Volt (and other hybrids) for newspaper delivery

3502 Views 17 Replies 11 Participants Last post by TheYonderGod, Apr 13, 2017

TheYonderGod

Discussion Starter · Apr 3, 2017

Does anyone have experience with the Volt for newspaper delivery or anything similar? Basically its a lot of accelerating and decelerating/stopping at each house, and a lot of idling when we have to porch some papers.

I'm looking at a used 13/14 Volt.

I figured a hybrid would be amazing for this kind of driving, since it should regen a lot of power from the slowing and stopping, but I asked a co-worker about his Prius and he only gets ~27mpg during a Sunday delivery session.
Although, now that I'm doing the math, this doesn't seem correct. That's like 55% the rated mileage.
My other friend in his newish Corolla gets ~22mpg while delivering, for like 70% the rated mileage.
My 1999 Chevy Prizm is old and doesn't have an automatic mpg calculator, but looking at the numbers when I fill up, I get around 25mpg overall. Seems about right comparing with the Corolla.

I thought a hybrid should do better in lots of stop-n-go, not worse.

Anyways, does anyone have an idea how many miles I should be able to do in a Volt? My typical work day is about 50 miles, with about 15 of them being on the highway to work, so I was figuring 15 miles on gas and 35 on electric would be about right. Here in California, summer nights should be perfect weather for the battery.

Save

1 - 2 of 18 Posts

hellsop

· #12 · Apr 4, 2017

TheYonderGod said:
Sort of yes, but also speeding up and slowing down a lot. I'll probably drive in low mode to make the most regen possible. I wish I could afford a bolt so I could get full stops on low mode.

Folks, we really REALLY need to get past this whole "L maximizes regen" misconception. It maximizes nothing. When you take your foot off the long pedal in D, the Volt applies the regen brakes a little bit and you slow down slowly. When you take your foot off the long pedal in L, the Volt applies the regen brakes harder, and you slow down a little faster. The amount of energy recovered doing that from 30 to 4 MPH either way is basically the same, because that's how physics works. E = (m)(v1-v2). The same thing applies to the brake pedal. Unless you're panic-braking, 30 to 4 MPH still regenerates the same as L or D.

(And you're not regenerating, even in a Bolt, below 3-4 MPH. That last stopping is USING energy from the battery to slow the car, not giving it back (either by reverse torque or applying the friction brakes for you. I don't know for sure which, but I suspect the former). It only does that because people think "One-pedal driving is cool".)

Save

hellsop

· #16 · Apr 5, 2017

TheYonderGod said:
So what you're saying is in L I will slow down faster, without having to worry about pressing the brake just the right amount myself. Cool, that's exactly what I want.

It might be the right amount, it might not. It's not even "as many kw as regen can do". It's just a set level of "a lot" versus D's "some", with "least" a little lower than D, and "most" somewhat higher than L. Imagine this is the range of how hard you push the brake pedal, where - is regen and = is regen plus friction:

0|------D------------------------------------------------L-------------============skid/ABS|

The D and L are regenning just at set amounts of "braking".

One-pedal driving would be amazing for me because then I don't have to put it in park every time I need to get out for a few seconds. (which is a lot of times)

If you had one-pedal full stop the way the Bolt does it, the car would go into park automatically as soon as you open the door anyway.

Save

1 - 2 of 18 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month