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I regularly have to drive about 240 miles to court and back on the same day, and just as frequently about 140 miles round trip. Is it possible to do those drives? Maybe, barely.
I have about 175k on my 2008 Prius, so I'm seriously considering that by the time I need a new car the range will be enough to do this reliably.
Most people do most of their driving within 10-20 miles of home. Not everyone, and not all trips of course, but a hybrid with a battery which can take a vehicle 15-30 miles could cut gasoline usage by 90% or more for most people. These small batteries aren't all that expensive, and having the ability of the electric motor to assist can allow for significant downsizing of the gasoline engine, or allow it to be tuned not for power but for economy instead, without sacrificing performance.
I think the Volt's drivetrain is brilliant. Honda has also done something quite incredible with the Clarity, significantly cutting drivetrain complexity and weight. We just need these drivetrain options in vehicles people actually buy - small crossovers, hatches and SUVs.
All of them at least double what I would be willing to spend, some are lot more than that. No thanks.
At least I can now buy a CPO luxury plug in for less than $30K. Not AWD, but most people drive FWD cars daily.
So you are basically using it as a Hybrid and getting Hybrid mileage at 43 MPG or slightly better. Nothing wrong with that if you like the vehicle!
Actually no, he's basically using it as an electric vehicle for 90% of the driving he does (commute) and then on the occasional long distance trip, he then uses it as a hybrid. I'm the same way. 99% of my driving is done in pure EV mode, and then on the 1% of driving that I do, the occasional long trip up to upstate NY, I use it as a hybrid. I'm looking at replacing my Volt with a pure EV as I can rent a car for that long distance trip once a year. Since I don't need a 200 mile range in my EV, I'm looking at a used Spark EV or Fiat 500e. They're dirt cheap on the used market.
cvetter63 is correct. I do like the occasional road trip, but most of my driving is on battery power so not counting them I figure I will save about 180 dollars a month compared to my old 95 BMW 530i in fuel (depending on gas prices) minus the monthly charging cost. Volts tend to lose value quickly but then stabilize pretty well. I imagine it's partly caused by not being qualified for the tax credit as a second owner. Also I can't renew the HOV lane sticker. I paid 16k for my 2017 with 42k miles and it is a certified pre owned car so I have some additional bumper to bumper warranty and the battery system is warrantied for 10 years anyway. I felt pretty confident buying it used.
Personally as a primary vehicle I can only see the practicality of having a hybrid .
If there is an emergency, and they are always present, I want the ability to go as far as a have to .
If hybrid gets more attention, we would have more 100mpg+ hybrids instead we get so many cost cutting hybrids that can only do 50ish mpg.
A 100mpg hybrid that can also be plugged in would easily overtake any need to EVs in the short term and the less likely consumers would want EVs.
I drive about 400mi/month, my gas bill is only $25 a month with the 11' Prius in the summer getting 48mpg in mix driving.
If Toyota puts a 75kw battery inside and make plugin I can easily get over 100mpg and that would almost eliminate the need to visit the gas station.
EVs are not the best short term solution, hybrids are because it offers the best of both worlds.
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There are a lot of drive choices available.
