evnow said:
LakeLeaf said:
PriusChat has a topic about a group who has test driven the cars with multiple drivers over multiple routes in everyday driving situations, with the group averaging 83 MPG. (Of course - there is a lot of commuting to work, so many of the trips are shorter and mostly EV mode to get that high a number)
That is a bogus number. It doesn't account for the electricity used to charge the battery.
I'm always fascinated by PriusChat people who use this kind of made up number and at the same time criticise Volt.
Bogus number? Our 7.1kWh AC rated PV system will be amortized in less than 3.5 years now, at which point (and for many of the years to follow ... until we have to replace CAP's in our inverters) our electricity will be free. many folks driving EV's as well as PHEV's will be on solar. Care to quantify those variables? Point is NO one quantifies everything. Oil is 34kWh of energy? Now THAT's a bogus number. It doesn't account for our multi trillion dollar military budget of which most is used securing a place in countries that would otherwise want MUCH less to do with us ... or our propped up dictators.
But I digress. A PHEV doing mpg's in the 80's is hardly a big deal. My 7 years of Gen II Prius driving yielded over a dozen "10 gallons or less" tank-fill averages in the 70mpg range:
Yes, that's with practice - and a bet of effort. But some Prius drivers have gotten tank-full averages into the 80 mpg range. So if a Gen III is even more efficient than the Gen II ... and a non PHEV Gen II can get in the 70's ... why find PHEV ranges in the 80's to be so bogus? Just because some electricity sources are dirty? imo that's hardly tantamount to fraud ... or being bogus.
At the Cerritos CA Leaf meeting today, someones asked for a show of hands among owners to see who had PV. Out of the 15 or so people that were there ... it was an easy 70% that were on PV. And CA being the most populous state, that percentage represents a good portion of EV ownership. All that to say, "baby steps". Transportation won't clean or cure itself over night. But we're hopefully doing what we can.
As for criticizing the Volt - what could be expected ... many folks (NOT just prius owners) are ticked that Volts only get mpg's in the 30's in charge sustain mode. That's hardly a banner to jump for joy over. Prius' 50mpg record average is a standard that many were expecting GM to smash .... especially the way GM was puffing the Volt up prior to production. Missing that mark by a LOT ... coupled with GM's Leadership calling the Prius a "geek-mobile" that he "wouldn't be caught dead in" ... hardly wins over Prius drivers over to want to hold hands with GM and sing kumbaya ... imo
EDIT:
oh . . . I forgot to mention one other thing. I got to be one of those lucky stiff's. A few weeks ago, Toyota let me run around in the PHEV Prius for several days. I got MPG's in the 80's from the very 1st day on my roughly 20 mile commute to work. By the last day? As you can see by the phone pic below, I was maxed out on the PHEV's economy gauge:
Heck, even my wife was still averageing well into the 50mpg's when the traction packs were depleted. Their proof of concept may not be exactly what they mass produce, but it's bound to really be an eye opener.
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For times when I drive 15 or more miles, its on gasoline. When and if the battery costs and/or range improves then perhaps a pure EV would be nice, to me it doesn't have to be "all or nothing", PHEVs are a "bridge" to better EVs in the future.
