New Electric Vehicle Explorer Website

This is an interesting tool. I think it's nice and easy to use, but I do have a couple of comments:

1) The map tool won't automatically pick the most efficient or shortest route, and I don't see a way to manually change that.
2) Make sure you update the fuel/electricity prices in the upper right corner to be accurate for your own experience(click on the gas pump/lightning bolt icon)
3) You can modify/add vehicles in the list by clicking "car manager" in the lower right corner. You can add just about any vehicle, or pick a random PHEV/BEV/ICE vehicle and just modify the fuel economy to match whatever you want to compare.

For me, the Volt and PiP were neck-and-neck(within $15 annually), just as I had calculated before I bought my PiP. One thing I've noticed is that, since I have a pretty significant downhill grade on my way to the office, when I force HV use, I naturally get amazing mileage(85-90 mpg using 100% HV) on the way in. On the way home, I still average about 48mpg entirely HV. Based on these results, I'm extremely happy with the efficiency of my PiP, and I'm wondering how other cars would compare with such elevation changes.

 

Tool is biased toward the EV Leaf and EV use of the Volt. Uses fixed and unrealistic Ev efficiency values taken from the EPA making useless for its intended purpose. All the other parameters were editable why not this?

Would not use their route generator to navigate in the Wash. D.C. area. Says it's Google maps but real Google does a much better job so something is screwed.

 

Looks like you can change those. Go into cars and you can edit everything about the vehicle.

 

I expect that the authors of this web site would appreciate the real-world feedback. After all, this is a university research project concerned with using EVs in the real world.

(Aside: My son just graduated from the UC Davis School of Engineering. Go Aggies! )

 

Contrary to what James Burk posted, it looks like this reports that in EV mode the PiP is about 4% more efficient than the Leaf. Both leave the Volt, Ford PHEVs, and even the Tesla S in the dust with the Pip at 18-22% more efficient.

(My commute is short enough to be 100% EV.)

 

You can't change the kw/mile, it's not even disclosed, only mpg, ev range, and time to charge. Looks like they are using (approx.) 0.29 kw/mile for the PiP, 0.30 kw/mile for the Leaf, and 0.35 kw/mile for the Volt. It is these values and that they are fixed that I object too. If you can paste in code for drop-down or enter data dialog boxes for the other three why not kw/mile? Just today's engineering rant and I would expect more from grad students. I don't agree with the Volt number and don't even like the Volt or own any of these vehicles.

 

You do realize changing the EV range is the same as changing the kW/mile, correct?

 

The man wants to complain about *something*

 

Here's how my commute compares. The biggest missing item is bridge tolls. The Prius PHV saves $910 in tolls per year on my commute.

 

Holy crap!