Reliability of the 2nd gen.
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I'd say it's at least equal to any Japanese PHEV made so far, but there isn't many years in service to properly gauge the relative long term reliability.
I'd probably rate the gen 1 Volt as more reliable than a Prius of the same generation based on some of the higher mileage cars, and the gen 2 is probably roughly equal based on anecdotal info.
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The Gen2 has only been out for two years so it's impossible to say what it's long term reliability will be however there is a Gen1 Volt called Sparkie that's owned my a GM employee with an even more horrendous commute that you which has 442,195 miles on it as of this morning. I have 25,000 miles on my two year old 2017 Volt with no problems except for firmware updates. In terms of predicting the future I look at what killed my previous cars and the Volt doesn't have those components or uses them much less. I had two cars that had their transmissions fail, the Volt doesn't have a transmission just a single planetary gear. I had one car lose it's turbo charger, no turbo on a Volt. I had one car that needed new catalytic converters, the Volt uses it's catalytic converter only when on gas so it should last longer. The Volt has regenerative braking so the friction brakes should last much much longer before the pads need replacing.
As for economy, I generally get 46-47 MPG on the gas engine in the summer, 60-70 miles on the battery on back roads in the summer, on the highway it's in the low 50s in the summer. In the winter the battery range is less, expect in the low 40s on the highway and the EPA 42MPG on the gas engine.
Do you have destination charging available to you? If you do then at least 100 miles of your 160 mile round trip will be on battery.
As for economy, I generally get 46-47 MPG on the gas engine in the summer, 60-70 miles on the battery on back roads in the summer, on the highway it's in the low 50s in the summer. In the winter the battery range is less, expect in the low 40s on the highway and the EPA 42MPG on the gas engine.
Do you have destination charging available to you? If you do then at least 100 miles of your 160 mile round trip will be on battery.
Thanks for the info . I was thinking the same about less parts than ice cars. I hope other gen 1 owners chime in with there mileage so can really get a good gauge. Not sure about destination charging trying get my company to put 1 in. that is my hope anyway. I am probably going to get a second hand 2016 or a leftover 2017. Hopefuly the 2019 comes out soon so I can a big discount on the car
Thanks again Tom
Thanks again Tom
Seems that there has been a long history of power inverter failures in Toyota Pruis cars and the company has been apparently fighting it instead of fixing it (like the Volt did). I had a power inverter failure on the Florida turnpikewhile passing and it was a scary event.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-fi-toyota-prius-investigation-20180423-story.html
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-fi-toyota-prius-investigation-20180423-story.html
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The 2016 was only available in California and was a fairly short lived model year. The 2017 was available everywhere, it came out in early 2016, I bought mine in May of 2016. If I were you I'd get a 2017 or 2018 so that you get all of the bug fixes. I doubt the 2019 will come out before the end of the year but if you can wait there is a small chance that there might be some upgrades to the 2019 model. Between 2016 and 2018 the only differences are paint color. GM hasn't said a thing about the future of the Volt so it's impossible to know if the 2019 will be any different from the 2016-2018 but I would hope that they would bump the battery size a bit in 2019.
The 2016 Volt was sold in California and other California Air Resources Board (CARB) states. The states that have adopted the California standards are: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico (2011 model year), New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia.
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The Honda Clarity EV and PHEV are too new to compare to. On the other hand the Nissan Leaf has been around since 2010 and the Volt is by far the better vehicle. Even the 2nd generation Volt is already proving to be the better vehicle, at least from the battery management perspective. Nissan does nothing to protect their batteries from users other than list a bunch of "don't do … " entries in their owners manual.
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Of course the Leaf would be out of the question for the OP, it's range is too short. Even a Bolt would be questionable on a 160 miles commute without destination charging unless the OP lives in a winter less state.
There were some upgrades to the later 2017 Volt (and 2018) and the 2016 and early 2017 Volt. Adaptive Cruise control for one but I think there were others as well. Can't think of the other off hand but it was more important to me than ACC that it ruled out these early cars. Ended getting a good deal on a Gen 1 so it became academic and slipped my mind.
Now that I've owned them (new and used), I don't recommend hybrids or plug-in's for those folks looking for low cost transportation. One major out of warranty repair will wipe out any fuel savings. At nearly 40k miles/yr, the OP could be out of warranty in as early as 31 months into ownership; by 5yrs, 200k miles.
