Uneven electric car rebates give Nissan Leaf edge over Volt

Electric car manufactures, like it or not, depend heavily on political policies and funding to grow not only their electric vehicles, but also the electric car revolution. The relative newness of the industry combined with the already heavily established gasoline-powered car make it difficult for an inexpensive transition to emission-free transportation. Thus, the need for big bucks from Uncle Sam.

For cars like the Chevy Volt, Toyota Prius and Nissan Leaf, government funding, in the initial adoption of the electric and hybrid vehicle market, make expensive alternatives more affordable and more of a reality.

As the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt get ready to release their electric vehicles, a little extra assistance goes a long way in giving one manufacturer the edge over the other.

For the consumer, its pretty easy to pick out the obvious differences between the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf: the Chevy Volt gets a 40 mile electric range and once the battery is exhausted, the gas tank cuts in while the Nissan Leaf gets about a 90 mile electric range, but cannot go beyond that as it does not utilize a gas engine at all.

As Nissan holds firmly to, 90% of Americans use less than 100 miles in a single day. Nissan hopes that will sway consumers away from what has been coined as “range anxiety” by the Chevy Volt line director, Tony Posawatz.

That is the hope, but who knows the reality once the electric cars hit the market.

One very obvious reality facing both the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf is government funding. Both cars, when initially purchased, reward buyers with a $7,500 tax rebate.

The rebate will bring the the Chevy Volt down from $41,000 to $33,500 and the Nissan Leaf from $32,780 to $25,280.

The kicker in the deal is that state governments, like in Tennessee and California, are giving specific rebates to the Nissan Leaf and not the Chevy Volt.

In California, zero-emissions vehicles like the Nissan Leaf receive up to $5,000 in rebates. Because the Volt doesn’t fit in the zero-emissions category, it does not qualify for the rebate.

Just recently announced, Tennessee is offering $2,500 in rebates for the first 1,000 Leaf buyers from a state fund known as the petroleum violation escrow account (money collected from the oil companies by the federal government that is given to the state).

Sure, consumers may see a competitive advantage in the gas tank of the Chevy Volt, but it doesn’t seem like the government is seeing the same advantage.

In fact, Tennessee is working on a plan to create an EV charging network between 3 major cities by 2013 that would allow Nissan Leaf owners to extend the 100 miles on their battery range and California has several policies in place that only benefit the Nissan Leaf.

There is still time, but the Volt is going to need to get more government buy in to be competitive.