Anybody have a Chevy Volt??

[Rick Potter]

Since I got solar panels installed, I have been thinking about a plug-in car. I started with the Chevy Spark all electric, thinking I would just get an around town runabout, then I thought maybe I would be better off with the larger Nissan Leaf. After a few unpleasant dealer contacts, I have sworn off Nissan. Now my wife is involved, and wants something more like a 'real car', and wants bells and whistles too.

So, my search is leading me to the Volt, which plugs in, and has a motor also, like some other plug in hybrids, except it goes a lot further on electricity than others. Prices have dropped 5 grand, plus the dealers are discounting, plus $9,000 in rebates in CA.

Back to the question. Does anyone have one, and what do you think of it. Recommend it? Hate it? Please share.

Rick Potter

PS: My adult daughter who lives with us just bought a Hyundai Sonata Hybrid. Really nice car, with a 10 year guarantee, and lifetime on the batteries. It is NOT a plug in, though. I want a plug in because our panels are producing more power than we use, and the excess might as well go in the 'gas tank'.

[Mike Henderson]

I know a couple of people who own a Volt and they love them. I don't have any first hand experience with them.

The concept is good. You use the battery for some number of miles, and when you run out of battery, the motor cuts in so you never have to worry about being stranded. I think it's really designed as a commuter car - drive to work and maybe back on the battery. If your company has a charging station, you may never pay for gas.

The battery can be charged with a 115V connection because the capacity of the battery is small enough that it can be charged overnight on 115V. But a 230V charger is faster. I met a couple who were driving from San Francisco to LA and they plugged in every night at their motel.

Mike

[Side note: They told me that the motels now ask what kind of car you're driving. If it's an electric they give you a second floor room so it's harder for you to hook up to your car, since it increases their electric bill.]

[Jim Koepke]

[Side note: They told me that the motels now ask what kind of car you're driving. If it's an electric they give you a second floor room so it's harder for you to hook up to your car, since it increases their electric bill.]

Interesting, how many kilowatts does it take to charge a car?

One would think a motel would want to have charging stations as an incentive to get folks to stay there.

jtk

[Brian Elfert]

A co-worker has one and really likes it. He can make it to work and back on electric so long as he doesn't need a lot of heat or air conditioning. During the spring and fall he goes more than a month on a tank of gas typically. He said it costs about $40 a month to charge. He is leasing the Volt. The lease is fairly expensive, but he said he was spending $250 a month on gas before so between his former car payment and his former gas bill he is saving money.

I'm not sure one can really justify the Volt versus a similar sized gasoline car based on total cost of ownership.

[Art Mann]

With the microscopic market penetration of full electric cars and the very limited range of electric cars, I can't see how the average motel could come out to the good by installing expensive charging stations. I believe the Nissan Leaf has about the longest range of any affordable all electric and it is something like 90 miles. I would guess that most people who are traveling far enough to need a motel would not limit themselves to a vehicle that will only go 90 miles a day. I would love to have an all electric, or even a Chevy Volt with a 30 mile electric range, just for driving around town. I just can't afford to own a car just for that purpose. I hope they will eventually come down in price enough so I can afford one. Right now, the price is substantially lower due to heavy government subsidy. That won't last forever.

[eugene thomas]

The battery coast would have me nervas. I have 2007 civic with 150000 miles and am seeing price for battery pack of $3000. But hey when bought car new dealer assured me he can get me good deal on battery when time comes.....

[Mike Henderson]

Interesting, how many kilowatts does it take to charge a car?

One would think a motel would want to have charging stations as an incentive to get folks to stay there.

jtk

You're probably right. They may have just gotten a second floor room and thought the charging was why they were given it. It was just something they told me and I didn't think it through.

Mike

[Phil Thien]

You're probably right. They may have just gotten a second floor room and thought the charging was why they were given it. It was just something they told me.

Mike

If they stay in a 1st floor room, do they run a cord from the room out to the car? I'd think there would be a tripping hazard, and also you'd have to leave the door slightly open all night.

[Jerry Thompson]

Electric? Your still burning coal/oil.

[Art Mann]

Electric? Your still burning coal/oil.

That is true but the fact is that it is currently cheaper to buy the electricity to power a car a certain distance than it is to buy gasoline to go that same distance. If you are just talking about preserving the environment, then you make a good point. There is also the problem in coming years of disposal or reprocessing of the huge quantity of expended batteries that contain lots of long lasting toxic waste.

[David Weaver]

The battery coast would have me nervas. I have 2007 civic with 150000 miles and am seeing price for battery pack of $3000. But hey when bought car new dealer assured me he can get me good deal on battery when time comes.....

I can't speak for the volts, but the battery pack replacements for the prius have not been a frequent occurrence, especially compared to what people feared they'd be. They are also covered by a fairly long and non-prorated warranty.

The volts batteries should last a long time according to their original literature, the system was to keep the battery between 25 and 90% of full charge, which would eliminate most of what damages batteries (full discharge and overcharge).

I know several people with a prius and hybrid fords (in my case a mercury mariner hybrid) and none of them have ever done anything with the batteries.

On the other hand, I have owned two volkswagen jetta gas powered cars and they have required money hand over fist for maintenance, and neither of them have had more than 75000 miles. I would've been MUCH better off with a prius in both cases.

Can't speak directly for the volt, but if there is a problem with battery packs going kaput, it will be publicized because there is always someone with a business interest in publicizing negative news about a competing technology. Just as GM has nothing good to say about tesla, as the model S quickly moved into a position outselling the volt less than a year after it was introduced. And at a much higher price and without gasoline powered range.

[Brian Elfert]

Electric? Your still burning coal/oil.

Electricity can be produced from sources that are not fossil fuels like wind, nuclear, or solar. Nuclear has its own issues, but it isn't fossil fuel. There really isn't a viable way to power a car without using fossil fuels except maybe electricity.

Transportation in the first world consumes vast amount of resources both to power the vehicles and to make and service the vehicles.

[Michael Dedon]

MY wife and I have one. Bought it Oct 31 last year. She drives it 10 miles round trip each day, city traffic. Costs almost exactly $1/day to charge. We put a meter in the circuit to measure it. She's put five gallons of gas in it since we've had it. That cost $20. Do the math. She loves it. My opinion: It costs too much off the lot. Road noise is horrible. Rear and side visibility is terrible. Mileage listed on the sticker is wrong. She gets much better and she has taken trips of more than 75 miles where it needed the generator to make the round trip. You make your own choice but I lobbied hard for the Prius since I retired from Toyota but I'm impressed with the Volt.

[Brian Elfert]

Michael, you're complaining that a vehicle gets better mileage than the sticker? I would be happy if I got better than the sticker says.

[Mike Henderson]

Electric? You're still burning coal/oil.

One advantage of electric cars is that the pollution is moved from the centers of population - if oil and coal is used for generation. This is a positive impact for the people living in the population center. That's why California had mandated a certain percentage of car sales to be electric.

And when someone buys an electric car, they often have a solar installation on their house. While they may not charge during the day, they put clean energy into the grid during the day and take dirty electricity at night. For the owner, this often means that they can drive cost free for fuel.

While this doesn't apply to carbon dioxide emissions, other kinds of emissions can be better controlled when the generation of the emissions is in one place. That is, a power plant has scrubbers that remove a significant amount of the smog forming emissions.

Finally, the delivery of fuel to a power plant is less emission intensive than the delivery of fuel to service stations, who then deliver it to the final user.

Mike