Again , read the fine print quote: Single digit temperatures have greeted us each morning of late. ... Bear in mind that these are likely to be the Volt’s worst miles of operation. The extreme cold works against electric-operation efficiency, and extended highway operation is not the Volt’s forte. Remember, too, that extreme cold weather compromises the efficiency of the other vehicles as well, so their numbers would likely have been lower had we run them all nose-to-tail with the Volt for the past week.
^^ I really do think you will *never* get it. The MPG(e) EV mode does not include powerplant production of electricity. Per the EPA, a Volt mile takes about 350 wh from the socket, or over 1200 wh/mile from the powerplant. That is what the EPA is calling ~ 100 MPG(e) in EV mode. Go ahead, do the arithmetic for 43 MPG(e). (Admittedly the numbers are not *that* horrible -- some of the time the Volt is running its uber-shitty ICE but slightly better than laughable EV mode.) Compare to a Prius that across just about all drivers and seasons end up in 40 - 60 mpg range, equal to 837 - 560 wh/mile.
The "soon to be released" Prius PHV goes down to a 6 mile EV range in winter. Now that is laughable. Prius plug-in stutters in bitter cold - Video - Technology
tpfun, the PHEV i have done DIY is better than the volt. seriously, it was 3 degrees this morning and i still pulled over 70mpg. Why is it better? because it intelligently blends electric and petrol usage for optimal efficiency. If i am demanding less than ~10kw it's electric only, if i demand more than ~10kw it brings on the engine. The balance is not quite right, double my current battery and a top draw of 25kw before engine on would be perfect.
Wow, it takes 12 minutes to raise the cabin temp by 10 degrees! "This will probably be a sweater and gloves commuter car for northern-tier Volt owners." All of this while lugging around the gas tank and gas engine. Why not use it? It does not make sense to do less with more.
Volt tried too hard to be an EV. We saw that early on, when it was argued that the engine would almost never be used... as if it was there only for emergencies. Then came the technical detail which claimed 8 kWh of electricity to travel 40 miles. Whether or not such an efficiency accomplishment could be achieved didn't matter, due to the complete disregard for cabin comfort. It should have been obvious how much of a capacity reduction that heater would cause. Clearly, it wasn't... as we can plainly see by all the range fallout disappointment. To make matters worse, now we find out the heater itself isn't all that impressive. Ugh. Just think of what will happen this summer, when owners discover themselves hesitating to turn on the heater late in the evening for warmth long after the sun has set. As hybrid owners, we don't give it a second thought... since there's plenty of waste heat from the engine readily available. In a Volt, no such luck. That comfort is a battery penalty. To further complicate matters, how much of the electricity consumed by preconditioning do you think will be reported by owners? Using the car's heater while still plugged in should count as fuel consumed. I'm betting most will exclude that from their efficiency claims. .
Lyle chose not use the precondition feature. It seemed odd at first but we now know why. It is a waste of energy and it does not raise temp enough. He never reported his total electricity consumption in his final report, before selling his gm-volt site. It is great to see MT reporting electricity consumption.
How rubbish. The PHV is going to destroy it in both cost per mile and overall efficiency. Big claim, maybe, but the GM-Volters have been claiming for years that the volt would destroy the regular prius and they seem to be pretty wrong...
