[danieljw]

No, I don't mean the need to urgently pass gas when in a packed elevator.

Sorry for the rant. I've been thinking about this lately.

I find that I get more anxious about consuming gasoline than I do about being all electric. I see how, in a way, these are reciprocal points of view with the same meaning, but I just get annoyed when the REx comes on. This is funny to me because I came to the Volt from a crossover with much poorer fuel economy, so I don't get why I care so much about maybe having to drive at 40 mpg. I bet that if the Volt didn't meticulously track lifetime economy I would be less bothered. Blissfully ignorant, or something. This bothers me so much so that I've even been considering a Bolt or Model S to remove the gasoline stress altogether, but those options become increasing financially ridiculous.

Anyone else think about this? I'd love to hear from the people who can "just drive".

 

[Prohidium]

I simply embrace the dual technology and appreciate its ability to get me from point A to point B just about as optimally as one could ask for without having to worry about it.

 

[Dutch]

The thing that gets to me is when I go back to my Jeep, especially when I'm towing something, and I have to touch the brakes and I find myself going "sigh...all that wasted energy and no regen".

 

[llninja]

I don't have gas anxiety as my daily commute guarantees that I hit the Dino juice. For the first 2 years of volt ownership, I did drive like a grandpa, hypermiling whenever I could without pissing off other drivers, and never punching it at streetlights when next to rider boys or pony cars. Then exactly 2 years onto blissful ownership, I needed new tires and decided to splurge on 18" wheels and lower profile tires (and put snow tires on the OEM rims). Sure I took a mileage hit, but I also decided, what the heck, let's live a little. I now drive at the speed limit on the interstate, take on any and all pony cars and ricer boys at stop lights, and my overall mileage dropped from 95-100 to 75-80 mpg. It still blows away any Prius. Just be glad you aren't in a leaf with a degraded battery.

 

[hellsop]

Nah... I keep looking at weekends and wondering if I can squeeze in a 200-mile meander around some back roads because it costs me about $15 to do it now, instead of the nearly $50 it did two years ago, when gas cost twice what it does now and I had a PT Cruiser Turbo that managed about 24 MPG on a good day.

 

[freshcut]

I only have gas anxiety if I'm driving locally since any driving I do around town should NEVER require the REx. I do anticipate using it for trips of course, and that doesn't bother me to hear the engine turn on then. I guess for me it's just a matter of the engine having to run in situations I consider to be unnecessary.

 

[viking79]

Everyone has a varying degree. I generally don't unless I know I can make it on electric. Like today I had several errands and had only 4 miles range left for my 6 mile commute home with only 1 hour of work left. I plugged in at work to get the extra 4 miles for the 1 hour I had left (with permission of course), got me home with some to spare. Sitting at 900 miles on the tank with 0.1 gallons burned so far. Not bad

 

[O'Dell]

Four months and 900 miles and I still haven't used the engine. I guess I will have gas anxiety until I have to use the engine for it's designed purpose. Then maybe it will go away.

 

[SharkVolt]

I think the Volt has given me a "Jekyll and Hyde" personality. I have "gas anxiety" when I am just driving on my daily errands, and the "old" Volt I have is a little more limited on range than all the newer ones, so I seem to always have to drive a little more conservatively than I would like. But once I am on a "longer" trip I just step on it and drive 5 or 10 over the speed limit like everyone else, and it doesn't bother me much at all.

But I am looking forward to driving a Bolt instead, and like that I won't have to "limit" my driving to 35 to 40 miles per day, or resort to more expensive daytime charging to gain enough miles for extra errands.

And, I am still enough of a "speed freak" that I might enjoy driving an electric car that is a full two seconds quicker from 0-60 mph than my "old" Volt. I feel that it is my personal responsibility to make sure the local "hot rodders" find out that electric cars are not to be messed with. Just kidding.

And, the fact that it will be a little bit more roomy and easier to get in and out off for my mother helps also.

