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What we know is that Porsche is going to focus on vehicles that are entirely powered by batteries, no hybrid versions. There will be three initial R&D vehicles all based on the Porsche Boxter.

Lets start out by pointing out the differences. The Leaf is an entirely electric car with a stated range of 100 miles while the Volt is a plugin hybrid that has a range of 40 miles on battery power and then it can turn on a gas engine to power it for another 300 miles. The Leaf costs about $10 thousand less than the Volt. They both qualify for the $7,500 federal rebate, but the Leaf also qualifies for a $2,500 rebate in California (bringing total price close to $20 thousand) – the Volt does not.

Both can be leased for the same amount, $350 per month. The Volt requires an extra $500 down ($2500 compared to $2000) to get that lease payment and GM is subsidizing the rest.

So which one should you buy? It depends (doesn’t it always?). As an owner of the Leaf you would still need another car to drive for those trips where you travel further than 100 miles. The Leaf would essentially be a commuter car (assuming your round trip commute is less than 100 miles). The Chevy Volt is a car you can use to replace your current car. After those 40 miles are up you are just using gas that you can get at any gas station around.

I suppose it comes down to finances, can you afford to spend $20 thousand on an extra car when another 10 would allow you to replace your car entirely.

production-volt-overview

Now I know most of you out there are saying that price is pretty high for a 4 seater that isn’t a sports car. But the price range of the Volt puts it in the same class as other high end cars of equal size. Sure it will lack performance, but the interior is on par with it’s luxury car counterparts (it will surpass them in many areas where technology is concerned). And the ‘cool’ factor and MPG should make up for any lack of performance for the buyer of this car.

That price does not count the current tax rebate you get when buying an electric car. When you add the tax rebate of $7,500 the total price comes down to $33,500 making the Volt available to many buyers. In addition GM is going to offer leases on the Volt for $350 per month with the option to buy at the end of the lease.

To put it in perspective, when the Prius came out about 10 years ago it had an initial price tag in the mid thirties. The Volt (without) the rebate is priced about the same when you adjust for inflation. Today a Prius starts at $23 thousand, over time the Volt will come down in cost as well. Any time a new technology is released early adopters pay a premium to be the first on the block with it. But given 5 to 10 years the Volt will be competing with the Prius on price.

Being the first US automaker in over half a century to offer an initial public offering this one is a great success.  Most of the buzz surrounds the new Model S that Tesla plans to offer.  The family sedan priced in at around $50 thousand will be much more accessible to people that want a green alternative mode of transportation.  Tesla has announced that there will be more cars offered based on the Model S platform, making them cheaper to produce and faster to market.  The convertible, crossover, and van based on the Model S platform should round out Tesla’s portfolio quite nicely.

Tesla is in need of the influx of cash, the company lost $55.7 million last year.  In total since the company was born Tesla has lost over $200 million.  But between this IPO, a $50 million stake sold to Toyota, and the $465 million DOE loan Tesla should have more than enough money to bring the Model S and it’s successors to market.

Bugatti, the automaker that gave us the Veyron–the world’s fastest and most expensive series production car–may be set to revolutionize the car industry once again. Bugatti’s engineers are now experimenting with an electric powertrain that can deliver 800 HP.Benefiting from the experience of engineers within Volkswagen Group’s Audi unit, who also created the Audi R8 E-Tron concept with 313 horsepower and 3.320 lb-ft of torque, Bugatti is now testing a similar concept aimed at powering one of its future models.

The powertrain would comprise two electric motors (one for each rear wheel?), each putting out over 400 HP and 1620 ft-lb of torque.  Since these are electric motors all of that torque is available at 0 RPMs.  This would probably result in the worlds fastest accelerating car, ever.  Either way, it would be a fun drive.

The main issue engineers are running into are the batteries.  Apparently when the car is at peak performance it’ll only last for a few minutes.  So it’s unlikely that we’ll see this version out anytime soon.  Perhaps a model based more closely on the Volt powertrain, where a gas engine can power the electric motors would be a better option until we can get batteries that last longer.

“We have 13,000 orders in the US and 6,000 orders in Japan,” Ghosn said at a news conference in Detroit, the US auto industry capital.

Ghosn said that all of the US orders had come from individuals and not from government entities, whereas some orders in Japan were for municipal fleets.

“I don’t think we’re going to have a problem marketing and selling these cars for the first two or three years,” the Nissan president and chief executive said, adding that tax incentives had made the car very popular in California.

The Leaf — an acronym for Leading, Environmentally Friendly, Affordable, Family — is billed by Nissan as the world’s first mass-produced electric vehicle with zero emissions.

The car will start being delivered in December of this year for Japan and the US.  European countries will start deliveries a few months later.  It will be assembled in Tennessee for US deliveries and Yokosuka for Japan.  No word yet as to which factory will supply European deliveries.

It’s the next step for the Volt, a car the company says can run 40 miles on a charge from a standard home power outlet. After the battery wears down, a 1.4-liter four-cylinder internal combustion engine takes over and generates electricity to power the car.

It’s due to go on sale this fall at a cost of about $40,000, before tax credits.

Lutz would not say exactly when the pure-electric version would make it into showrooms, but said it would be “technologically trivial” to switch out the internal combustion engine.

Lutz told reporters at the Detroit auto show that GM could quickly expand the Volt’s battery pack and take out the engine to build a fully electric car similar to Nissan’s Leaf.

The Leaf, also to go on sale in the U.S. late this year, can get up to 100 miles on an electric charge but must be recharged or have a new battery installed to go any further. More

Toyota is also planning to start selling hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicles in 2015. TM is moving forward with a proposal to expand the Prius hybrid into a family of vehicles. The company unveiled the second member of this family of cars at the Detroit Auto Show.

Fiat 500

Chrysler was saved earlier this year by both the US government and Fiat, a European car maker.  Fiat has recently released the Fiat 500 in Europe to rave reviews and wants to get this car in the US (branded as a Fiat).  It’s not much bigger than a smart car, but people say it is great for commuting – and there are four versions of it so you should be able to find one that suits you.

Even though Fiat decided to shut down Chrysler’s ENVI division the electrics from Chrysler will still be coming.  Supposedly an electrified version of the 500 will appear at the Detroit auto show.  I just hope that it will sell well here in the US, what works well in Europe doesn’t always work well here.