Nissan and GM have released their December sales reports, and in the last month of 2011, the Volt beat the Leaf.
Nissan sold 954 Leaf units and GM persuaded 1,529 fearless (or fireproof) hippies to buy a Volt.
At the time of writing, the number of returned Volts was unavailable.
GM sold 7671 Volts in 2011, plus 326 in December 2010. Nissan launched the Leaf a year ago, and sold a total of 9,674 in 2011, handily beating GM for the most EV sales by 2000 units, despite a strong last quarter surge by GM.
click for larger
In December, industry analysts pondered GM’s missed prediction of 10,000 sales in 2011. In fact, GM should get credit for achieving 80% of that number, it’s probably a closer performance than Nissan will manage against its wild prediction of selling half a million Leafs per year by the end of 2013**.
The Volt suffered a major setback when four vehicles turned into flaming wrecks after the batteries were damaged, and the firm is frantically working on a fix for the issue. Which might make die-hard hippies happy, but won’t persuade many other customers to pay for an over-priced pseudo-electric car that may or may not burn up in your garage. The suspicion that the battery problem was hidden from the public for months, until cars began to turn into piles of expensive ash overnight.
To add to the long lost of woe for the Volt, it came third on the list of Worst Product Flops of 2011.
The Volt is not the only electric car to catch fire, Fisker is has recalled its entire production output of the Karma performance electric car. Now that’s bad Karma. That’s another $500 million the US taxpayer won’t be collecting a return on.
the reworked commercial will feature a fire hose
Nissan has enjoyed a relatively easier ride with its Leaf, with no major drama despite one epic facepalm moment. Yet Nissan should be worried, because the failure of other electric vehicles to sell, or even be safe enough to park at home, affects the entire sector. USA Today thinks the bloom is already off the EV rose:
It’s not that potential car buyers reject the idea of being green. Most love the idea — until it involves the hassle and substantial expense of installing a home charger on top of paying a substantial price premium over an equivalent non-electric car. And then there is planning for range limits.
All electric cars have face the issue of limited range, and even manufacturers are using stories about competitor owners unable to get the promised range from their vehicle. That might turn into a legal problem if this case against Honda is won.
A final thought for those who drive a hybrid Prius and feel pretty good about themselves. Your car kills Mexicans.
You’re welcome.
**Note: The countdown clock for Nissan’s claim has been adjusted to reflect the actual prediction made by Carlos Ghosn, Nissan’s CEO, rather than the somewhat misleading headline used by the IBT. The good news for Nissan is they have 365 extra days to make it, the bad news is they won’t.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/chinese-pay-price-for-worlds-rare-earths-addiction-2281309.html
So CO2 is a pollutant. Big deal. Look at the pollution caused by Volts and Leafs (Prius uses lead batteries) I don’t recall CO2 being harmful. It even encourages plant life.
—
Peasant farmer Wang Tao used to grow corn, potatoes and wheat within a stone’s throw of a dumping ground for rare earths waste until toxic chemicals leaked into the water supply and poisoned his land.
Farmers living near the 10-square-kilometre expanse in northern China say they have lost teeth and their hair has turned white while tests show the soil and water contain high levels of cancer-causing radioactive materials.
…
Beijing, keen to burnish its green credentials and tighten its grip over the highly sought-after metals, has started cleaning up the industry by closing illegal mines, setting tougher environmental standards and restricting exports.
But Wang and the other farmers in Dalahai blame state-owned giant Baogang Group, China’s largest producer of rare earths and a major iron ore miner and steel producer, for poisoning their fields and ruining their livelihoods.
Strong winds whip across the dump’s millions of tonnes of waste, blowing toxic and radioactive materials towards surrounding villages.
“It is the pollution from the tailings dam,” Wang Er, 52, told AFP, pointing a dirty finger at his spiky hair which started turning white 30 years ago.
Baogang, which has rare earths and iron ore refineries stretching for about seven kilometres along a road in the area, did not respond to AFP requests for comment.
But a 2006 study by local environment authorities showed levels of thorium, a by-product of rare earths processing, in Dalahai’s soil were 36 times higher than other areas of Baotou, state media have reported.
“People are suffering severely,” the Chinese-language National Business Daily said in December, citing the official study. Sixty-six villagers died of cancer between 1993 and 2005 while crop yields fell “substantially”.
“There is not one step of the rare earth mining process that is not disastrous to the environment,” Greenpeace China’s toxics campaign manager Jamie Choi said in a recent report.
So CO2 is a pollutant. Big deal. Look at the pollution caused by Volts and Leafs (Prius uses lead batteries) I don’t recall CO2 being harmful. It even encourages plant life.
