Yes, this time you get two months of fuel consumption data for the price of one. I was busy moving last month and plum forgot to update the electricity and gasoline consumption stats for our 2011 Chevrolet Volt and 2011 Nissan Leaf.
June highlights:
Our Volt went the entire month without gassing up until the bitter end. It could have gone well into July, but we called it in on the last day of June to top it up with 5.42 gallons so I could close out the month and make the calculation. Over some 604 miles, the apparent mpg worked out to 111.5 mpg. Of course only 186.4 of those miles were covered with those 5.42 gallons, so the real gasoline fuel economy was 34.4 mpg. This is possible because we plugged it in a lot in June, as evidenced by a rockin' 69% Utility Factor. These all-electric miles, 417.6 of them, came courtesy of 148 kWh of purchased electricity.
Meanwhile, the Nissan Leaf ran 262.6 miles on 74.9 kWh of juice, and that's pretty much it. Say what you will about the relative merits of these two cars, but the all-electric Leaf is a lot easier to keep tabs on because a constant 100% U.F. is guaranteed.
Now for some nice tables. July Highlights to come after the jump.
2011 Chevrolet Volt Best Worst Average Electricity (kwh/100 mi) 20.6 58.4 34.0 Electric Range (miles) 54.6 23.5 38.4 Gasoline (mpg) 42.6 21.8 33.9 2011 Nissan Leaf Best Worst Average Electricity (kwh/100 mi) 22.0 53.8 33.7 Projected Range (miles) 104.0 65.8 85.2 Observed Range (miles) 76.7
Here are the same charts with the EPA ratings thrown in.
|
2011 Chevrolet Volt |
Best |
Worst |
Average |
EPA |
|
Electricity (kWh/100 mi) |
20.6 |
58.4 |
34.0 |
36 |
|
Electric Range (miles) |
54.6 |
23.5 |
38.4 |
35 |
|
Gasoline (mpg) |
42.6 |
21.8 |
33.9 |
37 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2011 Nissan Leaf |
Best |
Worst |
Average |
EPA |
|
Electricity (kWh/100 mi) |
22.0 |
53.8 |
33.7 |
34 |
|
Projected Range (miles) |
104.0 |
65.8 |
85.2 |
73 |
|
Observed Range (miles) |
76.7 |
|
|
July highlights:
The Volt went on a road trip to Death Valley and Las Vegas, which means it spent much more time on the pump and much less time on the plug. Its Utility Factor dropped accordingly, to just 26%, while the apparent mpg fell to 47.9 mpg. (The real gas-only mpg actually crept up to 35.5 mpg due to the nature of the driving.) As we all know, the more time the Volt spends on gasoline the more the per-mile costs go up. And so it was in this month, as June's 6.2 cents per mile gave way to 9.3 cents per mile in July because of the increased percentage of gasoline miles.
On the other hand the Leaf couldn't even make the trip because, well, it couldn't make the trip. A pure EV isn't going to travel from LA to Vegas unless it's on a trailer. That's probably no big deal for families or couples that have two cars -- they'd simply take the other one to Nevada. The payoff for dedicated commuters is a low, low 3.9 cents per mile operating cost, up slightly from last month's 3.2 cents because a couple of leadfooted drivers climbed aboard and because it was a tad warmer, resulting in a bit more use of A/C over the course of the 423.7 miles.
|
2011 Chevrolet Volt |
May |
June |
July |
Overall |
|
Utility Factor (% EV miles) |
52% |
69% |
26% |
40% |
|
“Apparent” MPG (ignoring electricity) |
76.2 |
111.5 |
47.9 |
56.9 |
|
Cost per mile (US average prices) |
7.0¢ |
6.2¢ |
9.3¢ |
8.4¢ |
|
(Cal. average prices) |
7.8¢ |
7.2¢ |
9.7¢ |
9.2¢ |
|
(at my house) |
10.2¢ |
11.2¢ |
11.2¢ |
11.4¢ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2011 Nissan Leaf |
May |
June |
July |
Overall |
|
Utility Factor (% EV miles) |
100% |
|||
|
“Apparent” MPG (ignoring electricity) |
Infinity (zero gas used) |
|||
|
Cost per mile (US average prices) |
3.8¢ |
3.2¢ |
3.9¢ |
3.5¢ |
|
(Cal. average prices) |
5.0 ¢ |
4.2¢ |
5.1 ¢ |
4.7¢ |
|
(at my house) |
10.5¢ |
8.8¢ |
10.7¢ |
9.8¢ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Popular hybrids, for reference |
May |
June |
July |
Overall |
|
2011 Toyota Prius (US average prices) |
7.5¢ |
7.1¢ |
7.4¢ |
7.2¢ |
|
(Cal. avg prices) |
8.0¢ |
7.6¢ |
7.6¢ |
7.7¢ |
|
2011 Ford Fusion Hybrid (US avg prices) |
9.7¢ |
9.1¢ |
9.5¢ |
9.2¢ |
|
(Cal. avg prices) |
10.2¢ |
9.7¢ |
9.8¢ |
9.9¢ |
That is all.
Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing
7driver says:
10:53 PM, 08/ 2/11
I wonder whether your recent move will affect the "at my house" number. If so, you may want to consider throwing it out in future reports. Comparing it to the USA/Calif numbers it looks to be an outlier anyway.
kevm14 says:
04:21 AM, 08/ 3/11
Well this is interesting. I had a new perspective on interpreting the Volt's gasoline-only MPG. Its average of 33.9 mpg puts it just under the long term Jetta TDI as Edmund's 2nd most efficient non-EV car. It's only 3.5% less than the Jetta.
Even better, that is only when running on gasoline. The rest of the time, it is running on electricity which has a much, MUCH higher MPGe. That suggests it probably is cheaper to operate than the long term TDI, when factoring in EV-use.
Sometimes a little perspective goes a long way.
kevm14 says:
08:05 AM, 08/ 3/11
I didn't think to look at performance data until now: The Volt is also a touch faster than the TDI. Same ET and 2mph faster in the 1/4.
I know there are other differences such as rear seat legroom and, obviously, price. But I think the comparison is still warranted.
Among gas-burning cars, the Fusion, on regular, is 7% less efficient, on average, than the Volt when it's on gasoline. But the Volt takes premium, so that's probably a wash. But then, as I mentioned above, that doesn't include the lower cost of running in EV-only, which, again, I think makes the Volt the cheapest thing-that-can-use-dino-oil in the fleet, overall. Only the Leaf is cheaper, and by then you have to make sacrifices and have spent as much as 85% the cost of a Volt (comparing highest-trim to highest-trim MSRP).
And, as is somewhat common for these cars, individual circumstances play a very LARGE role in how the car stacks up economically. Some people have expensive electricity, long commutes, short commutes, solar panels, special state-only rebates, and other differences that can't really be compared in a general sense.
darkstarpdx says:
08:48 AM, 08/ 3/11
Wow, electricity costs $0.37 per kWh at your house in California?! I'll keep my $0.08 per kWh here in Oregon and keep driving my Leaf at a cost of $0.02112 per mile.
bimmerjay says:
09:23 AM, 08/ 3/11
Slightly off topic, but I can't believe how many Leafs I'm seeing on the road around here in the San Francisco/San Jose South Bay Area. Literally I see at least one per day, and in the last week or so I've probably seen 10-15 of them in various colors. I went to the beach last weekend and saw 4. By contrast I've maybe seen 2 Volts period.
Last night was I was getting gas and there was a white Leaf in front of me at the pump... turns out the driver was just buying something in the store!
fushigi says:
09:41 AM, 08/ 3/11
@kevm14 - Good posts. YMMV has never been more true than when you compare gas, diesel, hybrid, and EVs to each other. Not just vehicular technologies but geography (electricity suppliers) plays a significant role.
ptcdawg says:
09:56 AM, 08/ 3/11
I still like the idea of owning a Volt...not so much the Leaf.
pisswilly says:
05:01 PM, 08/ 3/11
It seems the Leaf is the car of choice for the crazy Kalifornians, now if they can only force the rest of the United States into this overgrown golf cart! Thank you Kalifornia!
kplacer says:
06:01 PM, 08/ 3/11
The Volt is the real winner here. Imagine, a car that you need to fill with 5 gallons of fuel once a month. Yet it offers virtually no compromises in day to day use. That is truly remarkable. They need to build a bunch more to get the unit cost down. I would think that if they could get this into the low to mid $20K range they wouldn't be able to make enough of them.
lucien4 says:
02:11 PM, 08/ 4/11
The purchase price is the weak point of the Volt and certainly in CA where rebates ended. If they can make it cheaper it might become more succesful than the Leaf and the range is definitely a big advantage.
Question how people will look at these 2 vehicles once we see plug-in hybrids next year. Seems that would be a lot cheaper than either vehicle and yet similar performance.