I liked the Volt on a test drive. Wifey commented there wasn’t a front passenger side grip but grips found on the both rear entry. Pretty cheap but apparently not cheap enough for GM.
The largest reduction in co2 emissions over the last 10 years has come directly from those profit driven energy companies, and not the government: the huge increase in natural gas production.
As for the Volt and other EVs and plug in hybrids: get one if you like it and it fits your needs. Just make sure you understand the real, as opposed to the imagined, benefits.
I own a hybrid even though it probably wasn’t the absolute lowest cost option because it fit with both my interests and needs.
How about a lower cost version of the Volt with a smaller battery?
Shouldn’t be too hard to do.
Lot’s of people could still save gas with half the electric range of the current car.
Could also be more competitive with the PHV Prius.
When I test drove both cars, same dealership. The pricing between Prius PHV and Volt wasn’t that much different.
I really liked the Malibu with electric assist.
So undercutting the Prius wouldn’t be competitive?
I think one needs to live in an area where people drive Tesla’s because a Tesla is cheap compared to their home. And a Volt or Prius is for the worker bees
Wow, welcome to the echo chamber. It looks to me like there aren’t many Volt owners on this site, so I just added one. I could spend days discounting all of the misinformation in this thread, so I’ll cherry pick a few things and give my opinion to the original poster.
First, regardless of where you are located, electric vehicles are cleaner than gas. Yes, even in Hawaii or Wisconsin. Why? Because even though > 50% of their power comes from coal, coal power plants can’t be cycled. That means all those EVs are charging off of what is, essentially, “sunk pollution.” And considering the fleet average MPG is 23, you’d be hard pressed to find any EV that inefficient.
Second, the most expensive part of owning a vehicle is not the initial cost, it is the cost of ownership. That is why, despite the initial difference in price, the Volt and a base model Cruze cost the same after only five years, and most Volt owners feel that the difference in amenities alone is worth cost difference. That’s right, your $15,000 car costs more than $5,000 a year to own. Bravo for thinking ahead. By the way, after credits, my Volt cost under $30,000. Sounds about right for a mid-level sedan, doesn’t it?
Third, the idea that a Prius (even a plug-in model) costs the same as my Volt to drive is ludicrous. I pay $0.13/kWh for electricity (it used to be $0.06… sad face), and I average a little over 4 miles per kWh. You do the math. Gas would have to be $2 per gallon for a Prius to match that. Don’t get me wrong, the Prius is a good economy car, but it is just that: an economy car. My Volt is a nice car that just so happens to be cheaper to drive than a Prius. A nice, five-star-safety-rated, decently equipped, well-handling car… that just so happens to be cheaper to drive than a Prius.
Now, to answer the original poster’s question: From the sounds of it, a Volt would be ideal for you in your situation. If you make those long trips often enough (maybe once a month), you won’t have to worry about the gas going stale in the tank. Basically, and this is a necessary evil, if gas sits for too long in the tank, the Volt will burn it off anyway. That is why many Volt owners only leave a couple of gallons in the tank (they don’t use gas often enough).
As far as being a flop, unfortunately, it is too soon to tell. If it is, that is even more of a reason to get one. I will say this, though: If the Volt fails, it will have nothing to do with the value of the car itself. It has everything to do with its being used as a political punching bag as well as all of the negative press it received because of a few GM bondholders who lost their investments due to the bailout (you’d be surprised at how vocal they can be). Really, in the end, all you need to know about the Volt is that it has the highest owner satisfaction ratings of any car… ever.
Coal plants, eh?
Do you know that Gasoline takes electricity to refine? Something like 3-5 kWh or more is used to produce one gallon of gas. 5kWh would propel me 15 miles or more. Just yesterday, drove my Volt from home to work and went 49 miles on 13 kWh of electricity.
How much electricity is in YOUR tank of gas? Think about it.
(don’t forget to research the well to wheels energy input in producing and delivering your gasoline - all the while only 25% of that gallon goes into actual propulsion and 75% goes up in the air as heat. Doesn’t that all sound a bit wasteful?)
One more item to remember. Producing Natural Gas creates a lot of off-gassed methane. Enough so that the flares in the Dakotas can be seen from space. We vent so much methane from fracking sites that it may negate the CO2 savings from burning Nat Gas versus Coal in electricity plants.
I’ve owned a 2012 for a year now and couldn’t be more pleased with it. My daily commute is 44 miles, (50% highway, 50% surface street) and I can do it all on a single charge. I’ve driven 12K miles so far, and used 8.7 gallons of gas.(some long trips, and the Volt burning off stale gas)
At 9.5 cents per KWH (in KY) it costs about $1.10 a day to fully charge it (in response to those who think their electric bill skyrockets when you have an electric car). In addition, the Volt can be charged using a common 120V outlet. So when I pull in at work in the morning, I plug it in, and it’s fully charged again after lunch. I can run some errands on the way home and still use no gas that way. The boss doesn’t mind the 50 cents a day he’s putting in. (Seeing how much I love mine, he bought himself a Volt a couple of months ago)
So my commute actually costs me 55 cents or so, instead of the $7 a day for 2 gallons of gas my trusty Subaru used to cost me. And it’s such a quiet, smooth, ride!
