mmarshall

I have a question, though....(and this is an issue that you might know more about than I do, so I'd like your insight). If you constantly run an extended-range hybrid less than the (typical) 40 miles it takes to drain the battery, and plug it in each hight to recharge it, seems like the gas engine would rarely if ever actually turn on. That would, of course, mean that the gas engine's moving parts wouldn't get lubricated, the oil wouldn't get hot, seals and gaskets would dry out and crack; the coolant would deteriorate from lack of circulation, etc..... Doesn't the gas engine HAVE to be programmed to start and run a certain minimum amount of time just to keep it and its fluids from deteriorating, even if it is not actually needed for battery-recharge or more power?

pbm317

Volt/ELR and any of the other Range Extended EV's do kick on their gasoline engines every now and then, especially since fuel also goes bad as well.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

expensive gasoline? 30mi. is about $3 in most cars, or one starbucks. and this car is what, $60K? with no room? no thanks. pointless.

might as well spend some more and get a tesla which has real range.

Sulu

That's right, the Volt's engine is programmed to automatically switch on every now and then to circulate the fluids.

mmarshall

Thanks....that would seem to make sense. I get leery when I hear people claim "I drove my Volt every day for a whole month and used NO gasoline".

Sulu

The ES Hybrid, in fact, can be had for less than Cdn$50,000 (and remember that the Canadian dollar is worth less than the American dollar). Gasoline here is much more expensive than in the USA. I cannot afford a Tesla.

And it seems that we have had this discussion before... While a hybrid car is more expensive than a conventional car, and it may take a long time to pay off the higher price, we hybrid drivers do not necessarily look at it in a strictly dollars-and-cents fashion. We like the fact that we are using less gasoline. The one-time higher purchase price does not enter into the picture when we have to fill close to a full tank each week, while watching gas prices rise; only having to fill a half-tank in a Hybrid gives us some comfort.

It is as much psychological as anything.

My wife was so impressed by the low fuel consumption of the ES Hybrid that she is talking about trading in her 2013 Honda Accord for an electric car (but only if it looks nice, she said, instantly crossing off the Leaf and the Volt). (She commutes about 60km / <40mi roundtrip to work.) Soon, we may be a 2-Lexus Hybrid family.

Even at $3 a gallon for gasoline, it is still cheaper to drive a car on electricity than gasoline.

bagwell

Of the 106,681 survey participants who drove to work every day in a car, 95 percent of them traveled less than 40 miles to work, with the average commute distance being 13.6 miles

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/...ars-says-study

chromedome

The other thing about these new hybrids like the ES and Accord Hybrid is that they also have decent performance. 0-60 times are in warm hatch territory but low and midrange torque is fantastic. There's no lag either like with smaller petrol or diesel turbos. You can potter about in town getting 50 mpg and you can also blast past most cars at lower speeds... The cake can be had and eaten too

That said, the ELR is overpriced and like the Volt, it's an utter failure on GM's part. Toyota is smart by using hybrid tech with small battery packs at the low end of the price range, and Tesla is smart by first making premium electric cars. It's only when battery costs drop that affordable plugin hybrids and electric cars will show up. At that point, we could see hybrids with big battery packs and tiny range-extender engines.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

of course many people do not just drive to work and straight back, they may go to day care or go to a sports or other social activity...

either way, knock yourself out and get an ELR.

seems the buying public agrees with me.

dseag2

They need to shoot this horse and put it out of its misery. I guess Allante means nothing to a new guy who is destined to make the same mistakes.

mmarshall

Though not a perfect comparison, the ELR, in several ways, is more so a 2015 equivalent of the ill-fated 1980s Cadllac Cimarron than to the Allante.

dseag2

Well, if my Google skills served me correctly, the Cimarron sold approx. 84k units and the Allante sold approx. 21k units. I do realize the Allante was a more expensive car, so perhaps more profit was made there. Anyway, neither one was a huge sales success by any measure.

Also, I was actually mistaken in my original comment and was confusing the Allante with the Buick Reatta, which was another huge sales flop.

dseag2

I was actually hoping would say something altruistic... like you are helping to save the planet.

mmarshall

I was comparing the ELR more to the Cimarron, size-wise.

Plus, the fact that, unlike today, GM, quality-wise, did mostly junk in those days (including the Allante/Reatta)

geko29

The article is intentionally misleading. It was very carefully worded to avoid saying that the round-trip distance for 95% of respondents was under 80 miles. The distance TO work is only salient from a range-anxiety perspective if your employer offers charging stations at the office, which is exceedingly rare for people that don't work at Whole Foods.

For example: my commute one way is 22.3 miles if I go the shortest route on surface streets, or 31.1 miles if I take the expressway. I fall easily into the 95% cited in the article. Yet 40 miles of range is clearly inadequate for even a direct commute with no stops.

Now I'm aware the Volt/ELR have a small "range extender" engine, and I wouldn't be stranded. But the raison d'etre of these cars is to be able to drive in EV mode most of the time, and only use the engine on less frequent, longer drives. If I can't get home without running the engine, I may as well have a traditional or plug-in hybrid.