2011 Chevrolet Volt: August and September Fuel Economy Update

Here's the conundrum of the Volt:

It's most frugal for short commutes, but short commutes don't provide enough payback to make the car a good return on investment. Long commutes - or highway driving - make it just like many other 'normal' cars, but at twice the price. It really doesn't have much of an economical sweet spot.

A huge problem with Edmunds long-term testing of the Volt is that Edmunds is using electricity only 26%-49% of the time (the "utility factor"). 75% of the car-driving public would get over twice those numbers. I commend Edmunds for displaying this "Utility Factor", and noting Brent Roman's 95% utility factor, which would probably be much closer to most Volt owners' experiences. If someone regularly drives over 35 miles between charges, they really shouldn't buy a Volt.

I have had a Volt for over six months, and have only been to a gas station twice: Once in May and just last weekend. Those fillups were for 400+ mile weekends, but I typically drive 30-40 miles a day with a partial re-charge on most days.

I have a 240V charger at home, and often 'add' 20+ miles of range while eating dinner before going out on evening excursions. Many times I have gone 50 to 60 miles in one day without using any gas. And on days when I do use gas, it's typically for about 5 or 10 miles, which uses only a pint or two of gas. That's why I go so long between fillups.

My total 'utility factor' is 89%. It was closer to 95% before last weekend, and will go back over 90% in the next few weeks.

"A huge problem with Edmunds long-term testing of the Volt is that Edmunds is using electricity only 26%-49% of the time (the "utility factor")."

They live in LA so this is understandable. 35 miles is some people's daily ONE WAY commute and I know some of those people personally. My daily commute is about 12 miles each way and that is considered a very short commute among my coworkers.

gslippy, I guess that depends on what you mean by a short commute. My wife's commute is 2.9 miles each way so while it'd always be done in EV mode, the cost of the car is certainly too high to make it meaningful. The Leaf doesn't make sense either. Mitsubishi's upcoming i EV would since it isn't as expensive but ultimately she bought a 2012 Elantra last month (and is still on the first tank of gas).

My commute, OTOH, is 23 miles each way so 46 for the day. With no ability to charge at work I'd be looking at 6-11 miles of gas usage + full EV charge usage.

IMO I'm close to the ideal candidate for a Volt. I'd take maximum advantage of the EV range while using the engine a little each day so it would stay exercised & gas wouldn't go stale. I also use windmill-sourced electricity that comes in at about 7.5 cents/KWH so the EV usage would be cheap & eco-friendly.

The problem is I have a 2010 car already so I won't be in the market for a replacement for probably another eight years.

louiswei - "35 miles is some people's daily ONE WAY commute"

That actually happens to be about my wife's commute (actually 33 miles one way). However, the fact remains that 75% of commuters drive less 20 miles or less each way, and thus would use virtually no gas commuting with a Volt. For people who would use more than a minimal amount of gas each day, the Volt wouldn't make much sense - unless the exceptionally quite ride and effortless, smooth acceleration were things you were willing to pay more for over an ICE vehicle.

Interestingly, my wife has started thinking about buying a Volt. Her office is talking about putting a few free charging stations in her building's garage where (after 15 years) she has scored a spot. If this happens, a Volt would totally make economic sense for her.

For me, gas would have to cost $6.20/gallon for my Volt to make economic sense. (My Volt replaced a car that cost me $18,000, and averaged 24 mpg overall.) I realized this before leasing my Volt, but that was the price I was willing to pay to drive emissions-free, using "Made in USA" energy. The quite ride and effortless, smooth acceleration are just a bonus for me!

Where is the Leaf? Did I miss something?

Where is the Leaf? Did I miss something?

"It really doesn't have much of an economical sweet spot."

Yeah, it does. The sweet spot is commutes within all or most of the EV range plus, well, any other place you want to drive to, but not with commute-like regularity. I think this describes an overwhelming proportion of Americans.

