Cost for 168.6 mile trip / Volt 2 vs 2010 Prius Yesterday my wife and I went to Portland Oregon to go shopping with our 2016 Volt. Miles driven round trip, 168.6 miles, electric used: 57 miles / used 13.6 KWH, had 3 miles left on gauge when we returned home. Miles driven on gas, 111.6, with 2.18 gal's used for 51.0 mpg indicated on gauge. Total cost for trip ($7.22), with gas at $2.499/ gal, and electric @ .114/ KWH, 15.5 KWH X .114 =$1.77 (includes charging losses) Now we could have taken our 2010 Prius 168.6 @ 52 mpg= 3.24 gal's used for $8.10 for trip. Volt savings: $.88 = a savings of nearly 11% in fuel cost. This is not an easy trip as we leave at sea level via Highway 26 with 3 mountain passes, 6 in total for round trip, with the highest @ 1642 feet. For the trip I use Hold Mode on Highway 26, and on the way back just prior to the passes I engaged normal / electric mode to equal out the climbing. 3 passes on gas engine and 3 passes back on electric power. Highway speeds and some city driving, 55 - 62 mph. Temps ranged from 55 to a high of 70 in Portland area with dry roads. I can't remember if anybody has done a comparison (Volt vs Prius) for a trip like this with everything being equal as much as possible.
At those speeds and temps, my Civic would be 48 mpg (or higher). Total cost for civic trip would be : $8.74. cost per mile/ annual cost at 13,000 mi/year: Plug-in hybrid (Volt): .043/$559 Hybrid (Prius): .048/$624 Efficient ICE (Civic,1.5t6MT): .052/$676
If we figure a BEV at 11.4c/kwh for 2/3 of the miles (home charging) and 1/3 of the miles at 20c/kwh for fast charging -- 3.5 mi/kwh (allowing for charger efficiency losses) then a BEV would come in also at .041/$530 13,000 mi/year fuel costs: BEV (next gen Leaf): .041/$530 Plug-in hybrid (Volt): .043/$559 Hybrid (Prius): .048/$624 Efficient ICE (Civic,1.5t6MT): .052/$676 (SUV, 18 mpg): .139/$1806 /I think the takeaway would be this: at today's fuel prices, anything more 'electrified' than efficient ICE puts you well into "diminishing returns" territory. (from a purely economic standpoint) //If you factor in the "ability to tow" factor, I think you can see why the Europeans have clung to their efficient ICE manual transmission sedans through many years of high tax fuel prices (i.e. $5.50+/gallon)
A pure electric car is great if you have two cars, one that you can go anywhere there is a road or a highway and gas stations, and a 100% electric with a limited range. The Volt serves us well. An electric car when you want it to be, and a gas car as well. With only a push of a button I can go to gas engine operation or 100% electric power with the Volt. I don't know of any other car out there that can go over 50 miles on electric and 45-50 mpg just on reg. 87 octane gas.
The 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid is pretty close in EV range though a larger vehicle and probably not as efficient as the Volt on gas. I don't think we know yet what the Clarity plug-in is like in real world driving.
