PHEV Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles - best or worst of both worlds? 2 year MPG revealed GTE v VOLT 

I've had my Ampera 5 years now. It has a lifetime mpg of 92 when I got it with 44,000 on the clock. I have put 50,000 on it and the lifetime mpg is now 125. I zeroed the trip when I got it and the mpg during my time with the car is now 148. It is still quiet, no rattles, and drives great. These cars are the motoring worlds best kept secret. It took me a long time to find mine as there are so few, but worth the wait. In the winter it is great to preheat the car and hop in with a clear windscreen, no scraping. It costs me around 80 pence to fully charge and this gives me around 33 miles range in the winter, but I have had 50 in the summer. I drive on the motorway each day but only for a short 4 miles section, the rest on 50 or 60MPH roads. My next car will be full electric, but I am in no rush to sell the Ampera.

I see particularly on twitter quite a lot of bashing of PHEVs, but I think that it works for a lot of people as a first step into EVs, like in your case. It’s a transition technology, but definitely needs to be educated about, and reinforced the need to charge often.

I had a Vauxhall Ampera many years ago and loved it. However, I did only manage approx 45mpg over the 60,000 miles I did in it. Lots of motorway driving. I never forgot the feeling of driving this car in electric mode, so have now gone full circle and ordered a full electric car. Can’t wait.

Great video Richard! The Chevrolet Volt was my first electric car a couple of years ago and also served as my introduction to EVs. I then ordered a Tesla Model 3 and sold the Volt - in fact you sold it for me! Today I am still driving the Tesla - great car - and I just bought another Chevrolet Volt (2014 year) again, this time for my wife. The Volt is a really well engineered car and amazingly after more than 100000 miles it still has 100% of the battery capacity! I remember back then, my first Volt just about managed to do 40 miles from Glasgow to Edinburg Park & Ride (with EV chargers on site) on a single charge with no heating on (mainly motorway). I was amazed when I repeated the same journey with the 100000 mile Volt successfully last weekend! I think that is a really good example to quote to all the EV sceptics out there who claim that the battery won't last and will need replacing every couple of years!

I drove from Gloucestershire to London last Monday, and then to Newcastle and back in my Ampera (800 miles). Weeks average was 62mpg, mostly on petrol. Average over 4,600 miles of use before last week was 113mpg , mostly commuting. The car is far cheaper to run than my motorbikes

Great video as always. I've had the Golf but moved on since so your video hits home with me. Thanks again, please keep giving us great videos! :)

Great video and good to see a balanced view of the benefits and limitations of PHEVs. As used cars in particular, i'd argue they can be affordable entry points into EV driving. Charging whenever possible, including at paid for public stations, I am currently achieving 77mpg with my Outlander PHEV. If it weren't for a long trip abroad in the summer, this number would be much higher. In fact over the last 3 months and 2,000km, i am delivering 185mpg. Yes it takes a lot of charging (a lot!) and yes it makes you long for a 'proper' EV. But a good step forward I think, until the second hand market for affordable longer range EVs matures.

My entry in EV world was a Passat GTE PHEV. Excellent car and great balance between sport and comfort, power and economy. After 5 years and 140.000 km, at least a third of these kilometers were driven in E-mode but that requires a strict “charging discipline” when range is so small. I will not “dismiss” the PHEVs completely. Some new ones are coming up with battery capacity over 25kWh which is quite substantial looking at some short range pure EVs. Great video!

I also have one of the 115~ Volts left in the UK Richard, absolutely LOVE it. I have had it for 4 years and I had one fault. Charging receptacle was cracked and shorted the car when I plugged it in one night. I took it to Arnold Clark in Manchester and was thankfully fixed under warranty saving me £1300! This was around 90k miles

Another interesting video. I had two Golf GTEs: a Mark 7 and a Mark 7.5. The latter had a digital dashboard with a sat nav view as an option. I loved both cars and it was only the jump to full electric (a Tesla Model 3) that made me part ways with the last one. I preferred coasting mode because the engine would cut out and save fuel - regen still happened as a first stage of braking. I would always try to find the right accelerator pressure to avoid the engine kicking in and save fuel. As a regular Golf in all other respects, it ticked the compact space boxes for me.

A real world review thanks.

Great video, I'm actually looking to buy an ampera soon

Very interesting to hear your commentary. I have an Ampera. Bought it new in 2013. I have done 29000 miles and used 86 gallons of petrol. It’s a second car. It’s been faultless. Love it.