"I'd take maximum advantage of the EV range while using the engine a little each day so it would stay exercised & gas wouldn't go stale"

Fortunately the car handles this for itself by running for 10 minutes every 6 weeks (after prompting you first). It will also burn through a tank per year, so that the average age of fuel in the tank is no more than 1 year. It is not necessary to "plan out" how much the ICE will be used in your use case for the Volt...

qslippy's got it, the sweet spot is very small. For commutes under 40 miles, your fuel savings are reduced because you weren't driving 40 miles, anyway. For commutes over 40 miles - and any trip you may take out of town - the Volt's mediocre extended-range fuel economy punishes you.

And even in the sweet spot, payback is uncertain and unlikely unless gas prices climb significantly.

Unless, as jim_in_nj points out, in addition to the ridiculously generous tax rebate the rest of us are handing the Volt owner, he can also get others to pay part of his operating costs. That certainly helps.

I'm a Volt owner who actually does have an 80+ mile round trip commute and the Volt still makes perfect sense. Plus I live in NJ, so extremes of temperature are not uncommon. I just turned 15,000 miles yesterday and my lifetime average mpg sits at over 71 mpg. I drive it like any other car, usually between 65 & 75 on the highway. And part of that equation is that it's a superb car to spend time in, so quiet, and smooth, precise, and comfortable that all things considered I think it has no real rivals at its price.

To give an example, just yesterday I was in stop and go traffic several times on the 495 beltway around DC and shifting to L it's the perfect car for conditions, mostly setting your speed with just the accelerator, no gear transitions, just smooth and silent power. In fact long trips in general seem to go by with much less stress than other cars.

If you think you can write off the Volt using a few numbers and doing a spreadsheet evaluation against a miserable Prius, you're just displaying an extreme ignorance to those who actually get it, which I think includes just about every Volt owner. As to Edmunds, it seems they've been out to discredit the Volt since their "GM lied" article just before the car was on sale. But ultimately the Volt is too good to be sunk by the lunatic fringe that has ranted and raved from the darkness of their own agendas, starting with claiming the Volt was mere vaporware and publicity stunt to the hundreds of nonsensical notions since.

Regarding the $7500 subsidy, this post on GM-Volt.com presents the facts in a new light:

Posted by "SolarExec".

Thread titled "Volt buyers actually subsidizing ICE drivers".

Link: http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?8954-Volt-buyers-actually-subsidizing-ICE-drivers

"If you watched the republican debate tonight you saw John Huntsman cite a statistic from the Miliken Institute that the real cost of gasoline to Americans is $13 per gallon when you include the military cost of defending access to oil etc. Remember, this is a REPUBLICAN statistic.

So here is some interesting math:

If you drive a Chevy Cruze Eco at 35 mpg (28 city 42 highway) for 15,000 miles a year you consume 2,143 gallons of gasoline over five years. Of that, you pay (let's assume $3.50 a gallon) $7,500 over 5 years and taxpayers give you a whopping $19,728 in hidden subsidies ($9 a gallon according to Huntsman).

If you drive a Chevy Volt and average 120 mpg (about 2/3rds electric) you consume 625 gallons and you pay around $2,200. The hidden subsidy in that gasoline is $5,625. Add to that the $7,500 tax credit and the math is as follows:

Five Year Government subsidy by vehicle:
Cruze Eco - $19,728
Volt - $13,125
Ford F150 - $35,526

Indeed, according to Mr. Huntsman and the Miliken Institute, the Volt has the LOWEST government subsidy of any car on the road except the Leaf. Food for thought."

In the 5 months we have had our Volt, we have driven 4230 miles. 70% of those miles are EV Miles. When the battery is depleted, and we run in generator mode, we are averaging 36+MPG a level of performance that is better than the mpg stats of more than 90% of the cars on the road. We have reduced our gasoline expense by more than 75% and when we add in the cost of electricity (approximately $50 per month ---high because Con Edison NY rates are among the most onerous in the US) we are still WAY AHEAD financially. The cost of operation of the Volt is a joy!

I am part of a group of Volt drivers whose stats are accumulated and aggregated at a site called Voltstats.net. More than 100 of us have driven in excess of 600,000 miles. Our results:

EV MILES 487935 TOTAL Miles 693574.23 EV% 70.4 EV MPG 122.08 MPGe 63.47 MPGcs
36.20.

This is the story that Edmunds should be telling...not the narrow inaccurate sample that you choose to provide.