Electric vehicles are all set to take over the future of automobile industry. With the electric vehicles maturing faster than any other forms of vehicles, Chevrolet and Tesla now have electric cars that could set you going for more than 200 Miles on a single charge. However, some of the electric cars are still limited to the 60 to 90 Mile range.
The plug-in hybrids are more effective and practical as compared to gas-fuelled cars only. Moreover, they don’t require any sacrifices in price or practicality as compared to only Electric vehicles or only gas-fuelled vehicles.
With both a Battery and a gas-tank, the hybrids tend to provide everything to everyone. Occasionally, you often need more range than what the electric car provides, therefore the plug-in hybrid turns out to be a fantastic choice for buyers looking to cover longer distances and don’t want their vehicle to be on-charge every time. The 2019 Toyota Prius Prime and the 2019 Chevrolet Volt are two of the best out there. However, it is very difficult to choose between the Volt and the Prime.
Chevrolet Volt
The 2019 Chevrolet Volt is definitely more attractive and appealing than ever before. The Volt went over a complete makeover last year. The 2019 Chevrolet Volt sports an improved electric drive range and a very high quality cabin. Safety features include an upgraded emergency braking system and an adaptive cruise control.
Reliability
The generation Volt was not sold in higher number to generate some reliability data. But several reports suggest that the Volt only offers industry-average reliability.
Fuel Economy
The Chevrolet Volt definitely wins here over the Prime because of its longer electric-only drive range of 53 Miles as compared to Prius Prime’s 25 Miles. If your daily driving figures are only limited to upto 50 Miles, then the Volt is a great choice.
Safety
A lot of safety features such as the forward collision warning, lane-change warning with steering assist, ABS that can detect on-road pedestrians, automatic high-beams and adaptive cruise control. Moreover, the cross traffic alert and blind-spot monitoring system are also available. However, all of the above features are only available in the Chevrolet Volt’s Premier variant.
Technology
Both of the mentioned cars are amazingly fast, thanks to their high-tech powertrains. Not only these cars offer performance and reliability, but they also come with a ton of infotainment features as well. Chevrolet Volt comes with a really huge MMI with support for Apple CarPlay, on board Wi-Fi, satellite radio and chevy’s MyLink touchscreen. The whole touchscreen menu is totally customizable and is one of the best systems out there.
Interiors
Technically, the Volt has 5 seats but the existence of a larger middle bump reduced the chances to fit a fifth person at the rear. The rear seats are stuffed too which means considerably less space to fit in.
Toyota Prius Prime
The Toyota Prius Prime is the plug-in hybrid over the regular Toyota Prius. The 2019 Toyota Prius Prime features a bigger battery that provides a far better overall fuel economy and 22 Miles of only electric driving distance. The Prius Prime is styled better than the regular Prius. There is an amazingly large touchscreen in the centre but slightly less cabin space over the regular Prius.
Reliability
The Toyota Prius Prime is new itself, therefore it haven’t clocked much sales to generate reliability data. But keeping the reliability record of the regular Toyota Prius in mind, the Toyota Prius Prime will definitely meets our reliability expectations.
Fuel Economy
The Toyota Prius Prime is limited is terms of electric-only drive as it only offers a range of 25 Miles per charge. But if your daily driving figures include driving distances longer than 25 Miles, the Prius Prime really offers an extremely impressive fuel efficiency when the electric-only range is exhausted.
Comparing both Volt and Prime in terms of driving ranges, there isn’t much difference when you compare how much you paid for gasoline.
So which car saves more for you, that really depends upon you.
Safety
The Toyota Prius Prime comes standard with a ton of safety features such as the auto pedestrian detection braking, forward-collision warning, adaptive cruise control and automatic high-beams. Moreover, the automatic collision notification, emergency assistance-button and stolen-vehicle location are only available on the Prius Prime Advanced variant.
Technology
The Toyota Prius Prime also comes with satellite radio, USB ports and a massive 7” touchscreen as standard but the standard features are much less than that offered by Chevrolet Volt. However, the Advanced variant of the Toyota Prius Prime features a much larger 11.6” touchscreen that is vertically fixed. The audio system keys are much easier to use with the bigger touchscreen of course and the availability of climate controls alongside are great. Furthermore, the volume knob is also replaced by the touch-activated button.
Interiors
Toyota Prius Prime’s cabin space is also reduced by a larger battery pack at the rear which removes the central rear seat, reducing the overall seating capacity to only 4. However, the rear seats of the Prime are not stuffed and they offer great space to the rear passengers. The Prime also offers more cargo space than the Volt.
Verdict
The Chevrolet Volt costs about $6,000 more than the base variant of the Prius Prime. But, keeping in mind the most advanced and improved plug-in hybrid technology that it comes with, the Volt can save you a lot of money by making most of your drives on the electricity alone. On the other hand, the Prius Prime has a larger cabin and cargo space than the Volt. But choosing one between the two totally depends upon you, your driving style, how far you drive to, how much you drive and how many friends or family members you’re bringing up with you.