Comparison Test: 2011 Chevrolet Volt vs. 2010 Toyota Prius PHV

Thank you for your comment ....actually, in my original post I mentioned that sales in Japan were strong.

But bad publicity takes time to heal. I was in a car rental place recently and a Prius was offered to a customer. She said "No" Then explained "They have safety issues."

 

Thanks for the OP. I pretty much officially don't care as much about a PHV's or EREV's electric range. I get it, it's about efficiency - average kWh/100 miles and average miles per gallon.

Wow, that Volt better be one helluva fun car to drive because apprently, it is not nearly as energy efficient (the extra heft doesn't help).

So - Prius PHV : ~ 46% more efficient (according to OP test), estimated to cost $8,500 less, seats 5, twice the cargo room, less frisky to drive and a tad more pokey, whateva

Volt : opposite of ^

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It's a crackup to see Volt fans have a hard time understanding the cost/efficiencies -

'you think a Prius is more efficient when it's gas engine comes on with EV range left to assist the electric motor ... while the Volt can go 35 miles without any gas ... '

Duh ... errr... it's called Hybrid Synergy Drive and clever design.

 

Don't forget the emission. Volt is ULEV and PHV Prius will be EAT-PZEV. Volt does not qualify for HOV lane.

Volt is not clean nor efficient. The green car award it received was given out before the official EPA label was released. Things that make you go hmmm.....

 

Can I ask a Volt related question?

Why can Nissan design an EV from scratch and release it into the international market place for LESS than the Volt (which isn't as good as either of its main competition)? And the Volt had $billions of your hard earned!

I don't get it?


Or maybe this $1 billion (or is it more?) government bail out money divided by 200,000 Volt cars is $5,000 of government money in each car and THEN they'll be giving $1,000's in incentives to each new car and then they're buying these cars themselves for government use?

Is that why GM stands for Government Motors?

 

Adverstising dollars. Cadillac ad on first, fold-out page

Yes, of course, emissions! I spent hours reading EPA docs on climate change, etc.... s c a r y.

Far as I can see, there is still no EPA gas / electric ratings on Volt site! And the cars are arriving in dealerships about ... right now, like today.

 

6 miles EV range in the cold:

Prius plug-in stutters in bitter cold - Video - Technology

 

A pure electric like the Leaf has less parts. No ICE to pay for, and basically no transmission as well (there is a single reduction gear, that is it).

The Leaf battery is 50% larger then the Volt, and that is the only part that could cost more. The battery management system on the Leaf is also simpler though some have said that it is not as robust as the Volt or other electric cars.

The price of the Leaf is low.. you can get the whole car for 2x the cost of the battery pack ($12000???) after federal and (some) state rebates.

 

Really? People get between 29 and 49 miles on the Volt in all electric.

People get between 6 and 15 miles on the Prius Phev.

Seems like both companies have done a fair job estimating the range.

 

I'm not that enthused by edmunds testing or editorial comments. I know, I know you probably like it better than motor trend or car and driver but when I read things like this in the review -

It makes you question the reviewers. Then you look at the numbers and wonder what the test track was like, and why the reviewers over welmingly said they would rather drive the volt, but thought customers would rather buy the prius. Not withstanding I hope most of us prius drivers have not had our souls sucked away.

 

6 miles is pretty low. he musta been running the heater.

 

Chevrolet Volt EPA Numbers Revealed, Dissected - Car and Driver Blog

The epa is out there. You can't sell a car without it.

36kwh/100 miles, 35 miles ev range.
CS mode 35 mpg city, 40 mpg highway, 37 mpg combined.

 

The key point is, the range of both were tested under the same conditions. There is no room for data cherry picking.

 

Jay Leno was one of the so called "green car expert" that voted.

 

Yes, and the conditions favored the Prius.

The Volt has conditions (common) that will favor it as well.

For you everything is black and white, the Volt sucks and GM is lying and the Prius is perfect. I see two different approaches, with each being more useful to a slice of the market.

I think the Prius Phev makes better use of a limited resource, batteries. Each unit of battery is put to better use in the Prius Phev then in the Volt. But there is a (large) group of people who can use a Volt to cut gas use to nearly zero. They are the target market.

 

If you see two, that's the problem. All along, the concern has been "too little, too slowly". Market pressure will push diversification anyway. GM set decent priorities, then abandoned them. Now, they have to struggle to deliver them still.
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A future Volt, perhaps. The current Volt, no.

Think about employment situation now. It's quite different than when those statistics about daily driving were collected. Many jobs close to home have vanished. People are quite willing to drive further for a steady paycheck now.
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Here's the founder of gm-volt.com who got a Volt for 19 days to driver 1,291 miles. check it out.

http://gm-volt.com/2010/11/29/living-with-the-chevy-volt-the-first-1300-miles/

" .. I have driven 1291 miles and burned 9.28 gallons of gas (one full tank) for an effective 139 MPG. Of those miles 946 (73%) were on electricity and 346 (27%) were on gas..."

I see your point hamped. But obviously the big question is, will it sell well enough to develop into a great plug-in? The price just bites on it.

I'm quite sure the original Prius in US sold for $19,995 ten years ago to date, that price without tax credits, plain MSRP.

The Volt has doubled in price from Prius. And you say a large number of people can cut their gas usage to nearly zero. With a Leaf, one can definitely cut gas usage to zero for about $9k less than Volt. We'll see how badly people want to pay for the gas capability of the Volt. It is after all, the first production Plug-in serial hybrid (as stated by the gubment), so no one really knows.

 

I think the figure was 78% in the previous survey. I've seen nothing statistical on employment that jobs are getting more rural. Do you have figures for new job creation that contradicts the old survey or the information coming out of publications like business week or the economist? To be wildly successful the volt would get 2% of new car buyers. Do you think that we have gone from 78% to less than 2% and that these drivers don't make enough for a $350/week lease. But really 100K volts per year would be a very profitable car for gm.

 

Well YMMV, I would think most PHEV people care mainly about how far they can go on a charge. Most also know what that charge will cost. The range and using less gas is important to them. You can do your own calculations. If you are going to be driving much further than the 12,000 miles in the 3 year lease, the volt is a bad deal. Otherwise it will give you 25-50 miles of electric driving which the prius can't. For some it is worth the extra money, for others it isn't.

Those driving both acted as if the prius had a better back seat and more storage, the volt hatndled better, accelerated faster, and was more comfortable for the driver, at least according to the somewhat offensive Edmund's piece, that talks about the prius being soul less. I don't really trust their commentary. From the other reviews we can definitely expect the prius, phv or not to get better mileage in cs mode. Since we are prius drivers we know what we get in the prius. If you are driving too long for the volt to make sense, the phv prius may not make sense either over a standard prius. Toyota also may come up with something better by the time they release it.

 

That % also took into account the 40-mile range, not the 35 that Volt is officially estimated at.
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Farther from home is the change, not necessarily any further from the metro areas.
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