Consumer Reports 7/10/12: Volt owners tell us they use even less gas than we do

[sgc]

http://news.consumerreports.org/cars...han-we-do.html

[tboult]

Decent writeup, thanks for sharing..

I particularly like the line
"All these make our 61 MPGe assumption, the best of any car we've tested save pure electrics, look almost puny."

I find it odd talking with prius or TDi owners now.. when they say things like they did great and achieved 65 (or in one extreme 80mpg). My reply that for "most volt owners". 80mpg would be a horrible day in a volt is often the start of a very heated discussion.
Luckily I can use voltstats.net to back up my claims.. If fun to watch them wilt when the finally realize that 65mpg is puny.

[AZ-Volt]

Nice article. 5,700 mile since first fill up last November w 3.5 gallons remaining. Volt simply rock!

[DonC]

I just find it so strange that you'd look at anecdotal information in a forum rather than just looking at voltstats.net with 1200 users. That will tell you the median Volt owner gets roughly 175 MPG. And yes, an 80 MPG day would be pretty disappointing unless it was a long trip day. Then it would be GREAT!

[mixedpixel]

The 61 MPGe calculation that the article cites doesn't make sense. Here's what the article says:
"For our fuel economy calculations, we assume the Volt will be operated 70 percent on electricity and 30 percent on gasoline."
This 70/30 split is actually pretty dead on for the stats on VoltStats.net. And if you look at Chevy's own ticker (which presumably includes all Volts), the split is about 63% electric and 37% gas. But the 61 MPGe seems too low.

[tboult]

They drive agressively at CR.. so probably got a bit low in CS milage. note the 61MPGe (the says its equlivent -- converting the energy to common units). At voltstats the overall MPGe is 64 -- but both are probably using the generic 93MPGe or 94MPGe from the initial EPA tests, not actually measuring the MPGe of actual use. My voltstat MPGe over the 30 days is under 90, my computed MPGe over the last 30 days is 120MPGe.. because I drive way more efficiently than the EPA estimates.

[Mathew Hennessy]

My MPGe is a bit low at 76.21, but given how much it costs to recharge, the cost-per-mile is quite a bit lower than that..

[drbruns]

Just hit 2475mpg today. Our Prius is at about 45.

[zete]

I drive aggressively and after more than 12,600km and 180l of fuel our MPGe is about 79, or about 170mpg based on fuel usage.

Of course, 85% of our travel is electric and our daily commute goes from 32km to 80km.

Obviously, if you're going to drive the car mostly in CS mode you're not going to do well.

Also of note, I've been getting about 40mpg in CS mode while my son, ever more conscientious than I, gets close to 50mpg almost all the time. Other than in the dead of winter I've never had below 30mpg in CS mode which makes me wonder what some folks are doing.

[mikeg3]

The various estimates of effective energy costs assume economic optimization. But many Volt owners go beyond that. We sequence our trips based on EVSE availability. I have been known to buy lunch just to give my Volt a chance to charge. I've discussed elsewhere the process of getting a charger installed at work instead of passively hoping for one.

Then there is the difference in maintenance cost. My scheduled maintenance through 15,000 miles has not reached $50. This is not surprising since most of the vulnerability under the hood comes from heat, controlled explosions, and corrosive liquids and fumes. This rarely happens in EV mode. Even the brake pads share their work with the regeneration system.

The cost of the car can be spread over the eight year battery warranty to produce an effective purchase price of $5,000/year. With Net Present Value, I think that's more like $3,500 depending on interest rate.

Once we start to see true battery replacement prices, probably with the Leaf before the Volt, the complete Total Cost of Ownership should wow the doubters.