[euromodder]

Originally Posted by bennelson

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.

Obviously, when anyone buys a car that runs on electricity, their aim is to drive on electricity.
Sure the Volt can drive a bit on electricity, but it's simply not enough to be viable.

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.

Sure, but let me take your numbers a bit further:

My commute is actually 60 miles.
My diesel uses 1.2 gallons.
The Volt depletes the battery and needs to go another 20 miles on gas.
Now it's already using 2/3 of a gallon or half my diesel's fuel consumption (and 65% of costs).

Let's take it out to the Leaf's max. range, 100 miles.
My diesel would use 2 gallons.
The Volt would deplete the battery and would still have 60 miles to go on gas.
Those 60 miles in the Volt woud also cost 2 gallons.
And we're only at 100 miles.

At least for the time being, diesel is still a bit cheaper than gas here, those 2 gallons of gas cost 2.35 gallons of diesel.
And we haven't even figured in the price of electricity.

One gallon of fuel vs One-Third (+electricity). I know which one I would pick.

Based on a short distance between charges.
The Volt/Ampera quickly becomes far less attractive when the distance between charges increases.

But if these short distances fit into someone's driving habit, why would they choose the Volt at all with it's complex clutching mechanisms and a superfluous ICE built in
The Leaf would do it on electricity alone with range to spare.

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.

I fear for GM that people will quickly be seeking through their marketing.

If its EV-range fits one's short-range driving patterns, it's simply not the best available car to buy.
Once you venture beyond its EV-range, it quickly becomes rather inefficient.

I really, really wonder who they are going to sell them to.

If you mostly drive long trips, you AREN'T going to be buying a Volt.

Nor a Leaf.

But I could easily combine a Leaf for 80-90% of my driving and join a car sharing organisation for the longer trips beyond its range.

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.

It's indeed a lot more.
But as you see above, that benefit quickly fades.