[flyingsherpa]

dougOS2,

Your article was interesting but lacking a few facts. A compact car weight was all that could be technically accomplished with the battery/Voltec system used on the Volt and even then GM lost an estimated $50k on every one it delivered,

That number is absurd... it was "estimated" by bad-faith actors that took the entire cost of R&D for GM's electrical/battery development and spread it out over only the Volt sales. If GM never made another EV, then maybe that would make sense. But the plan was always to develop numerous EV cars over the years, so that R&D was fundamental in developing the Volt, Spark, Bolt, ELR, various hybrids, numerous Chinese Volt iterations, and the more recent Ultium fleet, etc. I'm sure they still lost some on the early Volts, but nowhere near that. They also got CARB credits which offset most or all of that, especially in later years when battery costs were much lower. Most early EV makers were losing money at first, the battery costs were so much higher in 2010, but as costs came down that all shifted.

OP, I think your article isn't accurate on Toyota's offerings... the latest Prius PHEV (they stopped using the "Prime" label in 2025) is rated for 44 miles AER, not 39 as you state. It also doesn't lean on the engine like you state. Really, the latest Prius/Rav4 PHEVs are very close to the Volt, the main difference is they get even better performance with the ICE on... they can add motor + ICE in a way the Volt couldn't so are very responsive in hybrid mode. They aren't quite as peppy as Volt in EV mode (with the Rav4 being way better at this than the Prius) but still decent according to owners who used to own Volts.

 

[flyingsherpa]

Steverino,

I agree that you can only get a pure EV for around $40k to get the same power and similar or better EV range. There is no PHEV today with the Volts power and range available in the US at the $40k mark.

Stephen

Rav4 PHEV has $6500 lease cash back for a long time, kind of a loophole way of almost getting the $7500 fed rebate. Tons of people do the lease and then immediately buy it out, it makes the SE trim around $40k (a little less in my state due to state incentives). It has decent EV power (more like gen1 than gen2, but it's AWD) and way more ICE power than Volts. AER is more like gen1 than gen2, but still way better than anything else out there. Still rather have a gen3 Volt, would love to have even the Chinese versions here, if only they sold them.