Bolt vs Leaf: These Are the Cheapest New Electric Cars You Can Buy, but Which One Is Best?

Hey everybody Im so glad you could join me on todays video, because what we have here are the two most affordable new electric cars. You can buy brand new in the United States and were going to find out Simply which one is better value and which one is worth your money, so lets get right into it. What were looking at here are two brand new EVS, a 2023 Nissan Leaf and the new Chevrolet bolt – and these are both front wheel, drive hatchbacks and they both start under thirty thousand dollars. So in this little mini series Im working on, I want to prove to folks, so you dont need to spend 70 80 90 000 to get into a new EV. You can do so for under thirty thousand dollars and thats before the new 7 500 federal tax credit which works on both of these cars, because theyre both built right here in the United States. Now lets start out with the cost comparison, so the Nissan Leaf for 2023 starts at twenty eight thousand than forty dollars. The Chevrolet bolt is a little bit more affordable coming in the mid twenty seven thousand dollar range, so roughly five hundred dollars less to get the Chevrolet over the base model Nissan Leaf, and now the question youre all probably wondering how far do they go on a Single charge now the Nissan Leaf comes in two battery configurations. The standard battery is a 40 kilowatt hour unit and thats rated at 149 miles on a single charge according to the EPA.

Now, if you want to spend a little bit more coin for eight thousand dollars, you can upgrade to the 60 kilowatt hour battery and thats rated at 212 miles on a single charge. According to the EPA now lets contrast that to the Chevrolet, the Chevrolet only comes in one battery configuration 65 kilowatt hours, even at that entry level price, and this vehicle is rated 259 miles on a single charge according to the EPA. So lets put this into perspective for that twenty eight thousand dollar price point: you can get 149 miles of range with the Nissan or 259 miles with the Chevrolet. If you want to spend 37 Grand like this Leaf, you can get up to 212, but that is still less than a 27 000 Chevrolet bolt EV in the range comparison so range for dollar, the Chevrolet wins by a long shot, Chevrolet 65 kilowatt hours. This Nissan Leaf 60 kilowatt hours, all right, so we got range out of the way. Now lets talk a little bit about charging. Now the Nissan Leaf plugs in here at the front of the vehicle. There is this flap and I can open that here via the key, and I actually like the position of the charge port on the Nissan or in the Chevrolet and Ill show you why here in a second but on the Nissan, you have a couple of different Charging options you can charge at home on AC, both 110 or 240 volts, and if you plug in here Max Capacity of this AC charger, 6.

6 kilowatt, so were looking at like 14 in a bit hours or so for a full charge on the Nissan. Now now the Chevrolet has a pretty different charging situation. The part the port is located over here on the drivers side. Now this has an 11 and a half kilowatt onboard Charger versus six and a half in the Nissan. So, even though the battery is larger in this Chevrolet charge times only around seven hours, so thats a pretty big difference. Now, when we talk about DC fast, charging, both can Peak at right around 50 kilowatts, so both are not going to be extremely fast in terms of road trips. Chevrolet says 100 miles of range gained in about 30 minutes. Nissan says zero to eighty percent. In about an hour, so if you compare these to some of the newer Tech coming out of like Tesla or Lucid or even Volkswagen, right 55 compared to 150 200 and 250 kilowatt Peak charging is pretty unimpressive now I did mention that I, like the charge port Location more on the Nissan compared to the Chevrolet. The Chevrolet is okay, but this is optimized for Chargers located on the drivers side of the vehicle whats nice about the Nissan is it being in the middle. It means that you can access this port from both sides of the vehicle, so you can uh, you know, pull up to units both on the right and the left side of the vehicle.

