插電式普銳斯跑贏Volt
雪佛蘭Volt（左圖）在全新的插電式普銳斯（Prius）前甘拜下風.。
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????這款車就是普銳斯（Prius）插電汽車。這款豐田新車已經開始規模化試車，從現在開始不到一年，它就將在展廳中閃亮登場。比起Volt來，它更高效，更便宜。而且，豐田汽車公司可以指望靠它贏利——通用汽車公司（General Motors）承認靠Volt目前還做不到這一點。 ????受底特律發動的討人喜歡的宣傳攻勢迷惑，普銳斯的插電汽車迄今為止一直都未得到電動汽車追捧者的重視。由于面對全球復雜多變格局所表現出來的矯揉造作，如今的底特律無異于一間裝滿鏡子的房間，它投向外部世界的視線到達“八英里大道”后（Eight Mile Road，位于底特律，是用以測量美國西北路的基線道路——譯注）就止步不前了。 ????每當有人祝賀Volt獲得年度多用途車大獎時，通用汽車的人就應該提醒自己，同是這些評委，早在2001年就因為對克萊斯勒的“漫步者”（PT Cruiser）青睞有加而對初出茅廬的普銳斯混合動力車視而不見。豐田汽車公司自那以后已經銷出了200萬臺普銳斯，堪稱75年來最具革命性的車型；而“漫步者”呢，這款新銳車型在技術上乏善可陳的，早已宣告停產了。 ????同樣受制于這種狹隘眼光的最新例證是《紐約時報》（New York Times）。這家大報新開設的“星期天評論”（Sunday Review）就是用對Volt的一篇溢美之辭來開篇的，此外，它還不忘對通用汽車公司極盡殷勤吹噓之能事。 ????可是甚至就連Volt的熱捧者之一，通用汽車公司前任副總裁鮑勃?魯茲也承認，豐田汽車公司很可能已在普銳斯上實現盈利，而通用則賣出一臺Volt都要虧本，并且，通用為該車所投入的估計高達10億美元的研發成本也很可能將血本無歸。 6款汽油動力的經濟型好車 ????追捧Volt的人津津樂道的一個事實是：Volt能用電行駛35英里后，平順地切換到汽油機模式，由此能節省燃油，減少溫室氣體排放。這確實是一大技術改進，但也早已過時了。 ????理由如下： ????插電式普銳斯單用電池能行駛約13英里。電池電力耗盡后，汽車切換為豐田公司已經實踐檢驗的混合動力系統。在一臺標準普銳斯上，這一系統在市區道路上每加侖燃油可行駛51英里，在高速公路上這一成績是48英里。 ????Volt在純電動模式下可行駛約35英里，而在這之后它就會切換到純汽油驅動模式——不再有電池助力?！读餍袡C械》雜志（Popular Mechanics）發現，在只有汽油機開動的情況下，Volt在市區每加侖燃油只能行駛32英里，在高速公路上這一成績是36英里。 ????因此，在13英里或更短的車程中，普銳斯插電汽車和Volt依靠純電動每加侖燃油行駛的里程相同：都是零。在13英里到35英里之間，Volt勝過普銳斯。而一過35英里，普銳斯就干脆利索地把Volt甩在身后了。 ????另外，普銳斯用常規的家用電流在三小時內就可以充滿電。Volt要充滿則需要10小時，除非花上約2,000美元另購一臺特制的240伏充電站。因此，充電時間相等的情況下，這兩款車在電動模式下的行駛里程相當。 ????最后，還有個定價問題。2011款Volt的標價是41,000美元；省去一些標準配置的2012款售價為39,995美元。 ????普銳斯的平均成交價是26,000美元。插電式普銳斯的售價還未公布。而額外另配的鋰電池售價估計為3,500美元到5,000美元。因此總價在30,000美元左右——比Volt便宜10,000美元。 ????可以確定地說，二者相比還有其他因素需要考慮。Volt感覺上和駕駛起來都更像傳統汽車，而普銳斯還帶著杰森一家（Jetsons，美國著名科幻動畫片，描寫未來的科技世界——譯注）里的太空艙一般的感覺。此外，Volt是美國制造，而普銳斯來自日本。 ????不過，直接就性價比進行比較的話，很難理解Volt何以會被吹捧之詞包圍。自從推出以來，通用汽車公司只賣出了2,184輛Volt，而豐田汽車公司光是5月份就賣出了7,000輛普銳斯。通用汽車公司和底特律能從經濟衰退中恢復過來，每個人都應該為此感到高興。但是，名不副實的溢美之詞對任何人都不會有什么好處。 ????譯者：清遠 |
????It is the Prius Plug-in, it is already in test fleets, and it will be arriving in showrooms in less than a year from now. It will be more efficient and less expensive than the Volt, and Toyota (TM) actually stands the possibility of making a profit on it -- something General Motors concedes it can't do with the Volt. ????To date, the Prius Plug-in has been ignored by EV enthusiasts who are being revved up by the flood of favorable publicity coming out of Detroit, which for all its pretensions to global sophistication, remains a house of mirrors whose view of the outside world stops at Eight Mile Road. ????Whenever somebody congratulates Volt for winning multiple car of the year awards, they should remind themselves that those same award-giving bodies passed over the original Prius hybrid in 2001 in favor of the PT Cruiser. Toyota has gone on to sell two million Priuses, the most revolutionary car of the last 75 years; the Cruiser, a novelty car with no technological pretensions, has since gone out of production. ????The latest to fall victim to this tunnel vision