Edmunds has the Chevy Volt in their long term fleet

$901 a month for 3 years.
That's with $4000 down, using default values for other entries with this calculator.
Monthly car lease payment calculator - Yahoo! Autos
As I said, it's a basic calculator. There is a lot more details that others ask for.

 

Considering my lease was about $5000 down and $350 a month on the Volt that seems high for a prius, but I guess some people can still afford to get them.

 

So the April update was posted a few days ago. I had to search for it because it's buried under a mass of other stuff.

2011 Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt: April "Fuel" Economy Update

 

Wow, a cordless Prius would cost less than both the Volt and Leaf in CA.

Using the national average for the cost of electricity, Leaf beats Prius and Volt is last.

 

I think you forgot to finish your post.

There, fixed. My personal cost/mile hovers around 0.05 (beating the Edmunds Prius number), despite 50% higher than US average electric rates.

 

Don't use the gas engine or you'll get penalized. 32.7 MPG with premium gas for a $41k hybrid hurts the cost of ownership.

 

My EV utilization rate is around 70%, I have never gotten CS mode mileage less than 35 mpg, even when running it hard, my typical is 42 mpg (lifetime average is just over 40 mpg).

One thing in the article though is that the Prius and Volt would beat the Leaf if they found someway to account for the rental cost of another vehicle for the 800 mile trip the Leaf was just not able to perform. By including a lengthy CS mode trip that lowers the overall Volt average but not factoring the benefit of having the capability to do that the comparison to the Leaf loses validity, obviously there would be no change to the prius numbers.

 

If you add the cost of maintenance, it will favor the Leaf. If you add the cost to purchase the vehicle, it will favor both the Leaf and Prius.

Keep in mind that we are comparing two midsize cars and one compact car (Volt). Compact car should cost less to own and operate.

 

I've had a Volt for review this week. It's been pretty fun to drive compared to our Prius. Zipping around on pure electric mode without having to nurse the engine to minimize gas consumption is a fun change of pace, too. I've only run out of charge for a few miles a couple times. My net fuel economy is over 200mpg and lifetime on the tester I have is 93mpg after 1100 miles.

There's no question the Prius has some advantages. It has a 5th seat. It's a bit roomier. If you go far into the backup gas tank, the cost of premium and lower fuel economy on the gas engine make the Prius come out ahead after a short while. On the other hand, if you can handle the price tag near 40k after rebate, the Volt is a pretty nice ride overall. I think many buyers are likely those who can mostly stick to pure electric use based on their driving habits. A Volt wouldn't work well for us with 3 kids, but if your round trip commute isn't much more than 50 miles or so (or you have access to a charge at work), it's a pretty sweet alternative. I like the dual color displays and touch screen, too. If you bought a Prius for high-tech, the Volt goes one step farther. And the quality and feel are surprisingly good, too. Right up there with our Prius.

 

Why are you assuming that every LEAF owner has only one car in the household ? Along those lines you might as well add rental cost to the Volt, since it is too small to be a vacation car.

I plan to keep our Prius, and add a short range EV to the household when our Subaru leaves us. The Prius will be used for the long trip I have ~ 6 times a year, and the occasional times when we want to use both cars or the small EV cannot fulfill the task.

 

Because you then introduce too many variables.

If you're going to compare a single car to the combined benefit of two the comparison is invalid without factoring in the additional cost of the 2 vehicles, just as the article is right that part of the point of the Volt is being able to do those longer trips when you need to, another part is that it is capable of being your only car.

To keep things more even you could put the Volt into a two car household too and then only use your back-up prius beater for trips over 200 miles or something.

If you want to talk about the case of needing to rent a larger car for vacations, you would probably need to do the same for the Leaf if you're vacation is a significant distance or you need to make a whole series of assumptions about the second car (is it an SUV, is it a prius, is it a sports car?).

You need to look at a similar driving need for each driver then the costs they would incur in meeting that need. If you want to look at regular commuting for a period of time and then an 800 mile trip, that is fine. The long trip will raise the average cost per mile for a Volt, it will have no effect on the prius, and it will destroy the Leaf, unless you just want to treat it like a NEV and assume it is incapable of direct comparisons to cars capable of meeting all your driving needs.

