Electric V's Hybrid

[Draigflag]

A well renowned consumer magazine has a nice comparison between the latest Renault Zoë, and the updated Toyota Yaris hybrid this month. Both cars are similar in class, size, shape, price and performance. So how do the stats stack up?

The Toyota hybrid scored very badly during their real world fuel consumption tests. In town, as you'd expect, it was good, they recorded 80 MPG. On the motorway however, the yaris returned an average of 37.7 MPG, pretty horrific for any small car, never mind a hybrid. Out in the rural roads, they got 57.5 MPG, overall they averaged just 49.2 MPG, the official NEDC figures were 85.6 MPG, although we're all used to how optimistic they are by now. Cost per 10000 miles is £1098 in the UK.

The Zoë offered real world range of around 138 miles, costing £4.80 to fully charge on a 12p per kWh Tariff, so the 10000 mile cost in the Zoë is just £348, almost a third of that of the Yaris hybrid.

Whilst both cars have a near identical 0-60 time and hp figure, the Zoë has twice as much torque making it feel much quicker, and the 30-50 mph number is identical too at 5 seconds. Whilst the Zoë zips away in silence, the yaris gets a thumbs down for its noisy engine, no thanks to the dreadful CVT gearbox setup.

Most people assume electric cars are far more expensive to buy, especially with those that have battery lease. But amazingly, the Zoë works out cheaper to buy and run over 3 years than the Yaris. With the government £4500 plug in grant, the Zoë works out a whooping £5000 cheaper to buy than the Toyota. The cost breakdown is as follows.

Renault Zoë: list price £22,670 target price £13,231

Depreciation = £9377

Insurance = £1566

Servicing = £654

Road tax = £0

Electricity = £1043

Battery lease = £3204

Total = £15844



Yaris hybrid: list price £19,545 target price £18,289

Depreciation = £10,862

Insurance = £1101

Servicing = £571

Road tax = £260

Petrol = £3295

Total = £16089

So there you go, we know the benefits of going electric, besides cleaner, greener, quieter, smoother, more refined, more reliable, instant torque and more of it, the convenience of being able to start every day fully charged if you have a driveway, and all the other perks, we now know they're cheaper to buy and run, even with battery lease included which has the added benefit of never needing to pay for a replacement battery in the future. Ever heard the term tipping point?

[Sramota]

Very interesting article. I recently read some research that electric car like Tesla produce more C02 than small petrol car with economic engine.

[trollbait]

Originally Posted by Sramota

Very interesting article. I recently read some research that electric car like Tesla produce more C02 than small petrol car with economic engine.

Those articles are biased by only talking about the production emissions.

Yes, the electric car does have higher CO2 emissions from production, but the emissions from burning fossil fuels in an ICE quickly over shadow that. Leaving the electric with lower emissions over the car's lifetime.

[Draigflag]

There's a lot of garbage out there, not sure why whenever a revolutionary concept comes along, people always question it's credentials. Funny how no one really cared about the carbon footprint, or C02 production emissions of any car, or the fuel used until EV's came along.

[R.I.D.E.]

https://jalopnik.com/why-electric-ca...ago-1771719651

[luv2spd]

That Zoe's styling looks great, but you kind of have to factor in an electric car charger when you get that car, unless there is a charger where you work. New Toyotas look so unfortunate, that Yaris looks like a dog's breakfast.

[JockoT]

I could do do my daily commute for a week and only have to charge the car on the weekends. Others wouldn't even have the range to GET to work. It's horses for courses.

[Draigflag]

Originally Posted by luv2spd

That Zoe's styling looks great, but you kind of have to factor in an electric car charger when you get that car, unless there is a charger where you work. New Toyotas look so unfortunate, that Yaris looks like a dog's breakfast.

I believe there's a £500 grant from the government to have a fast charger installed at your place of work, or home.

Originally Posted by JockoT

I could do do my daily commute for a week and only have to charge the car on the weekends. Others wouldn't even have the range to GET to work. It's horses for courses.

Some suggest the real world range of the Zoë is closer to 186 miles, I can't imagine there are too many people, besides the likes of those that earn a living on the road reps etc, that have a commute to work longer than that, perhaps a small handful.

[JockoT]

I used to do 100 mile each way and that was enough for me.

[gregsfc]

As much as those who really like to push for electrification of personal transportation want to minimize the negatives and to fictionally demonize all other technologies in order to make electric cars look better comparatively; I am very skeptical of the promise of any products coming to market to deliver on "said" ratings, longevity, range, performance, etc. Comparing a full electric to a hybrid doesn't impress me, as the concept of a parallel hybrid is one of the least attractive technologies to enter production ever. I mean, as I do try to stay open-minded regarding all auto tech concepts, how does two fuels, two fuel tanks, two power plants, working, and two drives working in parallel, in one car compete with any single system from a cost standpoint. Hurray to Toyota for making this work from a business sense, but mass marketing this concept into many auto segments seems unlikely as anything close to a fuel-saving solution. On the other hand, if serial hybrid systems could ever prove efficient (more efficient than Chevy Volt with the gas generator running), then I'm very interested in that concept.

My main issue with e cars is the same as it is with all other cordless products, at least as they are marketed in the U.S. The manufacturers and distributors all get away with exaggerating performance and price-to own-and-operate, and do not face near the scrutiny from gov't regulators, the media, and most-importantly, they do not self regulate and do not join together to produce products that are adaptable to all brands in the same classes. Imagine if an owner of a gas-powered car had to drive around looking for a Honda gas pump to fill his/her tank with the same fuel as what a Ford uses, and the industry is doing this to themselves, because they want to compete with each other instead of ICEs. I'm all for the concept of electric cars for the future, but the industry must start to get it together and start giving us realistic performance data that matches the real world.

I can give many examples of the disparity between the two power sources and how ICEs are required to over promise while e everything under promises and disappoints; especially cordless. I love electric motors and would love not to own or use any ICE equipment if I could get value and performance and be told the truth. I tried a 21" corded electric push mower. Unlike cordless stuff, at least the corded equipment lists amps instead of volts, but when a 13 amp mower draws only 8 amps and when the 21" mower is actually the deck size and not the blade size (MTD lost a law suit over a slight hp rating exaggeration and no gas mower could ever get away with using deck size instead of blade size as a deception). I've got Black and Decker weed trimmer and dealt dill. Same company, same amp-hr batteries, but the batteries are not compatible. Zero motorcycles claim 100 mile highway range, but can't even go a fraction of that distance in an FE contest even streamlined.

So maybe the cars are better, but I can't risk $30K to find out.