2011 Chevy Volt: Gas vs Electricity
October 12, 2011
Since last Friday, I travelled 72.5 miles in our Chevy Volt. I went 35.5 miles on an electric charge, then 37 miles on 1 gallon of gasoline. My driving environment was a mixture of highway and hybrid-friendly stop-and-go traffic. My driving style was somewhere in between normal and thrifty, though I was definitely trying to maximize electric motivation when in gasoline-burning hybrid mode.
Based on our local Exxon station, it cost me $4.059 to go 37 miles
Based on our electricity bill, it cost me about $1.75 to go 35.5 miles.
Could the gasoline engine be more efficient? Maybe, but if your commute is like mine, it would absolutely be cheaper to run the Volt than any gasoline-powered car since you'd almost always be running on electricity. Once it becomes cheaper to produce the car itself and its various components, I truly believe this is the recipe for future commuter cars.
James Riswick, Automotive Editor
P.S. Yes, I realize the screen says 0.99 gal used, but the gallons used read-out in the gauge cluster I was looking at said 1 gal when this photo was taken. I guess it rounds up. Maybe I got 37.1 miles or something, but I'll never know. Oh well.