Great video as always! I had a Vauxhall Ampera about 5 years ago and owned it for 2 years, it was honestly one of the best cars I’ve driven. I loved everything about it and definitely a great stepping stone to electric cars. I couldn’t fault the Ampera with heated seats, Bose sound system, DVD player (not that i used it) but so many great features and it looked awesome too - apparently got called the Bat mobile many times. Since owning the Ampera I then jumped onto the Model 3 and definitely played a big part in me going fully electric. If you can it would be great to do a video on the best PHEV out of the Mercedes A250e, GTE, and Audis A3 TFSI e. Thank you Vishal

I drive a 2013 chevy volt second owner with 180 k km/110 k miles and a lifetime 0,8 liters /100 km I love the car it’s acceleration and the silence. It still drives its 60 km/40 miles full electric after all these years

I have a Honda Clarity PHEV, I purchased it in May 2019 and have since put in about $80 worth of gas in it for my longer road trips, I plug it in every time after driving it in EV mode only as I have a Level 2 EVSE at home so it hardly runs on gas at all. When I was on a road trip, the gas mileage was 56 mpg when it was operating in hybrid mode. I get about 85 to 103 kilometres after a fully charge and it has been a great car. I think it is only for sale in North America since 2018 and now they have discontinued it after September 2021. It is an amazing car and it's very smooth and quiet. Great job Honda!

Problem with these things is they block public chargers for BEV drivers who's only source of locomotion is electricity.

Great video Richard! Before my lovely model S70 I had an outlander PHEV and that was the car which made me love the EVs! I remember after 171k miles the battery still had 20-23 miles of range which could be almost doubled in places like south London if you were creative with the regen. It’s sad that many people who are new to the EV’s are thinking that a PHEV is actually better than a full Ev. One thing for sure most of the PHEV are a lot less polluting than traditional ice cars.

A very interesting video, Richard, on a class of car I have often wondered 'why' they exist...! That aside, I was then reading some of the other comments below and one made me go "oh WOW... never thought of that before..." Someone made comment about them using a PHEV for towing, since you can easily pull in to a petrol station - car + caravan - to refuel, whereas you can't really 'pull in' to an EV charging bay with a caravan attached as you'd be blocking the rest of the car park...! Never even gave that a second thought... So, there ya' go... PHEVs actually DO have a purpose, after all... who'd have thought it...!! ;-)

I was very tempted with the Ampera / volt tho I’d heard the volt uses American components rather than European as in the Ampera ? Still both great cars but I’ve returned to a totally ev 2017 30kw leaf and Gotta say loving it. You got me into EVs. So huge huge thank you. I’m as nerdy about them as the next guy. Great vlog.

Brilliant video. Running a Mitsubishi Outlander phev and an Ampera. Both have more than exceeded there expectations, Outy does the school run and the Ampera is the work horse. Definitely a BEV next but no hurry.

Good educational video now I understand phev.

I’ve had my Volvo V60 PHEV since 2013. This was my first step into EV’s. Bought my secondhand 2016 Tesla Model S 60 (facelift) in 2018 and traded in my wife’s ICE Peugeot for a 2017 Fiat 500e in 2020. We’ve kept the PHEV for shopping trips, towing and holiday trips. The consumption of the PHEV is less than 3,7L/100km.

We had Outlander PHEV for over 4 years alongside EV for towing caravan and some school runs. So 95% the car is running on EV mode only. I definitely like the fact I can use the regen and take advantage of 0 regen when you crouse as you mentioned. But getting to roundabout or junction use fully regen to feed the battery with some juice. My best personal range on full EV made was just under 30miles on A and B roads. Outlander is the only phev who can rapid charge as well. In my opinion PHEV are great way into transition to fully EV. Great video as always.

Love that you left the bonnet challenge in :) My wife is running a new Kuga PHEV 2021/2 post battery issues (so far it easily does 30 to 45 mile on EV and had predicted over 50 a couple times - then it got cold and it didn't match that). :( Filled up the fuel tank (42 litres) a day after purchase (3 weeks ago) we've done 780 miles. Done two 180 mile round trips and a few 30 mile round trips plus a ton of short journeys. Fuel tank still has 150 miles left as an estimate. Only issue at the moment is the pants app for controlling the charging process (escalated to Fords). Otherwise it's been a good experience so far. I would agree that 80-100 MPG is more realistic than the WLTP 220 mpg Must say as you did in another video when you drive an EV its much more relaxing, My daily is a 3 litre BMW gas guzzler and a manual and a whole other world when driving (but its staying for now) :)

Chevy volt owner since 2016 I can attest to the performance of the MY2013 Chevy volt as I still own one in 2023, very few problems and I still enjoy driving it, It still saves me money on fuel, less on servicing the engine in it, yes you still have to service the engine even thou I hardly use the engine I can still get around 35 to 39 mile out of the battery without using the engine. I know one day I will have to replace it and yes I will going full electric. It’s important to remember the Ampera/volt are range extender PHEV similar to the bmw i3 PHEV Many thanks for posting 🙏

Great video

Very good summary of the two PHEVs. Thanks for that. We've got a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (nearly new - it's the 2021 US model). It's my wife's car. As in your case, she drives it mostly battery-only with occasional trips around the area (downtown Seattle is about 19mi. away). But we've got _hills_ out here, which burns up the wattage rather quickly. Our average hybrid MPG is about 70. We average about 15mi on pure EV (again - hills). It's definitely less than your experiences. There's another reason for our decision, though - it's the system design. I don't know of any other PHEVs in the US market that have two electric motors and one petrol engine. These motors are direct-drive - one forward and one reverse gear and a Torsen differential at each axle. That's it. Super-simple. This was a big part of our decision. In the icy snowy winter, this car walks up our inclined skating rinks like a mountain goat. It's a thing of beauty. Also handles decently on logging roads and various tracks around our (literal) neck of the woods. It's not a stump-jumper like my big Ford, but it sure makes her feel safer in the snow.

