Jay Leno: "I think you'll find that the Volt will be a superior package to the Prius"
The battle for Jay Leno's approval has been won. Sure, it's an apples-to-oranges comparison, but Leno recently told Reuters that he's excited about the upcoming Chevy Volt and that, "I think it will be great. I think you'll find that the Volt will be a superior package to the Prius." Leno also said he's in line to give the Volt a test drive when that option becomes available.
In other news, Leno recommends bringing a book with you if you're filling up a hydrogen vehicle. Leno has been driving a fuel cell Chevy Equinox for about a year and said that, "The only downside is that it's about a 20 minute wait for a fill-up, so bring a book. But that's only because the infrastructure is not here yet so it takes a little longer to fill."
Gallery: 2010 Toyota Prius
[Source: GM-Volt]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Anthony 10:53AM (3/19/2009)
While Leno's not really known for being green, he is certainly a name people know. That can only help (as he *is* known as a serious car aficionado).
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PeterG 10:59AM (3/19/2009)
So. I think it won't.
It will have greater electric range obviously, but other than that I expect Toyotas 4th generation Prius to be more refined and usable than GMs 1st generation serial hybrid.
But we all have to wait and see because it is untested at this time.
If you are part of the money is no object crowd, I would go for the Fisker Karma before either.
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Brn 12:09PM (3/19/2009)
From a conceptual standpoint, Jay is dead on. Then again, it should be a superior package. It costs more.
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stas peterson 9:50PM (3/19/2009)
The volts can use no fossil fuel. The Prius can merely minimize its need for fossil fuel. That is the big difference in their architectures, even if the Prius eventually goes PHEV.
Some have calculated the Volts mpge,, ie the miles per gallon of equivalent fossil mileage as 320 mpge, given it's fuel is mostly electricity. The Prius will have difficulty exceeding much beyond 100 mpge, as it is desinged to be a fossil fuel minimizer, not a fossil fuel substituter.
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Dave 12:31PM (3/19/2009)
I agree with Brn. Considering you could get 1.75 Priuses (or 2 Insights) for the supposed $40,000 price of a Volt, I would certainly hope it's a superior package.
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Randy C. 12:55PM (3/19/2009)
Capability wise the Volt IS superior to the Prius. In 2010 the stock Prius still will go nowhere without gas. And if you do manage to get your hands on a plug-in version (latest report is “fleet testing” only at that time) you will not be going more than 10 slow miles before fuel has to be burned. If you go to fast or stomp on the accelerator to hard on comes the engine. The Volt, in moderate temperatures, 40 miles no gas, full speed, accelerate as hard you want and still the engine isn’t required.
I’m still leery of GM. I don’t want what happened to the EV1 drivers to happen to me. Take the car away, charge me $2000 to repair the paint job, then crush the car, irregardless of whether or not I want to keep the car. Besides I need a van like vehicle like the eBox or Denki Cube. I carry cargo more often than people and some of it is bigger than a 13″ TV/VCR combo that wont fit in the trunk of a Pontiac Sunfire by 1″.
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Richard in FLA 1:05PM (3/19/2009)
I like the van concept better myself. The eBox or Cenki Cube are exactly what I would get. Plus they are much easier to engineer than the Volt. I lost interest in the Volt when they completely changed the look from the concept vehicle. I liked the concept so much, I would have bought it, but the new version is lame. I hope they keep the Cadillac concept and not change it when deciding to go into production.
I think that trucks should also be introduced. It's an American icon, but for some reason no one is making them. I mean, the escape is out there, why not the truck version?
oldraven 1:53PM (3/19/2009)
The Volt won't be lease only, so there's no risk of them taking your car and crushing it. Once you buy it out right, it's yours, and GM can't do a thing about it.
Kevin 12:41PM (3/20/2009)
What happened to the EV1 drivers???
They signed a contract for a lease that required they give the car back when the lease was up.
They weren't victimized in the least!
Randy C. 1:47AM (3/22/2009)
The EV1 drivers were treated poorly. They had to satisfy a long list of conditions to even be put on the list to get an EV1. They usually had to wait a month or more for the car to arrive. All of this is explained in the film "Who Killed the Electric Car". What wasn't in the film was what GMAC leasing did. When the cars were turned in the drivers were charged as much as $2000 to repair the paint job on cars headed to the crusher. We're talking those little dings, dents and scratches that every car will acquire over time. GM completely ignored the desires of the drivers. Most wanted to keep the car and offered to buy it but were completely rebuffed.
There is one report of an EV1 developing a problem. The driver took it in for service. He called the dealership to ask when the car would be ready. They told him they were taking the car back. He was not going to be getting a replacement. When he asked what was going to happen to the car the response was "we can't tell you". The bottom line is he had a reliable car one day and it was gone the next because the manufacturer didn't want to make the car in the first place.
jpm 1:03PM (3/19/2009)
Depends how you define a superior there Leno. Well, let's see. Toyota is a superior car company vs GM. Toyota has superior sales vs GM. Toyota's Prius has been on the road for over 10 years. The Volt has been on the road for minus two years. And finally, NBC receives superior advertising dollars from GM vs Toyota.
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Chris M 1:29PM (3/19/2009)
The Volt will have more EV miles, probably a little better acceleration, and perhaps a bit bigger inside, but it will be more expensive
The Plug-in Prius will be less expensive, have Toyota quality, but won't have as great of an EV range, and will probably burn a bit more gas.
I'd say there is a market for both, but I'm betting the plug-in Prius will outsell the Volt.
As for that other tidbit of info on the H2 FC Equinox, it's interesting that the supposed fast fillup is only half as fast as the hydrogen promoters think. 20 minutes for a full fillup. Hmm, then it doesn't really qualify for the CARB special ZEV category set up to favor H2 fuel cell vehicles, but some EVs do....