 

[BAZINGA]

I admit it. I wanted a Tesla back in early 2012, couldn't afford one so I bought a 2012 Volt (followed by a 2013 and now my 2017) and loved operating it over 92% off the grid after 22K miles and 27 months. The 2013 managed similar numbers over 35 months. And now my 2017 just ticked up to 99.5%.

Funny this is me just driving to/from work and doing everything a home owner needs to do on weekends. I just happen to live in a compact locale here in southern IL and of course it's FLAT. Plus St Louis is only 15 miles from my home so if I need to take in a baseball or hockey game or a concert or visit IKEA I can go all electric.

And yes I still lust after a Tesla, not the M3 but a CPO MS.

 

[Joe67]

*snip*

Anyone else think about this? I'd love to hear from the people who can "just drive".

No. Never.

 

[llninja]

I think the Volt has given me a "Jekyll and Hyde" personality. I have "gas anxiety" when I am just driving on my daily errands, and the "old" Volt I have is a little more limited on range than all the newer ones, so I seem to always have to drive a little more conservatively than I would like. But once I am on a "longer" trip I just step on it and drive 5 or 10 over the speed limit like everyone else, and it doesn't bother me much at all.

But I am looking forward to driving a Bolt instead, and like that I won't have to "limit" my driving to 35 to 40 miles per day, or resort to more expensive daytime charging to gain enough miles for extra errands.

And, I am still enough of a "speed freak" that I might enjoy driving an electric car that is a full two seconds quicker from 0-60 mph than my "old" Volt. I feel that it is my personal responsibility to make sure the local "hot rodders" find out that electric cars are not to be messed with. Just kidding.

And, the fact that it will be a little bit more roomy and easier to get in and out off for my mother helps also.

I was Jekyll and Hyde also, but the opposite as you. I used to drive like a grandpa to eek out every mile on long trips, but short trips to the local grocery store where I'm well within range caused me to be speed racer. Now I'm just speed racer all the time.

 

[El Dobro]

Even with all my runs out of battery range, I'm still averaging 73% EV, so I'm not having any gas anxiety. This is something I couldn't do with my PiP nor the new Prime.

 

[hiperco]

I messed up yesterday on my second day commute with the car. The first day I ran out of battery about 1/4 mile from home, so the engine only ran for about a minute. I don't think that's good for it, so I used some gas for a part of my commute. When I got home though, I had 8 miles of battery left, Oh the shame I think I may end up with gas anxiety, but its too early to tell.

 

[MrEnergyCzar]

It's a gas phobia. The anxiety is a symptom of the phobia.

 

[mike100]

I don't play the VoltStats game anymore, but I try to save my gasoline strictly to avoid the hassle of going to the gas station. If it wasn't for long trips to the next state over, a tank of gas would last thousands of miles.

 

[zfil]

Yes. I fuss about it every time I have to drive to some place more than 30 miles from my house. I try to find charging stations but they are often hard to find. I would love a Bolt but then I could not go more than 120 miles from my house......

Nothing is perfect.

 

[srmarti]

Happened to me this week. Got home and forgot to plug in. Had to go back out and only had half a charge instead of a full one. Dang it. If I plugged it in, I might not have burned any gas. Then again if it was a BEV it would have been a bigger issue.

 

[voldar]

I don't have the gas anxiety, but I try to use the gas so I get the best mpg. Like using gas when on the road at steady speed than in a stop and go traffic.

 

[stuart22]

When I had a Gen 1 Volt, I succumbed to Gas Anxiety. It wouldn't have had the impact it garnered if only the lifetime 'MPG' number was buried three or four screens away from the main and secondary infoscreens.

I now drive a Spark EV and have to deal with Range Anxiety which, compared to GA, is more fatal. However, I find RA to be less bothersome because it is easy to manage. It is an uncomplicated, live or die kind of thing, so the choices and decisions are simple - just don't take trips that exceed the range.

Gas Anxiety - while it may be a lower level kind of anxiety, it is a more constant issue to deal with thanks to it lacking that fatal, live or die component. One still goes on living, but only in a different 'quality of life' level. In purgatory, perhaps.