Another big difference is that the Nissan runs on the chatimo standard of DC. Fast charging, which is slowly being phased out across the U.S, so there are still many many chadamo ports around, but on some new installations, theyre becoming more and more rare, and typically at like an Electrify America, station youll have four stalls with ccs, which is what the Chevrolet uses, and only one stall with chadamo, so even though both charge at the same Peak charge rate of about 50 kilowatts. This uses that CCS standard, which is uh becoming more and more well the go to as we uh well as were deep into 2023 now. So so far the Chevrolet is ahead of the Nissan in terms of range. I, like the onboard charger, a lot more 11.5 kilowatts versus 6.6, and I like the CCS standard. The Nissan excels in the charge. Port location lets talk a little bit about design. Now they are both front wheel, drive hatchbacks, however, in overall length, the Nissan is some 13 inches longer. So it says it is a significantly larger car compared to the Chevrolet. Now the leaf is several years old in this generation it has had some changes for uh. The 2020 to 2023 model year, I kind of dig these wheels. This one, as we mentioned, is the SV plus so were looking at a 37 000 car MSRP. But these funky 17 inch wheels are one of those things that you either really love or really dislike.

Most people I talk to theyre, not super fond of them, but I think theyre really cool. Now. Certainly the Nissans a little bit more angular youve got some kind of sharper creases uh, pretty pretty consistent roof line as we come along. The back weve got this little blacked out bit to disguise the c pillar, and then weve got these swoopy tail lights in the rear. With the brand new Nissan badge – and I like on this model – how the leaf and the SV logos are a little bit grayed out, I think it looks pretty cool now. The Chevrolet is also a fairly handsome car, its a little bit more curvaceous. Its got a slightly lower Belt Line, in my opinion, relative to the roof height, which is pretty nice. These 17 inch wheels are the base wheels on this car. If you upgrade to the 2LT Chevrolet, you get a slightly different design, but also a 17 inch wheel. Certainly not nearly as funky as that Nissan and the one thing I dislike about the Chevrolet from the rear is actually the tail light situation. So you think that these are the brake lights and the turn signals, but the brake lights and the turn signals are actually down here on the bumper and Ive always thought that was just a little bit weird, comparing the Chevrolet to most new cars on the road. Now lets kind of hop inside these vehicles and talk about the inside because were going to see some pretty big differences there and well start in the Nissan Leaf.

Now, even though the Nissan Leaf is going on several years old, they have done a nice job of keeping it pretty relevant in here now, its a much more conventional layout, a much more simple interior than what youll find in the Chevrolet. Of course push buttons start here, but I love all the hard controls, so we have both volume and two knob here on this Nissan screen. Nissan does a really nice job in terms of their connectivity, its got Apple, carplay and Android auto and all the phone connections that youd come to expect. The screen is not as large not as impressive, not as colorful as what youre going to find in the Chevrolet, but I find it to be super easy to use and very, very intuitive now below that we have our automatic climate control here. This one also has the heated seats USB a usb c port, and then youve got this really funky, shifter Parker versus neutral drive, and they also have the braking mode here and the Nissan offers an ipedal functionality, which is your one pedal driving system. Well, talk about that during the driving portion of this video and we also have an Eco switch there. Two conventional cup holders, a nice squishy armrest with a small storage cubby there in the middle one area, where Nissan definitely excels over the Chevrolet. The seats are far more comfortable in this car. I find them to be much more supportive.

I like the thigh, support more theyre, just a little softer, in my opinion, overall, much more comfortable Digital dash, layout or partial Digital dash layout on this Nissan. So we have an analog speedometer there on the right and then to the left of that. We have a digital screen and one area where Nissan really excels over the Chevrolet, and I dont know why GM doesnt do this, but they make it very clear what your state of charge is here, not only in a diagram, but in a percentage. So you can see we are sitting at 30 state of charge super easy to read very easy to get to. I also like the info, the information that this car tells you lots of really good information, including battery temperature battery capacity uh. Its just really really easy to use and very very simple: they did a great job integrating the screen here on the Nissan Leaf. All right lets go compare this situation to what we find in the Chevrolet bolt EV. Now we just purchased this Chevrolet bolt EV. This is the one LT its the most affordable model. The two LT is a little bit more expensive. It gives you like leather seats, heated seats, that kind of thing, but interior, wise theres, not a huge difference between the Chevrolet one LT and the Chevrolet 2LT. In terms of the bolt now stepping inside here a lot more modern, a little bit more futuristic a little bit more swoopy.

