TOYOTA: Electric Cars Not Ready For Prime Time

[tomdavis]

Quote from 377OHMS:

The Prius isn't a pure electric either but it can get about 51 mpg, pretty good. There are some pure electrics available but the ones with the kind of range I need to commute all cost around six figures. I need about 56 miles range with perhaps a 10% safety margin so a car with about 62 miles electric range would work for me.

At some point when I looked at the Volt at the LA Auto Show it had sufficient range but the design changed drastically before production and Fox reports the electric range to be 25 miles while the Huffington Post has reported the electric range to be 38 miles. Its hard to get a handle on the real performance because the car is so closely associated with left/right politics. Do you know what kind of electric range your wife is getting in her Volt?

The Volt's range in electric mode depends largely on two things: (1) terrain; (2) weather (heating and air conditioning).

On flat terrain with no air conditioning or heating running in the car my wife gets about 36-37 miles range in all electric mode.

On hilly terrain with air conditioning or heating running that drops to about 25-26 miles in all electric mode.

In mixed driving, it's about a 30 mile electric range.

My wife gets about 900 miles per gallon of gasoline that she puts in the car, but that's because her schedule fits the capabilities of the car. She drives the kids to school and does errands in the morning which is roughly a 20 mile round trip. Then she comes home and charges the car and tops off the batteries before she goes to pick up the kids. On a typical day she doesn't burn any gasoline.

We've met other Volt owners who are happy with their car, but it's because they can charge up during the day. In our area a number of businesses have installed electric chargers in their parking lots so employees can drive to work and let their cars recharge during the day before the drive home.

Bottom line: The Volt works for us, but if we needed a 60 mile electric range I wouldn't buy one.

 

[377OHMS]

Quote from tomdavis:

She drives the kids to school and does errands in the morning which is roughly a 20 mile round trip. Then she comes home and charges the car and tops off the batteries before she goes to pick up the kids.

Sounds like you have the 220 volt charging setup.

I've read it only costs about $1.00 - $1.50 per charge and takes 3-4 hours to fully charge at 220 volts.

 

[tomdavis]

Quote from 377OHMS:

Sounds like you have the 220 volt charging setup.

I've read it only costs about $1.00 - $1.50 per charge and takes 3-4 hours to fully charge at 220 volts.

A 220 volt charge takes about 4 hours if the battery is down to the bare minimum. The last time I did the calculation I think it was $1.44 for a full charge.