Chevy Volt vs Toyota Prius Cost of Ownership
Posted on Jun 4, 2011 by
Paul WhiteNow that a few Chevy Volts are out on the road, bloggers have had the opportunity to get a first hand account on the what the real performance results are. Lyle with GM-Volt.com has been a leader on the blog front to keep all of us updated on the truth behind the volt. Finally we have some real world numbers to make our up our opinions on Chevy's new ride. So in this article we will care what the real costs of ownership are over a 5 year span. We compare a 2011 Toyota Prius and a 2011 Chevy Volt.
The Setup of this comparison
In this comparison we are going to assume we are buying a brand new vehicle, financing it at 0% interest ( not realistic but simplifies the math ), and we will have paid off the car in 5 years ( 60 months ). We will include the cost of the vehicle, the cost of auto insurance, and the cost of fuel. There are other factors such as tags, but we are going to assume that the car is in texas where everyone pays a flat rate for their tags( regardless of vehicle ). Those of you who live in a different state might want to run the numbers for yourself including the cost of tags each year. We also are going to assume we drive 1000 miles / month ( 12K annually ). Since the Volt will run off battery for the first 35 or so miles we are going to assume the car is only driven 50 miles / work day. My goal is be as fair as possible in this comparison.
First the Facts on the Chevy Volt
The Battery in the volt has a 16 kwh capacity.
Only 65% of this capacity is accessible giving you 10.4 kwh of usable power.
Even though you have 10.4 kwh of capacity, the volt consumes 12.9 kwh to charge it.
This is due to heat losses through the inverter.
The EPA has decided to base electric consumption estimates on how much energy it takes to charge the battery and not what the battery can actually store, which is good and fair. I am very happy they decided to go this route.
GM claimed 40 Miles range on the battery, The EPA rates it at 35 Miles, but the actual real world numbers are more like 32 -38 Miles per charge.
So how does eletricity compare to Gasoline?
Well thanks to our Arab friends ( if we can call them that ), Gasoline is not cheap these days. However the price of electricity has dropped dramatically especially in states like Texas.
Currently the price of a gallon of Regular Unleaded Gasoline runs about $3.50 in Houston.
Volt can take you 37 Miles for $3.50 on Gasoline or 9.45 cents / mile
Current the price of electricity ( on 12 month contract ) runs 9.1 cents / KWH
Volt can take you 35 Miles for ( .091 x 12.9 ) $1.17 on Electricity or 3.34 cents / mile
Prius can take you 50 Miles for $3.50 on Gasoline or 7.0 cents / mile
Obviously there is a huge benefit to running the volt on Electricity.
What about the upfront cost of the Volt?
The MSRP for the Volt is $41,000. After the tax credit this drops to $33,500
but if you are financing you still have to make payments on a $41,000 car, until tax time when uncle sam gives you your tax credit.
2011 Prius gets about 50 MPG.
Prius vs Volt MSRP
2011 Volt MSRP = $33,500 after Tax Credit
Sales tax on initial purchase ( $41,000 x 8.25% )= $3,382.50
2011 Prius MSPR = $23,050
Sales tax on initial purchase ( $23,050 x 8.25% )= $1,901.63
What about Car Insurance for the Volt?
I went over to Esurance and ran a quote.
for the record I am a 31 year old Male, with no claims and a clean driving record.
I live in zip 77584, and I am married.
I ran quotes for both a volt and a prius
Insurance / month for Volt 2011
$92.82
Insurance / month for Prius 2011
$79.90
Cost to Drive a Volt vs Prius for 5 years
We are going to assume a person drives 1000 miles / month or 12000 miles / year
Also keep in mind you don't get to use the tax credit until tax time the following year. So on the volt you are still making payments on a $41,000 car. We will assume payments will be spread over 5 years with no interest ( we are being generous )
Cost to drive Prius for 5 years
$4,794.00 = 60 x $79.90 ( Car Insurance )
$4,200.00 = 60000 miles x 7.0 cents / mile
$23,050.00 MSRP
$1,901.63 Sales Tax
$33945.63 Total cost to drive Prius for 5 years
Cost to drive Volt for 5 years
On the Calculations for the Volt we are going to assume the following situation
Car is driven only to work 5 days a week, so 250 miles / week, 50 miles / day
This means that the first 35 miles are electric and the final 15 miles are on gasoline
So 70% of our miles will be on electricity, and 30% will be on gasoline.
$3,103.80 = 42000 miles x 3.34 cents per mile ) + (18000 x 9.45 cents per mile )
$5,569.20 = 60 x $92.82 ( Car Insurance )
$41,000.00 MSRP
$3,382.50 Sales Tax
-$7,500 Tax Credit$45,555.50 Total cost to drive Volt for 5 years
Conclusion Volt vs Prius
So after 5 years you would have spent
$45,555.50 to drive a Chevy Volt. This includes the fact that you got $7500 back from the government in the form of a Tax Credit. While with the Prius you would have spent
$33,945.63. This doesn't take into account the cost of tires, oil changes, or brake pads, and general maintenance. We assume they will be about equal between the two
cars. Also with the Prius I was using the base model. If you added some of the fancy accessories this could add another $5,000 to $6,000 to the price.
WhiteSites Blog
Finally, someone that broke it down the numbers. While I would rather by a Volt for the idea of telling the gas companies ot shove it up their "***", I make more sense to buy the prius.