Wikipedia: Volt Displaces Prius' Fuel Efficiency Crown

So why have they only sold 968 cars in December, January & February?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Volt#Production_and_sales

That's 968 in TOTAL, not 968 each month!

Hey, at that rate they might just sell 4,000 in a year.

 

so all i need to do is build a car that gets 100mpg for 1 mile and i get the crown!

 

They are using epa's test for comparison which give the volt 60 mpge in combined mileage. This means 1 mile won't cut it. They average the electric and charge sustain mileage. Totally fair. The prius doesn't have a plug. It will need it to get the crown back. The only thing a little off on the crown is "fuel efficiency" instead of "efficiency". The "efficiency" would give it to the tesla the crown. I

 

how many miles is the test?

 

Detailed Test Information

Longest is 11, but there are either 2 or 5 tests given a vehicle. You can check the site above. The prius phv will get a different blended test than the volt, but will likely beat that 60 mpge. If they do the 2 tests they multiply the mileage by 70%. They will average the blended ev test with the cs test to get mileage.

 

best mpg's for 11 miles? wow!

 

The Leaf is not more efficient?

 

The first Leaf was delivered on Dec 11th. It looks like the Volt was first sold before that. So, maybe that's worded deceptively, but it might be true that it "displaced" the Prius if the Leaf wasn't yet available.

 

Since it costs twice as much, shouldn't it achieve twice the MPG?

 

That's what I was pointing out in my post. They used the term "fuel" efficient. The Leaf doesn't use "fuel" per se. It doesn't have the range, but since the volt includes fuel and electricity. Electric mpge of the volt is 93 the leaf 99mpge, but combined with fuel the epa rating is 60mpge. EPA uses an arbitrary distance to calculate this. Depending on distance you will get best mpge with leaf until it dies, then volt, then after a further drive the prius. YMMV. I would take the crown away from the prius, until the prius phv is shipping.

 

No that is just the longest test segment. I think the epa uses an arbitrary distance of 80 miles, I can't quite remember the formula. The mpge would be 93 if it was only for 11 miles.

 

I am sure we are in agreement that the Volt is not the most efficient. What is the most efficient depends on what you 'allow' it to be compared with and how you characterize the modes you are going to test it in.

Technically for a production car (but not mass production) I would say it is the Tesla Roadster. I would put the Leaf at #2. Using EPA methodology the Volt would be #3 though I personally do not agree with it being there.

Its when you say things like 'major car company' or 'mass produced' then it gets very gray. But the most efficient car in the USA is not the Volt by any measure I know though I am sure someone figure out a way of saying it like.....

"The most efficient HYBRID using the EPA rating methodology"

 

Oh, I agree, hampden. After looking at the citations, it looks to me like someone found a less-than-thorough article and used it to make a claim on Wikipedia. It doesn't even say that Prius was "displaced" in the article. That was the Wikipedia editor's assumption.

 

Someone should fix the article.

 

If this was on wiki it's not there now.

I calculated in another thread based on feedback of Edmunds or Consumer Reports long term test vehicle (cannot remember which) that at gas prices around where they are now the operating cost per mile of the Volt is cheaper than the Prius up to 56 miles. Thereafter--any trip occurring greater than that length--the Prius costs less to drive it than the Volt. This also assumed the Volt starting with a full charge. The comparatively poor gas mileage of the Volt and its requisite premium fuel makes it an expensive competitor not long after it exhausts its EV range.

So, if you have a commute each day of 56 miles round trip the Volt will cost the same in fuel as the Prius (obviously there are exceptions up and down depending on weather and all that). If it's longer the Prius is cheaper--even though it doesn't have any beginning EV range.

 

I just modified it.

 

Aaaaand the change was reverted with the following comment:

Reuters article here. I think the Ebikeguy editor is misreading and/or misrepresenting the article, but I'm not going to get in an editing war over it. It looks to me like the Reuters reporters are simply trying to "crown a fuel economy king" based upon their own opinion and analysis, but the Wikipedia statement makes it sound like the EPA is more involved.

Key parts of the article:

 

The MPGe for electric propulsion ignores the power plant that made the electricity. Imagine this setup comparison assuming 36% ICE efficiency:

Prius PHV_1 running on petrol at 50 mpg vs
Prius PHV_2 with the ICE outside the car, sending electricity to the car. If the drivetrain efficiencies are the same in the two cars, EPA now rates my PHV_2 at 139 MPGe, even though at best the Prius PHV_2 goes no farther on a gallon of petrol than PHV_1.

 

Actually, that seems to be the big misrepresentation in the Wiki. It's called 60 MPG instead of 60 MPGe, even converting MPGe into liters/100 km. The sticker (warning, big file) says 60 MPGe.