Going from a Landrover Freelander to a Tesla M3. I did require off road and towing ability in past professional times but not anymore.

I have an A3 e-tron so same drivetrain as the GTE and usually drive without the regen and coast, but sport mode with regen is a lot of fun on a twisty country road. Was my gateway drug and an M3LR is coming next month.

PHEVs were an option maybe 15 years ago. If I can drive from the midlands, to and up the Alps with 3 stop, not charging above 70%. Then there is no need for 99.9% of people to own a PHEV or ICE car for fear of range. The trip was done with a passenger and luggage.

Great video mate! I currently have a Petrol polo and looking to get a Phev or just go electric but e don't have a driveway to charge a pure ev! Thoughts?

I've hand an Ampera for just over 4 years and love it. Since buying it at 3 years old I've increased it's lifetime MPG from 73 to 103, and my personal economy is now just over 178 mpg for the c25,000 miles that I've driven. As said in the video MPG is all down to driving pattern. Most days I don't go out the c40 miles range, now and then I have long journeys of 200 or 300 mile round trips but in between I can go weeks without using the petrol engine, or just using it for a few miles only. Summer battery range can exceed 50 miles if driven sensibly, in winter when it's very cold this can drop to 30. The battery management system is very conservative, with proper thermal management and generous buffers to keep battery use in the mid range (only 10.4kwh is available out of the 16.5kwh) I still get the same range as when the car was new. I wish the gen 2 Volt was available here in the UK, it would be my next car.

15:45 you described how I use the my Vauxhall ampera. School runs and shopping. Charge at home when needed or free at Tesco whilst shopping. However when using on longer runs for days out the petrol mpg is actually 45-50mpg as I convert actual miles and fuel used during driving time stated on display. My lifetime combination fuel + battery is 212mpg

Very interesting 👍

I believe that the majority of the people get a PHEV as a company car and don't care about charging because the company pays for the gas. PHEV is a nice option if you charge it regularly. If you don't, it's better to get a regular hybrid like a Toyota Prius.

Have a Mercedes A250e and like you it's my first introduction to an EV, absolutely love it in electric mode and not a massive fan of the engine. Seem to do quite well compared to most PHEV's as I usually get at least 40 miles out of a full charge. Defo going all electric on my next car.

Had an Outlander PHEV since 2014. Brilliant car, and still nothing remotely comparable in an EV under $AU120K. Great towing capacity, plenty of EV range (I’d say real world 40Km) and much larger boot than other SUVs/4WD and Mitsubishi nailed the series/parallel drive train, though I think the modern Kia’s might be a litlle better, but much more expensive. Still runs like new with 100,000K on the clock. Brakes never been changed, tyres once at about 85,000K (50,000 miles). Don’t understand why they lasted so long (there was still at least another 10,000K in the rears) as it’s technically a heavier car than your standard Outlander

As a stepping stone, PHEV`s do have a market, as they are cheaper than a full electric and lets their owners get a feel of what a full ev is like, without having to fork out extra cash. We weighed up the cost of a PHEV vs a EV, over 4 years, and found that the Ev would make more sense to us, despite having no home charge option, as we do not have a drive, nor can we get one installed. This just made the EV even more attractive, as we would not have to go to the garage for petrol, then go charge up the car. We would just need to charge up.. i am now just waiting for it to arrive...sometime soon.. ish... hopefully! Great stuff Richard, as not many other channels have covered PHEV`s in any real detail.

I’ve had a MK7.5 Golf GTE since May and absolutely love it! I commute ≈80mi a day on a mix of motorways and countryside roads, I only charge it overnight. In the summer I was getting a admirable 75-80mpg average out of the GTE between refuelling, as the colder months have rolled in that’s dropping to 58-63mpg between refuelling! There is good charging availability within my local area, so I typically run it EV only at weekends which is great. I did consider ID.3 instead of the GTE, but it’s reported 1.5-2mi/kWh cold weather economy was really off-putting considering the length of my commute (and poor rapid charger availability on the route at time of purchase decision), hence going with the GTE!

Would you be able to do a full review of the VW I.D3 as I can’t see you’ve reviewed this car in detail yet? Would love to hear your thoughts !

Thank you

Weird how I watched the Smith and Sniff video on that exact Volt only this morning.

My father made the decision to drive electric in 2018, but he needs to pull a trailer from time to time and back then only the Tesla Model X had a trailer hitch that meets the criteria. Since the Model X came with a three times higher price, he decided to buy a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV instead. I just converted the metric data (1.3 l/100 km and 22.3 kWh/100 km) from his car to miles and gallons and this is the result: 210 miles per gallon + 2.8 miles per kWh The car is in daily use to commute to work for about 13 miles each way and runs on electricity from the grid every day. Only for longer trips the engine has to run. The only downside is that the car forces the user to burn and refill about 3.5 gallons of petrol within 2 months to avoid damages to the engine because of poor petrol quality. My father had to deal with that situation twice that he simply didn't use more than 3.5 gallons in 2 months and the car went into a petrol only mode.

