Study – Chevy Volt wrong path to plug-in success?

By Hybrid Cars on 03/02/2010 – 9:05 am PST -- Transportation

40 miles of EV range the wrong approach?

Over that last few years a number of battery studies have suggested that, based on current lithium-ion technologies, small-battery plug-in hybrids offer the most compelling overall case to consumers in terms of performance and cost-effectiveness.

Obviously, this flies in the face of not just the Chevy Volt and it’s 40 miles of EV range, but also the government’s entire plug-in tax credit program, something Hybridcarblog has asserted since the program was conceived, most recently in Does the government have battery-powered cars all wrong?

A new study by UC-Davis also concludes that small battery plug-in hybrids seem to make the most sense not just technologically, but also for consumers, making the government’s “4.0 kWh lower limit on battery size difficult to reconcile” according to the researchers.

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40 mile range is just right for me…. it certainly is the right approach as far as I’m concerned and for anyone who has less than a 40 mile commute… we would only use the extended range when we have to go do errands… and maybe in the dead of winter. The Prius in my area only gets 26mpg in the winter months… that’s only a couple mpg more than my Buick. The VOLT already has been tested in my winter climate and still gets 30 miles on a charge which is still good enough to get me to work and back. 40 mile range is just right for me.