[SharkVolt]

Most charging stations are a rip off for Volt owners, as you are just finding out.

Only the free ones are worth your time or money.

 

[16513]

When you are away from home and gas is cheap, use gas. If you can find lodging that has a 120v outlet you may use, great. But don't pay to charge. That is the beauty of this EREV. You never HAVE to recharge, even at home if you choose not to.

 

[BAZINGA]

You will soon discover that charging a Volt away from home can be a major PITA. Yes PlugShare will show you what's available and how much it could cost, but even a Level II charger will take 4 to 5 hours of your time.

If I do any enroute or destination charging it will be someplace I'm planning on being at for 10 hours or more like a hotel or someone's house.

With a Volt just fill the gas tank and drive on. TIme can be money you know.

 

[wws]

I am a new volt owner. I am going to be traveling a little and was looking for charging stations in cities that I would be in. I am very confused by some of the costs of charing stations. If you are a member of the blink network and pay $0.40/kWh, you would be spending 18.4 * 0.4 = $7.36 to go 54 miles or 7.33 miles/$. If I fill up with gas instead, it would be 8.9g*$2.4 =$21.36 for 420 miles or 19.66 miles/$. How is this supposed to be a win-win? Am I just looking at the wrong networks? I must be missing something...

Only 14.3-14.4 kWh of the battery is usable, so at that $0.40/kWh rate your calculation would be more like $5.75 for 53 miles, or about 9.2 miles/$.

Charging site costs vary a lot. Some are by time, some by kWh, some are complimentary/free. Use the plugshare app to see which is which. You can even filter for the free ones.

I concur with the other posters in that it often doesn't make economic sense to pay for charging while on the road. Part of the problem is also that where charges are based on time, the Volts 3.6 kW charger is too slow to take full advantage of a site that supports higher rates of charging. The nice thing about the Volt is that you have the choice to use gas where it is most cost effective. Pure BEVs don't.

 

[bakarak]

Thanks to everyone that replied. It makes me realize how over a barrel pure EV owners are. Getting gouged doesn't seem very promising for the green future...

Regarding MPG, what are people really getting? is the 19.66 mi/$ a realistic number? I have no data yet. I'll look around on the forum, but I would appreciate you dropping your experiences here.