—
Peasant farmer Wang Tao used to grow corn, potatoes and wheat within a stone’s throw of a dumping ground for rare earths waste until toxic chemicals leaked into the water supply and poisoned his land.
Farmers living near the 10-square-kilometre expanse in northern China say they have lost teeth and their hair has turned white while tests show the soil and water contain high levels of cancer-causing radioactive materials.
…
Beijing, keen to burnish its green credentials and tighten its grip over the highly sought-after metals, has started cleaning up the industry by closing illegal mines, setting tougher environmental standards and restricting exports.
But Wang and the other farmers in Dalahai blame state-owned giant Baogang Group, China’s largest producer of rare earths and a major iron ore miner and steel producer, for poisoning their fields and ruining their livelihoods.
Strong winds whip across the dump’s millions of tonnes of waste, blowing toxic and radioactive materials towards surrounding villages.
“It is the pollution from the tailings dam,” Wang Er, 52, told AFP, pointing a dirty finger at his spiky hair which started turning white 30 years ago.
Baogang, which has rare earths and iron ore refineries stretching for about seven kilometres along a road in the area, did not respond to AFP requests for comment.
But a 2006 study by local environment authorities showed levels of thorium, a by-product of rare earths processing, in Dalahai’s soil were 36 times higher than other areas of Baotou, state media have reported.
“People are suffering severely,” the Chinese-language National Business Daily said in December, citing the official study. Sixty-six villagers died of cancer between 1993 and 2005 while crop yields fell “substantially”.
“There is not one step of the rare earth mining process that is not disastrous to the environment,” Greenpeace China’s toxics campaign manager Jamie Choi said in a recent report.
@ Soylent Green
I just received an email from the Volt group yesterday. No word of a recall!
However, here is a recall that you may want to check, because it involved 4.5 million cars. There were 550 fires (spontaneous combustion types) and about 35 homes were burned to the ground. I’m just saying, if you own one of these vehicles and you missed the recall, you risk your home.
http://www.switchfires.com/
There were 215,000 gas vehicles fires in 2010, of which 70% were mechanical or electrical malfunctions. In other words … they just lit up!
There were about 8 – 10 other vehicle recalls concerning fire hazards this year alone. Including brand new BMW’s Audi’s and VW’s. You may want to do a search, just in case you may own one and haven’t opened your mail yet.
Also, please leave a link (a real one) about China taking over the production of the Volts.
Also, look at the line under the name of this web site. “Skewering The Clueless”.
***From DB: Ralph, this comment was sent to spam for having more than one link. Check the comment policy, and if you’d like more than one link in a comment, best to email it in.***
Original comment:
A couple of things that stick in my craw are the falsehoods being spread about EV co2 emissions and how ICE vehicles are just as efficient.
Co2 emissions:
Per PG&E: .524 lbs. of co2 are emitted per kwh.
13 kwh’s to charge a Volt = 6.182 lbs. / co2 emitted per charge
40 miles range per charge
1000 \ 40 = 25 charges per 1,000 miles driven
25 X 6.182 = 154.55 lbs co2 emissions per 1000 miles driven
add about 10 pounds for gas the Volt may use within that 1000 miles and you get 165 lbs of co2.
http://www.pge.com/about/environment/calculator/assumptions.shtml
Average ICE vehicle emits 1,000 lbs co2 per 1,000 miles driven
Average light truck is 1,600 lbs co2 per 1,400 miles driven
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/consumer/f00013.htm
Now add the kwh’s it took to drill, transport, refine, pump through pipe lines, pump at the station. The average ICE vehicle now emits 12,000 + that number. I don’t have that number, but I would be willing to bet it’s fairly high.
You can say that the same number holds true for generators at the power company, but it doesn’t.
The big fallacy going around now is that the ICE vehicle gets the same mileage per kwh’s as the EV. When all is added up (see above), a gallon of gas = about 10.5 kwh’s. A good mileage car can get 30 mpg city. Critics point out that EV’s get about the same mileage per 10.5 kwh’s. This is true, I’m not disputing the science.
However, they fail to follow the money. That 10 kw’s worth of gas cost $3.60 (my area). That 10 kw’s worth of electricity cost me $0.88.
Fact: for the EV to pollute as much as the ICE vehicle, it would take 1 gallon of fuel at the power company to deliver that 10 kw’s of electricity to my wall socket.
Question: How can a power company stay in business if they spend more money than they receive? They can’t. That 10 kwh’s of electricity obviously cost them less than the $.88 they charged me. Therefore, it can be assumed that the generator at the power company is much more efficient than the generator under an ICE vehicles hood. Therefore, an EV emits far less co2 per 10 kwh’s than the ICE vehicle. At $.88 cents per 10 kwh’s, I can drive almost 4 times farther than $3.60 per 10 kwh’s.
