Just passed 3000 miles driving my Chevy Volt, and its been great, my daily driving to and from work usually uses no gas at all. when I first got the Volt I was getting about 35 miles to a charge, but now that its warmed up I'm regularly getting 45 miles to a charge, which is more then I need most days.
Onstar sent me a report showing that I've driven 2054 electric miles and 1066 gas miles with a combined 106 mpg.
Going forward my commute is about to increase, I will be selling my house in another week and my Wife and I just bought a new place that is half way in between where we both work, which will mean a daily commute of 80 miles, I'm expecting to use a little over a Gallon of gas a day, with my combined mpg dropping to 75, as I'll be driving all electric to work and all gas home. Someday I hope to convince my Company to install charging stations at work, even if I have to pay a premium of double the going rate for electricity it will be worth it plugging in at work, but I've gotten a lot of resistance to this so far, and until I get a VP or someone high up in the company to push this its just not going to happen.
But lack of charging stations where needed is one of the reasons I went with the Volt over a pure electric, once there are charging stations at work, and the Rockaway Mall (where I meet my friends regularly) I'll probably be looking at a Electric car more seriously
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
First Fillup
I had my first fillup of Gasoline after two and a half weeks with 835 miles on the Odomiter ( I recieved the car with 13 miles on the Odometer) I filled it up with 7.672 gallons of premium gas for a calculated 107.1 mpg. but according to the trip computer which I reset when I purchased the car I traveled 821.7 miles but used 8.8 gallons for a 92.6 mpg rating, and finally the Volts lifetime rating say I'm at 102 mpg.
no matter how you calculate it the car is using very little gas and thats what I like to see.
no matter how you calculate it the car is using very little gas and thats what I like to see.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
One week with the chevy Volt
Its been one week since I bought my Chevy Volt, and its been a great experiance driving it so far I've driven 424 miles, 230 of which were in EV mode and have a lifetime gas milage of 93 mpg. Most days here in NJ have been fairly cold, which reduces the electric rangeto 30-35 miles per charge but yesterday it warmed up to 50 and I was able to drive the whole day (39 miles ) without using any gas. Over the weekend we took two long drives 80-100 which really lowered my mpg, but thats ok because with my old all electric MINI E I wouldnt have even tried the drive, and would have taken a gas car instead. With the Volt I have two cars in one, a short range electric and a longer range gas hybrid.
So what's it like to drive an electric car, in a word smooth, there is no roughness from the engine, no roughness from transmission shifting, and very little roughness from road. Sometimes I can tell when the engine comes on, mainly from a light vibration near my foot rather then any noise, but mostly I only know its on by looking at the Gas/Electric milage screen.
So what's it like to drive an electric car, in a word smooth, there is no roughness from the engine, no roughness from transmission shifting, and very little roughness from road. Sometimes I can tell when the engine comes on, mainly from a light vibration near my foot rather then any noise, but mostly I only know its on by looking at the Gas/Electric milage screen.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
My Volt is Home
Well the day I've been waiting for has finally come, the brand new range extended electric vehicle Chevrolet Volt is mine. I purchased the car on Tuesday from Crane Chevrolet, they were a great group there who treated me well and made me feel like a valued customer, not like the guy we can stiff for extra money and we might consent to letting him buy the car from us, which is how I felt at Chevrolet of Jersey City.
Anyway the days, months, years of waiting are finally over, so many delays there were many times when I just wanted to go out and buy a new car any new car, but I didnt, I waited and waited. Looking back I wish I'd kept the MINI E, it was a fun car and I've really missed it, but now I'm back in an electric car again and things couldnt be better.
As you can see I got a Red Volt, but the picture doesnt do justice to just how how beautiful the Red color is, while at the dealership I saw a white one, which was my second choice, it looked nice, but when I saw my Red one I was so so glade I'd waited for a Red Volt. Also from the picture you can see our work parking lot has no shortage of Salt on it, I'm going to be spending a lot of time at the car wash, unlike the MINI E which couldnt have an undercarriage wash.
At Crane Chevrolet, Mike the salesman spent a few hours going over all the features on the Volt, can you say information overload:) It was great, so what all could we talk about for three hours? Well there's charging the batteries of course, and driving modes normal, sport, and mountain, then there is Onstar which is its own course, the infotainment system which will take weeks to truely understand it all, and climate control with auto this and auto that, oh and GPS navigation. Unfortunately someone forgot to plug my Volt in last night so I only had 16 miles of electric range when we started, and only 10 miles after 3 hours of playing with the systems, heating ourselves to stay warm, and a short test drive. I also found out later they forgot to pump up the tires, they were all low on pressure.
Finally it was time to drive off on my own, there's nothing more nerve racking then pulling out of a dealers lot in your brand new car, while every other car on the road is zooming by, luckly the Volt has serious power and I had no trouble merging onto busy Rt 46. One of the cool features of Onstar offers is the ability to press a button, and tell a person where you want to go, in my case Nauna's in Montclair, Tom's restraunt that has become the mecka of Electric Driving in Northern New Jersey. They quickly found the address and downloaded it to my Volt's Navigation system. So I followed the Voice navigation, with a couple wrong turns, and ended up at Nauna's just as the Gas engine kicked in. Unfortunately Tom wasnt in so I headed inot work, way latter then I had originally planned, the Voice navigation, guiding me through a section of New Jersey I'm not at all familiar with.
Eventually I got home and plugged the car into its 240 volt charger, and spent the rest of the evening playing with the infotainment system, and loading CD's onto the hard drive.
