60-kWh Nissan LEAF Price Possibly Revealed In Dealer Documents

May begin shipping early in 2019

If you like the Nissan LEAF, but were put off by its current 40-kWh battery, you may soon be in luck. A bigger, better battery option is coming if you don’t mind a bit of a price hike. The base version of the current car (no pun intended), with its EPA range rating of 151 miles boasts an MSRP of $29,990. When it debuts sometime next year, the upgraded 60-kWh version may well cost an additional $5,500, which would bring its starting price to $35,400 (excluding destination and handling charges, tax, title, license, and options).

The numbers come to us from Alex Bernstein, the senior pricing analyst at CarsDirect, who has seen Nissan’s preliminary pricing sheets. His calculations show the longer-range LEAF will more effectively take on the Chevy Bolt (starting MRSP $36,620), or more importantly, the base (and still unavailable) $35,000 Tesla Model 3.

Bernstein offers up some other interesting projections as well. The 60-kWh variant, which he claims will return 225 miles of range — a 50-percent bump, may be available early in 2019. According to the analyst, production of the bigger pack will begin in January, which would likely see the higher-spec car arriving at stores sometime in the first quarter.

Besides range, the optional 60-kWh pack may provide other benefits. Expected to feature a temperature management system (TMS) with liquid cooling, the new battery may negate a limitation the 40-kWh pack suffers from. Popularly referred to as Rapidgate, the car will throttle back charging speeds after being successively plugged into DC fast charge stations. This can increase charge times considerably, making long distance journeys inconvenient.

Speaking of faster charging, the new battery option could increase the amount of energy the car can handle from stations, allowing it to suck up electrons at a rate of 102 kW, which would seriously reduce charging times at DC fast charge stations capable of dishing out the higher flow.

Also, a pack with active temperature control may decrease the rate of capacity degradation, especially in hot climates. This means the range of the vehicle will decrease more slowly over time. Not only will this increase the confidence of owners, but it may also improve resale prices, as prospective buyers will worry less about the need to replace the pack, at considerable expense.

All we can say is, bring it on!

 Nissan LEAF

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Source: CarsDirect

Chevy Volt Quarterly And Monthly Sales Way Up, Chevy Bolt Rising

2019 Chevy Volt arriving at dealerships now with major improvements

Unfortunately, due to General Motors’ recent decision to withhold monthly sales reports in favor of a Tesla-like quarterly reporting system, the following Chevy Bolt EV and Chevy Volt numbers are estimates.

This information is important to our readers and a testament to what we’ve been doing for some time. So, we have attempted to provide you with our best estimates. Our numbers are primarily based upon daily inventory tracking, as well as accounts from buyers, dealers and other sources.

Bolt inventories in the U.S. were weak throughout the entire 2018 model year. GM has been prioritizing exports of the popular electric hatchback, particularly to South Korea. So much so that 2018 international GM plug-in sales have eclipsed domestic for the first time ever.

As a result, between March and July, the Chevy Volt has significantly edged out the Bolt EV in sales. For instance, in July we estimated 1,475 Chevy Volts and 1,175 Bolt EVs made their way to buyers. In August, we saw a sales increase of both models with an estimated 1,225 Bolt EV’s and 1,825 Volt’s delivered.

For Q3, Chevrolet reports quarterly deliveries of  3,949 for the Chevy Bolt EV and 5,429 for the Chevy Volt.

So for the month of September, we estimate 1,549 Chevy Bolt EVs and 2,129 Chevy Volts were delivered to owners. 

Chevy Bolt inventories are strong heading into Q4

For the past two quarters, Chevy Bolt EV inventories have hovered between 2,000 and 2,750 units according to Cars.com. By late July, we began to see an uptick to about 2,900. In the last 2 weeks over of August, inventories were looking much stronger, averaging around 3,200 units. This is important since we had not seen Bolt inventories reach this level since February, 2018. The last time the Bolt cracked 3k was 3,003 units was on March 7th.

Well in September, this rush of product continued. Within 3 weeks, Bolt inventories at or in transit to dealers is now well above 4,000 units. These numbers still are not as high as Q4 2017, but the vehicle is looking much better stocked for the holiday sales rush. Smart consumers will take their new vehicles home before the end of the year. GM is expected to hit 200k U.S. Plug-In sales in Q4 2018. Not coincidentally, Bolt EV production will be increased 20% in Q4. According to GM:

U.S. and global demand for the Chevrolet Bolt EV has been very strong in 2018, with global sales estimated to be up more than 35 percent year over year in the second quarter and up more than 40 percent in the first half. In response, GM is increasing fourth quarter production by more than 20 percent compared to the average of the first three quarters.

We have seen some welcome changes to the 2018/2019 Bolt in the form of revised front seats and a user defined target charge level. The Volt will also receive several major improvements for its mid-cycle refresh. Optional 7.2 kW charging and power driver seats just to name a few. These updates should help the cars stay competitive in the second half of the year.

CHEVY VOLT

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