A great video thanks Richard. They are the 2 PHEV's I will be looking at for my next car. I would get a full BEV but cannot afford one with a long enough 80% to 10% range, so it has to be a PHEV. I live in North Wales but cannot charge at home so would have to rely on the local rapids which are all at least 30p/kwh, so some expense compared to 5p/kwh for home chargers on Octopus Go! It would be too much for me to plug my BEV into a local type 2 as well because it would take a while and many of them are time limited to a max of 4 hours anyway and parking charges are extra also! I can plug a Phev into my Mum's 3 pin when I go see her locally (a literal granny charge) and top up when I shop at Tesco, all for zero cost. I would have to pay full price to have a charger installed at her house as its not where I live I can't get the grant. Where we go to the coast/mounfains for a day trip etc there's hardly any chargers and they're mostly in supermarkets etc (not at the beach or Snowdonia car parks), so to have that petrol engine there is a god send! The BMW i3 REX, would be an option but its just not big enough for our family. The Hyundai Ioniq 28kwh is nice, but it doesn't have the option to warm/cool the cabin when not plugged in (cold winters and humid summers - all that water around) - unlike the GTE! Many people say this is because a phev has its engine to back it up, but the 24kwh and 22kwh Leaf's and Zoe's had this feature, so that's no argument. Also, I drive a mk5 golf at the moment so to be exposed to that quality and then put up with Nissan/Renault would be a bit depressing! There's also only about 28 (non Tesla) rapids in the whole of North Wales (ZapMap) and some of those are broken so that doesn't inspire confidence for being a BEV owner wanting to travel anywhere around 130 miles in a day! I only drive about 30 miles a week - work, shops etc, so would drive almost all the time in EV mode, then hybrid after that! But have lots of trips to the coast/Snowdonia in the year so low range BEV's are out of the pot. So it's a Golf GTE for me. Found one the other day for £12k with every option but the thought of what's wrong with it kept popping up, because most are around 14 to 15k. I don't know if yours has Lane keep assist on it, Richard? If it has it would make for a great video to see what it's like! It's only me that drives in the family, so I could do with it on motorways! Best of luck to your wife when she drops down the quality scale a bit with the ID3 - I don't know why they couldn't have found the room for a 50kwh pack in the E-Golf!?

Nice review. I had one of the first Volts in 2012, lovely car to drive. It felt like a full electric because the engine does not drive the wheels, only generates electric for the battery, it is a bit weird when you pull up at lights when the battery is low and the engine continues revving though. I regularly got 50miles from the battery and several times got more than the rated 52. About 100mpg over 4years and 60k miles. I would have replaced it with another Volt (or Ampera) but they had stopped selling them and the only PHEV available was the Audi A3 E-tron. This drove more like an ICE car because either the engine or the motor turn the wheels, if you floor it they both do and you get 200+bhp. I never got the 32miles rated range, more like low 20s and achieved about 60mpg over a similar 4years and 60k miles. Somewhat uninspiring. I've had a Tesla M3SR+ since March 2020 and I love it, mileage has been a lot lower due to lockdowns and WFH but I have done some long road trips very successfully, even over to Frankfurt. However, I charge daily at 10mph on a three pin outdoor socket. That works for me, +120miles range every night .

For all reasons you've pointed out, i've changed recently for an PHEV. Actually a cousin of that Golf GTE, the Audi a3 E-tron. It's one of the early ones from 2015, but it is quite good. Since my daily commute is around 35 miles a day and i have the chance to charge at work, i can run it allmost fully eletric. Even though sometimes i cannot charge on my destiny, with the 20/25 miles of electric range, i'm still able to make well above 100 mpg for 30 to 40 miles trips. And i guess it's long lasting too, because the car is 6 years old, about 80k miles and the battery shows no signs of degradation at all. It is, by far, the best choice for those who can charge at home and have short commutes.

Glad to see someone being positive about PHEVs. I have done 17000 miles in non business Ford Kuga and my long term milage since the battery was replaced at 7000 miles, is 143 mpg. In summer it does about 38 miles electric mixed driving, 30 mpg on motorway. In winter it bombs to 24 motorway, 30 mixed with the heater at 18 degrees. I don't have the range anxiety that I had with my 2014 leaf.

Informative review of mis-understood plugin hybrids although the volt is in a world of its own with the connectivity of the gas motor and the drive system. I'm still trying to figure it out after 3yrs ownership of a Holden Volt, a Chev re-badged for the Australian market where less than 248 were sold due aiming at the premium market with the top of the range model including all options costing more than many BMWs. I bought mine to ease me into the electric car ownership as Teslas were still on the wait list. Love it and apart from minor dealer updates has been flawless. Have a BYD on order but will probably keep the Volt in the family, such a great car only used $60 gas during 3yrs.