is the New York Times, which kicked off its new Sunday Review section with a favorable review of the Volt and a big pat on the back for GM (GM, Fortune 500). ????Even a Volt enthusiast like former GM vice chairman Bob Lutz admits that Toyota is probably making a profit on Prius, while GM loses money on every Volt and is unlikely ever to recover a penny of its estimated $1 billion development cost. 6 cheap cars that go easy on the gas ????Volt enthusiasts like to recite the fact that the Volt can go 35 miles on battery-power and then shift seamlessly into gasoline-engine mode, saving on gas and reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. It is an impressive technological improvement but one that is already obsolete. ????Here's why: ????The Prius Plug-in can go about 13 miles on battery-power alone. But when the battery-only power expires, it switches over to Toyota's proven hybrid system. That system delivers 51 miles per gallon in the city and 48 mpg on the highway in the standard Prius. ????The Volt can go about 35 miles in EV mode, but after that it switches over to pure gasoline power - no more battery assist. With only its gas engine running, Popular Mechanics magazine discovered the Volt gets just 32 mpg in the city and 36 mpg highway. ????So on trips of 13 miles or less, the Prius plug-in and Volt deliver the same all-electric mpg: zero. On trips between 13 miles and 35 miles in length, the Volt beats the Prius. But after 35 miles, the Prius handily outscores the Volt. ????Moreover, the Prius can be recharged in three hours on regular household current. The Volt requires ten hours for a full recharge, unless you buy a special 240-volt recharging station that costs about $2,000. So an equal duration of charging creates the same distance of EV travel in both cars. ????Finally, there is the question of price. The Volt carries a sticker price of $41,000 for 2011; a 2012 model with less standard equipment will be available for $39,995. ????The average transaction price for a Prius is $26,000. The price of a Prius Plug-In hasn't been announced. But the additional lithium-ion batteries for the plug-in feature will add an estimated $3,500-$5,000. So figure on around $30,000 -- a $10,000 difference from the Volt. ????To be sure, there are other factors to consider. The Volt feels and drives more like a conventional car, while the Prius still has that Jetsons space capsule air about it. And the Volt is made in America while the Prius comes from Japan. ????But on a straight-up comparison of functionality versus price, it is hard to understand the adulation surrounding the Volt. GM has only managed to sell 2,184 since introduction, while Toyota moved nearly 7,000 Priuses in May alone. Everybody should be glad that General Motors and the rest of Detroit have recovered from the recession. But an excess of praise in the wrong places doesn't help anyone. |
