Efficiency, Efficiency, Efficiency!

Einstein, they say, said that evidence of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over and expecting different results. By that standard, the ongoing “commitment” to the manufacturing of electric vehicles is exactly that.

Insane.

Or is it?

Nissan just brought forth its third-generation Leaf EV, notwithstanding the prior two generations of failure (if making money selling these devices is the measure of success). The launch was accompanied by the slogan: Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency!

But what is “efficient” about this device?

It does go farther in between waits than the previous device, Nissan points out. About 300 miles now vs. about 150 previously. The “about” part being important to bear in mind when it comes to devices, as everyone who hasn’t been living under a rock for the past five years ought to know by now. The actual range of a device is often a lot less than the advertised range. The latter being based upon assumptions such as that the weather is neither very hot nor very cold (which taxes the battery, via the thermal management system that uses electricity to keep the battery from getting not-too-hot ad not-too-cold as well as via the use of accessories such as the heat and AC to keep the passengers from not getting too hot or too cold) and that the road is mostly flat and you don’t drive faster than about 60 MPH – because if you do, the distance you can actually drive will be less-than-advertised.

Sometimes a lot less.

That circles us back to this “efficiency” business. How is it “efficient” to needlessly waste the one thing that is particularly precious because it cannot be replaced?

Time, that is.

The next-generation Leaf, like most new devices, goes farther in between waits but those waits remain the same. It does not take any less time to charge up. You must still wait at least 20-30 minutes at what continue to be referred to with extreme disingenuousness as “fast” charger kiosks to instill a partial charge in any EV. Even if you only have to do this once a week, that is still several hours per month you will never get back. Several hours that could have been spent doing some other thing instead. Several hours you would not have had to spend if you hadn’t bought an EV.

It is not astounding that so many people willingly buy vehicles (EVs) that costs them time – and money – they do not have to spend?

Automotive News – which stopped publishing news a long time ago, in favor of Pravda-predictable editorializing – had this to say about the latest Leaf:

“Engineers used a host of tricks to boost the maximum driving range about 40 percent to 303 miles, giving fresh legs to the car that pioneered the affordable EV segment 15 years ago.” 

Italics added.

The “affordable EV segment”? The current (2025) Leaf’s base price is just shy of $30,000 ($28,140) and that’s with the standard low-range battery. Equipped with its longer-range (sic) battery, the cost of this device soars to $36,190 – which places it squarely in what used to be considered the entry luxury segment. No matter what you call it, “affordable” it isn’t. The next-generation Leaf is certain to be even less so given it is new and that always costs more and because it comes standard with the longer-range battery pack.

The general rumor is “low 30s.”

It’s the New Affordable – as far as vehicles – like ten ounces is the new pound at the grocery store.

Meanwhile, you can still buy – for a little while longer – the very similar Nissan Versa for $17,190 and for that price you don’t have to spend much time. It can be fully refueled in about three minutes and it comes standard with more than 300 miles of advertised driving range that is congruent with how far you can actually drive, irrespective of how hot or cold outside it is and even if you drive faster than 60 MPH. The range touted by Nissan and every other vehicle manufacturer had better be congruent with actual driving range because if it turns out not to be, they will be hounded by the Feds and sued by customers who correctly feel gypped.

This never happens with regard to devices, for reasons that have to do with politics and denial. The dynamic is similar to that displayed by the battered wife who makes excuses for her man when the cops show up.

But why is Nissan putting all this money into another time-wasting and almost certainly money-wasting device? The possible answer is unsettling in that it isn’t because Nissan’s management is insane. It may well be that they know we’re merely enjoying a temporary interregnum. Trump has not, after all, repealed the federal regs that impose a de facto EV manufacturing mandate – since the only way to comply with the regs is to manufacture more devices. And he has most certainly not dismantled the regulatory apparat that emits these regs.

Ergo, the regs are still in effect. Ergo, the apparat is still empowered. It is merely sort-of quiescent, for the moment. But what about a little more than three years hence? What will happen then? Or – more finely – after Trump is replaced, in the usual Hegelian course of things, by an outright Red running as a green?

Nissan – like all the others – can read the leafs, you see. And that’s why this device is being manufactured.

More to come, too.

Meanwhile, the actually efficient – and affordable – Versa is being discontinued. More finely, it will no longer be available in the United States. For essentially the same reason you can’t get a $23,000 50-plus MPG TDI diesel-powered VW Jetta that can be driven 600 miles on a full tank.

Because efficient and affordable vehicles are not what’s wanted in the United States – by those who control the United States.

. . .

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