Congrats on you new Volt! Yes, you can shift L-D or D-L while moving. You might want to be cautious going from D to L as the regenerative breaking as a function of throttle setting kicks in when you do this.
My 2015 routinely goes 43-45 miles on 10kw. My driving style could be characterized as “cautious”😬. My driving is about half Suburban stop and go and half highway at 60mph.

 

65 isn't impossible, ideal conditions will allow it, congrats on the car.

Typical in the summer is around 3.5kwh to 4kwh if you stay mostly urban driving. Highway kind of kills it unless you enjoy the right lane and speed limit.

 

I rarely use the entire battery on a trip but I have recorded 65.25 miles on a charge per the Voltstats site. This was last summer

 

Flatlanders who drive at the speed limit, assuming under 65 MPH, can achieve those numbers and even greater range on a single charge. Of course if your route was all down hill or if you drive for an hour with a decent tail wind that is not the same achievement. As noted, you can shift from D to L or L to D at any time. Until you let your foot off the accelerator pedal the Volt will behave the same whether in D or L.

 

D and L are not driving gears, but level settings for regen. You can change them while moving.

The Wikipedia article on the Gen 2 Volt has a sidebar with specs for the 2017 Volt. There it says the battery is 18.4 kWh, 14 kWh usable. There are several factors the car’s system uses to determine when it is time to "switch to gas" as the car is moving down the road, so the 14.5 kWh you noted is within a reasonable variable range for a full depletion.

Note that the energy usage display of kWh Used is not a meter reading, but a net estimate of grid power used less regen put back into the battery. If you drive down a long hill, for example, you may notice this number decreases as regen is put back into the battery. The "net" calculation allows the "fully depleted" reading to remain fairly consistent, representing the amount of usable power in a fully charged battery.

For more information on the kWh Used display, check out forum moderator Steverino’s kWh Used vs. Battery Degradation FAQ: kWh Used vs. Battery Degradation FAQ

As to how far you could drive a Gen 2 Volt on a single charge, consider the impact of downhill regen on mileage (i.e., regen is not counted as fuel when calculating fuel mileage): you are on a plateau, where one road makes a long descent into the valley far below. Charge your Gen 2 Volt, then unplug and drive around the plateau until just before the ev range estimate drops to 0 (at window sticker ratings, the display might now read: 52.9 Electric Miles/13.9 kWh Used). You’re now at the edge of the plateau and start the long descent. Let’s say the downhill drive is 10.1 miles and it’s steep and long enough for regen to fully recharge your battery. When you reach the valley floor, the display reads 63.0 Electric Miles / 0 kWh Used.

You now drive around the valley floor another 53 ev miles, and the car finally runs out of battery power and switches to gas. Your display now reads: 116.0 Electric Miles / 14.0 kWh Used, 232 MPGe

Do you really believe you just drove 116 ev miles on only the 14.0 of grid power you put into the battery when you charged it at the top of the mesa?

 

I just bought 2017 Volt Premier three weeks ago. Showing 65 miles driven on 14.5 kWh. That gives over 4 miles per kWh. That seems better than most other EV’s including Tesla’s. I’m scared to get my hopes up That this could be accurate. The miles driven should be accurate. Does anybody any know if the kWh should be trusted or is it a guess.

KWH used is a pretty reliable estimate on the Gen 2. For what it is. But it will change charge to charge (by as much as a kwh or more) based somewhat on how fast you run down the charge, temperature, how long ago it finished charging, and other mysterious and undocumented reasons. So you can know what you used, but not how much you'll get next time, beyond kind of a ballpark figure. And the miles-to-go guess-o-meter is similar but worse, as it's working off of not only that fuzzy "what you'll get next time" but also how efficiently you've been driving lately. A good rainstorm with wind can throw it off for days.

(unrelated) can I shift from L to D while moving?

Absolutely.

 

... That gives over 4 miles per kWh. That seems better than most other EV’s ....

(unrelated) can I shift from L to D while moving?

Miles/kWh totally depends on how you drive it and the conditions of that drive.

You can shift all you want. The gears are always engaged, you're only changing the flow of electrons.
You can shift to R from D and back again while moving slowly for parking maneuvers. I do it all the time. Saves a little on the friction brakes!

Again, there is no 'Gear Changing' it's only electron flow changing.

 

Miles per Wh are largely a function of ambient temperature and speed. The sweet spot for max efficiency when using the battery occurs at a fairly low speed; something like 20 mph. Above that, efficiency drops (and really drops at freeway speed). Here is a link to the data https://avt.inl.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/phev/fact2016chevroletvolt.pdf. The electric efficiency (measured in Wh/mile) is on page 2. Note that the figures given are steady-state. Theoretically, at 20 mph it only takes 130 Wh to travel 1 mile and you could go over 100 miles on a full charge. (Again, that's assuming you never speed up or slow down, so it's unrealistic in real life traffic conditions).

 

Theoretically, at 20 mph it only takes 130 Wh to travel 1 mile and you could go over 100 miles on a full charge. (Again, that's assuming you never speed up or slow down, so it's unrealistic in real life traffic conditions).

We've seen it though. Highest single-charge we've had recorded on a closed loop was (IIRC) 116 miles on a 2016. Gen 1 set by the same fellow was 83 miles. And yeah, he did it maintaining I think 23 MPH. Too low for even cruise control.

 

We've had a few warm days here in central Oregon lately, and I've been trying a little harder than usual to get some good range estimates. My 2017 Premier just finished charging, and here is the result. The conditions are good except for the terrain which is never above the 0 marker, and I did run the air a few times. Here's a shot of the panel

 

 

I have had 3 volts, I have a 2018 Volt now, Its how you drive, will give you the miles, my 2018 Volt charges to 72 miles in summer, during the time of winter in Florida and not use the air cond the Volt will charge to 76 miles, its how you drive and what you have on, I have a 2017 Bolt if I drive it around town it will charge and drive 360 miles with out the AC ON , and 335 miles with AC on in town, the KWH is right, and you can shift from L to D while you are driving!

 

I've verified going into my second summer with my 2014 that I get more miles per charge if I run the A/C on ECO at 75 degrees when it is hot out. Best I can figure the A/C also cools the traction battery pack thus eking a few more miles out of it. It seemed counter intuitive at first as the A/C takes battery energy to run. It seems to be a win win trade off where you get more electric miles and also stay comfortable at the same time. It's back to averaging 42-45 miles per charge again. Keeping the speed down and one-foot driving really helps also.

What really kills the miles is the electric resistance heater in the winter. I had some days down in the upper 20s when the ambient was below 10 degrees.

 

I assure you the Volt can do some astonishing numbers. My Volt on average does about 122kms when I drove normally. When I drive carefully (not hypermiling because I still think it's very unsafe, especially where I live!!), My Volt does about 142-147 Kms with a/c off. I once got 166 Kms on a charge which was insane... Hahahaha!

In other words, my goal in summer in EV mode only is to do 90wh/km and 160 wh/km in winter. And you will find your volt is capable of incredible efficiency. As compared to my Model 3 which I average 120 wh/km in summer and 198 wh/km in winter. Both cars are extremely efficient for what they are and their size. Best of the best and I always have a hard time choosing which I want to drive. Hahaha.

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