The biggest benifit of a phev for me is that you can often tow a caravan e.g. passat and volvo v60 - so have an EV for the commute and an ICE which you can easily fuel when towing! You can't easily charge an EV when towing - at least in the UK.

Loved my Ampera. 100,000 miles in 3 years, averaged just under 100mpg over that. Really comfy, surprisingly sporty, and for a lot of shorter journeys, I was able to do a lot of electric only miles. If it had a slightly bigger boot, and the option for Roof Bars, I probably owuld have kept it ! Sadly, as my mileage ramped up, I swapped back to a diesel, as I was mostly on motorways, where the Ampera wasnt at its strongest. Servicing was pretty much on par with any other car Ive owned.

I have a 2012 Vauxhall Ampera on a 14 plate and I absolutely love it. Have had it for just over 3yrs and increased the lifetime mpg from 114 to 224 mpg. I am very blessed though to work 19 miles away and my work has free chargers that we can use so I travel to and from work solely on electric. Only thing I don’t like is the huuuuuuuuuuuuge buffer. 10.4KWH in the 16KWH battery. Still uses 10.4KWH battery though. No degradation so far. Problems:- the dreaded steering lock which was replaced last year and the reversing camera doesn’t work so will get that sorted when it goes for its next scheduled service.

I had a golf GTI 1998! excellent car! unfortunately in Brazil they didn't import this hybrid! I had a Lexus 250 h, but I didn't like it! But I hope that more hybrid and eoetric cars come to Brazil!

I have just got a Mercedes a250e saloon and it’s brilliant. 40 miles plus range (my best is 50 miles) my average mpg so far is 130mpg. It’s fast, quiet, well built and the MBUX system and app are as good as anything I’ve used. Company car BIK is 7% so very cheap. Down side is it’s longer than my ID3 but is much smaller inside and with all the power it has it struggles to put the power down.

I currently drive a GEN II Chevy VOLT 2018 model year Premier. They are quite an exceptional car. Drives and handles like any BMW can run on pure EV mode up to 100 mph without ever turning the ICE on whatsoever. I charge the car to 135 km = 84.325 miles of range in summer spring and fall. While during the winter months when temps are below -20 to -40 Celsius here in the Northern part of the province of Ontario, Canada. I can attain the rated range of the car which is 84 km or 53 miles. Therefore for 8 months of the year my car can get upwards of 160 km = 100 miles if I include the regenerative braking capabilities to put energy back into the battery. The Battery in the VOLT has a software limited 18.4 kWh total capacity with a 13.6 kWh consumer usable component. But I managed to retrain my battery BMS to accept a full charge of 135 km instead of the GM rated range of 84 km. I only charge my car from SOLAR at a local Science museum that generates 900 kWh per day in the city where I live. Even though the car is 5 years old the only expenses have been my insisting of putting new brakes, pads and rotors on the car at 145,000 km as well as a new set of tires on each rim. Although my mileage is substantial the car otherwise has cost me NOTHING in repairs. This may well be my last car, as I am 70 now and I think it will outlast any car that I have previously ever driven. Please NOTE: this car also manages about 3.8 L / 100 km or safely 65 - 70 mpg on the highway in ICE mode.

I've been awning a Golf GTE mark 7 for almost 2 years and I am really happy with it and indeed depending on how you use it it can really save a lot of fuel. I decided to go with a PHEV instead of EV because of the price ( EVs are still quite expensive and SH market it's not that diverse yet) and not being sure if it would make sense for me especially on long trips. Because I usually do short trips I average about 2-3k Km between half tanks but in Winter I use more gas than during summer. I also prefer to use B drive because of the nice 1 pedal feel that it gives. I think they have room on the market and for people like me they are a really good transition to EV.

Hi, I got a Mercedes 350 de last year and I find it brilliant. 90 kms electric range and a very comfortable car. Will you be reviewing it? It would be interesting.

Have had my RR Evoque P300e for 8 months now. Circa 4300 miles on the clock. Since new have covered just over 2300 miles in electric. Overall petrol mpg is currently 72.4 mpg. EV range in winter was mid 20s, now in the summer I regularly realise mid 30s. No loss of boot space due to the battery being located under the rear near side passenger seat (petrol tank under the offside rear seat). Gets plugged in most nights on Octopus Go at 7.5p/KW. On the M Way with a flat battery get low 30s mpg. Personal lease so no tax advantages but what’s not to like.

I'm fortunate to have a daily driving loop that's under the EV range of my 2013 Chevy Volt. My average for the last 60,000 miles has been 192mpg ... I use it once a week to go across town where it needs to dip into the gas engine. As you say - it depends on the use case. I've seen Volts with 250+ mpg as well as some with under 50mpg lifetime efficiency. The car was criticized for not matching Prius efficiency in hybrid mode at the time - but it's really for those who can drive in EV mode most of the time. Since we didn't have the VW Golf GTE in the US - I'm surprised at the un-necessary? complexity with the DSG (but I think I would enjoy the GTE over the Volt on a twisty mountain road because of that). At least with the EV component, the VW's DSG probably spares the clutch(es) compared to ICE versions.

