[ChrisW6ATV]

Hi all-

I bought my 2017 Kinetic Blue Volt LT just over three months ago, and I am quite happy with it so far. A few statistics:

-Mileage so far: 5500 approximately (so, about 1600 miles per month).
-Gasoline bought: 8-9 gallons at 1300 miles, 7 gallons at 4400-4500 miles (after I remembered where the button to unlock the filler door was). Two-thirds of that second fill-up are still in the tank, plus the dealer filled it when it was new.
-Typical range displayed on dashboard after a full charge: 62-64 miles in warm weather, down to 59 miles now that I use the heat more during morning commutes.
-Electric bills: About $100 higher per month than before, roughly. I switched to the California "EV Time-of-use" rate plan and charge it at night.

I already made the Level 2 (240 volt) adapter for the charge cord (thanks to this forum!), and I installed a 240V outlet on the outside of the house next to my driveway. 5.5 hours for a full charge is nice, for $40 in parts.

About me: I am a telecommunications technician/installer and ham radio operator in the San Francisco Bay Area who does lots of home and radio-related projects. The Volt is ideal for the brutal Bay Area afternoon commutes.

Next: Installing a ham radio transceiver and on-glass antenna.

Best feature of the Volt: It is so QUIET. I never have to hear "vroom" again!
Most-wanted feature missing from the Volt: HD Radio.

 

[Jand]

Welcome.
I bought mine about the same time, but went for the SRT. $100/month, wow that sounds like a lot. Must be those California rates. Do you charge more than once a day? I do a 90% charge every about 6 days per week. From the 2 power bills so far it looks like it is running $40 to 50 a month. But my Fla rates are about 12.5cents per KWH. No peak/off-peak plans available.

 

[ChrisW6ATV]

Hi, Jim-

Thanks for your reply. I charge it about 6 times per week also, about 95% each time. The nighttime cost is 11 cents per kWh, plus maybe a bit of taxes, so not too different from yours (at night here; peak rates are way higher, but I use the Volt's built-in scheduler to delay the charging). I might need another month's bill to gauge the cost better, because I changed the rate plan after I bought the car and it took a month or more to kick in, and I was charging at peak rates for a while before I knew they had made the change, too.

 

[SkepTeach]

Wow, I guess that's one big advantage of living in a relatively poor state! Here in Arkansas, I pay about $0.028/kWh, ranging between $0.035 during on peak in summer to $0.023 for off peak during the other times of the year. I've only had my Volt for a few days so I haven't been able to measure how much more electricity I'll be buying, but it sounds like it'll be a relatively small fraction of what you guys pay.

 

[alfon]

We have a 2016 Volt LTZ for 4 months now. It seems our electric bill probably is about $20 more than it would be without using our 240 Volt charging unit to charge our Volt. We did have a 2014 Volt which we traded for our 2016 Volt. It seems that the 2016 Volt is more efficient in electric use and of course much better in gas only mode than our 2014 Volt Our 2014 Volt got about high 30's to low 40's mpg's just on gas, the 2016 Volt has been averaging 45 + mpg just on gas, regular gas at that, no premium required like the 2014 Volt.

The Volt is truly a remarkable car with tons of technology for the price.