[Artmasterx]

I'm not going to be in the market for one, but it will be interesting to see a real-world take on it over a good number of miles.

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...val/index.html

Should be a good test to keep an eye on related to plug-in hybrids, despite it being a rather uninspiring car performance-wise. But with more and more of these bound to come out in the near future, they will probably grow to be an important class of car.

[flyinb501]

Originally Posted by Artmasterx

I'm not going to be in the market for one, but it will be interesting to see a real-world take on it over a good number of miles.

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...val/index.html

Should be a good test to keep an eye on related to plug-in hybrids, despite it being a rather uninspiring car performance-wise. But with more and more of these bound to come out in the near future, they will probably grow to be an important class of car.

[jj thumper]

I think its handsome

[M3_WC]

Reports from new owners have been really positive. I remember reading an article where an owner after four months of ownership was still on his first tank of gas that was in the car when he purchased it.

[maswastage]

Originally Posted by M3_WC

Reports from new owners have been really positive. I remember reading an article where an owner after four months of ownership was still on his first tank of gas that was in the car when he purchased it.

Right, but how much has he spent on the electricity needed to charge it? Insideline has discussed the volt on detail, and it basically comes down to how expensive utilities are wherever you live. If electricity is cheap on your area, the volt will make a lot of sense. If electricity is expensive, then you'll actually be paying more per mile than if you just filled it up with gasoline.

The other problem with the volt is that when the gasoline engine is running it isn't especially efficient. Roughly 30-35 mpg. So if you decide not to plug it in and instead use the gasoline engine to charge the electric motor, you're still getting shafted on fuel economy. I'll never understand why they didn't use a small diesel instead; after all, the engine is only used to power the electric motor, never to actually drive the wheels, so a diesel would have been much better suited to the task than a gasser.

[Artmasterx]

Originally Posted by maswastage

The other problem with the volt is that when the gasoline engine is running it isn't especially efficient. Roughly 30-35 mpg. So if you decide not to plug it in and instead use the gasoline engine to charge the electric motor, you're still getting shafted on fuel economy. I'll never understand why they didn't use a small diesel instead; after all, the engine is only used to power the electric motor, never to actually drive the wheels, so a diesel would have been much better suited to the task than a gasser.

I have wondered the same thing with hybrids in general. It may come down to an image thing, since these car all want to be as green as possible. Public perception in the US is probably that diesel = dirty, regardless of fuel efficiency. I have always wondered why put a gasoline engine that gets 35 mpg in a hybrid when you can put a diesel in that gets 50+.

Maybe in a regular hybrid there are other technical reasons related to the power curve, etc... but I don't know. Are diesels much worse that gas engines before fully warmed up... maybe the on-off behavior of a hybrid makes warm-up issues important?

[ENINTY]

Originally Posted by maswastage

Right, but how much has he spent on the electricity needed to charge it? Insideline has discussed the volt on detail, and it basically comes down to how expensive utilities are wherever you live. If electricity is cheap on your area, the volt will make a lot of sense. If electricity is expensive, then you'll actually be paying more per mile than if you just filled it up with gasoline.

The other problem with the volt is that when the gasoline engine is running it isn't especially efficient. Roughly 30-35 mpg. So if you decide not to plug it in and instead use the gasoline engine to charge the electric motor, you're still getting shafted on fuel economy. I'll never understand why they didn't use a small diesel instead; after all, the engine is only used to power the electric motor, never to actually drive the wheels, so a diesel would have been much better suited to the task than a gasser.

At full throttle in hill climb mode the engine actually does power the wheels when the battery is depleted.

[ptack]

Originally Posted by maswastage

Right, but how much has he spent on the electricity needed to charge it? Insideline has discussed the volt on detail, and it basically comes down to how expensive utilities are wherever you live. If electricity is cheap on your area, the volt will make a lot of sense. If electricity is expensive, then you'll actually be paying more per mile than if you just filled it up with gasoline.

The other problem with the volt is that when the gasoline engine is running it isn't especially efficient. Roughly 30-35 mpg. So if you decide not to plug it in and instead use the gasoline engine to charge the electric motor, you're still getting shafted on fuel economy. I'll never understand why they didn't use a small diesel instead; after all, the engine is only used to power the electric motor, never to actually drive the wheels, so a diesel would have been much better suited to the task than a gasser.

Unless you're in one of the handful of countries that subsidize gas prices, electricity will be cheaper per mile than gas. A diesel engine may have been optimal, but US consumers still aren't big fans of diesels, partly because it sometimes costs more per gallon and partly because the distribution network isn't always the same. Not all gas stations sell diesel. It's mostly a perception thing and I'm sure GM knew it would have a big enough hill to climb convincing people to buy an electric Chevy.

[M3_WC]

Originally Posted by ptack

Unless you're in one of the handful of countries that subsidize gas prices, electricity will be cheaper per mile than gas. A diesel engine may have been optimal, but US consumers still aren't big fans of diesels, partly because it sometimes costs more per gallon and partly because the distribution network isn't always the same. Not all gas stations sell diesel. It's mostly a perception thing and I'm sure GM knew it would have a big enough hill to climb convincing people to buy an electric Chevy.

With gas/diesel prices going up again like they are, electric is looking real good. Diesel is $4.60/gallon in Socal, insane. My buddy is spending over $100 to fill up his X5d and it isn't really getting that much better gas mileage than a 35i.