Will the Chevrolet Volt be a failure or a success?

And the prius came in behind both the Leaf and the Volt.

 

Leaf is really a game changer. It also makes a great combo with the Prius.

 

Factor in the cost of the vehicle purchase. Consider the miles beyond the 64 mile commute. Throw in the Prius PHV into the mix will be interesting also.

 

It proves they picked their commute distance carefully, they could have picked a different distance and gotten the Volt or the Prius as the top. Responsible journalism would have found the break even points.

 

The Prius cost about 0.5 cents/mile more than the Volt in a test where electricity rates were less than the national average. The Volt driver pays $500 -$600 a month for the car, and saves $5 a month on fuel costs. Oh yeah, *that* is going to convince people LOL

I thought the most interesting tidbit in the article was that transit time in the train was *half* that using a car. If the person has a reasonably efficient way to get from the train station to their end destination the car loses a lot of its attraction.

 

You can lease a Leaf for $350 a month, you can lease a Volt for $350 a month, a lease on a comparably equipped Prius would be significantly more without the tax breaks and incentives. This is really a non sequitur.

 

Mine is 391/mo. Includes taxes.

 

I do not have a Prius and i would not compare(Apple with Oranges) the regular Prius with the Volt. What Cars.com was looking for was the cheaper commute, that is the reason they included the ford focus and commuter train ride. The Volt will be compared to the Prius Plug-In. The reason I found this cars.com comparison is because I was looking to see if others have calculated cost of running these vehicles.

I wanted to know how much it would cost to drive 15, 40, 65 and 80 miles in these cars. I did not include the Leaf since it is an EV. I made my own calculations a few weeks ago to see how the Volt, Prius Plug-in and regular Prius using fueleconomy.gov numbers and EPA data when regular gas was $3.45 and premium gas was $3.75 in the website.

Volt is rated at 35 miles EV, I used 40 for ease of calculation!
Prius Plug-In is not rated yet, instead of 13, i used 15 for the same reason.

Using FUELECONOMY.GOV Numbers when:
Electricity: $0.11/kwh Regular Gas: $3.45 Premium Gas: $3.75

VOLT: Premium Gas: $3.75
PRIUS PLUG-IN: Regular Gas: $3.45
PRIUS Regular Gas: $3.45

VOLT $0.594/15 miles(Kwh); $0.99/25 miles(Kwh);
$1.518/15 miles(gas); $2.53/25 miles(gas)
PRIUS PLUG-IN $0.594/15 miles(Kwh); $1.72/25 miles(gas)
PRIUS $1.032/15 miles(Gas); $1.72/25 miles(gas)

Trip of 15 miles
VOLT: = $0.594(Kwh)*
PRIUS PLUG-IN: = $0.594(Kwh)*
PRIUS = $1.032(Gas)

Trip of 40 miles
VOLT $0.594(Kwh)+$0.99(Kwh) = $1.584*
PRIUS PLUG-IN $0.594(Kwh)+$1.72(gas) = $2.314
PRIUS $1.032(gas) +$1.72(gas) = $2.752

Trip of 65 miles
VOLT $1.584+$2.53 = $4.114
PRIUS PLUG-IN $2.314+$1.72 = $4.034*
PRIUS $2.752+$1.72 = $4.472
Volt costs $0.08 Cents > Prius Plug- In; Prius costs $0.36 Cents >Volt;

Trip of 80 miles
VOLT $4.114+$1.518 = $5.632
PRIUS PLUG-IN $4.034+$1.032 = $5.066*
PRIUS $4.472+$1.032 = $5.504*
Both priuses (Prii)turn out to be cheaper to run than Volt

Again, these are my own calculations, if someone finds something else, please post it. The Volt will be more efficient than the Prius Plug-In between 15-40 miles EV, but once the Volt is out of EV mode on a longer trip, all bets are off!

 

How much are the cleaner engine emissions from Prius worth per mile?
.

 

Aren't you forgetting taxes, sign-on fees, drop off fees, and capital reduction ? Let's not forget mats and a back-up camera LOL. The hypothetical driver in the cars.com test would also pay excess mileage, and of course only sterling credit score customers receive the apr upon which that much hyped $350 a month is based.

I saw a thread this week at gm-volt.com asking how many people are paying $350 a month. That is where my $500-$600 a month figure comes from.

 

Your calcs look good for cost, but another important consideration to many EV buyers is displacing oil consumption (I also see no reason to exclude the Leaf from your comparison).

At 15 miles the Prius will burn 3/10ths of a gallon more than any of the others(assuming the PHV keeps below 62 mph and doesn't accelerate too hard).

