On Wednesday November 10th, I had my first full day of living with the Chevrolet Volt. I would like to take you through it as if you were there.
First for those who asked, no I didn’t sleep in my Volt the night before, but when I awoke in the AM I was sure very excited and looking forward to going out to my garage and getting in it.
On my arrival there, I found the car had successfully fully charged while it was plugged in overnight. The display showed charging time was complete at 11:15 PM; I had plugged it in to the 240-v charger in the fully depleted state at 5:15PM…
When I booted up the car, that’s really what it is like turning it on though quicker, the battery showed I had 36 miles of EV range. That was determined based on previous driving behavior in a miles per kwh estimation. The car at that point had 133 mpg lifetime efficiency which was based on the more than 1200 engineering validation miles GM had put on it prior to my delivery.
The first leg of my journey was from my home to the first hospital I work at. The actual distance was 22.8 miles, and when I arrived, the car showed 15 miles of EV range were left. That drive took place mostly on the highway at 70 + MPH. Outside temperature was 49 degrees, and I kept the cabin at 72 degrees using ECO mode. Comfort mode setting indicated it would drain twice as much power if I had chosen it.
The car was a charm on the highway. It was more than fast enough to deal with all types of merges, entrances, and passes, and handled very sprightly. I looked to see if anyone stared or noticed the car, and interestingly I didn’t see one person do so.
RTFA and follow Dr. Lyle Dennis – as I have since he founded GM-Volt.com in January, 2007. He built the site – and fan base – based upon his well-reasoned preference for the electrification of automobiles. It’s been a long and always interesting journey.
36 mile range? Not much more than the Mars rovers, the real all electric vehicles.
The MPG calculation and display on the Volt is, in my opinion, lying to you since it uses ALL the miles driven rather than just the miles driven on gas. Most testers have reported that the actual MPG on gas only is mediocre; the low 30s on the highway and high 20s in the city. If we follow Chevy’s logic, a pure electric vehicle (the Volt is a series plug-in hybrid really) has an infinite MPG.
Of course, we have since found out that the Volt also uses its gas engine above 70MPH, and under certain other conditions as well, regardless of the state of charge of the battery pack. Kind of false advertising really…
Living 8 miles from work, I’ll keep my old car. If/when another gas crunch comes, I’ll use bike, moped, or car share. Expensive niche market for early adopters. I’ll wait for 2.0.
So, 36 miles cost about 3.3 kW h or about 27.555¢ in Arizona using S.R.P. (8.35¢ kW h) $2.90/gal vs. 27.555¢.
I hope he enjoys the car that me and my fellow tax payers provided for him.
Pretty cool. Could of drove it to Jeklyl island this morning.
For 40,000 dollars it better work good. That’s a lot of money for 100,000 miles on the battery and only a 36 mile range.
In addition to #6, I hope he enjoys cost inefficient car he got partly paid by stealing money from us.
There is vehicle identical in comfort and driveability GM makes that costs 17000$. Difference in cost, even when paid in part by stealing from others is enormous. You could pay for 240000 miles of gasoline (or 160000 if stolen money is not counted) with the difference (assuming electricity cost of 0, which is also fake).
This is perfect example of Govt. funding outrageous behavior for social engineering purpose (anyone willing to pay significantly more for the same is fiscally irresponsible idiot … wait, that is indeed our Govt. right now).
The Chevy Volt is bullcrap…start to finish.
I hope that guy appreciates my tax money helping him to get cheaper transportation.
And I hope he appreciates the coal fired generator that is keeping his car running.
Do you morons realize that the loan to GM is being paid back….with interest? And that this profitable program saved well over 300,000 jobs?
Thanks to this profitable loan….
Fucking hilarious, Earhard. A 36 mile range, and YOU drive it 22.8 miles.
Can’t even get the piece of shit back home!
You deserve a piece of garbage like this if you are a big enough eidiot to buy one.
Maybe somebody will come along in a pickup truck and drag your sorry ass home for you as you stand by the side of the road holding out your fucking electrical plug with a dopey look on your face. You and Obama deserve what you get.
[It has a gasoline engine in it too. – ed.]
OLO, the loan is being paid back with a separate fund from taxpayers money. Plus, these are separate subsidies being talke about here.
Awesome! Congrats on being one of the first to drive the technology of the future.
It is logical that a liberal would lead the way towards energy independence and pollution free transport.