I have a bmw x5 40e (plug-in hybrid) and avarage consumption is round 7,5 L/100km, so at least 3 l less then diesel equivalents, but I do plug it in every time I get home (I measured how much time it takes me to plug in, 3 seconds 😀). It also has benefits of ac cooling when stationary and that is fantastic in summer time (petrol/diesel can not do that), quiet ride etc... so it has more then just tax and mpg advantage against only fuel burners...

we've had 4 Volts-love 'em! 1 fault in 10 years!

Coal powered fire station 2:02 😂👍

My heart loved our ampera, but my head hated it; I bumped it pretty much every time I got in !!

I have a Kia ENiro for about a year, bought it mainly to commute to work (75miles day) and I can charge at work for free. I got the Nero because I did not think I would like it, and I did not want to spend a lot to try it out. It seems like we now use it all the time, and I am trying to convince the wife to get an EV like the Audi to replace her Ford Explorer. No way, she can’t deal with the range anxiety, but that’s where a PHEV would work for her. And by the time she needed another car she would have the confidence to get a pure EV.

I love my 2013 Volt with 80,000 miles! I think the 1st generation looks quirkier and cooler than the 2nd gen. The only thing I don't like about it are the capacitive infotainment buttons.

Current vauxhall ampera owner here. Absolutely love the car. So cheap to run, lovely to drive. I tend to get 30-50 miles depending on weather, the amount of hills, and my driving style. Main bit with the gearbox question, the engine isn't connected to the wheels directly as mentioned. Only the electric motor is. The engine acts as a generator to produce the electricity for the electric motor to drive the wheels. So the reason for the delay in acceleration in 'hold' mode is that the engine needs to rev up to generate the electricity first to allow the motor to speed up. Also the output of the motor bhp wise is something like double the output of the engine. So if you do go to floor it with the engine running it has to max out its rev counter. biggest downside of the car is getting hold of certain parts e.g. lights and body panels. And electric servicing is limited. Yes more 3rd party garages will touch them now, but they are still few and far between. Generally only around 5-6 vauxhall dealers will touch the electric.

Own the Golf GTE. love the electric side. Want to know with PHEV, are you suppose to keep the battery charge between 10%-90% like on a Tesla battery, as its a small battery already? Also if on the PHEV you are constantly charging 2-3 times a day, is this bad for the battery degrading faster?

Is there a video of when you first got in a Tesla Richard? Be good to see it😀 My wife’s Zoe has to be serviced every July to have the cabin air filter changed. Its really so they can make some other issues up and fill the wash bottle. I hate PHEVS. I only see them when they spend an hour getting their 30 miles while the kids go for a swim. It slows down whoever else is trying to charge😫

owned a 2016 Kia Soul EV for the last 2 years. loved the car. it was a great car for around town but the 90 mile range did not allow us to use it for trips. got a 2017 Volt and it having over 50 miles of EV range makes it a great around town car and we can use it as a car for trips in hybrid mode. probably keep it until we can buy an EV with over 250 miles of range for less than 30k

What about replacing the Volt battery though? I don't know about Vauxhall, but Holden in Australia doesn't exist any more, so if the battery goes bad or drops to very low health, then how are you going to go about swapping it out, and what sort of a cost are you looking at?

I have had an Audi A3 Etron for 6 years and it is a delight to drive. The battery pack gives you about 24 miles from a full charge, not the 30+ suggested by Audi. The petrol engine is smooth but there is a distinct pause when switching to electric when the engine is cold. On longer trips it still delivers about 50mpg and over the lifetime it has been about 90mpg but as stated in the video this is entirely determined by the driving you do. The battery pack comes with a 10 year warranty and my car was recalled for a battery test after about 3 years, they replaced the whole pack and reset the warranty period. My only real problem, and it was a big one, was when it would not release the charging cable and the car was tethered to my garage. I went through the procedure in the manual, I got Audi AA roadside assistance to come, all to no effect. The dealership sent out 2 mechanics but they achieved nothing. They then referred the problem to Audi in Germany and we waited, eventually they came up with a solution that was implemented but the whole process took just under a month. I was given a courtesy car for the last 2 weeks and I was not charged for the work after I complained that a car capable of locking itself to your garage is "not fit for purpose". We are still happy with the car, and now I am purchasing a Tesla M3LR it is being passed onto my wife who enjoys driving it far more than her Ford Focus.

