Why the 47 mile range could be 65 miles and 25 miles in the same Clarity

[PHEV Newbie]

An interesting article about EV range in the Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-why-thats-misleading/?utm_term=.34981ca5fbd8
In the article, the reporter could get as much as 350 miles or as little as 130 miles in the Bolt. Because range is so inconsistent, he concludes that BEVs are still impractical other than for daily commutes. Through the Clarity discussions, we already know that the EV range can vary wildly depending on driving style, temperature, and other factors. That's the reason why an EPA range of around 50 miles should be the minimum for a useful PHEV if you don't live in a mild climate area. Those PHEVs with 12-25 miles range are not useful at all if you want to drive them EV most of time. Using that criterion, there's only the Clarity and the Volt.

 

[Viking79]

Smaller battery PHEVs still have purpose even if they don't have long range. If my round trip commute is 12 miles, a PHEV with 25 mile range would save me driving gas all year except possibly in winter or on days I drive more. If I used the full charge once per day 250 days per year of the PHEV it might save me more than 5,000 miles of gas a year, or likely cutting the users gas usage by half.

You shouldn't have too long of range on a PHEV either, a long range PHEV should probably be a BEV instead. I personally find the Clarity or Volt about ideal, can easily drive electric most of the time and gas on the highway. I recently replaced my Volt with a PHEV (series hybrid) version of the BMW i3. It almost has too much electric range for me. I am not complaining, but I will rarely consume all the EV range even in the dead of winter with the heat on comfort, but this car has a weaker gas engine so it really isn't meant to run as much on gas.

I agree though, this is why I tell people in cold climates to buy a BEV with range of 3x to 4x their commute range. If it drops by at worse 50% in winter, it gives a small margin still. For PHEV, it is less critical since there is a gas engine as well. Just remember, if you buy a PHEV you should be using the gas engine some, if not you probably bought the wrong vehicle and could have a BEV instead.

Also, maybe publicity like this will encourage BEVs like Chevy and Tesla to use much more efficient heat pumps instead of only resistance heaters. This would make a huge difference in range in the 20-40 F weather that cars are often driven in where heater usage is required but it isn't that cold.

 

[K8QM]

I was disappointed that no mention of PHEVs was made in the article. Someone without any knowledge of the BEV/PHEV market would read that article and possibly come to the conclusion that it's ICE or nothing.

geo