[kindlibrarian]

I own a 2014 Volt with 55K miles on it, about 90% are electric miles. I have aftermarket extended warrantee for up to 5 years.

I normally trade in cars at 4 years, but I know that Prius' batteries have shown long life and I am wondering how many years I might be able to hang on to the Volt with it remaining reliable.

Some of this is probably unknowable but perhaps 2011 or 2012 owners might comment.

 

[Henry_FL]

Battery's will be the last of your concerns on the Volt, they are warranted for 10 years in your state. As for the rest of the car, its a very complex car and getting anything fixed out of warranty can very quickly run into the thousands for repairs. No one can say when things might go wrong, its always just a guess.

 

[MrEnergyCzar]

The "Sparkie" Volt has like .3 million miles so you might fare ok the first 300,00 miles. The chief engineer said the battery should last into the teen years of the car.

 

[viking79]

I don't think anyone has really noticed any degradation in their batteries, that is not to say there haven't been battery failures, but overall range has maintained fairly constant. The Volt battery seems to be able to handle many cycles, I think the top driver on Volt stats has approximately 126k EV miles (361k odometer miles). This amounts to 3000 to 3500 charge cycles based on 35 to 40 miles per charge estimate, and I don't think he has seen any EV range loss (not saying battery lost capacity or not). Volt 1 only cycles 60% SoC or so, so the number of cycles will be much higher than a BEV (i.e., Bolt EV only needs to be designed to last 600-1000 cycles or so, which would be 150-250k miles).

Age also will degrade Li-ion batteries, but it is too early to tell much from that, might have to wait another 5 years. In other words, that will be a problem for 2nd or later owners, or those that keep cars more than 10 or 15 years.

Source: http://www.voltstats.net

 

[Coppersnowboarder]

I think that eight to ten years as a lifetime for your Volt is reasonable. You will probably want to upgrade the technology of your vehicle before your old one wears-out. You can determine lifetime costs of various vehicles at the Federal Department of Energy web-site. http://www.afdc.energy.gov/calc/

 

[viking79]

For reliability, TrueDelta is a great site (no affiliation other than I provide them data for my Volt):
http://www.truedelta.com/Chevrolet-Volt/reliability-1048

Volt is not bad, not Prius good, but much better than say a Tesla. I have a 2012 and report there, and my view fits pretty close with what they rate it as (neutral).

For comparison, that Model X is incredibly bad, 3x worse than the Model S, which is already bad.
http://www.truedelta.com/Tesla-Model-S-vs-Tesla-Model-X-reliability-comparison,1095-1317
If you can't see the numbers not being a member, the Model X averages 154 repairs per 100 vehicles. The 2012 Volt (4 years older) averages 41, which is not great, but still a lot better). Even the "trouble" prone 2016 Volt is only 27 repairs per 100 vehicles.

 

[llninja]

I recommend tearing up that 5 year extended warranty offer and put the money you would have spent on that warranty into a special bank account that you don't touch except for repairs and maintenance. Better yet, pretend you traded in the volt for a new car and start making monthly car payments into this special account while driving the volt into the ground.

An ex-coworker of mine drove a beater into the ground for 10 years while paying himself a car payment, when he finally decided to buy a new car, he had the cash for a brand new Tesla Model 60.

Trading in a car every 4 years is a very expensive way to operate a vehicle. Cars last much longer than 4 years nowadays.

 

[Ron in Omaha]

My 2013 has over 80K miles with over 80% on electricity. It has no perceptible battery degrade and has been the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned. My previous cars include a Toyota Corolla and a BMW 5 series among others. I intend to go no less than 4 more years before I get another Volt.

 

[Raymondjram]

I have no Volt, but I had several GM vehicles. My 1984 Olds Ciera lasted 27 years before selling it in 2000 to a neighbor. My 1995 Buick Regal lasted 21 years before selling it in 2015 to a friend, and he is still using it. I predict a well cared Volt can last over twenty years, so your children or grandchildren can be driving it later.

 

[dutch husky]

I predict a well cared Volt can last over twenty years, so your children or grandchildren can be driving it later.

My wife thinks I'm joking when I tell her my 2016 Volt will be our son's first car. He's two. When I first said it, perhaps I was. But I've repeated it a few times, and I'm not so sure I'm joking anymore!

 

[firehawk72]

My wife thinks I'm joking when I tell her my 2016 Volt will be our son's first car. He's two. When I first said it, perhaps I was. But I've repeated it a few times, and I'm not so sure I'm joking anymore!

Hmmm, not so sure I can back you up on this one. Would I really want my daughter driving a 2016 in 2030? Hmmm, probably not, LOL

 

[voldar]

Hmmm, not so sure I can back you up on this one. Would I really want my daughter driving a 2016 in 2030? Hmmm, probably not, LOL

We never know what 2030 will bring to us. Maybe after a war or two, the 2016 cars will look great. As the Ford T looks great even today !

 

[srmarti]

Hmmm, not so sure I can back you up on this one. Would I really want my daughter driving a 2016 in 2030? Hmmm, probably not, LOL

Some people are probably figuring manually driving a car might be illegal by then.

 

[Just_Jon]

My son was 2 when I got my Jeep. He was 16 when I passed it down to him and got my Volt.

I doubt the original Volt battery will last 14.5 years with almost no loss in performance like the Jeep ICE did.

Originally I bought my '13 as an extended test drive and stop-gap since Gen 2 Volts weren't available here when I needed another car. But I am so pleased with it, I will probably continue driving it for many years (car gods be willing).

 

[deekster_caddy]

I'm planning to keep my 2013 Volt for at least 10 years, and at that point one of my kids will need a car so we may keep it even longer than that. In a worst case scenario, if the battery degrades to the point where it's barely usable after 15-20 years it's either time to pony up and buy new batteries, or just keep driving it as a hybrid. I'm in New England, and rust just recently took hold of my '98 Buick to the point where I had to give it up, and designed rust prevention has improved since the 90's so I could see this car easily lasting 20 years. I expect full battery replacement would be similar in price to an engine or transmission rebuild, which is certainly likely after 15 years in any other car.

 

[Taser54]

Buy a 2yr old Volt, sell it at 6 yr old, rinse repeat. Depreciation basically flat lines during that period. Reliability should be excellent.

 

[mr_raider]

The infortainment system, HVAC system, and various electric accessories are likely to fail long before the battery. GM has not replaced a single Volt battery pack due to degradation, last I checked.

OTOH, I wonder what all teh high EV milers who barely run the ICE will experience. Sludge from condensation? Carbon deposits on the Gen II that has DI? Time will tell

 

[Ztirffritz]

The temperature around here hasn't gone above 20° in 3 weeks. The ERDTT alert has been running almost non-stop on my car, so the engine has been getting quite a work-out. Snow tires really killed the battery range though.

 

[deekster_caddy]

Snow tires really killed the battery range though.

Just a tip on the side, unrelated to the original thread - when looking at snow tires make sure you are looking at LRR ones. Tirerack has a filter for LRR even with winter tires. They shouldn't be that large of a penalty.

 

[Steverino]

The infortainment system, HVAC system, and various electric accessories are likely to fail long before the battery. GM has not replaced a single Volt battery pack due to degradation, last I checked.

Agreed. My 2011 Volt has over 80k miles (75% electric) and still going strong. What's failed? The passenger seat heater last month.