I took a trip out to see Richard and Dianna today in my Volt. They are staying near the village of Congress, about 90 miles from my house. I was interested to see how the Volt did on a longer trip. Here are some numbers:
First a summary:
— It cost the same to make the trip as if I was driving a pure gas car that got 52 miles/gallon, figuring the cost of electricity and gas.
— I drove 53 miles on battery alone, and 127 on 3.27 gallons of gas.
— Pure gas mileage was 39 miles/gallon
— Altogether, since buying the car I have driven 512 miles on 3.7 gallons of gas, leaving my tank still over half full.
— We ate a very good (and spicy!) homemade tomato soup and Mexican cornbread for lunch. Thanks Dianna!
Some Details:
I made it about 38 miles from home before I ran out of battery and the car (automatically) switched over to gas. After charging at Richards, I added about 15 more miles coming home, so for the 180 mile round trip I did about 53 of them on electricity alone. The remaining 127 were done on 3.27 gallons of gas, for a pure gas mileage of 39 miles/gallon.
The pseudo mileage (total distance/total gas) was 55 miles/gallon, but that is calling the electric miles free, which isn’t quite accurate. To make it a little more complicated, since electricity costs about 1/4 of gas for equivalent miles driven, the cost of driving on electricity is the same as the cost of gas at 155 miles/gallon. So 155 miles/gallon for 53 miles, and 39 miles/gallon for 127 miles gives an equivalent to 52 miles/gallon. In other words, if I had a car that got 52 miles/gallon, it would have cost me the same to make the trip as it did in the Volt. It’s about how well a Prius would do.
For shorter trips, especially where I never use gas, the cost is the same as a car that gets 155 miles/gallon. As trips get longer, the cost approaches that of a car getting 39 miles/gallon. So if you frequently drive long distances and your main goal is to save on fuel, get a Prius. If most of your driving is around town and you usually drive less than about 40 miles in a day, a Volt will be cheaper to operate (though not cheaper to buy). Having driven both I have to say that a Volt is more fun to drive.