Energy Consumption

Why not track and report the gallons consumed in your other cars too? Is it safe to assume that Volt doesn't fulfill the need of your household?

 

^^ heh heh. For him the Volt is another toy. In a couple of years he will buy something else if he can.

 

Now there is funny reasoning. "I do not use the car when it cannot fulfill the task at hand, and lo and behold, the Volt has fulfilled the tasks asked of it."

Who wudda thunk ?

 

Either way any real life observations will be skewed one way or another; your use case as good as anyone's else. Multi-car home is where the majority if not all of the Volts end up at, so it is expected to have the miles shared across those.

From the looks all your other cars get under 35MPG, so as long as you don't use your 20MPGer to artificially inflate Volt numbers on the trips Volt would not do so well, your test is accurate. Would clear some questions if you explained how you/your wife sharing Volt

For example our household Prius policy is:
- if only one driver takes a trip, he/she uses Prius
- if 2 drivers take a trip, the one with longer trip gets it
- if you need a bigger vehicle, you get what you need.

Average for 2200mi from last oil change is 60.2.

 

Are you saying the same is ok for the plug-in Prius? People can simply post whatever observation they want without also providing any type of perspective? Good luck with that.

I've collected 2 years of daily driving data, noting the total distance traveled each and every day. When I get my PHV, it will be the same driving documented the same way. That will provide a very clear view of how efficiency was improved from the plug enhancement.
.

 

I think the point is, your energy consumption vs. Volt's energy consumption.

For us, Prius is the only car and all the miles are racked up on it. We don't have kids yet. I drive to work and she takes public transportation. Our household gasoline consumption is simple to track from a single Prius.

For you, it is quite complex due to multiple vehicles that consumes multiple energy sources.

 

More Data:

6356 total miles; 4378 EV; 1978 CS; 68.9% miles in electric

51.2 gallons consumed; CS mileage lifetime = 38.6 mpg

Gallons consumed per total miles traveled = 124.1 mpg

I don't have a measure of kwh consumed. Compared to last year's electric bills charging is running me about $10-15 a month (I charge at work for free about 1/2 the time).

Cost per mile is on average about 4 cents.

 

Neither the car nor charger tell you how much juice went in? I wonder if it was designed intentionally.

 

"Gallons of Fuel Saved" was intentional in GM's owner Energy-Efficiency reports.

What is that compared to?
.

 

from the monthly onstar e-mail (if you follow the link for the explanation of the calculations):

My VOLT - Powered by Onstar

Energy Efficiency data is based on total kilometres driven since last email report.

Estimated Fuel Saved. Calculation: Theoretical Fuel Used* - Actual Fuel Used. *Theoretical Fuel Used is calculated based on US EPA identified average combined MPG for compacts with conventional gasoline engine for 2009. More information at Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Fuel Economy Trends: 1975 Through 2010 | OTAQ | US EPA (select Appendix F4).

Estimated CO2 Avoided. Calculation: litres of Fuel Saved x 2.3 kg of CO2. Details can be found at Emission Facts: Average Carbon Dioxide Emissions Resulting from Gasoline and Diesel Fuel | US EPA

FWIW, my gallons saved in the month of June was 38.

 

Do they base the estimate on your fuel consumption or on an assumption that you would be driving...say a corvette if you didn't have a Volt?

 

If you would have been driving an industry standard average compact delivering 27.3 MPG, that would be the case. But since GM & enthusiasts made such a big deal about Volt owners having previously been Prius owners...

Savings is quite misleading. Gallons consumed would be far more informative.
.

 

How would gallons consumed be more informative in the On-Star report? Presumably the owner already knows the gallons consumed, seeing as how they are the ones pumping it into the car.

 

They base it on the average conventional compact car (apparently from 2009).

John I did give the total gallons consumed above.

If you would prefer the savings in gallons compared to a 50 mpg prius, it would be about 75.9 gallons lifetime to date. Still doesn't tell you much without the electrical side factored in, but as I have stated the cost impact of the electric has been negligible to me (certainly no where near what 76 gallons of gas would cost).