Dear DB, thanks for your response after my statement. I am in agreement with you that these vehicles should not be subsidised by government. I think that the Fisker should not exist. I mean really what is the point of building a car like that; I think it is just so DiCaprio and his cronies don’t have to drive around like commoners in a Prius, Volt of Leaf. Oh, and I read your “About” page, I also like cats :)
IN answer to your question…they recalled more than they sold.
Mwuhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
http://minx.cc/?blog=86&post=325366
Oh, and all new volts will be made in…wait for it…CHINA!!!
It’s full of win!!!
David Hrivnak:
I am sorry David, I did not realize that, apparently in Tennessee, the sun was shining at night (to recharge your car via the solar panels). In any event, make sure to include in your calculations the disposal costs of the hazardous waste (as defined in many jurisdictions) of your solar shingles, when they expire.
Most certainly though, to drive a Volt, or Prius, or Leaf, would be cheaper than an Avalanche, using either batteries or gasoline. But that is a consequence of the much lower weight, smaller engines and so forth of the former models compared to the Avalanche. Obviously, you have a car (or more than one) with a non-standard battery system. Most likely, you also paid for that in (additional) up-front cost.
If you wish to discuss this further, email me directly.
Klaus, my battery is 53 KWH so it is double the Leaf and triple the Volt. The car can also charge at 14 kwh but most stations, including my garage is limited to 7 kwh. So even if I drive 200 miles I am fully recharged by the next morning.
Whily my wife does drive a Prius (now with a plug-in kit added) my base car is a 2004 Avalanche that gets an average of 16 mpg. So that is the basis for my gasoine savings as I now drive the truck about 150 miles a month rather than my previous 1000+.
Yes we have more reasonable electricity rates. BUT even if my electric costs were to double, it is still far less than gasoline. And I have my EV set up to only start charging after 8. So if our utility offers off peak rates that is when I will charge hopefully reducing the costs further. Now we are saving to add solar shingles to our roof so we can power the house and the car for no monthly cost, or pollution.
I think you will find electricity will always be less than gasoline for the main reason gasoline does not just show up in a filling station and you can not burn straight oil from the ground. Refining is VERY energy intensive and it appears to take 5-8KWH to refine a gallon of gas.
So your typical EV will actually use LESS electricity than a gasoline car!
Yes EV’s are expensive now but I have yet to see a new technology that was not costly at first. Remember $2000 bag phones, or $3500 laptops, or $500 DVD’s. As the market develops the costs will drop.
David Hrivnak:
You may wish to check your calculations.
To begin with, the Volt is stated to have a 16 KWH battery, with a claimed 35-40 mile range. Therefore, your 200 mile trip would require five “electricity refills” of approximately 10 hours each (at 1 KWH/hour). That is, of course, unless most of that mileage is provided for not by the battery, but by the gasoline. The cost of the gasoline so used would have to be ADDED to the electricity cost.
The same calculation for the Leaf with a 24 KWH battery, would require at least two such “electricity refills” for the return trip. Again, unless most of that mileage is provided for not by the battery, but by the gasoline. The cost of the gasoline so used would have to be ADDED to the electricity cost.
You state that your monthly electricity bill has increased by $20, and each return trip of 200 miles costs $4.25 in electricity only. That would mean that you drive 4.7×200, or approximately 1000 miles per month. Using your cost figure of $15 (for gasoline at $3.50/gallon) per 200 miles for the Prius, would come to a monthly cost of $70, not $150. So, at best, your savings could only be (70-20)= $50. In reality though, that saving would be much less, namely by the cost of the gasoline used in addition to the electricity.
One other point: In Tennessee the cost of electricity seems to be lower than in most other states or in Canadian provinces. For example, in Ontario, there is a whole slew of additional costs (of both fixed and variable rates, some depending on total consumption per month). Effectively, all costs added in, the actual cost per KWH is closer to $0.13/KWH. At that price, your savings would be wiped out entirely.
Foreign auto makers setting up shop in the U.S.A. have received billions in tax breaks since the 1980′s. Mostly in Southern states whose politicians are now slamming GM. Makes me think the hoopla about GM/Volt is politically motivated.
However, advancements in technology have always cost up front. We never complained before. How much did each moon shot cost? Did we gain from them? Absolutely.
I can’t imagine this world if, from day one, inventions and new technology were shut down because they were perceived as “toys for the rich”.
