07 September 2009

The Volt

Plug-in hybrids are a new class of car. You can't really describe their efficiency compared to a conventional gasoline-powered car using a single familiar figure. You could present energy efficiency in terms of a unit like "distance per kilojoule", but most people won't have a clue of what that means. The honest way to describe it is to say "Up to 40 miles without consuming gas, and then 50 miles per gallon". That's not so horribly difficult, now is it?

~MarkCC at Good Math, Bad Math



If and when Jean Luc gives out, I would strongly consider getting a hybrid. My current favorite pick is the Prius, but if the Volt or something like it were at a similar price, I'd certainly take a look. Last I heard, the Volt was going to be $40,000+, which is a wee bit out of my reach. Either way, it's nice to have accurate info on it. I wonder how much this little gem would up your home electricity bill...

2 comments:

John said...

Yeah, that "230 mpg" statistic set off alarm bells for me, too. I'm glad I read GM/BM.

It's weird, though. Like MarkCC wrote, the marketers could have very easily said something like "40 miles using no gas (full charge), then 50 mpg. That's pretty impressive. Do marketing/ad agencies think Americans are that gullible?

Qalmlea said...

I was wondering if they thought Americans were so math illiterate that they couldn't process "40 miles, no gas, after that, 50 mpg." Not sure which viewpoint is more cynical.