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Good on Chevy for making this video covering the Volt’s (relatively) complex efficiency calculus. Presenting the Volt’s mileage in a fair and accurate yet easy-to-understand manner has been a challenge for Chevy’s marketing (and its fellow travelers). It’s not as short or sexy as any of the Volt’s actual advertisements, but this video is Chevy’s best attempt to date at giving consumers a brief but accurate picture of the Volt’s real-world efficiency. For more accuracy (and inevitable complexity) check out Consumer Reports’ latest findings on living with the Volt in the real world.
14 Comments on “Chevy Volt Mileage: No, It Doesn’t Get Less Complicated Than This...”
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Now the real question is how much does a gallon of electricity cost?
its the equivalent of a couple of miligrams of electricity
33.7 kWh per gallon (2.1 kWh per cup). At 90% charging efficiency (barely-educated guess) and ten cents per kWh, liquid electricity is $3.74 per gallon.
Good ad.
But CR touts the green virtues of the Volt, just after describing how its fuel economy is equivalent to a Civic Hybrid, Insight, Golf/Jetta TDI, and a bit lower than the Prius. They also patriotically mention that the Volt really isn’t about saving money. So maybe it isn’t quite as green or economical as ‘regular’ cars. And the EPA didn’t even give the Volt an SULEV rating.
The Volt’s problem is that short-distance commuters who would use the least gasoline typically don’t drive enough miles to realize a payback of the price premium, and long-distance commuters won’t get enough fuel economy to realize a payback, either.
According to my math, commuting in a Volt 35 miles a day, 5 days a week, over 10 years you’d save $5000 compared to a car getting 30 mpg. Not a real compelling case. That’s assuming gas is $3/gal. If fuel prices rise and GM is able to reduce the Volt’s manufacturing costs, and I’d say both are pretty safe bets, then it may be economically viable. But I expect we’ll see MPG figures for conventional cars improve, so Volt has it’s work cut out for it.
Of course, there’s always the GM launch-a-revolutionary-new-economy-car-to-start-the-decade-and-watch-it-go-down-in-flames curse to consider:
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/12/curbside-classic-1980-chevrolet-citation-gms-deadliest-sin-ever/
Give it time. The 1st gen Prius was a overpriced Echo with less trunk and it evolved into the current Green Car Supremo.
If nothing else it gives them something to sell the next time gas hits $4.50/gal and people want to bail out of their V8 Canyoneros.
“Am I saving money?”
If that’s your first response to the Volt then you’ve already missed the point for this iteration.
The 60’s, the best of times. Recall a simpler time? The music, the cars, the …
So now we have to figure out – using the EPA simulated road test, I suppose – if the Volt is using the engine with the electric power some of the time and if so, how much of the time both power sources are on together.
As an aside, I was just looking at the Consumer Reports reviews of the Fiesta, Mazda 2 etc, and they found that the VW Sportswagen diesel with the manual transmission still beat the automatic (DSG) in fuel economy.
Since they’ve always found that manuals beat automatics in fuel efficiency for the same model before the new EPA tests (I haven’t really been keeping track of comparisons for a while), I wonder how much the car makers can actually affect the fuel economy numbers solely by programming the transmissions so they maximize the government tests and how much is because of advances like more gears in automatics compared to manuals.
Everything about the video is good except the fact that the marketing tagline at the end confuses the issue (“It’s More Car Than Electric”). I also like how they discuss cost/mile, that’s a simple metric for people to understand.
Let it also be noted that Ed isn’t reflexively beating up on GM. Can TTAC get some credit here?
This first generation will probably pave the way for other versions for other driving styles – A microturbine and supercapacitors could make the Volt have much more electric range, with the ability to charge “on the fly” as required, or to self-charge (highly efficiently) at a rest stop. I’d be willing to bet that there are start-ups in the U.S. that can’t wait to use the Volt as a platform for further innovations in efficiency that will find their way into future models.
In the end we will all have to do math to figure out if electric/hybrids are economical. Of course that means the most folks will get confused and end up buying cars like they always do, based on some ethereal idea.
CR did a test without testing the Volt. Read their report, the temps averaged 50 degrees during the testing. An unqualified battery range will go down warning was in there. I want to know just how much range will suffer during real world rather than ideal conditions. What about those of us who live where temperatures are can run to the extreme one way or both ways? Those numbers will make or break the Volt when it gets into the hands of real drivers, not the testers and greenies that are the first drivers.
I find it interesting that almost all of the talk about hybrid cars is the amount of money you can save, what is the “return on investment.” I am not aware that there is “return on investment” on cars, they are worth less as as you use them, unlike, hopefully, your stock portfolio. What, for instance is the return on investment of the sport package on a BMW? Thats a ridiculous question.
In the case of cars, the propulsion unit is of some interest to me, but only as a part of the total driving package. I have heard that this car is very quite and very torquey I like quiet and torquey. I hear that it handles quite well for a small car. I like that too. So the car cost $32,000,… a current BMW 3 can easily cost twice that, it’s also quiet and torguey, and handles well. So here we might have a bargan price beemer, at 45mpg to boot, but what do i hear? Endless articles like this one, published because apparantly there are some people who can’t figure out the electricity cost stuff. I suppose we are really not doing a very good job at schools after all. Can I please hear from someone with access to this car if it is any fun to drive? I would love it if it were treated as a … car.