Face off: 2011 Chevrolet Volt Vs 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid

Toyota and GM are the auto industry's heavyweights. Each has stumbled this year; General Motors collapsed into bankruptcy and Toyota is beset with embarrassing recalls that may dent its reputation for reliability.
Each also has a plug-in car coming. The 2011 Chevy Volt will hit dealers in less than a year's time, and a plug-in version of the Toyota Prius will be go on sale sometime before the end of 2011, with small numbers being tested in fleet use starting next month.



So how do these two heavyweight plug-in cars stack up to each other?
BODY STYLE & SIZE

Both are five-door hatchbacks. The 2011 Chevrolet Volt is a compact, while the current Toyota Prius has enough interior space to qualify it as a midsize car. That aside, not a lot of differences.
TOTAL RANGE

Both plug-in vehicles offer a continuous range of more than 300 miles. In either case, your bladder may give out before the car's range does.
Chevrolet: The 2011 Volt will run at least 40 miles on electricity under any circumstances, plus "at least 300 more miles" using the 1.4-liter range-extender engine to generate electricity to power it, Volt vehicle line manager Tony Posawatz told us.
Toyota: The combined range of the Prius Plug-In Hybrid hasn't been revealed yet, but it could be more than 600 miles. That's definitely longer than most people can drive without stopping.
ELECTRIC RANGE

This will be the major difference consumers hear about. Chevrolet points out, over and over, that more than two-thirds of American cars run less than 40 miles a day--meaning a Volt might never use any gasoline if it's plugged in each night. The Prius Plug-In can't claim anything like that.
Toyota: The company quotes an electric range "up to 13 miles" for its Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid, at speeds up to 60 mph. But the real-world electric mileage will depend heavily on exactly how the car is used. Under some circumstances, that 13 miles may arrive in small segments, with the engine turned on in between.
Chevrolet: The 2011 Volt will run at least 40 miles on electricity under any circumstances, GM says--meaning, at highway speeds, carrying heavy loads, or in around-town stop-and-go use. And that figure is so well publicized that if the car doesn't live up to it, it'll be pilloried in the press.
HYBRID TECHNOLOGY

This is the biggest difference between the two cars. The Prius Plug-In remains a parallel (or "power-split") hybrid in which the engine and electric motors combine to power the wheels. But the 2011 Volt is a series hybrid, in which the wheels are driven solely by its electric motor.
Toyota: The Prius Plug-In Hybrid increases the battery pack capacity (from 1.6 to 4 kilowatt-hours), switching from the nickel-metal-hydride technology used in all Toyota hybrids to more compact lithium-ion cells. But it runs like a standard hybrid with a longer electric range. So the engine will switch itself on and off at will, including under high-speed conditions, heavy loads, at colder temperatures, and so forth.
Chevrolet: The engine of the 2011 Volt cannot power the wheels directly. The car's larger battery pack (16 kilowatt-hours, or 4 times the Prius Plug-In's) provides uninterrupted electric running for 40 miles, then the engine switches on to provide electric power to the wheels. The big question: Will the experience of pure electric drive for three times the distance give the Volt an edge over a Prius Plug-In engine that stops and starts whenever it wants?