I just bought a Chevy Volt

[foxpaws]

Originally Posted by FLYGEEZER

Nice comment FP, "you take where you can" . Sounds like a protester in a Baltimore CVS or any democack in politics.

So, you couldn't get me on the employer benefit angle - so this? Really? This isn't PARF.... I bet you, or people you love have taken the mortgage interest credit - no different than the EV vehicle credit. For those of us who pay cash for our houses, we are subsidizing all of you who can't come up with the money up front. That is the 'take it where you can' statement comes from.

The Volt is a choice - works good for me, I like it, and if the fed and the state are going to give me a rebate - well, I will take it, it would be beyond stupid not to, just like people who pay mortgage interest every month - it would be silly for them not to take the write-off. I don't care they get that write off and I don't, it doesn't matter to me, they should 'take it where they can'.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by 1990C4S

So 50 mile range, 0-60 in 8.6 seconds for the next generation Volt.

That and the new interior are why the 2015s are being sold off so cheaply. GM seems to try an incentive for a month, wait a month, and then try again. May had smoking deals due to GM incentives, June - not so much. July might be a time to start looking.

"The car will do 0-100 km/h in 8.6 seconds and the on-board gasoline engine – the range extender – will continue to use regular fuel." This is puzzling. The 2015 requires premium fuel. One of the reasons they give is that there are more life-extending additives in premium. Either that reason is BS or they are expecting Volt owners to use more gas. There are guys on the Volt forums who have year-old gas in their cars. I plan to empty the tank every 3 months.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by FLYGEEZER

Nice comment FP, "you take where you can" . Sounds like a protester in a Baltimore CVS or any democack in politics.

I think of it as me getting my little piece of government assistance. Sort of like a tiny, mini bank bailout or an oil depletion allowance.

[foxpaws]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

That and the new interior are why the 2015s are being sold off so cheaply. GM seems to try an incentive for a month, wait a month, and then try again. May had smoking deals due to GM incentives, June - not so much. July might be a time to start looking.

"The car will do 0-100 km/h in 8.6 seconds and the on-board gasoline engine – the range extender – will continue to use regular fuel." This is puzzling. The 2015 requires premium fuel. One of the reasons they give is that there are more life-extending additives in premium. Either that reason is BS or they are expecting Volt owners to use more gas. There are guys on the Volt forums who have year-old gas in their cars. I plan to empty the tank every 3 months.

That is weird - mine uses premium as well. I was told the car forces you to run the engine occasionally - so the gas doesn't get old. Mine probably gets run at least every couple of weeks or so, so I haven't noticed any 'mandatory' engine running.

I just got the 'change oil' notification too - it is weird not changing the oil every few months. I think it 'cues' you on that every year as well, no matter the mileage on the gas engine.

[FLYGEEZER]

FP.......Some of us give & some of us take. My G.I. home loan, that I paid a big price to get, has been "paid off" years ago. Nobody gave me anything that would displace any of you.

[wdfifteen]

FP there is a mandatory maintenance run for the IC engine that is determined by the car. I don't know if anyone knows what the algorithm is. Some say if the ICE isn't used for 45 days the car will start it and run it for 3 to 10 minutes. It's not enough to burn out old gas, so it must have some purpose other than ensuring that gas doesn't get old.
I've found it interesting that the only way I can tell whether it is running off the battery or off the ICE is the dashboard indicators. The car's behavior is identical and the sound is nearly the same.

[foxpaws]

Originally Posted by FLYGEEZER

FP.......Some of us give & some of us take. My G.I. home loan, that I paid a big price to get, has been "paid off" years ago. Nobody gave me anything that would displace any of you.

So your kids or others you know don't use the mortgage interest write-off, it is one of the most popular write offs we have.

[foxpaws]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

FP there is a mandatory maintenance run for the IC engine that is determined by the car. I don't know if anyone knows what the algorithm is. Some say if the ICE isn't used for 45 days the car will start it and run it for 3 to 10 minutes. It's not enough to burn out old gas, so it must have some purpose other than ensuring that gas doesn't get old.
I've found it interesting that the only way I can tell whether it is running off the battery or off the ICE is the dashboard indicators. The car's behavior is identical and the sound is nearly the same.

Doesn't the ICE mostly just recharge the batteries when it is running - I am not sure but I think the ICE rarely powers the wheels directly.

Have you surprised anyone yet? Many times at the grocery store someone is standing by the car and believe it is off - they are quite surprised as it starts to move - most see the badge on the side and give me a thumbs up.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by foxpaws

Doesn't the ICE mostly just recharge the batteries when it is running - I am not sure but I don't think the ICE rarely powers the wheels directly.

