FAQ #1: What Kind of Mileage do you get?

This is not a myth per se, but it is something I get asked a lot.

Usually the first question is something to confirm it is a Volt, "Is that the space ship car?" "Is that electric?" or something like that..

And once they established that the car is what they thought it was, the second question is always, "what kind of gas mileage do you get?"

Which you would think is a straight forward question, but it has a complex answer that has two parts, that is hard to convey over the top of a gas pump, or at a traffic light out the window.

Here is my best attempt to explain it after many tries.

I get over 40 miles per charge, usually about 45 miles. and once I switch to gas, I get about 45MPG and so a typical day I get over 100MPG. 

That is the short answer.. the longer answer continues something like this..

Now keep in mind for me a typical day is like 80 miles round trip. 38 miles to a client site, and the maybe a little over lunch, or a detour because of traffic. and 38 miles back.

My old commute was much smaller than that, say 16-20 miles each way. Which meant commuting to my last job I NEVER USED GAS. 40 miles a day, no gas at all. MPG in that scenario = infinity. In fact the first tank of gas I wondered if I would need to change out the gas or the engine oil first, assuming the first oil change was due at 3000 miles, it would have been close.

with my double the size commute, I can get 900-1200 miles on an 8 gallon tank assuming I can avoid dipping into the gas on the weekend, and can find a charge every once in a while when I am out.

 To make this easy, I have created a spreadsheet, where you can put in your commute, and it will tell you rough annual fuel costs for a VOLT vs a Prius vs a decent 30+ MPG sedan.

[Update] I converted the core logic from that spreadsheet to Javascript, and it is on the tab at the top of the page. Have fun, and feel free to share.

Volt Myth #5: The Volt was created by the Government as part of the Bail Out

Facts:
The Volt was revealed to the public in January of 2007, and many years of internal research. That pre-dates the financial collapse and subsequent loans and assistance by at least two years.

The other auto maker that applied for the same funding was Chrysler, which was also showcasing an EV division called ENVI. After receiving funding and going through bankruptcy the same as GM, that entire division was scrapped and no EVs have yet been made or marketed by Chrysler.

Of the auto makers that did not receive any federal money, Ford, Nissan and Toyota have all since introduced and marketed Plug-in Electric vehicles (the Ford Focus BEV, the Nissan Leaf and the Plug-in Prius)

In the next year there will be others as well, none of which received federal funding. BMW, Volkswagon, Honda, and Mitsubishi.

Volt Myth #4: The Volt Costs a Lot more than other cars

Facts:
The Volt costs about 40K before factoring tax rebates. That is pretty fully loaded too. My Volt has leather, Nav with traffic, Touchscreen, XM, Premium speakers.

A Nissan Leaf which will not go further than an EPA estimated 73 Miles, will set you back 35k+

A For focus EV which will not go further than an EPA estimated 76 Miles will cost you 39k+

A Prius, based on local inventory today, will range from 27k to 36k, with the comparably equipped ones above 34K.

I have always said that American's love extreme cars. If you want an extreme truck for example, the most extreme factory truck out today is a Ford Raptor.
Which starts at $42,750. Nearly Identical to the starting point of the Volt before tax incentives.

If you want the most extreme vehicle in its category, the Volt is it, and the price is not out of line with other EVs, and even the Prius with similar trim, and it is priced similarly to the most extreme Truck on the road (and you will probably end up using far more of the extreme technology on the Volt than a typical Raptor driver does).

Volt Myth #3: You will get stranded if you run out of electricity

Facts:
Unlike the typical electric only EV, there is NO MAXIMUM distance to limit how far you can travel in a Volt. It just kicks on the gas motor, uses it like a generator and keeps going. In that mode you get anywhere from 35-50 MPG depending on your speed.

In Gas burning mode, at 40 MPH average you can get close to 50 MPG, at 60 MPH the average goes to like low to mid 40s MPG, and if you are doing 80+ MPH you are in the mid to upper 30s for MPG.

And if you get low on gas, pull over, grab another 7.5 gallons of gas and go for another 350 miles more.

I have done round trips from DFW to OKC and back without any charging at all. That lowered my average MPG, but no tow trucks or road side rangers were needed.

Volt Myth #2: The Volt Will run up your electric Bill

Facts:
As I mentioned in Myth #1, the Volt has a smaller battery than other electric only EVs. 16 KW-Hrs total, and since it only will charge to 80% full battery and will only discharge to 30% full to maximize battery life, you only ever need to charge up 8KW-Hrs per charge maximum.

I drive over 40 miles every day, often 80-100 miles, So I take on a full charge every night. When I am charging each KWhr costs 8.7cents, so a full charge is 69 cents a day, or about 18 dollars a month.

So in summary, I can go 40+ miles for less than 70 cents. and I only add 18 dollars to my electric bill, and eliminate the purchase of more than 25 gallons of gas.

Volt Myth #1: You need to get an expensive charger for your house

Facts:
The Volt has a smaller battery than other EV only options like the Nissan leaf, and it has the ability to run on gas as well. So you have two option when you get home and have a drained battery.

Option 1, plug in the car to a normal household outlet with the included 110v charger, and recharge the car from Zero to Full charge in 7 to 8 hours.

Option 2. go to bed and drive on gas and get 40-50 MPG the next day.

Introduction

Hi, I am Dennis, I have owned a lot of cars and am considered by pretty much everyone I know a car guy. I have 4 cars right now, but my daily driver for the past 9 months is a Chevy Volt. I have put over 18K miles on it so far and counting. I am an engineer by training and a computer guy for the past 15 or so years. I keep great notes and love to do spreadsheets to analyze pretty much anything.

The purpose of this blog is to answer a lot of the questions I get on a regular basis about the Volt that I get from people I know, Friends on facebook, people that happen to park next to me. etc.

They are often the same or at least pretty common questions, or misconceptions that people seem to have on exactly how the Volt works.