Volt - 72.9 miles on one charge

That's true, but the flip side is that running the decoupled ICE at an ideal BSFC point means more excess power makes a round trip from ICE->generator->battery->motor, which adds its own inefficiencies. Hence the parallel mode that can be engaged at any point over 45mph depending on conditions.

 

You're having some great results but 5.3 miles/kWh does not pencil out. That means your 72 mile trip took less than 14kWh to recharge. If that's the number the meter reported, it's not accurate.

 

No ... our recharge took even LESS than 14kWh ... because we didn't need to recharge to full on our return trip home. We were at altitude, and returning "with" the wind. Regen recaptured about 20%-25% going down hill, and one of our passengers returned home with another. You're confusing our one-time/least efficient trip (with 3 people in the Leaf - probably 500lbs of passenger weight on the way up the mountain) with the over-all maximizing trips (solo driver) that we do the other 99% of the time. On our high altitude climb - "poor range" trip to Lytle creek, we didn't attempt to factor miles/kWh ... nor do we usually attempt to keep exact range / power-consumed numbers every re-charge. The point (off topic as it is/was) was that the Leaf's worse possible range ... and its highest possible range are far away from reality ... just like the Volt.