $5,000 CVRP rebate, bringing the price down to close to $20,000.
The LEAF will debut in December in California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington and Tennessee. In January 2011 , LEAF will debut in Texas and Hawaii.
The company currently has 17,000 reservations for the LEAF.
A charging-infrastructure plan, designed in conjunction with California-based firm Ecotality and partially funded by a $100 million Energy Department grant, is also being rolled out in those five markets in what Nissan calls the E.V. Project.
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According to an Ecotality statement, the plan calls for about 12,500 220-volt charge points and 250 quick-charge systems to be installed in major metropolitan areas to support Leaf drivers.
The second Leaf wave hits Texas and Hawaii in January 2011, followed by North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, Alabama and the nation’s capital next April. Remaining markets receive Leafs beginning fall 2011.
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The Leaf article is more than timely. Just today a friend told me his brother was scheduled to have a team install the charging system for his waiting-list Leaf. The 8-year/100k miles battery warranty, however, seems optimistic at best. Batteries do degrade, and they do have quantifiable life spans. This is regardless of battery chemistry and controller technology. If Nissan mis-calcs this, it could lead to material financial burden.