As others have pointed out, it’s a new design. Will it last as long as a conventional ICE car? We wont’ know for years yet. I DO know that mine has performed flawlessly, and my maintenance costs so far have been tire rotation and fixing a flat when I rolled over a nail. I’ll probably change the oil sometime in 2014, just because.
A Volt doesn’t fit everyone’s driving situation. No vehicle will. But if it is a good fit for you, chances are pretty good that you will really enjoy the experience of owning a Volt.
So how often do you use Level3 chargers?
How often do you commercial chargers?
That’s the beauty of driving a Volt. I don’t use commercial chargers because I don’t have to. On the rare occasion when I run out of battery power, the ICE generator starts up automatically, and I continue on my way without missing a beat. No range anxiety.
Of course it kills me to be burning gasoline, but that’s a personal problem I’m learning to deal with. Gas anxiety!
Hi,
I started driving a Volt in December. I would be more than happy to go on an extended test drive with you to explain all of it’s features. The 40 mile range is spot on for me. Most days I remain 100% electric, then I do go on long trips occasionally and still get 38 MPG. My “average” use is 80% electric. There is no range anxiety besides playing with the EV range sometimes when you are on a trip that’s right at the limit of the EV range, then it’s fun to see if you can make it without the gas engine kicking on, but at the same time no big deal if it does! The other day I got 47 miles on battery over a 49 mile day, and used 0.07 gal of gas.
If you are in the Boston area I’d be willing to meet and give you the full rundown of Volt ownership. It’s an amazing car and the MSRP is deceiving.
-Derek
I own a Volt. And I can tell you it is a revolutionary car. Don’t believe all the mis-information being spread by the right wing press.
My Volt is saving me about $150 PER MONTH on gasoline as compared to my previous Toyota Camry Hybrid. I have about 20,000 miles on it without a single problem. It is fast, luxurious and inexpensive to operate. When I compare the lease payment for my previous Camry + Fuel to the Volt… The Volt is significantly LESS expensive to own & operate. And the Volt is WAY more fun to drive.
You can’t really compare a Volt to a Prius any more than you can compare a BMW 300 series to a Prius. The Volt is a completely different driving experience. The Volt is a much more upscale drive.
As for reliability… It’s on par with Toyota. As for customer satisfaction… Just ask a Volt owner. Or look at the customer satisfaction ratings from JD powers or Consumer reports who BOTH rank the Volt as absolutely highest in customer satisfaction for the last three years in a row.
It is a revolutionary car. More than that… It is a completely new drivetrain that will be powering many future GM cars. It’s 100% American engineering and it’s 10 year ahead of anything Toyota has to offer. Just my 2 cents.
@ghendrick Glad you like your Volt and are keeping track. Are you also tracking your electric consumption for charging up the Volt? I have a simple power meter at home ($35 at Home Depot or Lowe’s) to measure the consumption of various appliances. Just stick that in the outlet and it will record how many KWs you consume.
This panel would love to know what you have to add to your gasoline bill to get total fueling costs.
(DUPLICATE POST)
@Docnick My Blink charger (Level 2 / 220V) has a monthly report and I seem to be averaging around $45 / month. This is based on driving around 1,600 miles each month.
@ghendrick I totally agree with your sentiment about comparing the Volt to a Prius. my first reaction when I test drove the Volt the first time was, “This is a Chevrolet?”. I previosuly had Lexus RX-300 and also a Mercedes E-E320. It definitely has an upscale feel to it. The acceleration curve is so incredibly smooth. No jerking as it swicthes gears.
It is an extremely fun car to drive, especially in sports mode. I previously had a '95 RX7 and the Volt is more fun to drive than my RX. Get’s better gas mileage too :).
It’s easy to track my electricity use. I have my charger connected to a separate “Time of Use” meter. I had my EVSE installed by SPX for FREE. The TOU meter was a requirement to qualify for the free charger. The TOU meter encourages you to charge during non-peak hours. (Cuz it’s cheaper.) I get a separate bill from LADWP that shows exactly how much I spend to charge.
So… What’s the bottom line? It’s costing me about $20 per month of electricity as compared to about $170 per month on gasoline for my daily commute.
I think it’s also important to understand that the Volt is only the first implementation of GM’s Voltec drivetrain. I don’t think that most people understand how upscale this car is. They hear the press compare it to a Chevy Cruz and think it’s just a Cruze with a battery. The Volt has suspension components used in the Cadillac CTS. The Volt has touch screens and touch activated controls. The Volt has about 50 other standard features NOT available in a Cruz. And the Volt drives more like an Audi or BMW… Yet it’s more quiet & smooth than a Lexus. It’s definitely NOT a Cruz.
As I said Volt is only the first implementation of GM’s Voltec drivetrain. GM is about the relase the new Cadillac ELR with a Voltec drivetrain. Many future GM vehicles will likely have similar drivetrain components developed from the Voltec technology.
It’s also important to not that GM has announced that the 2015 Volt will cost from $7000 to $10,000 LESS than the current Volt model. The Price will drop and the performance will increase over time.