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The 2012 Nissan Leaf, also a five-door hatchback, is a pure battery electric car with a range of 80 to 100 miles.
Then it needs to be recharged for several hours.
It's roughly $5,000 less expensive than the Volt, not to mention a five-seat car with more load space.
The Lexus CT 200h is a compact luxury hybrid hatchback, also a compact, that delivers a genuine 40 mpg in mixed use--but doesn't plug in, at all.
If you want another plug-in hatchback with unlimited range, the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid will go on sale early in 2012--but its electric range is only 9 to 13 miles, after which it turns into a regular Prius hybrid.
Finally, the low-volume and very expensive Fisker Karma is the only other extended-range electric vehicle on the market besides the Volt.
But it's all but $100,000, and it's a sleek, sexy, luxury four-door sport sedan that competes more with BMW and Mercedes-Benz for buyers than the Volt does.
