A lower priced e-Golf will directly compete with the Nissan Leaf for sub-$30,000 electric car buyers, the automaker announced Wednesday.
The e-Golf SE will start at $29,815, before federal and any available state incentives, which is nearly the same price as a Leaf S, Autoblog correctly pointed out. The e-Golf has a range of around 83 miles.
The Leaf has sold nearly 11,000 copies since the beginning of 2015.
The SE trim will have a smaller, 6.5-inch touchscreen, compared to the SEL’s 8-inch model. Additionally, the e-Golf SE will only have a 3.6 kW onboard charger as standard. A 7.2 kW DC fast charger will be available later in the year for the model.
The Leaf S has an available quick charge package that boosts capacity to 6.6 kW for $1,770.
The Golf SE should be arriving in dealerships later this month, Volkswagen said.
I didn’t know Nissan was moving so many Leafs. Cool.
Entirely believable around here.
I have two neighbors with Leafs within a block.
I recently went to look at a used car (which turned out to be good mechanically but a pile of junk cosmetically) at a Nissan dealer near where I live in the Seattle area. The lot was plastered with Leafs. I mentioned that to the salesman and he said “Oh yeah, we’re the #1 volume Leaf dealership in the whole country. We love ’em.”
They sold a gazillion of them here in Georgia while we had a tax rebate applied to electric cars (last couple of years, ended recently).
The eGolf is a compliance car which is only available in a few states.
Until it’s available nationwide, it won’t threaten the Leaf at all.
A 7.2 kW DC charger? Why bother? DC charging should be at least 15 kW.
The final paragraphs about charging need a rewrite.
I think what Aaron is trying to say is: “Just as the strippo Nissan Leaf S trim comes standard with a 3.3 kW AC charger but offers an option package that bundles a 6.6 kW AC charger and a CHAdeMO DC quick charge connector, the strippo VW eGolf SE trim comes standard with a 3.6 kW AC charger but offers and option package that bundles a 7.2 kW AC charger with an SAE Combo DC quick charge connector.”
(Quick charge = DC, not AC = 40-60kW, not 7.2.)
Finally coil-pack replacements are a thing of the past! :-)
Or, you could spend $10,000 or so more on an A3 e-tron sporbackslack eco.
Or just burn your garage down and save yourself the trouble of having a VAG electric powered product do it for you.
Which is more reliable: Passat W8 4Motion, E-Golf, or Discovery II?
E-Golf. Those other two are in a special class of unreliable vehicles.
The E-Golf should probably be okay. There is no VW direct injected engine, DSG transmission, or other breakable thing driving the wheels.
This is true, less bits to catch a flame.