Prius Plug-in vs Chevy-Volt thoughts

Every brand has bad dealers. There are plenty of Toyota and Honda dealers that will overprice or simply be arrogant pricks because they have the brands' reputation to sell cars. There's one Toyota dealer I'll never deal with now because they wanted to run my credit before quoting me a price on a used Tacoma.

 

That's my view from interior stand point. I see that you disagree and could have stated better.

Some people have a view that Prius PHV was not designed for the US simply from the EV range. From the interior space and other basic needs, Prius PHV meet those far better than the Volt.

 

I think the Volt is really going to be put to the test now. Gas prices are high, it is rolled out in all states, they are still TV advertising 15 months after release which seems a little sad actually. Doesn't TV advertising usually drop off after a car catches on? I don't see Prius v commercials anymore.

I can see the appeal of the Volt as part electric semi-sport sedan. Hopefully they can make a new version a little larger and hold the price.

 

....well just keep in mind $6000 Colorado state credit is the highest state credit. Many states offer no discount over the $7500 fed credit. But Drinnovation did very well indeed.

 

maybe i would have been in a volt if i had found a dealer that was not GREEDY.

maybe i should have done more research? but from this day forth, i wont look back.
I'm totally happy with my CTF and i'm looking at a very fuel efficient and good looking
vehicle to boot.

thanks for all your input and info, i for one never bashed the volt. I might have bashed GM and the CEO for his worthless comments, but keep in mind, I do own 2 collector
corvettes.

 

I was able to find a brand new, non demo model, at Serra Chevrolet in Michigan. With only $1564 and no security deposit I was able to get a 2012 Volt for $280/month for 37 months and 30,000 miles. I was going to wait for the PiP, but with a special deal like that and that I travel 24 miles at least once a week, the Volt worked better for me. We'll see where the Volt and PiP are price-wise in 37 months.

 

Toyota Sells More New Prius C In Three Days Than Chevy Sells Volts In One Month

 

No doubt!!! When I bought my used 2002 prius, I found the window sticker in the glove box, and the price on it was a little over $22k

 

Well this has sure been an interesting read. A couple of questions for those of you that have a Volt. On the Prius when braking, such as going down a long hill, you put power back in to the battery pack. I'd imagine you can do the same with the Volt, and this would increase your electric range, true? Also while coasting, if by slightly depressing the gas pedal on the Prius, you can cut down on this regen process and increase your coasting range. Is this also possible on the Volt? Just wondering as I haven't had the chance to test drive a Volt yet. Thanks, Rick

 

The amount you get back isn't going to be greater than the amount you lost going up the hill. It won't necessarily increase the range of your vehicle via charge, but it will not make you lose range cause you shouldn't be using power going down hill.

 

Actually it can increase your range on a charge, I see it all the time. I live on a hill, with 1000' down to downtown and many of my days with 55+ miles were really because of the elevation gain. Yes its not as much as you spend going back up but if I recharge a bit a work I can still make it home ;-) With the big elevation drop of I70, one can get 75miles on a Volt, see 75Miles on a single charge

If you could get a charge Prius Plug-in at the top of such a hill I'd expect at least 2x the range as well.

 

I am of the opinion that your recharge is limited by what the Regenerative braking system can actual handle. While it would be nice you can literally flywheel recharge, I believe any 'gains' will be lost on the fact that you will always tackle the need to use energy to achieve the potential gain later, and you, of all people with a physics degree should know better than to assume a 'perfect' conversion system, after all, power put in to achieve that potential energy is also more than what you get, due to drag and the inefficiency loss.

 

One can consider a hill as a type of stored energy that the car can access when going down, and then must repay to store on the way home. But stored energy can still be useful, even if its not 100% efficient.


I did not imply you could get free energy, just you could get more miles in a single charge. i said

But with a down hill run and regen I can get 50+ miles for the trip to work and errands down around work, plug in at work and then drive the 17-18miles (uphill) home. Even if I cannot charge at work, I can still get farther downhill and then just end up using gas on the return trip. One of the reason my MPG_CS is lower now is that almost every trip using gas (medium-long trip) for me is uphill at the end, as I live 2000'ft above denver and 1000ft above colorado springs, so the first part of any trip is EV downhill and last part is CS uphill. When I go to the mountains When I go up tot he mountains I get to use gas going up and EV coming down. That plus my Mountain Mode games have my voltstats MPG_CS at about 36 (with MM properly accounted for its about 39)


The question rickkop asked was does it increase the range on a charge, and I explained it could, with limits and provided examples.
Basically it helps EV range for asymmetric trips where get more range doing down and then must charge or use gas to make it back uphill

 

The question rickkop asked was does it increase the range on a charge, and I explained it could, with limits and provided examples.
Basically it helps EV range for asymmetric trips where get more range doing down and then must charge or use gas to make it back uphill[/QUOTE]
Exactly right. I have a large hill I must climb and then after reaching the top of the hill about a half mile flat cruise to my home. After climbing the hill I usually have enough charge in my Prius to get the half mile on battery power alone. By then I'm down to about the time for the ice to kick in but I can make it to the garage. Next time I leave to go out naturally the battery is low but by the time I get to the bottom of that hill with the ice running and the regen braking the battery is at full charge again. I wondered if the principal was the same in the Volt as the Prius and of course the Volt with the larger battery pack it would not be at full charge but but at least I would be able to pick up something. Having a commute of 5 miles each way, and being able to charge for free at work (for now anyway) has me excited about a plug-in. Thank for the info, Rick

 

This is true. The real point of regenerative braking is that with regen braking you get more range per charge than if you did not have regen braking, because you are recapturing SOME of your kinetic energy rather than wasting it all on friction braking.

You'll gain nothing on a flat road where you never slow down. But with ups and downs, or stop and go, braking is necessary, and it's better to get some of that energy back into the battery than dissipate it all as heat.

In that sense regen increases your range. But your maximum range will still be a flat road with no stops or hills and no braking of any kind.

On a side note, the Tesla Roadster, with its humongous PEM, can regen 40 kW, if the power gauge is accurate (which I have no reason to doubt).

 

So driving downhill results in lower range than a flat road...that is what you are arguing

 

If you can always drive downhill of course the range would be great, unfortunately at some point you have to go back up, and that's where you lose all that you gained plus some!