We didn't get the GTE here in the States - but I've had a 2013 Volt that I leased, now own a 2016 Cadillac ELR (the pinnacle of the Gen1 Voltec) and my GF has a 2016 Volt (Gen2) and her kid is rocking a 2015 Volt (Gen1) - amazingly engineered cars - its really too bad you guys didn't get the second gen Volt (55+ miles on battery and far more efficient)

I love my Volt because first it’s an EV with a back up ICE generator. It’s really an EREV (Extended Range Electric Vehicle). What this means is as long as the Battery has a charge (and it’s not the middle of winter) it will run just like a BEV, until the battery is dead. That means it will drive all the way to the maximum 101 MPH on full EV, and you can floor the accelerator pedal and it will accelerate at full speed on full EV. The ICE will not turn on. Most other PHEV can only run slowly on full EV. The moment you floor the pedal, the ICE will turn on and blend in extra torque. The moment you exceed a certain speed, the ICE will turn on to assist by blending in extra power. These are not true EVs. The Volt is different and that’s why its better.

I bought my 2014 volt used for $17,000 in 2016, had just over 20,000 miles on it, someone's lease was up & I scored. I now have 190,000 miles on it, have put loads of tires on it and have had to replace the entire front suspension recently due to my 60 mile commute over twisty country mountain roads, and once was stranded due to the 12v normal car battery dying while driving home one night. That's it. Nothing else done to the car. Over 170,000 miles of ownership, and just recently had to overhaul the front suspension/axles. I would buy another Volt in a heartbeat. Best car I've ever owned, stereo is frickin awesome, has all the same options that new cars have, super cheap to operate. If you work in town you will never put gas in it except when you go on weekend trips. Buy one.

They may be a transition vehicle and so good at that, especially if you have short trips normally, and/or need to tow occasionally. My preference is a range extender if you are going to mix true technologies as the PHEV gearbox adds so much complexity you lose one of the main benefits of EV…simplicity.

Good vid. Personally I wouldn’t want a full ev for many reasons like living in a fairly remote region of the uk which we have power reductions thru winter. But im considering a bmw x5 45e phev, partly due it has decent 4x4 capability’s and a strong reliable combustion engine. But i do see the advantages for running around my area mostly in ev mode would hopefully reduce some costs but equally have a comfortable car for holidays and adventures. Without having to charge if I don’t want to, eg if there are ques or i just want to splash and dash, eg i want the freedom and safety combustion offers as well. What i mean by safety i have been stranded in the past and running the engine to keep warm with the correct emergency kit has saved my neck and others where im sure once the battery discharges on a full ev no heat. Also if we have a power cut or a reduction in the grid im not relying 100% on it. We need accessto are own transport and most people who have pure evs have a second combustion car as backup or have access to one. Personally I’ll be sticking with some sort of combustion vehicle also im confident in self maintenance if needed and enjoy serviceing my own vehicles. Personally im no anti ev but do not want to be forced into one..

I bought a Mercedes c350e thinking I’d get enough range for the weekend shopping as we hardly drive anywhere. eRange is less than 6miles and no where what is claimed. Highly disappointed. Is there a way to find out if my battery is faulty?

What happens to the diesel or petrol engine if it’s not run all that often and the focus is just on the school run? Will filters etc etc just block/cease up?

I have a Vauxhall Ampera, 2012, 75k miles on the clock, owned for 4 years. I love it. My daily commute is 60 miles, I get 50 miles range on a warm day, 35 to 40+ when it's colder. I really depends on how you drive it and the weather. Pure petrol mpg is about 45. My lifetime mpg for 75k miles is 150. It's saved me a lot of money compared against my old 2.0 litre ice Mazda 6. It's also been faultless, comfortable to drive and so cheap to run. My next car will be full EV, but I'll be keeping the Ampera going for as long as possible! Superb car.

Is regular gas bad for the turbine? The oil drain plug was stuck having a small wrench head and large torque spec 14 Nt-m. This seemed too high causing the head to strip out and a trip to the dealership to remove it, for an oil change.

08:04 Having been in one of those Chevrolet Volt, it felt like a CVT at first. But it turns out that apparently, the combustion engine is not connected to the wheels. The drivetrain seems to be full electric, while the ICE is simply connected to a generator which compensates what you're currently drawing from the battery. This is what makes the most sense to me, and what explains the best this delay between throttle and engine revs. I didn't check anything, this is pure guess based on the feedback I got while in this car

The i3 range extender should have a robust ICE like in the Volt.

Just bought an A3 E-Tron, same basic as a GTE but oddly cheaper to buy second hand like for like... Perfect for the 20 mile commute and an easy 100mpg+ on mixed journeys

Great review There are 2 types of phev , and these 2 you present are really type 2. Type 1) These are the latest batch of large SUV phev's where the car has been designed specifically to give you lots of power by combining the ICE engine and EV and is marketed as such. The EV motor is not really powerful enough to drive the car, and a slight heavy use of the accelerator will kick in the ICE engine. This type of car has been show to be more polluting than and ICE car when in supposed EV mode because the constant cold start of the ICE engine to give that "power" is not good for the engine or pollution. Type 2) The second type, including both cars shown here (I have a Audi A3 e-tron - A3... !!! A3 - in case you missed that) has a large enough EV motor to drive the car without kicking in the ICE engine, even when you hoof it. So the Audi and the Golf here have a 101 hp electric with good torque giving it perfectly adequate nippiness and can even hit 81 mph - though the battery won't last long at that speed. Over long term we have 80mpg (over about 15,000 miles), on a very long journey where it is really a hybrid we get 55mpg, for anything under 50 miles you get 100-140mpg, and of course for less than 25 miles, then it is EV only. We also started with the PHEV and loved the electric drive option, so now have a Tesla M-3 as well. (PS : the volt has a CVT - continuously variable transmission - a "belt" between 2 conical/adjustable spindles - so it runs the ICE engine at the most efficient speed and changes the drive speed with the gear box. Yep - they whine)

Did anyone else get a Lexus “self charging Hybrid” BS advert at the end of this video 😂.

