
More Range in Chevy's Volt Means You Hardly Ever Need Gas - prostoalex
http://www.wired.com/2015/08/range-chevys-volt-means-hardly-ever-need-gas/
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baldeagle
I own a 2015 Chevy volt. When running on gas, the mileage is ok, but far
surpassed by most anything hybrid. When running on electric, I calculate the
mileage by electrical charge price vs the gas price and end up getting 120-150
mpg equivalent. Since mostly we drive around the city/suburbs, we only use the
gas engine for airport runs or long trips. Sure I could have an all electric
car (and I do) but it would get annoying having to rent a car whenever I
wanted to go to another city.

EDIT: The only way the volt makes sense is if you can charge it daily and
drive mostly on full electric, and still need to periodically take road trips.

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rwmj
It seems like it might make sense to have a detachable (gas) engine. If you
could remove it for your city driving, you'd save weight (== increased
mileage). Then you'd fit it back only for the long trips. Not sure how
practical such an arrangement would be.

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cjensen
The worst of both worlds: (1) If you rarely use the gas engine, you are
wasting electrical power hauling around a gas engine and gas tank (2) If you
often use the gas engine, you are wasting gas hauling around extra-large
batteries.

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JustSomeNobody
A lot of people still like to take longer trips (400 or so miles) in their
automobiles. Not as often as they run around town, obviously, but these are
things people think about when purchasing a vehicle. So, while hauling around
a gas engine and tank seems wasteful, people are not yet willing to forego
having a car with decent enough range to take them away for vacation.

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Avshalom
For instance here in the Mountain Time Zone we pretty much get 1 1/2 cities
per state and they're not small states so there's usually monthly trips of
~200 miles (± driving in the city).

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bathninja
I don't know how true this is... but I've read that gas can go bad. Would this
be a problem for the Volt?

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pvdebbe
6 months is not a problem and I predict that 12 months is safe with optional
small enhancing chemicals.

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DamnYuppie
STA-BIL will keep it good for 12 months.

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artmageddon
The first few cars I've owned were GM cars, and each of them had numerous
problems. I'm happy as hell with the Honda Accord that I have, and lately I've
been keeping my eye on Tesla, eagerly awaiting their lower priced models
that'll become available soon.

Even though I've more or less sworn off American cars from the Big Three, I'm
happy to see them making these kinds of improvements as it's slowly changing
my mind about them.

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shepardrtc
The Big Three have changed significantly within the past ten years. GM had a
huge culture change and went from producing pretty terrible vehicles to making
pretty nice ones. Look at Cadillacs and the new Camaros. Chrysler is now owned
by Fiat, who is very, very motivated to make it in the American market. Can't
say much about Ford, though. Never owned one, so I don't read up on them. But
I have high hopes for cars like the Volt. GM really wants the car to do well.

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cjrp
> Running on gas alone, the car delivers a highly impressive 42 mpg

Seriously? That's 50.4 MPG in the UK. My 7 year old Civic gets 45-60 MPG (UK)
depending on how I'm driving and traffic.

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SeanLuke
Unlike your Civic, the Volt has to lug around a huge battery, a complex
powertrain, and two high-torque motors. Its curb weight is about 40% higher
than a 2008 Civic.

BTW, did you mean a Civic _Hybrid_? Because the US EPA estimate for even the
most frugal of 2008 non-Hybrid Civics is 29 MPG combined. If you are driving
so as to coax 50 MPG US out of a 2008 Civic, you will _love_ the Volt.

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stonemetal
Since he mentions the UK I assume he means the diesel version which is
estimated at 60MPG. The latest version of that car is estimated to come in
around 78MPG.

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SeanLuke
I think you're using highway-driving only. The estimate for the latest Civic I
could find (2012) is 67.3MPG UK (55.9MPG US) combined, using a British cycle.
This is diesel, which has a higher energy density than gas, so the equivalent
in gas would be 49MPG. But also note that european MPG measurement cycles are
much more generous than US ones: the EPA measure would be _much_ lower in the
US.

All in all the Volt probably is almost the same as and possibly better than,
the Civic in gas-only driving, despite the fact that it has to lug around an
additional electric motor and battery.

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outworlder
This should be more than enough for the average commute. Considering the fact
that running an ICE for short trips is very hard to the engine, it should help
with the repair bills too.

The only question is, how much for the battery replacement?

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JoeAltmaier
My wife just returned from a wedding in Maine. Flew to Boston, drove up in a
Volt. Took 7 gallons of gas. 6 months between fillups is possibly an
exaggeration - 3 days is more like it.

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ohitsdom
3 days? I make it 2 weeks in a 20 year old car. Sure, if you're doing a lot of
driving it won't last 6 months. But for typical everyday use, I bet that's not
an exaggeration (certainly not for my use).

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edmccard
>I make it 2 weeks in a 20 year old car.

I used to go for two weeks between fill-ups in a '78 Buick but that was mostly
becuase it had a 24-gallon tank (and I only drove about 20 miles a day).