Obviously, the screen is significantly larger, but I what I love that Chevrolet did is they still give you hard knobs and some hard controls, which I think is just fantastic. The quality is really good, also very easy to use compared to the Nissan um very well integrated. Here to the dash, I personally prefer the screen and the the overall technology in the middle here of the Chevrolet over the Nissan other nice thing about this car. There we go, the beeping is stopped um. We still have hard controls for the climate control automatic climate control there single zone. You can spec this car with heated seats. Just like the Nissan now. The shifter is also a little bit unconventional in the Chevy, not as crazy as the leaf, though Parker versus neutral drive like that, and then youve got your One pedal drive mode there via that button. We dont have an eco mode, interestingly enough, but we do have a sport mode in the Chevrolet and then moving back here, a couple of cup holders and then a very large sensor. Armrest here screen wise. We do have a fully digital instrument cluster here in the Chevrolet, so we can also change the style a little bit from a modern to an enhanced layout, depending on how you like to configure that tells you lots of good information, but once again, nowhere in this Car, does it really tell you percent state of charge? You can go into details, you can kind of calculate it out using this little chart here.

You can also see impact so lots of good information. I just wish there was a screen that had stayed a charge. The the closest you can get is this flow meter, where you can count based on these five percent bars how much charge you have and then you can also, if you have the Chevrolet app, you can kind of access the app via Apple carplay in here and See it that way, but I would just wish theyd show it to me in the screen there, but overall, a very functional interior in the Chevrolet steering wheel controls even on this base model plastic steering wheel on this unit. If you get the 2LT or the leather package, you get a nice leather wrapped unit. It feels a little bit more Airy in here, which is interesting, so the windows feel a little bit bigger and it feels a little bit more roomy. Even though the car is some 13 inches shorter, it feels a lot kind of more open inside the Chevrolet and wait till you uh wait till we get to the trunk of that Nissan because were going to notice some pretty interesting differences, comparing the bolt to the Leaf now this is where Im going to grab my cheat sheet here. I dont want to get these numbers wrong, but the Nissan Leaf has more screw behind the second row. So, as I lift open this trunk, we actually have 23.6 cubic feet of space behind the second row.

Now lets go ahead and fold that second row were going to see how it folds here pull a little lever there and that folds like so, and if I scooted the seat forward, we could get that more horizontal, but youll notice theres a pretty ginormous lip there In the floor to the seat and when you fold the second row down, you get a maximum of 30 cubic feet worth of space. Okay, remember that number 30 thats important. Now, as we go over to the Chevrolet behind the second row, you actually have less space. 16.6 versus 23.6, however, when you fold the second row of the Chevrolet thats, where you get a big advantage in the bolt, so that jumps to 57 cubic feet 57 compared to 30 in the Nissan, which is a really really large difference. You also have this false floor, which can kind of be manipulated to several positions depending on what you need to carry, so this car is 13 inches shorter than the Nissan, but the cubic the cubic feet of space when you fold the second row is 57 compared To 30., now what about back seat space well were going to go ahead and check out the Nissan first see what its like. This is my driving position here at six feet: tall Im gon na lift up these seats. Now, interestingly enough, we have a really large hump running through the center of the car. In case I dont know if you want to kind of film that this, of course is a five seater, so theres that large hump a couple of USB a ports back here, but um yeah its a little bit disappointing to see that hump.

I will say, though, its got good Headroom, even at six feet tall and pretty decent leg room lets. Compare that to the Chevy. Now the Chevy has a completely flat floor in the rear kind of film. Through that side, you might get a better view of that. So you can see no hump there in the middle. Also a five seater, pretty similar leg room, maybe a little bit less than the Chevrolet compared to the Nissan and then Headroom also pretty similar, perhaps just a smidge, less seat of the pants experience. But lets do this lets get both of these cars out on the road and see how they drive all right, so getting behind the wheel of the Nissan Leaf. Nissan has done such a good job over the years of evolving the leaf Driving Experience, and now it is incredibly smooth and Incredibly sorted. I think one area where the Nissan excels over the Chevrolet is ride quality. Neither of these cars are really performance cars. You want to go zipping around a Tracker through a canyon but in everyday driving scenarios. I find the Nissan to be a little bit more comfortable and a little bit more refined, its also extremely quiet in here now performance. This Nissan has 214 horsepower 250 pound feet of torque, and when you accelerate, it takes off with a lot of confidence. This is a quick car. Now we ran both of these down our quarter mile test, and what we found is that the Nissan under the quarter in 16.

