I just bought a Chevy Volt

[nostatic]

My wife loves loves loves her Fiat 500e. It is a really fun car to drive, and gets about 85 miles on a charge which is just long enough for her to do her longest commute. My son loves loves loves his Cmax plug-in, though he wishes he had more than 20 miles electrics range (Volt would be better, but CMax hauls more stuff). Truth be told for right now that actually is enough for him. Typical driving combined he's around 85-90mpg.

I need longer range for gigs and whatnot. If the Chevy Bolt ends upping what they say it will be (200+ mile range and around $30K), I might end up in one of those in a few years.

[Todge]

Welcome to the club. Have had mine for just under three years, averaging 96 mpg since new, routinely go over 1k miles in between 30 dollar fill ups. I'm not allowed to charge at work, or else, i'd still be on dealer gas. Anyone who buys a Prius over a Volt is insane.....
Todge

[red-beard]

That is a smoking deal. At $20K, your electric "fuel" cost savings will lead to real lifetime savings.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

I've been driving a Camry Hybrid for 7 years, almost 100K on the clock. ZERO issues. I get 36 MPG in Los Angeles. My only beef with a total electric is that I can't justify a car that I can't drive without a recharge overnight to say SF or LV. A Tesla, while nice, is out of my price range, with or without the tax rebate.

There are a couple of Teslas in my neighborhood. I've wondered about their range in Houston, where Air Conditioning is essential.

With the price of god lithium batteries so low, I've considered buying a 914 shell and converting it to electric. Maybe next year...

[onewhippedpuppy]

Congrats, sounds like you did great on the purchase price and it makes total sense for you. One of our managers at my prior job had one and loved it. For the right circumstances it makes for a good transportation appliance.

[Holger]

We have several Opel Amperas (= Chevy Volt) as company cars.
Not impressed by Opels in general, and I think the difference to Chevy is not major.
But I too would love an EV, so maybe I have to re-think soon.

The German government wants to see 1 million EVs on the Autobahn by 2020. So far there are 25,000. No way they will reach that target with todays prices on the cars.
Our Norwegian neighbours had a rush for EVs for some years now, because it is very cheap to "reload" them (I think there are free stations in some cities), you have free parking and you are allowed to use some special lanes in the cities, like buslanes and so on. This resulted in a chaos because the public transportation was stuck in traffic jams caused by too many EVs.
I think Tesla lead the stats on sold cars for some time in Norway?!

[shoemakj]

Congrats! That is indeed a great price. I've had mine for almost 2 years and I'm still impressed with it. I have a 32-mile r/t commute with no charging options at work and I *rarely* run out of all-electric range before getting home. Typically only when I have to run after-work errands that take me above 40 miles for the day. Even then I might use only 1 or 2 tenths of a gallon. We're averaging 79 MPG over the last 23 months. A little lower than the average Volt driver, but that's because the Volt has become our primary road trip car over the Honda Element or M3. We make a 520 mile (r/t) trip about every 4-6 weeks to check on my 80 y.o. mother. 38 MPG at 75 MPH means we use about 55% of the gas that either of the other cars would.

Check out Volt Stats: Details for Volt #2013-35182 (Shoe's Volt) for a detailed look at my particular car.

[jyl]

Toyota seems to have lost its way with the Prius, being very conservative/timid in design and spec. The plug in Prius should have had 40 or 50 miles electric range, not <20. They have lost their technology leadership in a segment that they pioneered. Disappointing, but maybe the 2016 Prius will be better.

That said, the Prius outsells every other hybrid by a large margin so maybe Toyota knows what it's doing.

[FLYGEEZER]

I hope all U guys go electrolux......more gasoline for me.

[scottmandue]

I was ready to make the jump to electric as soon as we started shopping for our next car... however we only have one charging station at work and three people now driving electrics.

[foxpaws]

You will enjoy it on the 'dark side' wd15

I have had my Volt (Sparkers) for just a little over a year - and it is the best commuter car I have ever owned. Perfect!

Like you, I got a screaming deal on my '13 - it was a 'promotional car' (I believe used at a golf tournament) and had 153 miles on it - I got it for $27k and with the rebates (fed - $7500 and state - $4500) the car ended up costing me $15k.

My commute is 42.7 miles round trip (see below) - and I get to charge at work (in the photo you can see the charger in the background). So, I hardly ever charge at home, just once on the weekends. My fuel costs are nothing... even in the winter it did great - but it does cycle the engine if it gets too cold - so my mileage isn't as good as some hypermilers... they are getting over 500 mpg.

It has been a very solid car the first year - the only thing, the back seats are a bit tight in the leg room category, and it is so quiet, sometimes you have to peep the 'people horn' because people will just stand around too close the car when you want to get going.

I even took it on a couple of trips last year. I went to OK City and the hotel I stayed at was so cool about the car - they found me a place to plug it in and everything.

So, even with a couple of long trips under it's belt... 211mpg - read it and weep boys....

[FLYGEEZER]

Spend it how U like .....FP, sounds like you gotta deal but for the 15 grand I can buy a lotta gasoline.

[foxpaws]

But I got a pretty good car for $15k fgeezer - I needed a new commuter (I get a new commuter about every 10-11 years, my last one was a 2003 Misubishi based Sebring coupe). My other choices in the 15k range weren't really as nice as the Volt in general (as wd15 stated - they have a pretty nice interior - heated leather seats - and they have back-up cameras, nav, lots of great options), it drives nice, accelerates like crazy... Over time, it really will pay for itself I think.

But, enjoy your time at the gas pump. Another weird thing about having an electric car - I usually am clueless on the price of gas. I had to fill the pcar the other day - wow - $55 to fill it up, gas went down since last I filled it up, last fall.

[1990C4S]

The reality is that this car makes good sense for some people. Some people have a hard time admitting that their driving needs are different from others.

I commute too far, my winter is too cold, and I can't charge my car at work. But for a certain segment the Volt makes perfect sense now.

[foxpaws]

Originally Posted by 1990C4S

The reality is that this car makes good sense for some people. Some people have a hard time admitting that their driving needs are different from others.

I commute too far, my winter is too cold, and I can't charge my car at work. But for a certain segment the Volt makes perfect sense now.

I agree - if you had a really long commute it might not be as efficient (although you would always get about 40 miles on electricity before it switches over to the engine, and then you get about 35-40 mpg). And it doesn't do as well in the winter - I did notice that, it uses the engine some when it gets below 30 - I think partially to heat the batteries, so I found I filled up about once every 2 months in the winter, and I would have to plug it in at home for about 1/2 hour each day to make up for the loss in battery power on really cold days.

But, it is nice to have it as a choice now...

[FLYGEEZER]

So.......FP, You can charge your car at work? Who pays the electric bill, your employer ?

[tcar]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

...After the $7500 tax credit it will cost me $19,855...

You're welcome (I helped pay for your car). We all did.

[1990C4S]

Haters gonna hate. Whatever.

Originally Posted by foxpaws

And it doesn't do as well in the winter - I did notice that, it uses the engine some when it gets below 30 - I think partially to heat the batteries,

'Below 30' is not winter, that's fall.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by tcar

You're welcome (I helped pay for your car). We all did.

Ditto. BTW, where does all this "free" electricity people use to charge these cars come from?

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by tcar

You're welcome (I helped pay for your car). We all did.

You're helping pay for the electricity too. Not to mention building roads for me with fuel tax money.
Don't blame me, I didn't create the system.