Get a conventional vehicle that has decent fuel economy, ACC, and that's comfortable because you'll be spending a lot of time in it. Start researching tires too.
GOOD LUCK!
Get a conventional vehicle that has decent fuel economy, ACC, and that's comfortable because you'll be spending a lot of time in it. Start researching tires too.
GOOD LUCK!
FWIW, WA state adopted CARB emissions standards, but does *NOT* require manufacturers to give an extended warranty on emissions components. I have no idea the logic behind that, but it seems to be "let's just shift all the cost to the consumer to make us feel better" that seems so pervasive in WA.
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"I hope other gen 1 owners chime in with there mileage so can really get a good gauge"
So, no one else has mentioned this yet, but if you want to see some mileage quotes, check out voltstats.net. It's used voluntarily by volt owners to track. You can sort by mileage (sparkie is well over 400,000), but you'll also be able to see which are gen1 vs. gen2 (2016 forward).
So, no one else has mentioned this yet, but if you want to see some mileage quotes, check out voltstats.net. It's used voluntarily by volt owners to track. You can sort by mileage (sparkie is well over 400,000), but you'll also be able to see which are gen1 vs. gen2 (2016 forward).
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(It's also got the worthiness-standing that it's NOT self-reported so things like "average MPGcs (uncharged hybriding)" are authoritative and unbiased. EPA ratings, people obviously complaining and people obviously bragging, so consistency cannot be had for cars like Prius. VoltStats will give you real averages driving by real cars under real circumstances, without influence. You get 100 cars telling you "Yes, 40 MPG on just gas is totally reasonable to expect May through September in Wisconsin".)
We have owned 2 Volts. The first a 2014 Volt Premier purchased new. Traded it in July 2016 for our 2016 Volt Premier. The Volt is my wife's daily driver, and mine a 2010 Prius. Our Volt is nearing 41,000 miles with close to 13,000 miles just on the gas engine only. Overall mpg with electric and gas is 150 mpg. Per voltstats.net current gas mpg only is nearly 48 mpg since new.
Volt gas mpg in winter is 45-48 mpg, and currently in summer averaging 50-55+ mpg, comparable with the Prius mpg's in summer and in winter.
Problem issues so far software updates to the engine. One door lock would not unlock from the outside by pushing the handle but would open by using the key fob.
Check engine light came on when a few weeks old while running just on electric, how could that happen. Turns out the louvers by the radiator where not operating properly.
All software and problem areas were fixed, under warranty, by GM, at our nearby Chevrolet Dealer in Warrenton, OR, Ocean Crest Chevrolet.
Had the oil changed once by our dealer, free service, with Mobil One Synthetic oil 0w20. Had tires rotated 3 - 4 times. Tires are wearing fine with 44 PSI in all 4 tires, I expect 65,000 miles or so before they need to be replaced, factory Michelin Energy Saver AS
tires.
Last trip,yesterday, per dash readout, total trip miles (162.2 miles) / gas miles, 96.7 with 1.85 gals, 52.2 mpg(87 octane reg. gas) and 65.6 miles on electric with 12.9 KWH used, still had 7 miles left when arriving home. Our 2016 Volt was carrying my wife and I and loaded with all our fishing gear and all her camera gear as well. Vehicle gross weight per Oregon Dept. of Transportation was 4,050 lbs, on their official truck scale.
I believe there is less to maintain on a volt than a regular gas car. The 2016 volt's engine only runs when its 14 degrees F or below,
after 6 week or so if it has not been ran during that time, so fluids and oil can circulate, or if the fuel in the tank is over or nearing 1 year old. None of these issues has occurred has temps in Oregon where we live seldom go below 20F, and we use our Volt at least 3-4 times a month on the gas engine, summer more so than winter. Of course with a push of a button you can always go from electric to gas if there is a charge in the battery.
When compared to fuel efficiency our Volt wins over our 2010 Prius, as a full charge of electric is only $1.80 for 40-70+ miles of driving on electric, of course more in summer and less in winter.
Volt gas mpg in winter is 45-48 mpg, and currently in summer averaging 50-55+ mpg, comparable with the Prius mpg's in summer and in winter.
Problem issues so far software updates to the engine. One door lock would not unlock from the outside by pushing the handle but would open by using the key fob.
Check engine light came on when a few weeks old while running just on electric, how could that happen. Turns out the louvers by the radiator where not operating properly.
