2012 Chevy Volt: After my first year, I’m still amazed!

By Mark Giesenhagen

I love my Volt!

The performance, handling and comfort are not at all what I expected from Chevy. This car drives like a European sport sedan and the technology loaded in the car is second to none. There is a lot of information presented both within the car and remotely from the web and my iPhone.

If this was all the Volt provided, I would be happy with a phenomenal car. I consider it a bonus that the Volt delivers on its promise to reduce gas usage and dependence on fossil fuels. The final bonus is
that my Volt is the most economical car to drive that I have ever had. Here are some details:

 

 

¹    Average Electric Cost per kWh was $0.08 per kWh plus an additional $0.02 per kWh to insure power comes from Wind Power.

²    9.3 gallons provided with car at delivery at GM’s cost. 7.3 gallons provided as part of optional customer service program at GMs cost. Total of four fill-ups amounting to 29.3 gallons bought by owner at a total cost of $102.50.

³    Total maintenance needed was a single tire rotation. The Volt reports that it has 88 percent remaining oil life and no other maintenance has been needed.

^*   The monthly payments for the car were not included. The Federal government and the State of Colorado are aggressively encouraging adoption of cars like the Volt; I was able to take advantage of a $7,500 Federal tax credit and a $6,000 Colorado State tax credit that reduced the net cost of my Volt by $13,500.
 

It is worth noting that I don’t drive any differently in my Volt than I do with any other car. I typically drive about 35 miles each day, so I fit well with the Volt’s all-electric range. Most of my driving is around town and on two-lane highways with some higher speed interstate highway driving. I am generally within 5 mph of the speed limit and do nothing special to improve my mileage. I typically get on the order of 40-45 miles per full charge most of the year. My lowest electric range has been just over 30 miles when it is very cold and the best I have seen is just under 51 miles. I have done essentially all of my charging at home using a 240V Voltec EVSE and pre-condition my Volt when it is cold to minimize the need to use Comfort mode on the heater. In the summer, I typically use ECO mode for the air conditioning.

While I am just under 90% all electric driving, I never have to worry about running out of range. I have had many instances where I have had to make trips over 100 miles without any warning. In my Volt, I don’t worry about range and just get in a drive. Most times I don’t even notice when the gas generator kicks in to provide more range. My fuel economy when using the gas generator is fairly low at over 34 MPG since the engine runs do infrequently. On longer trips when I am driving on mostly interstate highways, I get well over 40 MPG.

The total cost to drive this wonderful car for its first year has been just under $41.00 per month. The car my Volt replaced got a reasonable 25 MPG and still used 40+ gallons of gas per month to make the same drive. Depending upon the price of gas, this is easily a savings of over $100 per month. Of course there are the oil changes, tune ups and maintenance that have not been needed on the Volt.

What else can I say? Everyone should be driving a Volt!

Source: GM-Volt.com