Quote:
Originally Posted by euromodder
I really doubt wether a lot of people are going to buy an expensive 34 mpg car when they can buy a 50+ mpg diesel.......
...The battery can't be an excuse for a low MPG on gas, sorry.
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Again, you really can't compare the Volt to a typical ICE vehicle, whether it is gasoline or diesel powered. You CAN NOT just discount the miles traveled on electricity.
Lets say you want to travel 50 miles.
Your diesel vehicle gets 50 miles per gallon.
You have just used one gallon of fuel.
For those same 50 miles, you instead drive the Volt.
The first 40 miles are completely covered by the battery power. (For simplicity, lets ignore the cost & theoretical MPGe of the electricity used.)
Leaving 10 miles to travel by gasoline power. Lets just say the Volt gets 30 mpg while running on gas. That means you just used 1/3 gallon of gasoline.
One gallon of fuel vs One-Third (+electricity). I know which one I would pick. Now OF COURSE if you drove the Volt MOSTLY as a gas vehicle then the fuel economy of it becomes REALLY important - but that's not how it's going to be marketed or used. If you mostly drive long trips, you AREN'T going to be buying a Volt.
I don't know what the current cost for gasoline or diesel fuel in Belgium or other European countries right now, but I am willing to bet that it's significantly higher than an equivalent amount of electricity.