[JoeReal]

I drove the 2017 Volt for 4,003 miles last April. Four thousand and two of those miles are fueled by electricity and only one mile from maintenance mode gasoline because the car has to make sure that all the parts of its built-in super charger aka generator, are lubricated, well maintained and functioning. Last month, my lifetime MPG was boosted to 685.

According to My Chevrolet website, I have saved 155 gallons of gasoline, and prevented the burning of 1.5 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. The savings last month on gasoline alone is about $525 while my electricity is free, at work or at charging station, or from solar at home.

About 3,000 to 4,000 miles per month of commuting in pure electricity is what my Chevy Volt can do without having to worry about charging nor planning my trips around charging stations. I typically average 40,000 miles each year with regular ICE cars and it seems I can do the same using electricity with my Volt plus maybe 4 times a year of 500 mile trips. No range anxiety, no worries about losing electricity because it has its own supercharger on board.

No other hybrid cars can do what our Chevy Volt does for me! It is the most efficient car I have ever used, and the ride is super nice.

According to VoltStats, I averaged 133.80 EV miles a day for the month of April. That boosted me to rank #9 in the Hall Of Fame at VoltStats.

 

[JoeReal]

That's a lot of EV miles in a month...what is your driving pattern?

Let's begin by saying that my regular daily commuting trip is 105 miles plus have been active volunteering after office hours for rare plant hobbyists. Weekends, I ran errands like crazy, helping friends repair landscape, replace plants, fix irrigation, other house repairs, spring time is crazy so I get 150-250 miles per day on weekends. I time my work duration on weekends while I'm charging.

 

[JoeReal]

You must have awesome access to charging!

I have pre-installed a NEMA 14-50 plug for an RV in our house as it was being built, and so I just built an adapter for the OEM EVSE that came with the Chevy Volt, thanks to Chris of Texas and others who have shown how to mod an adapter plug, and so now I have 240V charging at home. An already paid Solar PV can make your recharging awesome and guilt-free. Charging at work is also free, but I feel somewhat guilty for sucking up the free electrons. There are many free charging stations to where I go to volunteer work on weekends, that could be part of the reason why they set those stations up to encourage volunteers to go electric.

 

[JoeReal]

I use the free charging stations, ChargePoint, and I've only used 2 kWh for free last month.

 

[JoeReal]

I use the free charging stations, ChargePoint, and I've only used 2 kWh for free last month.

Here's a better pic

 

[JoeReal]

That is simply amazing. More than two full charges per day on average!.

Oftentimes 2 full charge. With 125-138 MPGe and sometimes getting 174 MPGe on one trip (80+ miles on one charge), I usually get 61-68 miles per full charge. Winter time has been the worst, only 48 miles per full charge when stormy and wet to 60 miles per charge when dry

 

[JoeReal]

I guess you have the best case for workplace charging that is possible. And that's with GM's gen2 Volt "slow" 3.6kw L2 charging. Gen2 Volt overnight charging is easy, but getting more than a 2nd full charge every day takes another 4.5-6 hours on the average ... plus I think he said he was using the ChrisTx adapter so he's only getting 2.88kw at home. Also, public charging is often 3-phase, 3.3kw instead of 3.6kw.

gen2 volt l2 charging speed:
3.6kw, 12mph charging (240v charging @ 15 amps)
3.3kw, 11mph charging (3-phase public charging, 208v @ 16 amps)
2.88kw, 9.6mph charging (ChrisTx adapter, 240v @ 12 amps)

I use the ChrisTx adapter that I bring with me to work, so that's 2.88kW, then public charging station near home, which is either the 3.6kW or the 3.3kW depending on which slot is vacant. Most public charging stations in places that I volunteer to work for free have the 3.3kW chargers. Then I charge at home only to top-off or mostly charge at home some of the weekends, and that's the 2.88kW plugged into the 14-50 NEMA outlet.

 

[JoeReal]

Dam, that's a lot of seat time and it seems like you have an efficient system worked out too. Nicely done!

Thanks. I'm glad I loved the seat of the Volt and the Bose Sound System to listen to music piped through iPhone from Amazon, relaxing especially when traffic is bad. Thanks to the ACC, most of my driving has been stress-free and very few near misses and that's not caused by me.

 

[JoeReal]

Sounds like a Tesla would do you better with more EV range. Driving Volt's the past 3 years I can say that I do not need to use gasoline so all the gas i'm slugging around is just useless and worthless and could be more EV range.


Can't wait to upgrade my Volt to a Tesla after my lease is done!

Nope! Even though we can comfortably afford a Tesla, it's lack of range extender and planning your life around supercharging stations is not suited for us. We're still not convinced of owning a Bolt EV because it has no range extender.

At about every quarter, we do a 600 mile trip to visit our kids, something that is very inconvenient to do with a Tesla than just the Chevy Volt. We love the high seating of the Chevy Bolt EV, but alas, the trip takes way longer than necessary because it is just an ordinary BEV and its longer range is useless for our long trips to the outdoors. I asked just about one segment of the trip, and the group offered suggestions as to where the fast chargers and level 2 chargers are along the way, and it always added many hours to the trip due to recharging. So if there's a CUV or SUV with Voltec, even with just 40 mile EV Range, we'll grab it in a heart beat. The Pacifica hybrid would have been nice but we're no longer soccer moms and dads and don't need a minivan. SUV or CUV would be our next vehicle to have but it should be Voltec or have a range extender.

The Chevy Volt's EV range is perfect for us but alas it has very low seats that isn't good for the 600 mile trip.

BTW, with the Chevy Volt, I can make the 600-mile trip on a full charge and a full tank of gas without having to refill or recharge along the way.

 

[JoeReal]

One major advantage of the Chevy Volt's Voltec Drive train is that we have no fear of maxing out the use of the battery. It would be too uncomfortable to max out the battery of the Bolt EV, Tesla and of course the Leaf. So some of the extra batteries carried around by the pure electric cars are seldom put to use, just weight being lugged around as a safety buffer, for most number of daily trips and they won't venture further without planning around charging stations that may not be available when they get there. Yes the Volt carries the engine around too, but we don't need to plan our trips around some charging stations that may be out of the way.

And that is why in the real world out there, although there are more Teslas sold than Chevy Volt, and that the Teslas battery range is about 5 to 6 times than that of the Chevy Volt, the Chevy Volt has racked up more electric miles than the Tesla. Conclusion: The Chevy Volt is the most practical electric car in the world and can bring the real change. And it would still be for at least the next 5 years. Just my opinion.