My tax credit is just that, a credit. Not a rebate. In case you didn’t know, the $7,500 number is not what everyone will get. If you only have $2,000 coming back, that is all you will get. Those tax dollars were made by me!
But let’s say it is a rebate. Let’s multiply that $7,500 by the number of Volts sold. Divide that by the number of working tax payers.. It comes to $0.29 per tax payer. Divide that by the number of Volts sold. Each tax payer paid $0.00004 for my Volt. But once again, it is a credit, and it is my tax dollars.
And once again, I am going out more and spending more because I am saving $200 a month, including charging costs. And it’s only costing me $0.028 per mile to go out! That’s called stimulating the economy. I’ll bet the businesses I spend my extra money don’t mind that $0.00004!
Klaus
The $4.25 in electricity is the cost to drive to Knoxville and back at just over $200 miles. I use about 50 KWH and our costs are $.085/kwh. My electic bill has gone up about $20/month but I am saving $150 in gasoline.
I can drive my Avalanche for $38 or my wife’s Prius for $15 to drive 200 miles at $3.50/gal.
The other bonus is the electric is faster than either the Prius or Avalanche, must faster, but on the longer trips I try not to get in it as with gas your range will drop.
I am all for ending the tax rebates for electric cars that have cost the taxpayers a whopping $162M, as long as we also end the subsidies to the oil and gas industry at $3,000M/ year. If we are going to keep a level paying field then let’s really keep it level.
Oh and that does not accout for the nearly $1 trillion we spent in Iraq, to help ensure stable oil prices.
To be clear, I don’t have a problem if GM, or Nissan or whoever wish to develop a car that runs on electricity, or any other fuel. I do have a problem when taxpayers are expected to foot the bill for what should be a private enterprise venture.
Governments make bad investment decisions because it’s always about politics first, and that is not what drives innovation.
Ralph mentioned venture capital, and I agree that that’s the way to go. Fisker needed government cash because no self-respecting VC would back a project for an electric sports car based on current battery technology.
I think Hydrogen may be a better option, the Honda Clarity works just like a regular car, drive, fill & go, and doesn’t need a major change in the way people think about personal travel.
The best solution for the future of cars will be determined by the market. People will drive what they want to drive and what they feel safe and comfortable in. Subsidies for the Volt (and others) distort that market and make the finding the ‘right’ solution more difficult.
With all the US government funding for GM, and huge subsidies at the point-of-sale, the Volt resembles the Trabant more than the Model-T, and that’s not good.
I am a climate skeptic and a motoring enthusiast. I enjoy visiting the Daily Bayonet very much. I own 6 cars that run on petroleum. One is a high performance road car, one is a rally car, one is a circuit racing car. The rest are work vehicles. Your comment “Nissan sold 954 Leaf units and GM persuaded 1,529 fearless (or fireproof) hippies to buy a Volt”, is disappointing. I make a living from Electronics and I.T., so for me a Volt would be a interesting car to own. It would also be a practical car to own as I work from home and would be lucky to average 30 kilometres a day. You do our cause a disservice bagging these vehicles. They are a necessary part in the development of the automobile. Yes I know they are expensive, yes I know they do not have the range of a car that runs on petroleum or diesel, but I beleive that will eventually change as technology progresses.
Article in Popular Science on the non-existent lithium shortage.
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-01/least-next-ten-years
As for battery development. There are too many venture capitalists around who will let this one die. Huge profits to be made. There are other methods being tested with some promising outlooks. Underground, wireless charging is already a fact. Hotels & motels will have special parking stalls you simply park in to charge up.
I use a Kill-A-Watt meter to monitor my charging costs. I have driven 2,200 miles and have used 7 gallons of gas. No gas station visit yet. My Kill-A-Watt meter tells me I am spending $0.029 per mile. I divide that number into the current cost of gas for equivalent MPG. ATT, it is 125 MPG city driving (local gas rates). I don’t monitor my freeway driving because I like to open it up. I go 75 and I like to pass. But I can say that the worst I got was 32 miles on a charge with 4 adults in the car. Not bad for a lead foot.
$0.088 per kwh local rates
13 kwh to charge (10 hours actual time – 1.3 kwh per hour)
40 miles average per charge (45 warm days, 35 cold days)
$3.60 local gas rates.
As for delivery charges and taxes … my total bill in December was $51. That’s for my fridge, my central heater (blower motor), my stove, lights, space heaters, and Chevy Volt. Oh yeah, and my blender … forgot the margaritas. Gas for my old car would have been more than twice that alone. Side benefit: I’m going out more and stimulating the economy.
