2011 Chevrolet Volt: "Fuel" Economy Update 2

the phrase "Individual Results Will Vary" applies more than ever on this car... lots of variables working there!

Interesting numbers.

My first thought is great prices on premium gas but you are getting screwed on electricity.

In BC we pay a basic charge of 13 cents a day plus 6.8 cents on the 1st 1100 kw/hr and 8.78 cents on the rest. Think it's going up soon though.

Those are crazy electric rates.

Thanks for the detailed calculations, Dan! This is the stuff we all want to know.

It is already becoming quite clear, with your help, that buying a Volt today over a Prius will not yield any economic advantages. However, this is a first generation of a revolutionary design and we can all expect the next gen to have a cheaper battery pack of higher efficiency, likely coupled with a more efficient ICE. This, together with rising gas prices, will undoubtedly tilt the equation in favor of the Volt at some point.

This blog will become valuable as a tool to identify the maturity, reliability and driving experience of the 1st gen Volt. If it turns out to be a solid foundation then I think this car's long-term future looks bright.

If you're averaging .356 kWh/mile on electricity and 33.7 miles/gallon on gas, then:

11.7c/kWh = $1.40 to go 33.7 miles
15.2c/kWh = $1.82 to go 33.7 miles
31c/kWh = $3.72 to go 33.7 miles

You're right, that just starts to look miserable at the high CA tiers.

"Wonder how the Leaf will compare when IL puts it into the fleet."

Since the Leaf runs only on electricity, and electricity rates in CA end up costing more per mile than burning gasoline, it would appear the Leaf will cost more to operate per mile than the Volt or a gasoline hybrid. At least in CA. I know the Leaf's electricity usage is a little more efficient than the Volt's, mostly due to less powerful motors and lighter weight, but I don't think that's enough to offset the higher cost of electricity as an energy source.

@stringray

I would *assume* the same thing, but seeing is believing.

As you can tell, the engineering approaches being taken by these companies are quite different, so we'll see what pans out...

I'm a simple person. I squeeze the gas pump. Stuff flows in. My car goes.

This makes my head explode. I understand a Prius. It works for me. The Volt doesn't work for me. Maybe I need to wait until the next gen.

Thank you for confirm my belief... Prius > Volt.

Funny how the state that most wants you to drive electric cars is the state that economically discourages them the most. If I didn't live here, California's disfunction would not cease to amuse.

This is great stuff. Thanks!

I posted my "plan" on another of the Volt blogs, but this is what I'm doing for March. Please comment if it makes sense and/or if there is a better way to do it.

1) On March 1 before driving anywhere and on a "full" battery, I reset the trip computer ("B")
2) I reset the kill-a-watt.

At month's end, after filling the battery back up, I will know:
A) What was the total kWh used?
B) What was the total cost of that electricity consumed?
C) How much gas (if any) was used?
D) What did the gasoline cost? (I'll take the average price of premium gas over the 31 days and multiply that average fuel figure against the amounts of gallons consumed from my current tank as shown in "trip B")
E) I'll record the mileage driven as shown in "trip B"
With A-E above, I believe I have the necessary figures to know exactly what it cost to propel this thing for however far I end up going. (B+D)/E gives me the cost per mile, right?

Am I missing anything?

Regards,

Edit to my last post:

I reset the kill-a-watt before charging up the battery. Sheesh. I got "1" and "2" backwards in type. Sorry!

This looks similar to some calculations I did to try to figure out whether the Volt was worthwhile. A few comments:

First, the electric rate you pay can vary widely based on where you are and (importantly) whether you can get off-peak rates. In Atlanta where I live, if I'm careful, I should be able to get a rate of $0.09/kwh by charging during off-peak hours.

Second, driving patterns also play a big role. My daily commute is currently around 26 miles total (13 each way). Based on that I would expect my utility factor to be much higher - probably north of 90%.

Last, a good TCO calculation should take into account some estimate of changes in gas and electricity prices over the time the buyer expects to own the car. If you make the assumption that gas prices will increase faster than electric rates, this would tend to favor electric cars over the long term.

Based on my calculations (which I consider to be reasonably conservative) over an extended ownership period of 8-10 years the Volt comes out very well for me and my situation. It doesn't do as well in a shorter time frame, with higher electric rates, or with daily commutes that are more than 30 miles or so.

Man, I just pulled my last electric bill and I paid (all in including taxes) 9.5 cents/kWh. Those rates are just insane.

Electric rates are odd. Some SCE customers in this office are paying 15 cents or less...for now. Tiered rates mean the more you use, the higher your rate will be. Someone who is in SCE's tier 2 now ($15 cents) might find themselves in tier 3, 4 or 5 if they buy an electric car because, let's face it, it takes a lot of power to run an electric car.

A month in our Volt represented 277kWh of juice, but that was only 1,246 miles at a 60% UF. Figure on 300 or 400 kWh. That extra electricity comes on top of your normal household draw, so you have to figure the e-car usage at one of the higher tiers--a tier you won't be in before you buy the car and bring it home.