36 mile per day is at least 25 miles more than my usual errand travel. I so admit I live in the city and not in the sterile, mall infested suburbs.
I would buy one instantly if they cost half as much.
#15 An option for lowering costs is a Hummer and equivalent impact tax.
Polluting the environment is now free. Raising the cost of polluting the air from zero to say $1/gal gas would help offset the low volume sales start-up costs by redirecting.
An alternative option is to add the cost of militarily protecting the Saudi oils field from zero to say $2/gal would also work.
#16
Do you suppose that disposing of the batteries on which the Volt runs is pollution free?
Honda and Toyota still do it better. Waaaay better. American car companies are pure shit.
>> dusanmal said, on November 11th, 2010 at 11:20 am
>> In addition to #6, I hope he enjoys cost inefficient car he got partly paid by stealing money from us.
I wish I could get the money back that the conservatives stole from me for their highly “inefficient” war on terror.
I don’t get the MPG thing… it’s all electric, right?
Does this confirm my impression that Detroit still hasn’t quite figured out the green economy?
>> Dallas said, on November 11th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
>> It is logical that a liberal would lead the way towards energy independence and pollution free transport. I so admit I live in the city and not in the sterile, mall infested suburbs.
Simply not driving is a great untapped way to America’s energy independence.
1) Mass transit, of course.
2) Urban planning so that people don’t can walk to shopping and entertainment.
3) Cheap, ultra broadband into home offices, so people don’t have to commute.
#20 And after the planes were high jacked and used as bombs what do you suggest we should have done?
#21 The green economy in most cases is just another way of going broke. Do the math on this machine. It is not a cheaper greener way of traveling.
#22 Sorry guy, for most Americans your suggestion is to ludicrous to even be funny.
This is hilarious. A tech blog going gaga over technology from the 18th century that delivers reduced performance over existing technology, all for the purpose of burning more coal.
#22 I completely agree and kudos.
I’m a big fan of walking and conduct business from my home office thereby eliminating commute. All thanks to the broadband
Incidentally, why broadband infrastructure is a key investment the Obama administration gets.
When in San Francisco, Chicago, Philly always use the mass transit.
Dallas,
Reduced gasoline usage with hybrids is not exactly moving us toward energy independence. China has control of the market for rare earth elements which are used in the production of hybrid vehicles. We’ll just be dependent on a different material.
The way to influence consumer behavior is not to provide a fuel efficient alternative when gas is only $2.50 per gallon. There is little demand. Changing the price through taxation will drive consumer demand for fuel efficient vehicles. Once the demand is there car manufacturers will provide alternatives. Why would I spend $30k on a high tech vehicle like this when I could buy a Ford Fiesta that gets 40 mpg for half the money. $15k buys a lot of gas.
#27 Pedrito, I know you’re doing your part riding the donkey but the animal cruelty is inexcusable.
#28 Philgar, I’m familiar the Chinese are attempting to corner the market on rare earth elements. That does not excuse us for doing nothing about energy independence and the Chinese don’t own all the battery technology, much less the innovation in batteries that is expected.
We agree on taxation part. Gas priced at $2.50 is a fallacy. The military cost of protecting the oil fields is not factored in and neither is the cost of polluting the environment. When you factor that in, the price of a gallon of gas is probably around $10.
The issue is Republicans like to have the price of oil subsidized with tax dollars. Republicans love our cheap oil entitlement spending.
Doesn’t the boost in one’s electric bill count as a cost in figuring the putative “miles per gallon” figure?
In most everybody’s mind, the MPG = Cost Of Motion over Distance. But the display shows only the drain only on gasoline reserves, cheerfully (and agenda-driven) reporting a misleading figure while completely disregarding the substantial extra costs of energy.
How much is the combined electricity (which sadly continues to be not free) and gasoline for various length trips?
Only when these figures are part of the popular mindset will people be able to judge the Volt’s economic realities.
But nothing from GM seems willing to report reality.
What is the reality?
Never buy version 1.0 of any product. That’s what the current Volt is. Sure, I would like to own one, but I will wait for the next ones to come out. Perhaps the price will be a little lower too.
No, I do not want to buy a foreign car. I’d rather buy from a company that is based in the US. Even though other cars are assembled in the US, the profits for R&D, and other engineering go directly to the country of the corporate headquarters. That’s why I am sticking with American made. Even if it costs more.
Rabble…me too. Ford looks pretty good these days.
Buy American, it’s the patriotic thing to do.