One year with the Volt, and savages in this town.

[ChrisV]

It's my Volt's one year anniversary and I'm not driving it, but more on that in a bit.

I love the car, still. Other than long trips (like the one from Baltimore to Maine and back for Thanksgiving) I'm not going to the gas station anymore. I can definitely deal with that. It still feels quick, is comfortable to drive, carries a lot of stuff, and it's so quiet. Very much feels like a luxury car and makes gas powered cars feel crude in comparison, when I have to drive them, like now.

Last week, someone did a hit and run on the side of the Volt, smashing in the driver's rear door and quarter panel.







Not only is the door caved in, but the door jamb and lower quarter panel is pushed in. It's at the body shop now having the door replaced, and I'm in a rental, a '12 Impala with 30k rental miles on it. What a soulless, lifeless, joyless car. I can usually find something to like about any car, but not this one.

[Soup DeVille]

Is there anything on them that keeps track, long term, of how much of your driving uses the gas engine and how much is all electric?

[Raza]

Sons of bitches.  My neighbor's mother backed into my rear quarter panel a little while ago, but at least they had the decency to find out whose car it was and tell me about it. 

Hope it gets fixed up fast and I'm glad you like the Volt.  I really think that cars like the Volt are a great choice for the majority of people.  Can't say I'd ever be able to drive one, but it's a genius design. 

[280Z Turbo]

How does the heat work?

[FlatBlackCaddy]

I thought that looked like your volt.

I figured it would buff out so I didn't bother leaving a note.

[giant_mtb]

So...I have to ask...what kind of mileage do you see with this thing?  Or is that even something worth discussing??

Also, how well do the batteries cope with the cold?  I realize you can leave it plugged it at home overnight to keep it warm and charged, but what about when you go to work and it sits outside in the cold all day?  Does it lose juice?

[ChrisV]

Is there anything on them that keeps track, long term, of how much of your driving uses the gas engine and how much is all electric?

yeah, there's a site called Voltstats.net that when you sign up, tracks the gas vs electric fuel mileage based on the OnStar reports, so you can see how your daily, monthly, and annual fuel use/electrical use, etc stacks up. you can see total MPG, fuel mpg, mpg-e, total miles driven on electric vs gas, etc. and compare to your self or other Volts regionally and nationally.

[ChrisV]

How does the heat work?

Really good. it's a lot like a hot tub setup in that there's a heating element that heats the coolant and circulates it though a heater core. When the gas generator is running (and it will run automatically if the outside temps are below about 20 degrees F) then the gas engine heats the coolant and circulates it through the heater core instead. I tend to preheat the car while it's plugged in so that when I go out to get in and go to work, the car is warm inside and defrosted. I can then use the Eco climate control setting to use less energy to maintain the heat after it's unplugged.

[ChrisV]

So...I have to ask...what kind of mileage do you see with this thing?  Or is that even something worth discussing??

Since I only use gas on longer trips, like the trip up to Main and back, it gets between 45-55 mpg on those trips, and doesn't use gas the rest of the time, except for the occasional highway blast where I tend to switch to "hold" mode to run the generator and hold the battery charge for in town use. Even at that, the total fuel used to run the generator is so minor that I haven't gone to the gas station in a year except to take those long trips. There have been 5 total longer trips since I got the car, once to southern Virginia, 3 times up to central Connecticut and back and the one up to Maine and back. Keeps my lifetime fuel mileage to about 170mpg or so (essentially, how far i've gone overall divided by how much fuel I've used overall), and the daily fuel MPG is infinite, as I don't use gas at all.

I use about $8-10 in electricity per month, though since we've got a rommate in the house, our total electric bill went up by a bit anyhow, as the whole house is electric, not gas, and we now run the washer and dryer more than before.

Also, how well do the batteries cope with the cold?  I realize you can leave it plugged it at home overnight to keep it warm and charged, but what about when you go to work and it sits outside in the cold all day?  Does it lose juice?

The batteries hate the cold, which is why when it's under 20 degrees F, the gas engine kicks on to maintain heat in them. The total range drops noticeably when the temps are sub-freezing, indicating only about 30 miles electric range (between 30-32 miles depending on temps). In the summer, the range was up over 45 miles indicated, and actual use could see upwards of 60 miles actual range, even with the AC on. I can go from my house to downtown Baltimore (about 10 miles ) on an indicated 2 miles of used range in the summer, but it takes almost 8 miles of indicated range to go that same 10 miles in the winter.

But no, it doesn't lose any range if it's not plugged in. If you park it and it shows 28 miles remaining, then when you come out of wark late that day, it'll still have 28 miles remaining. Same if you leave it unpluged overnight. Whatever range was showing when you parked it is what it will be indicating when you get back in it, though at home there's no real reason to leave it unplugged.

[NomisR]

Wow, your electricity is cheap.  So far, I've had my Volt for a little over 2 months and my lifetime is showing about 88.4 MPG and that's with about 2/3 of my commute electric, 1/3 with gas.  Most of my bad mileage days were accumulated early on with an average of 70s mpg daily, but right now, the daily is about 100ish.  I think my eMPG is about 60 though.

At my electricty price at about $0.11 per kWh, it equals roughly a little less than 1/3 of the price of gas so i'm still saving.  And even at tier 4 price of $0.31 per kWh, it's still cheaper than getting gas.  My last tank of gas used 8 gal got me about 850miles of range.  That's acceptable I guess. 

BTW Chris, did you end up with an L2 charger?