FYI the SCE tiers look like this: Tier I = 13 cents; Tier II = 15 cents; Tier III = 24 cents; Tier IV = 28 cents; Tier V = 31 cents.

I have no idea why I'm in Tier IV in my "best" month. I don't have a pool, a jacuzzi, a second fridge in my garage. My water heater is gas, and so is my central heat and my kitchen stove. We usually only use one TV and we don't have a lot of dough tied up in stereos. I have to wonder if my meter is screwed up.

However that turns out, it's complicated out here. Electrified cars fly in the face of electric rate structures originally designed to encourage less use of electricity, but bringing one home may double or triple your current household consumption. Homeowners can get at somewhat cheaper rates if they install a second meter and a 240V charger, but that could potentially cost thousands and if they move they have to leave it behind and install the same stuff again in their new place.

And there are over 3,000 utility companies in the USA, each with a different rate structure.

@slipjig555: I can install a smart meter and get low(er) off peak rates, but they make it up with extra-high on-peak summer rates, when my AC will run (55 cents!). I ran a comparison and found that the off-peak strategy is a wash versus what I have now.

"I have no idea why I'm in Tier IV in my "best" month. I don't have a pool, a jacuzzi, a second fridge in my garage. My water heater is gas, and so is my central heat and my kitchen stove. We usually only use one TV and we don't have a lot of dough tied up in stereos. I have to wonder if my meter is screwed up."

Might want to have the meter and the system checked. Last year one of my friends was complaining about his bill. In a house half the size of mine with half the people he was using 3 times the power.

Turned out he had a short to ground that was drawing several amps non stop. Not enough to blow a breaker but enough to hike up the bill.

A quick check you can do is turn off everything and unplug the fridge and see if you are close to zero on the meter.

Fuel economy is great and all, but is this car enjoyable to drive? Does it have enough power and handling to have little bit of fun with or is it just another appliance with wheels?

@brundlefly,

It has lots of grunt off the line like a diesel (especially in sport mode), but runs out of steam early - also like a diesel. Plenty of power for your average 0-40 blast that represents most driving. Doesn't feel at all like a typical hybrid (prius, civic hybrid) to me. (compared to my mom's civic hybrid at least)

Handles nice too - but I live in FL - so there's not a lot of windy roads to test it out!

Depending on where you are - demos are arriving at dealers now.

Regards,

82 MPG! I hope that figure continues to improve.

thank you very much.

Dan,

Hypothetically speaking, let's say you were signed up for one of Southern California Edison's EV plans. How would the numbers shake out in that case?

Here's a link to the plan:

http://www.sce.com/residential/rates/electric-vehicles.htm

Once again I am forced to ask whether any Edmunds bloggers live in the DWP service area (which covers the 4 million or so residents of the City of Los Angeles, plus a couple of other cities). I figure the Volt will be popular here in L.A., and DWP rates *have* to be cheaper than Edison.

Most of the entertainment-biz types who will fly the flag for this car don't live out in White Flight County, like most Edmunds staffers seem to.

I think I'd be tempted to move to the country and put up a small wind turbine.

I have the Volt beat in my 2010 Golf TDI. I live in the Edmunds area and I am serviced by Edison. I have kept track of the cost per mile on my TDI and MPG since I owned it almost a year ago.

For 9404 miles, I have an MPG average of 46.82 and a cost per mile of 0.069 cents. To make matters worse for the Volt I only paid 21,554 for my TDI before taxes but with the 1,300 tax credit that I am filing for the 2010 tax year.

One things to note about electricity is that you can have solar on your house and generate enough power to charge the car for free. We are slightly missing the idea here since we won't fully commit to solar or electric power in one big step.

With gas going back over $4/gallon I bet we see more interest in solar and electric cars. I know somebody who put solar panels up and gets a $3,000 check back from the power company (so he says anyway) and he's looking to get a full electric car to take advantage of that power.

@beermagazine - True that home power generation can reduce or eliminate charging costs altogether. Free fuel at home is something that's simply not possible with an ICE.

And even if you can't generate your own power, the rise of wind farms and other alternative forms of power generation can at least mean you're powering your car from a renewable, non-fossil fuel source.

"And even if you can't generate your own power, the rise of wind farms and other alternative forms of power generation can at least mean you're powering your car from a renewable, non-fossil fuel source."

Just remember though, if we all drove cars that plugged in at night there would be no where to drive because the ENTIRE WORLD would be covered with windmills.

@brundlefly:
With due respect to defiant2, they feel Slow As Balls to me. I've driven two of them for a total of about 25 miles. Stop and go, back roads, highway. By the numbers, I'm sure a Volt is quicker than my old BMW 318is but it didn't feel that way to me. The lack of noise works against it, I think, while the noisy, revvy little BMW feels quick even though I know it's not.

It is, however, Perfectly Adequate, as they say.

