At the moment, the Tesla Model 3 is getting lots of media attention and electric-car buzz now that the company says its first production car has rolled out of the factory—even if features, specs, and pricing isn't yet known.
Meanwhile, the 238-mile Chevrolet Bolt EV is at roughly 9,000 cars sold in North America over the past six months, with higher totals anticipated for the balance of the year.
But a third 200-plus-mile mass-market electric car is now imminent, even if its maker is only teasing us with photos until its September 6th global launch.
DON'T MISS: 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car: first teaser photo (headlights!) emerges
That's the 2018 Nissan Leaf, the second generation of what is today the world's highest-selling electric car.
Its first generation went on sale in December 2010, and more than 265,000 have been sold since then.
Features, specs, and prices for the 2018 Leaf aren't known either, but it is widely anticipated that at least one version will offer a range around 200 miles, perhaps slightly more.
If the 2018 Nissan Leaf gets 200+ miles of range, what will it cost?
— Green Car Reports (@GreenCarReports) June 26, 2017
Given the Tesla Model 3's stated base price of $35,000, and the Bolt EV starting price of $37,500, we were curious to explore expectations for the Leaf and its pricing.
So we surveyed our Twitter followers, getting somewhat more responses than usual for a poll of this sort.
The results were fairly conclusive: half the respondents (49 percent) expect the pre-incentive price of a 200-mile 2018 Leaf electric car to come in between $30,000 and $35,000.
READ THIS: Next Nissan Leaf confirmed for 60-kwh battery, 200 miles of range
A further quarter of them (23 percent) expect that price to be more than $35,000.
The balance of our survey respondents were split on how much lower the starting price of a 200-mile Leaf would be.
While 16 percent felt the base price of a 200-mile Leaf would fall between $25,000 and $30,000, an optimistic 12 percent felt it would run $20,000 to $25,000.
Teaser for 2018 Nissan Leaf debuting on September 6, 2017
Teaser for 2018 Nissan Leaf debuting on September 6, 2017
2018 Nissan Leaf ProPilot Assist
During the somewhat lengthy development cycle of the next Leaf, Nissan's previous product chief—Andy Palmer, now CEO of British sports-car maker Aston Martin—confirmed the existence of two battery-pack options.
We assume the higher-capacity pack will be the one offering 200-plus miles, but what range a smaller pack might offer and how buyers react to that may be more interesting to see.
The 2016 Leaf jumped from 84 miles to 107 miles of EPA-rated range when its pack rose from 24 kilowatt-hours to 30 kwh of capacity.
CHECK OUT: Latest 2018 Nissan Leaf teaser shows ProPilot Assist self-driving capability
Another similar 25-percent capacity increase would take the pack to 37.5 kwh; a straight-line extrapolation of the range increase gives us 134 miles, while a nice round 40-kwh pack might get to 143 miles.
Either of those numbers would be higher than the 2017 Hyundai Ioniq Electric or 2017 Volkswagen Golf, which are EPA-rated at 124 miles and 125 miles, respectively.
How much battery range is "enough," and at what price? We'll start to learn the answer to that question sometime after September 6.
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