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PeterG 2:38PM (3/19/2009)
Has anything been released for specs on the Volt?
I imagine with all the extra battery weight, acceleration won't be stellar, but since it isn't in the Prius either, I would hesitate to pick a winner in the battle of the slugs.
On roominess: I thought they were similarly sized vehicles and the Volt has to accommodate a lot of extra battery volume. Plus the new Prius is bigger than the old Prius. I wouldn't bet on this battle either.
As far as the Prius burning more gas. Yes when you take the EV range of the Volt into account yes of course. But in charge sustaining mode. I suspect the Prius will actually do better. They are on their fourth generation and refining as they go and get ~50MPG combined now.
I think refinement, packaging will favor Toyota.
GM is a one trick pony on it's advantage list. 40 miles of EV range.
The question will be how many people will pay an extra $10000 to $20000 to save at most, 1 gallon of gas per day in a 1.0 release GM product.
One thing GM should be offering is a very small battery option possible with no plug in capability at all. That is what is driving the price so high and will limit market share.
A $22K Volt with a 2 mile range (EV not being the point) would amortize the rest of the drive train and platform over a much wider audience.
ziv 9:35PM (3/21/2009)
Chris, I think you are right about the Prius outselling the Volt, a net price of $29,000 vs. a price of $23,000+, (the Prius doesn't get a tax credit any more) plus the Toyota green halo are going to keep Prius sales up there as long as the Volt costs more than $5,000 more. But the Volt looks a lot better, even if it doesn't look as good as the concept, and the idea of being able to buy just a couple gallons of gas a month, well that is sounding awfully nice. And regarding acceleration, with all the torque the Volt will have I imagine 0-30 mph or 0-40 will probably be pretty good. Passing a car means accelerating from 50-75, and that acceleration will probably suck.
Peter, on roominess, the Volts 4 seats just aren't going to be able to compete with the Prius' 5 seats. But the rear hatch on the Volt looks to be ok. On the mileage issue when the Volt has exhausted the 8kWh, that is an interesting question. The ICE generates more than 65 hp and the car will only need 30-40 to maintain speed, and will need none when slowing down, so the car has been programmed to use whatever electricity the car needs to power it down the road and shunt the rest of the ICE produced electricity into the battery. So you drive around 40 miles all electric, depleting the battery from 80% to 30%, then the ICE kicks on and supplies both the electric motor and charges the battery. Once the battery gets up to 35%, the ICE turns off again and the car goes back to all electric drive for about 4 miles depleting the battery to 30%, repeat... So even when the car is getting 50 mpg and the ICE is powering the car, you are getting extra electricity, so your true mileage is more than 50 mpg, due to the bonus electricity shunting into the battery since the car doesn't require the full power of the ICE as you are driving around town at 35-45 mph. If you look at the graphs GM supplied GM-volt.com you can see the sawtooth nature of the battery depletion and recharging, and it sure looks like the car spends nearly as much time after Customer Depletion Point (their term, and it sucks) operating as a BEV as it does with the ICE running. If so, the 50 mpg claim, while true, is an understatement of what the car will be capable of. I hope this is a case of under promise and over deliver, but given the history of American corporations in the past 20 years, maybe that is a foolish assumption.
http://www.toyota.com/prius-hybrid/tax.html
-M.Dub 3:30PM (3/19/2009)
20 minutes to refill H2.......really?!?! Forget hydrogen.
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Larz 4:51PM (3/19/2009)
Critiques from early posts:
1. Don't like styling - It's not ugly, but I agree. It's sibling, in Germany, looks better.
2. Priced too high - agreed, but expected in 1st generation. $30k looks better.
3. Parallel vs. Series - I like the GM idea better, though Toyota says it's complicated.
4. Toyota vs. GM quality - I have 3 Toyotas. I haven't driven GM since the Vega era.
I disqualify myself on this point. I hear from many that GM is getting better. I'm
looking to buy American when I retire. I won't be driving much.
5. GM's 40m EV range. I like this a lot, since my commute is a combined 33m. I
just wonder if they drove the speed limit on the freeway to get those numbers.
6. Weight & space of batteries: MIT has come up with a quick charge, low mass
Lithion battery technology . Next-gen EVs and HEVs using this should then become
more marketable. Smaller mass consumer vehicles with room for passengers
can then become viable. (Lithion because I can't pronounce Li-ion)
7. My own critique: Small 2 liter pickups were once very popular in California. They
still are, because so many people try to buy mine, especially teenagers and
small business people. A 2 liter pickup would be the perfect platform for an
EV. A battery pack would fit nicely in the bed behind the cab. Add 2 feet to
the bed, if necessary.
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ziv 7:56PM (3/19/2009)
Larz, a couple of engineers on GM-Volt crunched number on the Volt's AER and given the fact that there is very little solid info out it is only an educated guess, but the numbers they were looking at indicated that the Volt would indeed do 40 miles AER in the city, but only around 35-36 at 65 mph, or 31-33 if you were using lights, and ac or heat on the highway. Again, nobody knows anything, but the numbers did take improved aerodynamics and heat pump type heating into account. It is just a guesstimate, and one I read 6 months ago, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is close. YMMV
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Brn 5:29PM (3/19/2009)
"A 2 liter pickup would be the perfect platform for an
EV"
You mean like this?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Ranger_EV
Brn 5:29PM (3/19/2009)
That was a response to Larz.
ABG tricked me. :(
Mike!!ekiM 6:06PM (3/19/2009)
The Volt looks great on paper. I'm just hoping upper-class America will buy enough of these to help drive the price down. I don't see Ford doing much to bring down the price of the Escape Hybrid.