Also, the article embellished a little. It was one Volt and one battery pack that caught fire weeks after crash tests. One other battery pack sparked when inverted. Junk yard owners know better than to leave a charged battery and a tank with gas In a wrecked car. Envision a couple hundred wrecked cars with leaking gas tanks and hot batteries!
To Ralph:
These battery developments sound good, on paper. Let’s wait and see what really comes about. The “super capacitors” were claimed to revolutionize the field 2+ years ago; haven’ seen one yet.
To David Hrivnak:
1) Does that cost ($4.25) include delivery and other charges, and taxes ?
2) How much would be the cost be for gasoline to drive the same distance with equal weight, etc. ?
I agree electricity is not free. BUT I can make my own electricity and I can’t make my own gasoline. I do have an electric car and I can drive 200 miles (yes on a single charge) and the cost is $4.25. So while not free it is far less expensive than gasoline.
I agree Candida is a good option for oil but the oil sands are an environmental disaster. If the area was anywhere other than northern Alberta there would be a huge outcry.
I am not sure where you are getting the information on rare earth’s used in the Leaf and Volt batteries I really doubt that Lithium is readily available and they often combine with manganese and or cobalt. While not exactly common they are not rare earth and certainly more common than the platinum and other metals in a catalytic converter for a normal car. The Prius does use some rare earth’s in its permanent magnet motor, but most EVs use standard AC motors that do not use rare earths.
Finally I am driving an EV in sub zero temperatures right now and yes my range is down from 200 to 150 miles as I like to run the heater on high. Cold temperatures have little effect on lithium cells but a huge effect on normal lead acid batteries.
49 billion kilowatt hours a year just to refine gas, let alone drill, transport, pump through pipe lines, and pump at the gas stations. Energy used by EV’s is not used at refineries.
And as far as wrecking the planet, did we already forget the big oil spill in the Gulf, let alone fighting wars in foreign countries for oil.
Dramatic changes in battery range is coming. M.I.T. engineers have developed a battery that can be charged in 10 seconds and will have a minimum of 10 times the capacity and 10 times the delivery power of todays batteries.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/battery-material-0311.html
The first horseless carriage was ridiculed by the buggy and carriage manufacturers as useless. Horses didn’t need gas, after all.
Interesting, the Leaf is to go on sale in Australia in 2012, adding the usual $15k markup called the ‘ha ha Aussies bend over and take it’ premium, otherwise known as right-hand drive and protected market.
But in this release (presumably largely taken from Nissan PR material) http://www.caradvice.com.au/152116/nissan-leaf-australian-pricing-announced/
It has this little nugget:
“Nissan expects to sell at least 250,000 EVs a year by 2014, and plans to launch seven other battery-powered vehicles over the coming years.”
Bit of a climb-down from 500k per year, but nonetheless quite unlikely given they amounts they are building and shifting at the moment.
I can confidently predict that Porsche will comfortably outsell the Leaf in Australia. Nobody is going to cough up $50k for a limited range underpowered car when the same amount will get you a loaded V8 full size sedan.
Electric cars are doomed from the word go, for three simple reasons:
a) Electricity is not free (just look at your hydro bills);
b) From an energy/mass storage comparison, even today’s (and probably also tomorrow’s) batteries (of any kind) are woefully inadequate, and approximately 50-fold behind our good, old gasoline. That’s why range is a big issue with electric vehicles.
c) In areas or periods of low (below freezing) temperatures, ANY kind of battery looses much of its cranking power, due to the chemistry and physics involved.
For more information, see CONVENIENT MYTHS a
http://www.convenientmyths.org .
David,
Thanks for commenting. As a Canadian, I’d much prefer the US bought its oil from us rather than stone age theocracies, but that’s just me.
The Prius lead battery may not be as big an issue as the linked article makes out, but Volt and Leaf batteries both use rare earth elements, which have led to an environmental disaster in China.
Wrecking part of the planet to pretend to be green in another part doesn’t make much sense to me, much like how wind farms shred birds more reliably than they provide power.
Wonder how many of those Volt sales were ordered up by US Government agencies to help make Obama look good?
Wow the article is a bit biased. The talk about Prius’s killing Mexicans is way off base. The article links to recycled LEAD batteries, the type used in normal automobiles. While the Prius does have a small lead battery it is 1/3 the size of a normal car battery. The hybrid drive batteries are nickel-hydride batteries and they are recycled.
I agree a Volt catching fire is terrible. But with more than 240,000 “normal” car fires a year the rate for electric cars is FAR less than a gasoline car.
Unless you want to continue to send more than $1 Billion/day overseas for imported oil we need to start investigating alternatives. Personally I would rather travel to work on American made electricity rather than foreign oil. Being that electric drive is less than 25% of the cost of gasoline only adds to the joy.