Drives Blog

The reason for the mpg rating for the Chevy Volt is it is powered entirely by batteries but has a gasoline engine to recharge the batteries for trips longer than 40 miles (or whatever they claim for fully charged batteries alone). I haven't seen the Nissan but I suspect it's the same kind of thing; perhaps with larger or more efficient batteries and onboard charging system (diesel perhaps?).

The electrical equivalents will come along as electric cars become more popular and owners figure out how much it costs to plug in and charge overnight and, with that popularity, will probably also discover that present "off-peak" electricity rates will no longer exist.

This is the kind of double talk that our elected officials use. It is no wonder that they are not trusted.

A gallon of electrons is a whole heap of eletrons! I wonder if it was even possible to cram them into a gallon bucket how much they would weigh. Assuming that the electric forces were neglected so that you could get them all into a bucket and get them all to hold still long enough to weigh...

1 joule of electrical energy is equal to 7.58955676988E-9 gallon [U.S.] of automotive gasoline. So, do the math.

So 1 gallon is equivalent to about 36.6 kwhr.

230 mpg is a worthless statement if taken by itself. It must be qualified by length of time at miles per hour. 230 mpg doesn't mean anything if you can only go 2 mph and it takes you 40 hours to get there. You must also factor in weight being carried; whether the A/C is on; is the road level or are there hills to climb; are the headlights on or off; is the radio on; what's the air pressure in the tires; type of road surface? Mileage runs are always done under ideal conditions, something we will never experience in normal driving. 15 to 20% of that figure sounds more realistic to me.

If I put a hybrid system on my V8 pick up and it would get 10 miles on an overnite battery charge and then I drove it 8 miles round trip to work every day and no where else I would get fantastic mileage.

If you believe this reasoning I have a health care proposal for you that will save the economy.

A guy I know charges his vehicle with solar. I guess the batteries (for his house)charge his car overnight.

The solar cost him $35,000. That's a lot of gas you can buy for that and I guess he hasn't thought of road trips. I don't think he will ever really see the system "pay off", or maybe he will see it when he is really old and the solar system he has is antiquated. But he hasn't paid any electrical (so he says) since he got it installed.

Forget the Mpg, what is the cost in $/mile? And how long does anyone think the government will wait to increase the costs for electricity when they start getting reduced revenues for gasoline?

responding to the first replier's comment. we wouldn't have higher electricity costs from electrical cars, because eletricity is a utility and is subgect to goverment regulation. the goverment would have to raise the limit that power plants could charge before prices could increase( though this could change from influence of power plant special interest groups).

Hey going through email I found your query. I used to have an EV1 and it would cost about a dollar to drive 100 miles, this was based on charging the vehicle during offpeak hours and this was my "commuter car". If I wanted to go on a trip We would jump in my 68 Mustang. As for charging your car with solar, the best part about "solar" is the money it knocks off are the most expensive tiers on your bill. Once you get to your baseline and lower, it takes longer to pay back. I knew a couple of people with solar and EV's, they had no electric bill of automobile gas bill for 5 years. Except for trips and such. To the origional question. The fuzzy math that they are using is based on the national average of less than 10 miles a day round trip. So if I plug in at night and the motor hardly comes on then, yes you can get 230 to 367 MPG. Just food for thought.