Volt (and other hybrids) for newspaper delivery

3504 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.

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· #4 · Apr 3, 2017

I haven't done newspaper delivery but I have done limited pizza delivery and for the most part I'm exclusively on battery. The problem with a hybrid is that the engine only runs when needed, and frequently it's not on long enough to get fully warmed up before your done if your on battery mostly which makes a huge impact on efficiency. This would explain the loss of rated MPG vs an ICE which will idle when stopped continuing to build heat in the engine.

On another note, the slow speeds that may be required likely won't produce much regen as I would imagine your driving up and down streets at a fairly consistent low speed with the occasional stop where you can't throw the paper from your window, if that's how your route works.

Looking at your driving estimation, I will agree that the highway driving should be done in hold with the remaining battery being sufficient for your delivery portion to be entirely or nearly entirely battery only.

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· #10 · Apr 4, 2017

TheYonderGod said:
By "extend the range", do you mean you think I'll get more than 35-40 miles of range, even with all the accelerating? Or do you just mean better than highway driving?

By utilizing the battery where it is more efficient. Highway driving on the battery is less efficient than slower speeds in which you will be doing more of. By using the ICE on the freeway it will run more efficiently than having to constantly start/stop to maintain the battery charge minimum as was discussed earlier.

Perhaps the phrase "extend the range" was incorrect but saying "preserve your electric range" would be more appropriate in this case.

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