All software and problem areas were fixed, under warranty, by GM, at our nearby Chevrolet Dealer in Warrenton, OR, Ocean Crest Chevrolet.
Had the oil changed once by our dealer, free service, with Mobil One Synthetic oil 0w20. Had tires rotated 3 - 4 times. Tires are wearing fine with 44 PSI in all 4 tires, I expect 65,000 miles or so before they need to be replaced, factory Michelin Energy Saver AS
tires.
Last trip,yesterday, per dash readout, total trip miles (162.2 miles) / gas miles, 96.7 with 1.85 gals, 52.2 mpg(87 octane reg. gas) and 65.6 miles on electric with 12.9 KWH used, still had 7 miles left when arriving home. Our 2016 Volt was carrying my wife and I and loaded with all our fishing gear and all her camera gear as well. Vehicle gross weight per Oregon Dept. of Transportation was 4,050 lbs, on their official truck scale.
I believe there is less to maintain on a volt than a regular gas car. The 2016 volt's engine only runs when its 14 degrees F or below,
after 6 week or so if it has not been ran during that time, so fluids and oil can circulate, or if the fuel in the tank is over or nearing 1 year old. None of these issues has occurred has temps in Oregon where we live seldom go below 20F, and we use our Volt at least 3-4 times a month on the gas engine, summer more so than winter. Of course with a push of a button you can always go from electric to gas if there is a charge in the battery.
When compared to fuel efficiency our Volt wins over our 2010 Prius, as a full charge of electric is only $1.80 for 40-70+ miles of driving on electric, of course more in summer and less in winter.
I agree. You (the OP) will be buying lots of gas no matter what, given your commute. So for you the Volt is simply another high mileage car. You should test drive some other high mileage cars and see which one you want to spend 3 hours in every day. When running on gas, the Volt can get buzzy, and you'll be doing lots of that. And that's to say nothing of the backfire issue that GM has yet to solve on G2 cars when running on gas only.
The Volt is a really nice car, but it's niche is when used as an EV most of the time, and a EREV some of the time. Your situation looks to be the flip side of this.
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A neighbor has a Bolt and does the daily 160 mile commute without destination charging with no issues. They bought a cheap low current (20A?) L2 charger off Craigslist for home charging, and even though they don't get a full charge overnight, they do get caught up on the weekends. Driving 75-80 on rural highways and taking full advantage of the HOV lanes when available. They did say that on the few "cold" AZ days range anxiety did come into play, but still made it without incident.
Recently took my 2011 Volt on a 1300 mile round trip to Grand Junction, CO driving on the REX in Mountain Mode pretty much the entire trip. Driving like I stole it because 10 hours in the saddle isn't all that pleasant no matter what the seat comfort might be. Many wide-open throttle passing event on the 2-lane indian reservation roads, 80+ mph speed limit on I-70 in Utah, and generally 5 over everywhere else. Final fuel number was 42.5 mpg with no recharging of the batteries - I was impressed. The Volt is an efficient vehicle with or without the EV driving mode.
VIN # B0985
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The OP didn't say where he lives. You live in AZ where the problem is excessive heat not excessive cold so a Bolt is a fine choice for a 160 mile roundtrip even without destination charging. Where I live in MA I would never choose a Bolt unless I had destination charging available. This time of year I'm getting 60-70 miles of range on my Volt but in the winter I've seen it drop below 40 miles. There are three bad things that happen to EVs in the winter, batteries lose up to 40% of their capacity, the heater slurps electricity, and because the Volt is FWD not AWD it needs snow tires which reduce it's range by 10%. If you live in a warm state none of that matters but if you live in a winter state I'd wouldn't want to do more than a 120 mile trip in the Bolt in the winter. Destination charging changes the equation for both the Volt and the Bolt. With the Volt you know you can make the trip with or without destination charging but if you have it then 60% of the trip will be on battery. With the Bolt even a few hours of destination charging is the difference between being on the hairy edge of making the trip in winter and and making it with a comfortable margin.
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Ditto here in Minnesota.
The Volt is mainly my wife's car, and she makes several trips/year to rural areas visiting relatives. Charging infrastructure is still virtually non existent where she goes. Having range anxiety would drive her nuts, so the Bolt was out of the question. Plus she much prefers the look of the Volt, and that's a big deal to her.
And we use snow tires in the winter also.
Jon
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