PHEV Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles - best or worst of both worlds? 2 year MPG revealed GTE v VOLT

#phev #volt #gte

This Volkswagen Golf GTE and Chevrolet Volt have been under my ownership for over 2 years each. So what is my opinion on Plug-In Hybrids and these cars in particular? Remember there is no such thing as "a self charging hybrid"!

It was a Vauxhall Ampera (same as a Volt) that first triggered my interest in Electric Vehicles so are they a good gateway towards a full electric vehicle?

I reveal my average MPG for each of the cars too.

It's all down to how they are used at the end of the day - and how often you plug them in!

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[ArchivePete]

I've had my Ampera 5 years now. It has a lifetime mpg of 92 when I got it with 44, 000 on the clock. I have put 50, 000 on it and the lifetime mpg is now 125. I zeroed the trip when I got it and the mpg during my time with the car is now 148. It is still quiet, no rattles, and drives great. These cars are the motoring worlds best kept secret. It took me a long time to find mine as there are so few, but worth the wait. In the winter it is great to preheat the car and hop in with a clear windscreen, no scraping. It costs me around 80 pence to fully charge and this gives me around 33 miles range in the winter, but I have had 50 in the summer. I drive on the motorway each day but only for a short 4 miles section, the rest on 50 or 60MPH roads. My next car will be full electric, but I am in no rush to sell the Ampera.

[Loubiaaa]

I see particularly on twitter quite a lot of bashing of PHEVs, but I think that it works for a lot of people as a first step into EVs, like in your case. It’s a transition technology, but definitely needs to be educated about, and reinforced the need to charge often.

[pjpcklein]

Great video Richard! The Chevrolet Volt was my first electric car a couple of years ago and also served as my introduction to EVs. I then ordered a Tesla Model 3 and sold the Volt - in fact you sold it for me! Today I am still driving the Tesla - great car - and I just bought another Chevrolet Volt (2014 year) again, this time for my wife. The Volt is a really well engineered car and amazingly after more than miles it still has 100% of the battery capacity! I remember back then, my first Volt just about managed to do 40 miles from Glasgow to Edinburg Park & Ride (with EV chargers on site) on a single charge with no heating on (mainly motorway). I was amazed when I repeated the same journey with the mile Volt successfully last weekend! I think that is a really good example to quote to all the EV sceptics out there who claim that the battery won't last and will need replacing every couple of years!

[TonyWardUK]

I had a Vauxhall Ampera many years ago and loved it. However, I did only manage approx 45mpg over the 60, 000 miles I did in it. Lots of motorway driving. I never forgot the feeling of driving this car in electric mode, so have now gone full circle and ordered a full electric car. Can’t wait.

[ashfilmer]

I drove from Gloucestershire to London last Monday, and then to Newcastle and back in my Ampera (800 miles). Weeks average was 62mpg, mostly on petrol. Average over 4, 600 miles of use before last week was 113mpg, mostly commuting. The car is far cheaper to run than my motorbikes

[nealm]

Problem with these things is they block public chargers for BEV drivers who's only source of locomotion is electricity.

[evdabbler]

Great video and good to see a balanced view of the benefits and limitations of PHEVs. As used cars in particular, i'd argue they can be affordable entry points into EV driving. Charging whenever possible, including at paid for public stations, I am currently achieving 77mpg with my Outlander PHEV. If it weren't for a long trip abroad in the summer, this number would be much higher. In fact over the last 3 months and 2, 000km, i am delivering 185mpg. Yes it takes a lot of charging (a lot!) and yes it makes you long for a 'proper' EV. But a good step forward I think, until the second hand market for affordable longer range EVs matures.

[ZEFElectric]

My entry in EV world was a Passat GTE PHEV. Excellent car and great balance between sport and comfort, power and economy. After 5 years and 140.000 km, at least a third of these kilometers were driven in E-mode but that requires a strict “charging discipline” when range is so small.
I will not “dismiss” the PHEVs completely. Some new ones are coming up with battery capacity over 25kWh which is quite substantial looking at some short range pure EVs. Great video!

[FrozenDung]

I also have one of the 115~ Volts left in the UK Richard, absolutely LOVE it. I have had it for 4 years and I had one fault.

Charging receptacle was cracked and shorted the car when I plugged it in one night. I took it to Arnold Clark in Manchester and was thankfully fixed under warranty saving me £1300!

This was around 90k miles

[Vmbuk]

Great video as always!

I had a Vauxhall Ampera about 5 years ago and owned it for 2 years, it was honestly one of the best cars I’ve driven. I loved everything about it and definitely a great stepping stone to electric cars. I couldn’t fault the Ampera with heated seats, Bose sound system, DVD player (not that i used it) but so many great features and it looked awesome too - apparently got called the Bat mobile many times.

