Chevrolet Volt Media Drive Challenge - More than 40 miles on battery alone the norm

The challenge was simple for attendees of the Chevrolet Volt media drive in Southeastern Michigan this week – drive from the airport to the hotel and see if you could drive the entire 40-plus miles route before the battery was depleted and switched into extended-range mode.

For most of the week, Jeff Sabatini of AOL Autos held the high water mark with 47.5 all-electric miles driven and 9 electric miles still showing on the battery gauge for an estimated 56.5 miles.

But yesterday, new leaders in the clubhouse emerged as electric vehicle advocate and Autoblog Green columnist Chelsea Sexton and GoTryke.com blogger Tamara Warren reached the hotel in 45.8 miles with 12 electric miles remaining for an estimated total of 57.8 battery-powered miles.

In fact, every driver or pair of drivers this week has achieved greater than 40 miles of gas-free travels, with only the team from Motor Week slipping below at a very respectable 36.9 miles.

As we all know, the Volt’s all-electric range will typically vary between 25-50 miles depending on temperature, terrain, driver technique and battery life, and the results from the drives this week illustrate a couple important points.

First, even with mixed driving styles and conditions, all but one of the drives back to the hotel achieved greater than 40 miles.

And second, driving technique is very important to your all-electric range with a 20-plus mile gap between first and last place thus far.

Check out the full list of results below (adjusted EV miles take into account number of passengers):