 

Well said

 

It sounds like a fun little car. I am thinking about the focus ev when it comes out.

 

Nah, the problem is your assumptions. You *assume* that the Volt will be a vacation/long_trip car, you *assume* that LEAF owners do not have another car in the household that serves as their vacation car -- or for that matter, that these long trips are by car and not by train or plane. Then you jump to an even spottier *assumption* that a LEAF household has a second car because of the LEAF.

GIGO

I note that despite your Volt purchase, you still have an ICE SUV in your household. Who wudda thunk ? From a card-carrying "oil hawk" no less. Hypocrisy is best when served fresh.

 

You're in for a surprise driving the PHV. The extra oomph available from the traction motor, which is clearly under utilized in the cordless model, is really nice. I enjoyed the effortless electric-only acceleration throughout my routine driving in the suburbs.
.

 

The article we are discussing was comparing operating costs for vehicles in their test fleet. If comparing costs between two vehicles it is important to use them similarly, that is all I am saying.

Not that its relevant to the discussion, but our other vehicle is a Mercury Mariner hybrid, which at the time of our purchase was the most fuel efficient SUV available. I was an early adopter of the Prius (got my Gen I when I had to travel out of state for it as well). I was the first person I know with a hybrid, the first family I know with two, and now we have the Volt and the hybrid. I am very optimistic that my next vehicle will be a pure BEV, and the replacement of the Mariner may someday be a Voltec powered Equinox or similar vehicle. For more than 8 years I have consistently paid a premium to use less oil, and I find your accusations of hypocrisy to be misplaced.

edit: I also note that I am a veteran of the first Gulf War. When you put your life on the line in the Middle East I will give more credence to your opinions on our dependency on foreign oil.

 

The last war I fought in was in the Middle East. I was a paratrooper at the time, and all told was active military spanning about a decade. Since you seem to think that military adventures justifies oil use, you should clarify what kind of "veteran" you are. Clerk ? Technician ? Or soldier in the line of fire ?

You might also note that I bought my first car when I was about 30 years old, when my workplace was too far to ride a bicycle and public transport was not available. I have never owned a car that got less than 30 mpg, and through the years I have always sought to buy the most fuel efficient mainstream car available. I have understood the downsides of oil dependency and use for a lot longer than you, rest assured; and I and my family have acted a lot less hypocritically than you to walk the walk.

I realize your SUV is a hybrid. It is still an oil pig compared to a Prius. Think about that for a moment: you are the flag waving "oil hawk," but use more oil in your household than if you ran 2 Prius. It does sound like your choices are different than your wife's, but look at this from my POV: you agree to a SUV for your wife, but advocate *EV here.

 

Now we are going to minimize ones position in war based on occupation? Last I checked a bomb will kill a clerk just as fast as a grunt.

If an exocet missile sunk my carrier I would have died in the engine room the same horrible way the guy cooking in the mess hall would have died.

I had a buddy who was a welder who was on the Stark. He wouldn't even talk about what happened on that ship unless he was drunk and from what little I heard him say I don't blame him.

You don't have to be in the line of fire to be on fire.

 

Fair enough. I was in the Navy, I also worked in an engine room. I too had friends on the Stark.

My wife really wanted an SUV and I really wanted a hybrid, we compromised on a hybrid SUV, seems reasonable enough. I got her into that from a Chrysler Pacifica and her economy nearly doubled.

 

My hybrid SUV gets 50% better mileage around town than the minivan it replaced and also any other midsize V6 SUV with 3-rows of seating. That's still 33% less fuel I'm using hauling kids around town which is most of my driving. On the highway, it's maybe only 10%, but still better. I use my wife's Prius when I can. Sure, I could do more, and probably should do more, but there's a lot worse out there for gas guzzlers. I'm pretty happy with my 30mpg around town in a 4500 pound vehicle.

I happen to think reducing the use of non-renewable carbon based fuels is a good thing in general. In the case of oil, not only because it is a diminishing resource. I'm not a veteran, but I have 3 kids and would like them to have some semblance of clean air in 20 years when they have kids, not to mention the political, economic and other enviornmental concerns. Any steps we can take now, from buying hybrids and electrics to promoting tune-ups, appropriate tire pressure and conservative driving, can all make huge reductions in fossil fuel use once they are widely accepted.