[AutobahnSHO]

Funny this seems to be the best bridge to everyone driving electric cars- yet the Fed keeps trying so many other dumb ideas.  They should buy fleets of these and put charging ports at all the government parking lots....

[ChrisV]

BTW Chris, did you end up with an L2 charger?

No. Never needed it or the added cost. When the car is home, it charges even at the 8 amp level easily between the time I come home and the time I leave for work, even if I'm out running errands in the evening. If I need to, I'll swap it to the 12a charge rate (for example if I'm out at an event and get home at 11-midnight) and it's still charged before I leave for work using just the 120v charger.

I kind of figured that I don't really know what my next car will be or what it's requirements will be (I could replace it with another Volt but I might go with the "cheaper" Tesla model in 2016) so invensting in a Level 2 charger when I might not need it in 2 years would be silly for me.

[NomisR]

No. Never needed it or the added cost. When the car is home, it charges even at the 8 amp level easily between the time I come home and the time I leave for work, even if I'm out running errands in the evening. If I need to, I'll swap it to the 12a charge rate (for example if I'm out at an event and get home at 11-midnight) and it's still charged before I leave for work using just the 120v charger.

I kind of figured that I don't really know what my next car will be or what it's requirements will be (I could replace it with another Volt but I might go with the "cheaper" Tesla model in 2016) so invensting in a Level 2 charger when I might not need it in 2 years would be silly for me.

Why don't you just charge at 12amp all the time?  Or are you worried about the electrical load on your home? 

For me though, I figured the tax credit is ending at 2013, might as well get it, it's priced good enough and it allows me to charge up and go out at night after work. 

[ChrisV]

Why don't you just charge at 12amp all the time?  Or are you worried about the electrical load on your home?

It's a PITA to go through the menus to increase the charge rate every time you park it to charge it. If I could set it and forget it, and it stayed in the 12A rate, that's be fine, but GM figured there may be some garages/homes with a high load on that outlet already, or someone would choose to use an extension cord, so they made it default to 8a every time you drive the car.

[NomisR]

It's a PITA to go through the menus to increase the charge rate every time you park it to charge it. If I could set it and forget it, and it stayed in the 12A rate, that's be fine, but GM figured there may be some garages/homes with a high load on that outlet already, or someone would choose to use an extension cord, so they made it default to 8a every time you drive the car.

Yeah, that's what I hated the most about L1 charging.  I had to restart my car a couple of times just to change it to 12amp.  Now though, it's just plug and play.  But i figured that with more and more EVs getting introduced, a 30amp charger should be at least sufficient for future EVs since the standard should be around at least for 10 years.  And 7kWh charging should be enough for a full day's use when charged over night at least. 

[GoCougs]

Bummer. It is shocking how many savages live among us.

[MexicoCityM3]

I think plug-ins like the Volt make huge sense for cities. I saw one the other day driving around here in MC, but it's not officially available here yet.

[Secret Chimp]

None of the photos are working for me, even if I copy-paste the URLs

[Laconian]

Have you seen my TSX Successor thread?

Based on the criteria I've laid out, and my experiences with candidate cars, do you think the Volt would be worth considering?

[Madman]

Given that your fuel consumption is so low, I'm wondering if there is a danger of the fuel in the tank going bad before you actually need it.  Does GM recommend throwing a bottle of STA-BIL into the tank or do they have other preventative measures to keep this from happening?

[2o6]

Car starts once in awhile to burn up gas

[Madman]

Car starts once in awhile to burn up gas

But what about the gas that's left in the tank?  For someone who rarely uses the on-board generator, that gas could be a year old or even older.  Ever try to start a lawnmower with old, bad gas in it?  What's to keep the gas in the Volt's tank from going bad over time before it can be used?

[giant_mtb]

http://www.plugincars.com/putting-thought-putting-gas-chevy-volt-69473.html

Assuming this is true, sounds like they considered it. The car keeps very good track of the amount and age of fuel in the tank and if it's old enough will apparently run the engine to ensure that bad gas isn't a worry.

[Madman]

http://www.plugincars.com/putting-thought-putting-gas-chevy-volt-69473.html

Assuming this is true, sounds like they considered it. The car keeps very good track of the amount and age of fuel in the tank and if it's old enough will apparently run the engine to ensure that bad gas isn't a worry.

Ah-ha!  Some seriously clever stuff going on in those Volts! 

[giant_mtb]

I can't imagine they wouldn't have thought of such a scenario. Assuming a good portion of the engineers are "car guys," the issue of aging gas was probably one of the first things to come up. haha

[280Z Turbo]

I can't imagine they wouldn't have thought of such a scenario. Assuming a good portion of the engineers are "car guys," the issue of aging gas was probably one of the first things to come up. haha

That's a faulty assumption.

[giant_mtb]

Maybe, but there had to have at least been one guy to bring it up when the board decided that the car must be able to go for months without re-fueling.

[NomisR]

Have you seen my TSX Successor thread?

Based on the criteria I've laid out, and my experiences with candidate cars, do you think the Volt would be worth considering?

I did suggest it.. it pretty much fits into what you wanted although it's on the smaller side closer to an A4 and only seats 4.

[Mustangfan2003]

I think the Volt is a lot more logical than a Leaf or a Tesla where you are limited to how much power your electric motor has. 

[NomisR]

Maybe, but there had to have at least been one guy to bring it up when the board decided that the car must be able to go for months without re-fueling.

I think that's also one of the reason why the car's premium only rather than regular as well..