As others have stated, I would wait until people start actually owning the car to make any assumptions

In my GE8 I am averaging 33mpg in mixed driving with 40+ on the highway when I am not pushing it and am by myself

I was getting 54mpg in the Prius I had prior but hated the driving dynamics. I have no problem getting less MPG in this car since 1) it's signficantly cheaper and 2) it's way more fun to drive

 

Whatever the prior gen got real world, most likely just add 1 or 2 ... these things tend to be rather incremental.

 

Talked to a guy with a 2014 Chevy Volt, man does he love that thing. Driving it to work and back and hasn't used any gas yet. He says he charges it at home on 110 over night and charges it again at work. He drive the same mileage as I do 38. Raised his electric bill at home $20 per month.
That car would really work for me but, two really big buts! Cost new at around $40,000 and it's a Chevy. Know way it's going 100,000 miles without major problems. There is incentives of $7500 Federal and $3500 from Pennsylvania but still that's a lot of money for a Chevy.
No new fits to drive around here yet have to wait a little longer.

 

Another disappointment in Honda and most overseas cars is the lack of choices in options available in the different models. To get nav. you have to get leather, to xm radio you have to get nav. and no color choice of interior.

 

Sorry, but I'd be very skeptical to think $20 is realistic. What kind of electricity rates does he have?
Can anyone chip in and do some calculations to see if it's possible?
How much is a kilowatt hour these days? How many kwh does it take to charge let's say 10% of the volt's battery?

 

Electricity rates vary tremendously across the nation. Here in Maui we pay more than $0.40 per kilowatt. At that rate, the equivalent fuel cost of the most efficient electric cars is $0.13/mile, about the same as getting about 30 mpg at $4.00/gallon.

But in other areas of the country electricity can be as little as $0.06 per kilowatt. So the equivalent fuel cost for them is $0.02/mile or 200 MPG at 4.00/gallon

The average electric cost across the country is $0.11/kilowatt. This is the equivalent of 106 MPG at $3.50/gal according to consumer reports.

The OP makes reference to his friend topping off his car at work, so his electricity cost is probably cut in half by getting this fee power from work. Anytime you can get free power it is like getting free gas for a conventional car.

The efficiently of electric cars also vary tremendously with driving conditions, driving style, ambient temperature, AC and heater use. So these figures could be as much as 50% worse than these test conditions numbers indicate.

 

Thanks for the reply, TCroly.
I did some research and concluded that the Volt's owner may indeed be more or less accurate. You made a good point about getting free charges at work.

Los Angeles cost is 21c per kwh currently. Still, these immediate savings don't insure an overall saving of purchasing and operating an electric car like Chevy Volt. The initial price is 25K or more and when the battery needs to be replaced, it's likely to be thousands. It seems unlikely that over its lifetime, the Volt could save money compared to a car like Fit.

 

The cost proposition of an electric car can pencil out positively at the point of purchase over a specific fix number of miles or years. But the place it falls apart is when the car is 8 years old with say 100,000 miles and now needs a new $4000 to $10,000 battery. If you know the car will last another 8 years and 100,000 miles, then fine, spend the money for the new battery. But if the car is only going to last another few years or 30,000 miles, then you will never recover the cost of that expensive replacement battery.

 

This is the same reason I didnt go Hybrid with the new fit.

 

Batteries don't cost $4000 though, not even half of that.

 

Last time I checked the Prius batteries were 250k yen, no idea about the Fit ones but Id imagine they would be some where close. and with a definite life on them before they go off Ive never been a huge fan of electric/hybrid and thats before you include the extra weight.

 

Upgraded replacement batteries for the 1g Insight run about $2000 USD, no idea how that converts to yen.

 

My electrical kwh rate is somewhere in the $0.06-0.07 range. My three bedroom ranch costs me $30 per month in the summer and just over $40 in the winter. Never have I seen a $50 electric bill.
The electric rates where the Volt driver lives I was talking to is much higher, I know because I work there.

A new Chevy Volt is almost $40,000 and in 5 years I would have close to $100,000 miles on it. Definitely not a good plan for me.

 

Wow, we pay almost $0.40 per kwh!

 

even at that amount, Im glad I didnt go hybrid. Not worth it. Great if you are trading the car in around the time the battery is going off though I guess.

 

We have a 2013 AT Fit and a Prius (v)agon. I am a very light footed driver who strives for high fuel economy in my (smallish) city driving.

If weather is mild I average about 65 mpg in the Prius, and 43 in the Fit.
The EPA window sticker for the Prius is 44 mpg IIRC, and 28 mpg for the Fit.

Taking ratios, my Prius driving is 65/44 = 1.477 of EPA;
My Fit driving is 43/28 = 1.53 of EPA

Most people will relate similar experiences if they drive different cars in the same way: similar ratios between the cars for that driver. This is why the best use of EPA is to compare cars, not to expect that is the fuel economy you will get.

 

My 10 y/o 2004 Prius with 170k miles has (mostly) been passed on to our daughter recently, so I took the time to check the traction battery health with the android app 'Torque.' No evidence yet of a weakening module pair, the common sign of a near future need for battery repair/replacement. If I had found an unbalanced battery I would have replaced it as a preventive maintenance since I expect another 5+ years from the car.

These days a module costs about $50, or an entire lightly used pack is $750 -$1000. Add another $500 - $1000 for installation if DIY is not an option.

Honda made some mistakes with IMA hybrids that I hope are corrected in their new generation hybrids, but hybrids done right are fantastic cars and pencil out money wise just fine, even if a traction battery fix/exchange is done along the way. If the Fit hybrid had been available in my market it would have been at the top of my car shopping list.

 

A Prius will always be the best cost for the mile you can get and there is no Full electric that can compare. Where the battery replacement cost is going to be 3 to 5 times that of the much lower capacity Prius battery.

 

First, if you're getting over 30 mpg pn your HHR, hang on to it for dear life. The one here, now long gone barely got 20 mpg.
Second, please note that EPA mpg ratings are done on a computer with VERY carefully controlled speeds, acceleration, and times programs to get comparisons only. They do not represent accurate descriptions of how drivers drive. Almost no one gets EPA's mpg ratings in isolated city or highway mpg without clean traffic, downhill, andtailwinds or being mobile traffic pylons like some Prius.
Check the city mpg ratings to get more realistic comparisons of mpg that are achieved in the real world.
If your driving gets 30 mpg in your HHR then you should count on at least actual 36 mpg in a Fit.

 

If he gets low-mid 30's in an HHR, he'll average 40+ in a Fit. Unless the GK sucks..