Have you surprised anyone yet? Many times at the grocery store someone is standing by the car and believe it is off - they are quite surprised as it starts to move - most see the badge on the side and give me a thumbs up.

Yes, I've surprised some people. You really have to watch out for them.

The ICE powers the generator when it's running. It won't recharge the batteries, the power goes straight to the traction motor.

The ICE actually does power the wheels more or less directly under extreme circumstances.
The car has four power modes:
battery to traction motor
ICE to traction motor
battery to generator/motor+traction motor
ICE to generator/motor+traction motor.
The first two are used 90+ percent of the time. In mountains or speeds over 70 MPH the generator/motor begins acting like a motor and assists the main traction motor in turning the wheels. Since the ICE is connected directly to the generator/motor, when the battery is depleted and the ICE comes on, it too is connected to the wheels.

[creaturecat]

imagine how civil the streets would be if everone used a Volt/Volt variant for commuting by automobile.
no noise. no stink. it would be surreal.
Germany being perhaps the first country to approach this "ideal"?

[Nostril Cheese]

The deaf/blind are going to have a few more obstacles to overcome.

[foxpaws]

Originally Posted by creaturecat

imagine how civil the streets would be if everone used a Volt/Volt variant for commuting by automobile.
no noise. no stink. it would be surreal.
Germany being perhaps the first country to approach this "ideal"?

I don't about other Volt/EV owners, but I have discovered something interesting. The Volt is constantly showing you if you are driving 'smart', smooth accelerations, long braking, basically, taking it easy. So, you sort of end up driving 'smart', and 'calmer'. I am not an aggressive driver on the commute, but I think the Volt has even added to that. Traffic Jams - who cares, I'll get home. Stupid driver cuts me off - glad I am not dumb like him.

Maybe we would be more civil... who knows.

[techweenie]

Originally Posted by foxpaws

I don't about other Volt/EV owners, but I have discovered something interesting. The Volt is constantly showing you if you are driving 'smart', smooth accelerations, long braking, basically, taking it easy. So, you sort of end up driving 'smart', and 'calmer'. I am not an aggressive driver on the commute, but I think the Volt has even added to that. Traffic Jams - who cares, I'll get home. Stupid driver cuts me off - glad I am not dumb like him.

Maybe we would be more civil... who knows.

Nah. i dont' use that display mode. I just use the (A) summary mode. Sometimes I put the energy flow display on the center screen.

And I don't want to be civil. It's fun to drag race all the 3-series drivers who appear to be personally affronted by the presence of the Volt. My other car provokes the 6-series drivers. I think BMW drivers generally just have chips on their shoulders.

I do 100+ mile trips all the time, so my overall (lifetime) mileage varies from 122 to 126. The funny part is that two other Porsche hobbyists went out and got identical white Volts, so from time to time, the places we go look like dealerships.

Very happy with the choice of the Volt after 21K miles and 27 months of ownership. Or, leasership. It's just a bonus that our enemies in the ME are deprived of some money for ammo.

I've been thinking about a Volt for a couple years but the cost reductions make it a no brainer. Going to look at this new '14 tomorrow.

[wdfifteen]

Mmmm Black. That was my first color choice. Good luck!

[Holger]

Originally Posted by creaturecat

imagine how civil the streets would be if everone used a Volt/Volt variant for commuting by automobile.
no noise. no stink. it would be surreal.
Germany being perhaps the first country to approach this "ideal"?

I dont think so!

Originally Posted by Holger

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?!

[72doug2,2S]

I assume they don't randomly catch fire anymore.

I tend to hold cars a long time, GM makes me uneasy.

[Jerome74911S]

I make the case that my '74 makes less pollution than the majority of modern cars on the road today. My car isn't a daily driver - more like weekly, and only during a very short summer - and so it only gets driven 3,000 to 5,000 miles per year (5,000 to 8,000 kms). With this limited usage, which is even lower this year, I don't put as much garbage into the air as my 'clean' modern car that gets driven 40k per year. I don't have the specific numbers to support this argument, but in any case the pollution is minimal, in perspective.

After all, there is an environmental cost for generating the electricity going into the super clean electric car, it's just out of sight and out of mind. This helps to clean up the cities, but not the general environment to the extent that most of the public imagines.

[rick-l]

Originally Posted by 72doug2,2S

GM makes me uneasy.

I bet GM had to hire the specialized engineers to do the Volt so maybe it is not standard GM

Originally Posted by 72doug2,2S

I assume they don't randomly catch fire anymore.

I tend to hold cars a long time, GM makes me uneasy.

Ever had a BMW? Now that's an uneasy feeling.