Many folks love the concept of a hybrid however are involved concerning the hybrid efficiency within the useless of winter. In order to reply this query I took a Kia Hybrid on an prolonged 2 day demonstration. Lots of individuals write about how the Kia Hybrid operates in winter in locations like Vancouver, or Chicago, however Winnipeggers will solely belief a real Winnipeg check so now we’re giving it the true Winnipeg in January check. By the way in which common Winnipeg temperature in January is between -23 and -13 levels C.
The Kia Optima Hybrid that I drove was a 2012 hybrid that carried a MSRP of $30,895 plus freight, charges and taxes. Currently at time of writing Kia is exhibiting a $3400 rebate on this automobile which brings it stage with its non hybrid counterpart.
When I used to be given the keys to this automobile, it was 6pm at night time, so it was darkish already. The automobile was parked within the again lot the place it had been sitting unused for the final 30 days or so. It was a chilly January night (-18 levels C) and the automobile was sitting beneath 6 inches of snow and parked behind a plow windrow that was 8 inches excessive. After clearing the windshield and the drivers door I hopped in and pushed the fast begin button. It began up instantly and the seat shortly adjusted to the preset place. I let it heat up for a minute whereas I brushed the remainder of the snow away from the highest of the automobile. When I hopped again within the automobile I turned off the traction management and spun my means out of the snow that I used to be parked in. I drove the automobile as much as the constructing and put a license plate on it. When I returned to the automobile it had already heated up. This was a lot faster than I had anticipated and I used to be impressed.
The primary factor that prospects wish to know when coping with a hybrid is what’s the gasoline economic system. Will it save sufficient gasoline to pay for itself? The second is how lengthy will the battery final and the way a lot will it price to switch it?
Let me tackle the second level first. In Canada, Kia has put a 96 month 160,000 km restricted guarantee on the complete hybrid system. So in case your battery fails inside the first 8 years or 160,000 km it is going to be coated. This will imply that for almost all of customers, battery life, and substitute worth are non-issues.
Kia Optima Hybrid is within the Guinness Book of World data for “Lowest fuel consumption, 48 U.S. states: gasoline hybrid car” verified by a Guinness World Records adjudicator. In this show they achieved a median of three.3l/100km. The one factor that we discover in Winnipeg in January driving by way of the center of town is you could throw energuide rankings out the window. No matter what automobile you drive, rankings will really be about 75% of precise gasoline mileage. Others might argue this however with my driving fashion and automobile use I usually discover these numbers are correct it doesn’t matter what automobile I drive. This was true with the Optima Hybrid. Energuide rankings for this automobile are 5.8 l/100km for metropolis driving. Energuide rankings for the non-hybrid Optima are 8.6l/100km. The true mileage that I discovered for these two automobiles beneath this situation had been 8.1 for the Hybrid and 11.7 for the GDI Optima. The Optima Hybrid nonetheless saves appreciable gasoline in Winnipeg in winter over its non-hybrid brother. One disclaimer although is that the automobile didn’t run as an electrical automobile till about 17km into the journey so it was sitting between 11 and 12 l/100km till the final km through which it began operating utterly off the EV and common gasoline consumption plummeted.
So for individuals who ask the query if the Hybrid can pay for itself, on this software the reply is resoundingly sure. Current rebates on the Hybrid make this automobile priced about the identical because the Optima EX. Therefore, prices of buying are roughly the identical regardless whether or not you select Hybrid or Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI). If the automobile is pushed 100,000km with this distinction in gasoline consumption, the financial savings will quantity to $3780. This quantity is predicated on gasoline at $1.05/liter. Savings will probably be higher at a better gasoline worth. Remember that that is based mostly on winter driving alone. This will improve for anybody who commutes greater than 20km per journey. As said the EV motor began operating after 17 km so gasoline mileage began to enhance significantly. At the opposite finish of the spectrum, in case you are utilizing your automobile simply to go to the shop and get a loaf of bread, you might not discover any winter financial savings. I’ll word that whereas driving the Hybrid in summer time, I used to be operating on full EV by the point I went across the block.
So for all those who ask me if a Hybrid can stand as much as our Winnipeg winters I’ll say “definitely”. It chilly climate began after a protracted sit, it dealt with effectively on snow coated roads, it saved gasoline over the long term, and it’s priced competitively with the non-hybrid model.
Contributed by Darren P Somersall
