Chevy Volt?

[Telly]

I'm in a mindset to find a better MPG commuter car and I like the idea of an EV or Hybrid. I posted about the Slate truck last week, but now starting to think that would not fit my needs. Anyone have experience with a Chevy Volt? There are a few out there with less than 100k miles for reasonable cost. The Volt is a plug-in hybrid with about 35-40 miles of battery only range along with an on board gas engine that provides an overall range of about 320 miles. Good on-line reviews for reliability, ride comfort, and tech. I've always liked the styling of the 1st gen Volts too.

My commute is 70 miles round trip and my office has EV Chargers (not free). It may not make sense to charge at the office since I have no idea what a 4 hour charge would set me back.

In theory, I can travel back and forth on battery for about 90% of the commute if I charge at the office. If using the engine on longer trips, the Volt only gets about 37 mpg. Replacing the batteries is NOT cheap so that is something to consider.

I could almost justify buying one and keeping my Tacoma. My wife will not agree with this idea and she's always right...dammit.

Thoughts on the Volt?

 

[SteveH]

A former co-worker of mine has had one for years and most of 100K miles, with virtually no issues. Production stopped in 2019, so they should be dirt cheap at this point. There may be battery pack availability issues, if the pack goes south - you might check on that.

 

[IoN6]

no idea what a 4 hour charge would set me back

I am no sparky, but I would hope that 35 miles of juice does not take 4 hours to inject...

 

[ScaldedDog]

I am no sparky, but I would hope that 35 miles of juice does not take 4 hours to inject...

It might. A lot of plug-in hybrids only charge at 16a. When that's the case, it never pays to charge anywhere but home, or where charging is fully subsidized.

Mark

 

[BritKLR]

I have a good friend up here in Eldora that bought one new and with all the rebates and got a heck of a deal on it. He drives it cross country to the upper midwest several times a years and has zero problems with it. Knowing him he'll drive it into the ground before he gets rid of it. FWIW.

 

[Telly]

I talked to the owner last night and he has been using it exactly as I would. He commutes from Thornton to DTC everyday, using the battery to work and gas on the way home. He charges over night with 110v. He has never used the Tesla charging stations nor does he have a 220v setup in his garage. He uses about 1/2-3/4 gallon of gas per day. It's debatable if the overnight charging is worth the gas savings honestly. I could see a benefit of running around town on the weekends on battery only.

My coworker has a new Jeep plug-in hybrid and it works exactly the same with charging 110v overnight and a 35 mile battery life. He loves it.

It's tempting to give it a try for how inexpensive they are right now. I'm looking at a 2014 with 99k miles for about $6,500.

 

[Telly]

Update: I picked up the Volt. It needs a couple small cosmetic things and I've got plugs/filters on order. I plan to install dedicated winter tires and do an alignment.

I figure it will be worth it to fast charge at the office if the cost is under $5 bucks. If not I'll just rolls with gas on my way home. I think it will get a combined 65 ish mpg combined if I use battery on the way to the office and gas on the way home. I'll post actual data once I start daily driving it.

 

[Crash]

Our 2024 RAV4 plug-in hybrid has a 50 mile range on battery only and gets over 40mpg when the battery is depleted. Charging with 110v was about a ten hour process. BVB helped me install a 220v outlet and now the charging is complete in about two hours. FYI.

 

[Telly]

Thanks for the info Steve. The Volt takes 4 hours on 'fast charging' (2014 technology) so not sure I'll use it much compared to just plugging in overnight. I do have 220v in my garage so I would just need to buy the charging unit if I decide to go that route.

 

[Telly]

Update to round out this post. I've been impressed with the Volt. I filled it up this morning for the first time, 600 miles using 7.4 gallons. 80 mpg ain't bad! Driving experience has been fine with good acceleration and easily maintains highway speeds. Surprisingly quite for a GM car.
My Tacoma would have burned through 34 gallons in this distance. Would I recommend this car...absolutely.

Regarding my charging situation: my office chargers are not free and very expensive so I charge nightly at my house via 110v outlet. Full charge takes about 10 hours.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Using grid power the cost to charge from a 120V/15A outlet is going to be 1800 watts x 10 hours = 18,000 Whr (18 kWh). At our state average residential rate of 17.17 cents/kWh this is $3.09. That's probably highly favorable as long as it goes more than the equivalent miles of a gallon or two of gas, which it obviously does.

 

[Telly]

Thanks for the analysis. I was curious about the approximate home charging costs and thought you might chime in!

 

[DaveInDenver]

Thanks for the analysis. I was curious about the approximate home charging costs and thought you might chime in!

I've run the numbers for projects a couple of times to figure out demand and cost. Nothing's free in the this world. One thing that really irritates me, which will be no surprise to you I'm sure, is when details are glossed over. Now you have some feel how to budget for it. If you charge once a day you're still paying for about 3/4 of a gallon of gas. Plus you can also start watching your utility bill. If you don't need a full charge you can work around peak hours, if you're on flexible billing. Xcel for example is 5PM to 9PM during non-holiday weekdays. The peak demand hours during summer is 0.21277 $/kWh during this time. But non-peak hours is 0.07884 $/kWh. You could save quite a bit of money if you avoid large loads during peak.

 

[Telly]

Mountain View Electric off-peak (overnight charging) = $0.0846 or $1.52/night.
Average charging nights per month = 26 days. $1.52 x 26 = $40.00/month.
Volt fuel and power cost/month
Fuel: 1,624 miles / 80 mpg x $4.00 = $81
Electricity = $40
Total = $121/month

Tacoma fuel only cost/month
1,624 miles / 18 mpg x $4.00 = $360/month

Insurance is substantially less on the Volt than the Tacoma. If I really wanted to save some coin then the Tacoma would go down the road but that ain't happening.

 

[zgfiredude]

All of this, coupled with prior curiosity, has me thinking.......and searching,