Excellent chart, but IL needs to get off this whining about "actual" mpgs- people want to know that figure so I'm glad it's being provided. Sure, in CA such a figure might not mean much because electricity costs so much that you cannot ignore the charging costs. But the reality great mpgs means less gas burned and less trips to the station which is important to many people. I hate going to the gas station, especially when it's winter. The fact that you might have to gas up once a month is a very nice bonus to busy people- regardless of how much you might spend to charge your vehicle. The Volt isn't just about saving money per mile, its about convenience and reducing oil usage. The fact that the car costs $41k pretty much tells you this car isn't about saving money.

The real world mileage of the Fusion should've been used- last time I checked its averageing less than 32mpg during its stay here- not 39mpg. No need to go with EPA figures when you have real figures.

The low UF indicates they are using this car for a lot more than commuting. If I had this car in my household for an average week that figure would likely be 90%. Again, having a CA commute where you live 20-30m from your job works against the Volt. Most people I know drive (or ride) less than 10m to work each day.

So how simple is it to just plug in the Volt every night and when you actually need gas, get some?

@ptcdawg

Easy to recharge as long as there is an outlet within about 20ft or so! I've had the car over a month now and have yet to put gas in it, so I can't tell you there... The owner's manual says you may have to wait a second or two while the tank de-pressurizes, but other than that I think it's normal to gas.
Regards,

How does the cost per mile compare to the Honda GX?

@actualsize

That's a good point. I looked into it and found that depending on my plan, my off-peak rates can be as low as around $0.04/kwh, while the on-peak summer rates are (as you said) much higher. So far in my TCO calculations I've been using a figure of $0.09/kwh, which is slightly above my average actual rate (which I got by going back through my bills). But this is an area that definitely deserves some closer scrutiny.

@actualsize

For reference (for other Atlantans if not you!) here are some links to the 'electric vehicle' plan where I live:

http://www.georgiapower.com/pricing/residential/pricing/plugin_vehicles.asp
http://www.georgiapower.com/pricing/files/rates-and-schedules/2.30_TOU-PEV-1.pdf

There's a $9 basic charge plus a rate per kwh depending what time of year and time of day. It doesn't look like the rate ever gets up anywhere near $0.55/kwh.

Ignoring electricity in the calculation "because all we care about is petrol use" presupposes that no petrol(eum) is used in electricity generation. That is far from true in the NE United States as one example.

Why, using even generous numbers, the Chevy Volt is really the Chevy Dolt.

http://timl2k11.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/the-chevy-dolt-er-volt/

My Volt, number 030, has been driven 3127 miles and it indicates 108 MPG but i plug it in every time i park if i can find a 110 volt plug. I have been relatively successful with a 50 ft extension cord. I plug in every day at work this way and try to find public places such as in parking ramps etc. The lowest trip mileage I found thus far was a trip from Davis to San Francisco where i found no place to plug-in and return, about 150 miles, was 50 mpg I believe other wise most such trips to the bay area net about 80 mpg.
All this short term mileage data is meaningless since the bottom line is the yearly or at the shortest the monthly costs. It is interesting to note that at 15cents per kwhour and 300 watthrs per mile it is 4.5 cents per mile for electric driving. I find it in effective to pay time of day rates because the battery range is too short to make it cost effective for over night charging. I had calculated years ago that 60 miles would be a better AER but there is the issue of up front cost!! Thus it is better for me to pay the average electric rate of 15cents a kwhour and charge it everytime I park. Time of day rates don't seem to make sense at this time if we are to plug in every time we park!! Especially because of the vast difference between day and night!! Until this is better sorted out I will continue to use averge electric rate structure rather than time of day rates.

I see the Toyopta p[rius plug in wil be released with a very short AER and the Ford perhaps somewhere in between the Volt and the Prius. this means time of day rates will not make sense until the AER "All Electric Range" becaomes ;arge enough to fit our lifestyles and daily travel . I suggest that we stick with the average electric rates until the numbers of vehicles builds and i believe plug in hybrids should be charged only with the level one 110 volt charger. My free 220 charger at home is a waste since I am home at least 8 hours every night which is more than enough time for a full charge at 110 volts in the VOLT.

The important feature of this car is the oil or gasoline I have displaced!! Let's focus on this and plug it into level one plugs every time we park. In the mean time, until the numbers of cars out there build up, let's try to have the public offer free charging!! After all a 2 hour coffee or lunch stop then would only cost about 30 cents!! I will gladly leave an extra quarter or 2 for the resturant!! In addition this policy would have little or no effect on the electric grid load for probably over 20 years or until the Plug-In hybrid numbers become more than 20% of the car population!!

Prof Andy Frank

What happens to all these calculations when I'm driving in 88 degrees outside temp. in a rain storm. I have a/c on, wipers on, headlights on and radio playing a cd, all while driving up a constant incline?

How long do I have before replacement of a battery pack?

What's the cost of battery replacement?

What does the sale of each car actually cost the taxpayer?

What happens to all these calculations when I'm driving in 88 degrees outside temp. in a rain storm. I have a/c on, wipers on, headlights on and radio playing a cd, all while driving up a constant incline?

How long do I have before replacement of a battery pack?

What's the cost of battery replacement?

What does the sale of each car actually cost the taxpayer?