Prius Plug-in and Volt Pros and Cons

I know the car I am talking about doesn't exist, it is a purely hypothetical question.
I am not asking you to believe in the made up car, it doesn't exist.
It is a purely philosophical exercise.

So, for anyone,

Prius A, 50 miles of free gas at the beginning of every day but only 35mpg after that.
Prius B, 50mpg at all times but no free gas.

 

If you drive Volt on gas that often that you can get away with regular gas from going stale, you shouldn't be driving the Volt anyway. It will be a gas powered, battery carrier.

It was designed to be an electric powered, gas engine carrier. That is ok (in supporter minds) because electricity is free and no pollution from generating it plus it is 100% domestic .

 

Error, pls ignore

 

It depends on the electric mile efficiency. On average, electricity takes 2x the energy as gas to produce a gallon equivalent. If that 50 EV miles is rated less than 100 MPGe, the 50 MPG gas is a better choice, especially with refueling in mins instead of 20 hours.

It also depends on the commute length and recharging pattern.

It is not a clear cut as you want to make it sound like.

 

No electricity, the car grows a gallon of gas overnight.
This is a purely philosophical question about which people prefer, free range plus lower mpg after that, or no free range but higher mpg.

This car does not, and never will exist.

 

Spreading more FUD.

When would that situation actually apply?

You don't purchase a system with a battery that large if you don't have access to L2 charging.

And overnight (when it's cool and electricity cost less) is when most full recharging takes place.

 

If the car grows free gas overnight, lower MPG after free electric range wouldn't matter.

It'll come down to running on noisy gas engine or 20 hours recharge time to get a quite ride for the first 50 miles.

I'll choose Prius A because I won't have the hassle of plugging in or unplugging. I can just drive it away with the Smart Key System.

 

Jeff, I know you've done some hypermiling when you are out of EV range on your Volt. What sort of fuel economy is possible at various speeds and driving scenarios when out of battery?

 

Thank you!
I agree with the basic choice, although not your reasons.

The thing people need to understand is it is a sliding scale, not either or.
For some, Prius B would still make more sense. Perhaps not from the convenience factor, but for the amount of gas used.
I do suspect most would select Prius A though.

And hopefully, future cars will get us close to Prius B without too many, or even any, compromises.

 

Can the Volt regen enough to go back to full EV mode (after it has been fully depleted) given enough down-hill travel?

 

Just as a basis vs hypermiling....
I recently took a 140mi round trip from L.I. to Jersey in my Volt- I kept it in "Hold" mode which forces the Volt to run on ICE only. On that trip I drove it like I drove both of my Prius's.. I got 42mpg at the end of the trip in ICE only operation. On a similar trip to the same relative's house in Jersey last year.. I got 52mpg in the PIP (I did use my 11EV miles on that trip but it's pretty insignificant mpg wise on a 140mi trip).

 

Yes. The Volt will switch back to EV mode from hybrid mode if you drive down a long and steep enough road to regenerate at least 1-2 kWh of energy. I don't do this often enough to remember the exact amount required to switch back.

Even if it doesn't formally switch back to EV mode it will still turn off the engine and drive on the regenerated battery range for awhile once the road flattens out and you stop regenerating power.

 

I haven't gotten around to carefully testing this myself but as a rough guide with a warm engine on flat roads with "fan only" climate controls and no headwind:

55 mph gets 45-50 mpg
60 mph gets 42-45 mpg
65 mph gets 38-42 mpg
70 mph gets 35-38 mpg

I did a road trip to Riverside (to attend the PriusChat convention...) a couple of years ago and got 52 mpg driving at 55 mph going down there and low-40's driving back because of major headwinds for the last 150 miles. I think I ended up averaging 47 mpg.

Obviously, you could do much better in a Prius but if you are willing to drive slower you can still get mid-40 mpg in the Volt. My average long-term hybrid gas mpg over the last year or two is about 45 mpg.

You can see my monthly average hybrid (MPGcs) gas mileage at my VoltStats page:

Volt Stats: Details for Volt #2011-00042 (Jeff N)

 

Here are my figures in the Gen III which is interesting to take to account with PiP being able to post similar figures.

55 mph gets 55-65 mpg
60 mph gets 52-55 mpg
65 mph gets 48-52
70 mph gets me 49 mpg (got this numerous times)
80 mph got me 45 mpg (going down to FL on those freeways)

So the Volt isn't that far behind really. It can be 5-10 mpg behind, I suspect the 2nd generation will close the gap (at least against a gen III)

 

That's when an extreme situation is portrayed as oridnary.

The "floor it" was a good example. It was a reasonable question to ask, but the max-rpm for the engine simply isn't going to happen.

The obsession with cooling while recharging is another. How many people will actually ever be in that situation? The context is so vague, it implies the majority.

Presenting numbers, but not perspective or only select data, is misleading.

 

I drove a PiP over my regular commute for 4 days and then followed that the following week driving my Volt under similar conditions, routes, and commute distance. Under that unscientific and anecdotal situation I averaged 50 hybrid mpg in the Volt and 65 hybrid mpg in the PiP or about 30% better in the Prius PHEV.

My longer-term average in the Volt is around 45 hybrid mpg and I'm guessing a longer-term average if I drove a PiP would be around 58.

 

Yes!

That's so vague, it contributes to assumptions.

No detail about what "temps" refers to is a great example. There isn't anything telling us what "happy" means either.