I've had my Vauxhall Ampera for 4 years now. It now has 55000 miles on the clock from around 22000 when I got it. For the first 3 years I charged it purely from the free charge points at the Cineworld around the corner from me so never paid anything for electricity! One year I ran it spending only £15 of petrol! I spend roughly £30 on petrol a year on it only because after about a year of not using any petrol it will insist on using it so the fuel doesn't go off! It is almost maintenance free and super conservative on brake pads due to regen. I am now thinking of selling it to move on to a fully electric car. It has been the perfect bridging experience for me from ICE to electric and range anxiety is non existent due to the petrol engine range of about 250 miles added to the real world 40 or so miles on pure electric.

We own an EV and a hybrid. The EV will tow up to 1600 kgs which is enough for us. It's fine (very good) at towing our caravan. We only use it for trips under 125 miles as charging an EV with a caravan on the back can be a real pain. We use the hybrid for longer journeys as it's easier to refuel and can still tow 1600kg. A PHEV would be an compromise but very few affordable PHEVs could tow1600kgs when we bought our hybrid (not that many now either). When the charging structure across Europe offers charging for EVs towing caravans/trailers plus offer longer ranges we will probably swap the hybrid for a second EV.

Hybrid definitely means the worst of both worlds...

I have a 2018 volt and it's simply amazing. The only thing I would change is the charging speed. It would be great if there was a way to make it so you can go from 0 to 100% charge in about an hour. I have 50k total miles. 40k in ev only 10k on the engine. I've calculated that it's saved me about $3000 since I've owned it.

I'd like to know the petrol-only (without electric driving) mpg of the GTE please, if anyone knows. We're currently having to get a replacement car. We have no options for charging at home, and both work from home. However, within the lifespan of the vehicle, maybe the council will be able to provide charging points. Until then we'd be running on petrol, but if it's economical, it might be a good choice longer term.

I generally don't like the concept of the PHEV, because of their complication. They still need proper servicing. That said, in my opinion the Vauxhall Ampera/Chevy Volt is easily the best example of the type. Of course the Ampera/Volt is pretty much an EREV in that the petrol engine never directly drives the wheels. I think I'm right in writing that all PHEVs can drive the wheels directly if required. That Volt revving to a particular engine speed is putting it in its most efficient zone. Nice video.

Golf GTE, plugged it in every day. Replaced with Tesla Model 3 performance. As you said, definitely a gateway drug. Interestingly drove the GTE in D not B mode, only occasionally pulling the gear stick back to B. In the Tesla I properly one pedal drive it. No going back for me.

All the crazies slagging off PHEVs, this explains why one would want one. If you do a lot of short journeys, but can only afford or prefer one single vehicle, and prefer not to faff around planning charge stops for occasional longer journeys, get a decent phev. They work.

My final daily use ICE was a Subaru Impreza but I leased a Kia Soul EV after that and now own a Leaf. I didn't want the mechanical complexity of a hybrid so didn't bother and went straight to EV. Zero petrol commuting 30,000 miles in 3 years.

Phev are the go to in my opinion in such countries like Iran which I am in

PHEVs are only good if used properly. Charge it up every day and do your day to day driving fully electric, only using the combustion engine an long journeys. And charge it with renewable energy. But most people dont do that. They buy it, drive the first 60km in electric mode and then use only combustion engine until they remember a couple of weeks later that they maybe could eventually charge that car at the grocery store.

We’re in the US and have a PHEV and BEV, the PHEV is definitely the gateway drug to EV ownership. Once you realize you’re only driving 30 miles a day on PHEV battery alone you wish you would have just bought a full BEV. It’s tough to know this ahead of time, but I think everyone goes through this process. Makes me wish there was a PHEV six month lease where you could get a feel for it.

I would expect my use of a PHEV to be mainly as an EV for most shorter journeys but if the battery is low and/or I need more power than normal, I would expect the ICE motor to start (from cold ?) and run at relatively high throttle. This is not a good way to treat such an engine surely ?

Same thought here! Even with 1000000 miles per gallon, if you pay loads of money charging the car, forget about being cheap to run. Actually, from next year from April, electric cars could cost more to run than the ICE cars.

Had our 64 plate Ampera for 5 years now. Bought from BCA for £11,400. Absolute bargain. Faultless apart from the 12v battery issue that plagued a few vehicles. See my video on my channel of how to fix the steering column issue which appeared once as well in the first week of owning it.