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Comment by rladd | Hacker News Reader

Not even close.

The Volt is 42 MPG and the Prius Prime, which is the competitor to the Volt, is 54 MPG.

https://www.hybridcars.com/what-make-more-sense-chevrolet-vo... (among other sources).

And the Prime has horrific acceleration, an annoyingly noisy engine, terrible road noise, and doesn't even get enough mileage range on the battery to qualify for the California HOV lanes.

Toyota needs to go back to the drawing board for a hybrid rather than bolting a battery to a Prius.

All incorrect:

  - Prius Prime does qualify for HOV lanes
  - Prius Prime is much quieter than previous generation Prius 
  - Prius Prime acceleration in my experience is just fine.

Also, I regularly see 62 MPG on highway driving at 65 MPH.

Wow, is that all? Half my 2000 qnd earlier cars got/get that kind of MPG, as does my ICE only commuter. What is the reason for such poor figures?

Wind drag goes as something like the 4th? power of velocity--so highway speeds are a function of how aerodynamic you are (and everybody pretty much is) and how efficiently you convert stored energy to wheel torque (and at highway speeds at 2000-3000 RPM ICE is pretty much at max efficiency).

Your ICE commuter is burning lots more gas than any electric/hybrid if you are stuck in traffic at low speed for any amount of time.

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