At 40 miles, the PHV has burned 0.7 gallons and the regular prius has burned 0.8 gallons

At 65 miles the Volt burned .7 gallons, the PHV 1.0 gallons (at least), and the regular prius 1.3

At 80 miles the Volt burned 1.1 gallons, the PHV 1.3 gallons, and the prius 1.6 gallons.

In fact, the higher efficiency of the regular prius compared to the Volt CS mode doesn't result in any gas savings in trips less than 150 miles. Of course a pure EV is the best choice if you can live with the present limitations.

 

Did not realize the $350 per month was not realistic. This changes my opinion of the Volt success potential. Personally I do not think I want the inconvenience of plugging in either. Plug-in discipline presumes I am motivated by thinking the EV mode Volt is greener/better which, I do not right now (prior posts). It would be nice to have the plug-in option in case of forgetting to fuel up or, a fuel shortage, or some other flexbilities.

Electricity is very cheap vs. gasoline right now. But that does not necessarily equate to better for ecology. Long term we should expect higher electric cost, according to Duke Energy CEO on Ali Velshi, CNN Money the other day, he said due to aging infrastructure. But at the moment, we have a sweet spot for cheap electricity. When we finally have cheaper battery technology, guess what?

Also final question- is Europe big on Volts? I was thinking maybe not, and if Volts were really cleaner/better, EU would probably do it. They are nutty that way, they tell me.

 

Before the earthquake, I saw $189.99 leasing deals for the Prius.

 

To succeed, the technology must appeal to mainstream buyers.

The point is to expand beyond the EV buyer niche, right?
.

 

I agree with your calculations. You calculated amount of gas and I calculated cost of gas and Kwh electricity. And there was a .30 Cents difference in the price of regular compared to premium gas.

First of all, the tittle of this thread is not really appropriate since there may not be many members who own a Volt in this forums. The Volt is new technology and it is definitely a success already IMO.

It is only now that GM are shipping demo cars to dealers for test drives. I work 6.1 miles from home and the Prius Plug-In is about right for the job. The round trip is just over 12 miles, but I would prefer a 20-mile Volt or Prius while the 40-mile would be great for others with a longer daily commute. The reason I do not want at the moment more than a 20-mile range is because of 3 factors: increased cost, increased weight, reduced space for another passenger and/or spare tire. I am old enough to remember the first cellphone, so it is only a matter of time for batteries to get smaller, cheaper and a lot better.

So, I would have liked if GM had also offered a 20-mile Volt, With battery under center armrest and under back seat, but remove battery behind center armrest console to free up space for a 3rd passenger, reduce weight and cost of the battery.

 

A 20 EV mile Volt will require a breakthrough in battery technology. That small battery cannot drive it without ICE blending and expect it to last the life of the car.

 

I agree, given GM's approach to the PHEV concept that a 20 mile version would require too much re-engineering to be feasible. The shorter range on the PHV makes so much sense for the weight and cost factors precisely because Toyota does such a good job of blending the powertrains and not relying on the battery for full propulsion power.

Sergiospl, it does sound like a PHV will be perfect for you, I hope you get one and enjoy it very much.

John, the point is to move away from our dependence on oil for transportation. I don't want to be painted as some sort of eco-nut alarmist, but I personally believe I will see the end of oil's availability at anything approaching reasonable prices in my lifetime. We need real solutions well before that happens, the Prius was an incredible first step towards reducing demand, but it is still 100% reliant on the oil. The new generation of electric cars are the next step, and someday the "EV niche" will be those wanting to own a car.

 

That was one of my concerns when I started driving an EV last Summer.
In the last ~9 months I have found how convenient it is and just how INCNVENIENT stopping to get gas at a gas station is.
10-15 seconds each time I get home vs 3-10 minutes to pull into a gas station, fill up, and get back onto the road.
I especially like never having to stop and fuel up in zero degree weather

 

Right now the *real*, *actual* US passenger car fuel economy is under 20 mpg. Conservation, public transport for long trips, and efficient small cars with 15-20 EV ranges can easily up the national MPG to 100 - 150 when every car on the road is that sort.

That is the future, not $45,000 energy hog toys.

 

How are we supposed to do that with the current cost and reliability of battery technology?

Your approach sounds like "cold turkey". The most realistic approach is through hybrid technology that will reduce consumption by going mainstream. This is already happening.

The next step is to blend in electricity as additional power source with the Prius plugin without compromising cargo, cordless MPG, emission nor total ownership cost.

Volt has too many compromises. To me, it is another dead-end evolutionary approach like the original Insight or the Accord hybrid.