08 and the Chevrolet over the quarter in 16.03, so theyre nearly neck and neck. One advantage that the Nissan has, at least in this configuration compared to the bolt, is that this SV Plus has a integrated heat pump, which is a much more efficient way of heating the car in the winter compared to a resistive heater. So that is a very nice feature. What is not a nice feature is the battery cooling situation, so the Nissan Leaf still utilizes air cooled batteries, whereas the Chevrolet has a liquid cooled system. Now batteries are kind of like humans. They like to be 68 to 70 degrees, Fahrenheit thats when they operate the happiest, and especially in the summer when things get really hot, and especially if you are fast charging a leaf, its not hard to um, put too much heat in those batteries and cause the Vehicle to derate the charging, and then you also have to worry about long term durability of the batteries. Now, both these cars have eight year 100 000 mile battery warranties, which is just fantastic. So, overall, the Nissan Leaf is a really nice car to drive its very quiet, its surprisingly quick, you can jump out in front of traffic if you have to theres almost no torque steer. I really like the way it Rams into the uh into the power, its not its, not super immediate off the bat, but its very smooth and Nissans done. A great job of minimizing torque steer.

Add to that the Fantastic ride quality and it is a very nice car to drive all right, so weve jumped behind the wheel of the Chevrolet. Now immediately, I can tell you that the ride quality and the interior cabin noise, not as refined as the Nissan so its a little bit more bumpy over smaller undulations and it doesnt tackle bigger bumps quite as well. However, overall, it is still a very refined Place compared to a gasolinegar to spend time and to commuting and the acceleration. Well, it feels more violent at lower speeds. They do get more torque steer in the Chevrolet, so you definitely want to hold it onto that wheel. A little bit as a front wheels fight for traction, um, 0 60. In this car they say six and a half seconds 200 horsepower 266 pound feet of torque, so lower horsepower, but a little bit more torque than the Nissan 266 compared to 250.. Now the greatest thing about these cars is they apply for the 7500 federal tax credit. If you meet the requirements, they have income caps in the new system. That kind of thing. So, if you apply these, could be sub 20 000 cars, especially factoring in State Credit. So if you apply for the full 7 500 here in Colorado, plus the couple thousand State youd be looking at like eighteen, nineteen thousand dollar car, which is so much car for the money um overall, I like driving both of them theyre both fun to drive theyre.

Both Zippy theyre, both quiet, especially compared to anything gasoline. I just think that the Chevrolet represents a better value. I mean sure like. If you get the base one like this, the steering wheel is pretty plasticky and yes, the seats are still not excellent, theyre much better than the old bolts, which were just intolerable. These ones are tolerable, but theyre, not great, but the packaging as well right. This is a much smaller car than the Nissan, but the interior feels bigger. It feels more Airy and you get a lot more storage capacity, so um if youre just looking for the most car for the money. You know well talk about this in the close here. In a sec, but its uh, its Chevrolet, all the way, Chevrolet Chevrolet all the way compared to the Nissan now, of course, Nissan has a new Aria thats moved to CCS um in terms of the uh the standard, its got big improvements over the leaf. In terms of battery, but its also a lot more expensive, so Chevrolet to Leaf well lets get to the close Ill. Tell you my opinion. Well, weve, come to the conclusion. If you have under thirty thousand dollars to spend on a brand new Eva and you wanted to qualify for that 7 500 tax credit, should you go Nissan or should you go Chevrolet? Well, in my opinion, the choice is obvious. Chevrolet, you get significantly more range at the starting price.

You get that CCS charging you get a better better standard screen. I just think its a much better value.