2016 Volt vs 2010 Prius

are they doing the same trips?

 

Do you precondition the Volt while it is plugged in?

 

@leeb18c owns both.

Not sure which year or model Volt, but it looked nice in white.

 

Doesn't the volt use the engine to charge the battery mostly? Or does it also drive the car in most cases like in the Prius? Maybe the engine load is different and causes less drop off in winter.

 

The larger battery means the Volt can turn the engine off more often, and for longer periods while in hybrid mode, once things have warmed up.

 

Once charge depleted, it acts like a traditional hybrid with one big exception: the ICE will run at a set RPM to supply voltage similar to a portable gas generator. Depending on circumstances and need, there are different RPM levels it can select. It can be a little disconcerting to newbs when they apply more throttle but the sound stays the same. It's more intricate than that as there are variations and exceptions but that's the gist of it.

 

This is what I thought. I wonder if that makes the differences in weather less pronounced.

 

o/p says 'volt running just on gas'. is that even possible?

 

I'm guessing he means not plugging in

 

agreed, so there would be no ore help from the battery than the prius, i'm guessing.

 

I thought the Prime & PiP got better mpg in Hybrid mode than the comparable Liftbacks due to the larger traction battery so the engine did not need to run as frequently.

 

if you don't plug in, idk if there's anymore juice. i always figured the pip did a little better due to li-on v nimh.

 

It's more because of the larger capacity. The Prime does a little better than the Li-ion Prius.

 

do you think larger capacity means more juice in hybrid mode?

 

It will allow more capture with regen.

 

Thank you for saying it better than I did.

 

To add to that, a larger pack will help with regen even if the upper capacity limit while in hybrid mode is limited to that of the hybrid. Moving energy in and out of a battery generates heat. With a larger pack, there are more cells to spread that heat out among, or to put it another way, each individual cell heats up less in the larger pack for the same amount of energy added or removed. This lets the PHEV capture more energy during a braking event before heat generation is deemed too much.

 

Are they still "dividing" the pack for the Prime?

 

I think owners have seen regen push the SOC past the "hybrid" level, but it mostly happens in cases like coasting down a mountain.

The "divide" itself is just in the software. The Prime will use all of the cells in its pack while in hybrid mode. Doing otherwise is foolish since it would mean aging part of the pack faster than the rest.