'It’s all about setting priorities and preferences'
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'Belmer’s Volt pih Traveled Its 100,000th Electric Mile'
http://www.autos.ca/general-news/volt-vs-leaf-the-ultimate-showdown/
Volt or Leaf – Who is really saving the world?
December 9, 2015 Sabrina Giacomini
When taking the decision to trade your gas-powered set of wheels for a
more
eco-friendly, all-electric option, you will find an increasingly wider
range
of green offerings on the market, from mild hybrids to full electric
vehicles (EVs). Two of the strongest options to eat up significant
miles on
electric power alone are Chevrolet Volt and the Nissan Leaf. The Leaf
is
pure EV, the Volt uses a range extender to kick in after up to 60+
kilometres of EV driving.
But which one really is the best? Because there can technically be only
one.
Well, according to a study by the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) it
all
boils down to what your objectives and priorities are, because really,
the
differences aren’t that significant.
The data was collected in 2012 and 2013, from 4,000 Nissan Leaf and
1,800
Chevrolet Volt owners across the United States. The results of the
study
seemed surprising to some, but read as common sense to me. For
instance, the
INL’s document reveals that Volt owners will drive an average of 12,238
miles (a speck under 20,000 km) a year, which is about a thousand miles
more
than the national average. Understandably, the average number of miles
driven by Leaf owners is significantly lower, 25 percent lower. There’s
no
inexplicable phenomenon here: the Volt benefits from a range extender
(to
end the electric/not electric debate), whereas the Leaf can only rely
on its
electric powertrain, which limits its range between time-consuming
charging
periods.
However, what might blow your mind is the all-electric numbers. If we
are
looking at the same 15,600-km average for the Leaf, the Volt goes down
a
serious notch to land at a 14,600 electric kilometres average, which is
obviously less than the Leaf, but still pretty close considering the
former
Volt generation only had about 60 km of gas-free range. So it seems
like
everything the Leaf does, the Volt can do as well and even better. But
consider this: 15,600 km a year is about 42 kilometres in a day. Any EV
can
do 42 kilometres in a day. That’s roughly 20 km going and 20 km back.
Even
the Volt can do that, especially if you throw the charging at work and
home
factor into the equation. Even some plug-in hybrids might get away with
those numbers.
The actual useful information we can pull from this study is not how
surprising it is that Volt owners will drive roughly the same amount of
electric kilometres as the Leaf owners, but rather how well it
illustrates
both models’ capacities and their owners’ habits. For instance, Volt
owners
like to live more “dangerously” by being more prone to depleting the
battery
of their car (again: range extender). However, they will tend to charge
their vehicle more often, 1.6 times a day versus 1.1 for the Leaf. Most
EV
owners will also choose to charge their vehicle at home (half of the
participants charged at home only), or at work, leaving the public
charging
stations behind. This can be explained by the fact that unlike at a gas
station, the car has to stay at the charging station for a period of
time.
The driver has to remain in the area for a while and unless said driver
is
Christmas shopping or working in the area, the convenience of those
stations
is rather limited. What the study also tells us is that people who opt
for
EVs tend to have shorter daily commute needs. And that in the end, the
choice of an electric vehicle shouldn’t have anything to do with the
electric range it provides as they all more or less will get you
similar
numbers (except if you consider buying a Tesla which currently plays in
a
league of its own).
The Volt provides more flexibility because of its generator, that’s no
surprise. It knows no such thing as limits, that’s if you are willing
to
rely on gas to help you get wherever you need to be that’s further away
than
60 or 70 kilometres. If on the other hand, the idea behind spending
that
much money on a single car is to never have to stop at the gas pump
again,
then the Leaf will be your pick. It’s all about setting priorities and
preferences. Or liking the design of one over the others.
[© autos.ca]
http://www.hybridcars.com/erick-belmers-chevy-volt-traveled-its-100000th-all-electric-mile-today/#
Erick Belmer’s Chevy Volt Traveled Its 100,000th All-Electric Mile
Today
December 10, 2015
[image
http://www.hybridcars.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Erick_Erin_Belmer1-668x409.jpg
(Erick Belmer &Volt pih, +)
] ...
Chevrolet Volt known to have traveled 100,000 lifetime gas-free miles
on
battery power alone ...
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