Since owning the Ampera I then jumped onto the Model 3 and definitely played a big part in me going fully electric.

If you can it would be great to do a video on the best PHEV out of the Mercedes A250e, GTE, and Audis A3 TFSI e.

Thank you
Vishal

[spiro]

Chevy volt owner since 2016 I can attest to the performance of the MY2013 Chevy volt as I still own one in 2023, very few problems and I still enjoy driving it,
It still saves me money on fuel, less on servicing the engine in it, yes you still have to service the engine even thou I hardly use the engine
I can still get around 35 to 39 mile out of the battery without using the engine.
I know one day I will have to replace it and yes I will going full electric.
It’s important to remember the Ampera/volt are range extender PHEV similar to the bmw i3 PHEV
Many thanks for posting 🙏

[kevinliley]

Another interesting video. I had two Golf GTEs: a Mark 7 and a Mark 7.5. The latter had a digital dashboard with a sat nav view as an option. I loved both cars and it was only the jump to full electric (a Tesla Model 3) that made me part ways with the last one. I preferred coasting mode because the engine would cut out and save fuel – regen still happened as a first stage of braking. I would always try to find the right accelerator pressure to avoid the engine kicking in and save fuel. As a regular Golf in all other respects, it ticked the compact space boxes for me.

[jonathantaylor]

A very interesting video, Richard, on a class of car I have often wondered 'why' they exist...!
That aside, I was then reading some of the other comments below and one made me go "oh WOW... never thought of that before..."
Someone made comment about them using a PHEV for towing, since you can easily pull in to a petrol station - car + caravan - to refuel, whereas you can't really 'pull in' to an EV charging bay with a caravan attached as you'd be blocking the rest of the car park...!
Never even gave that a second thought...
So, there ya' go... PHEVs actually DO have a purpose, after all... who'd have thought it...!! ;-)

[BrianFraser]

Love that you left the bonnet challenge in :)

My wife is running a new Kuga PHEV 2021/2 post battery issues (so far it easily does 30 to 45 mile on EV and had predicted over 50 a couple times - then it got cold and it didn't match that). :(
Filled up the fuel tank (42 litres) a day after purchase (3 weeks ago) we've done 780 miles.
Done two 180 mile round trips and a few 30 mile round trips plus a ton of short journeys. Fuel tank still has 150 miles left as an estimate.
Only issue at the moment is the pants app for controlling the charging process (escalated to Fords).
Otherwise it's been a good experience so far.
I would agree that 80-100 MPG is more realistic than the WLTP 220 mpg

Must say as you did in another video when you drive an EV its much more relaxing,
My daily is a 3 litre BMW gas guzzler and a manual and a whole other world when driving (but its staying for now) :)

[trevorsbarkingmadchannel]

I was very tempted with the Ampera / volt tho I’d heard the volt uses American components rather than European as in the Ampera ? Still both great cars but I’ve returned to a totally ev 2017 30kw leaf and Gotta say loving it. You got me into EVs. So huge huge thank you. I’m as nerdy about them as the next guy. Great vlog.

[dangr]

Great video Richard!
Before my lovely model S70 I had an outlander PHEV and that was the car which made me love the EVs! I remember after 171k miles the battery still had 20-23 miles of range which could be almost doubled in places like south London if you were creative with the regen. It’s sad that many people who are new to the EV’s are thinking that a PHEV is actually better than a full Ev. One thing for sure most of the PHEV are a lot less polluting than traditional ice cars.

[RoaldHemel]

I’ve had my Volvo V60 PHEV since 2013. This was my first step into EV’s. Bought my secondhand 2016 Tesla Model S 60 (facelift) in 2018 and traded in my wife’s ICE Peugeot for a 2017 Fiat 500e in 2020. We’ve kept the PHEV for shopping trips, towing and holiday trips. The consumption of the PHEV is less than 3, 7L/100km.

[michaelwei]

I have a Honda Clarity PHEV, I purchased it in May 2019 and have since put in about $80 worth of gas in it for my longer road trips, I plug it in every time after driving it in EV mode only as I have a Level 2 EVSE at home so it hardly runs on gas at all. When I was on a road trip, the gas mileage was 56 mpg when it was operating in hybrid mode. I get about 85 to 103 kilometres after a fully charge and it has been a great car. I think it is only for sale in North America since 2018 and now they have discontinued it after September 2021. It is an amazing car and it's very smooth and quiet. Great job Honda!

[jonesy-rhfk]

Weird how I watched the Smith and Sniff video on that exact Volt only this morning.

[TsLeng]

All the crazies slagging off PHEVs, this explains why one would want one.

If you do a lot of short journeys, but can only afford or prefer one single vehicle, and prefer not to faff around planning charge stops for occasional longer journeys, get a decent phev. They work.