Anyway the days, months, years of waiting are finally over, so many delays there were many times when I just wanted to go out and buy a new car any new car, but I didnt, I waited and waited. Looking back I wish I'd kept the MINI E, it was a fun car and I've really missed it, but now I'm back in an electric car again and things couldnt be better.
As you can see I got a Red Volt, but the picture doesnt do justice to just how how beautiful the Red color is, while at the dealership I saw a white one, which was my second choice, it looked nice, but when I saw my Red one I was so so glade I'd waited for a Red Volt. Also from the picture you can see our work parking lot has no shortage of Salt on it, I'm going to be spending a lot of time at the car wash, unlike the MINI E which couldnt have an undercarriage wash.
At Crane Chevrolet, Mike the salesman spent a few hours going over all the features on the Volt, can you say information overload:) It was great, so what all could we talk about for three hours? Well there's charging the batteries of course, and driving modes normal, sport, and mountain, then there is Onstar which is its own course, the infotainment system which will take weeks to truely understand it all, and climate control with auto this and auto that, oh and GPS navigation. Unfortunately someone forgot to plug my Volt in last night so I only had 16 miles of electric range when we started, and only 10 miles after 3 hours of playing with the systems, heating ourselves to stay warm, and a short test drive. I also found out later they forgot to pump up the tires, they were all low on pressure.
Finally it was time to drive off on my own, there's nothing more nerve racking then pulling out of a dealers lot in your brand new car, while every other car on the road is zooming by, luckly the Volt has serious power and I had no trouble merging onto busy Rt 46. One of the cool features of Onstar offers is the ability to press a button, and tell a person where you want to go, in my case Nauna's in Montclair, Tom's restraunt that has become the mecka of Electric Driving in Northern New Jersey. They quickly found the address and downloaded it to my Volt's Navigation system. So I followed the Voice navigation, with a couple wrong turns, and ended up at Nauna's just as the Gas engine kicked in. Unfortunately Tom wasnt in so I headed inot work, way latter then I had originally planned, the Voice navigation, guiding me through a section of New Jersey I'm not at all familiar with.
Eventually I got home and plugged the car into its 240 volt charger, and spent the rest of the evening playing with the infotainment system, and loading CD's onto the hard drive.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Ordered a New Volt
On Tuesday Volt #593 arrived in Newark NJ it should be at the Chevrolet of Jersey City tomorrow, but I wont be getting it. The Dealership marked up the price of the Car by $1500 at the last minute, they've been frustrating to deal with and very low on GM's list so they havent recieved any Volts while other Dealerships in NJ have recieved many.
I called arround to a number of dealerships and got a lot of help from my Chevrolet Volt Advisor, he was able to track down which dealerships had cars in production that matched what I was looking for. He even found one Dealership with a Red Volt in their lot ready to sell, only it didnt have heated seats.
In all we found 7 dealerships in my area with Volts available and only charging MSRP. I put a deposit down with Crane Chevrolet for a Red Volt, with black Leather heated seats, dark trim, Parking Assit, and Polished wheels, just like my original order that they already had in production, for MSRP. It is due to be produced the week of 1/17/11 so I should receive it in early February.
So I have another delay, but I feel more comfortable about my order now, I'll be receiving the Volt I really wanted at a price I'm comfortable with (well almost, really wanted a bright Green one like the Green Camaro, but GM isnt painting them that color)
Mostly I want to say a Big Thank You to my Volt Advisor Micheal, he really went the extra mile to find the Volt I wanted.
I called arround to a number of dealerships and got a lot of help from my Chevrolet Volt Advisor, he was able to track down which dealerships had cars in production that matched what I was looking for. He even found one Dealership with a Red Volt in their lot ready to sell, only it didnt have heated seats.
In all we found 7 dealerships in my area with Volts available and only charging MSRP. I put a deposit down with Crane Chevrolet for a Red Volt, with black Leather heated seats, dark trim, Parking Assit, and Polished wheels, just like my original order that they already had in production, for MSRP. It is due to be produced the week of 1/17/11 so I should receive it in early February.
So I have another delay, but I feel more comfortable about my order now, I'll be receiving the Volt I really wanted at a price I'm comfortable with (well almost, really wanted a bright Green one like the Green Camaro, but GM isnt painting them that color)
Mostly I want to say a Big Thank You to my Volt Advisor Micheal, he really went the extra mile to find the Volt I wanted.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
May not be getting the car I have been waiting for
Well my car is almost here, but there's a problem. I called the dealership Chevrolet of Jersey City and spoke to my salesperson, I wanted to see if it was possible to complete the order before the end of the year. He said it was and we started to do the paperwork over the phone.
Then the bombshell, they wanted $1500 over MSRP, if you've been following my interest in the Volt, you'll know I had a very hard time getting them to set a firm price for the car, finally they gave me a price that was $535 over MSRP and I thought the issue was settled. Now the dealer is saying he doesnt remember giving me that price, I sent them the paper he wrote it on and he said that isnt his handwritting. anyway I'm upset, and we didnt finish the order before the end of the year meaning it will be spring of 2012 before I get the Federal tax credit back. I also have a deposit with Englewood Chevrolet, as my backup and they told me I could have first pick of the dealer cars they are getting in in a couple weeks at MSRP, but none of them are Red with Heated seats (what I most want)
So now I'm stuck, do I buy the car I've been waiting for for the last 6 months, from a dealership I dont trust at a price I dont feel is right. Or do I buy a car that may not be exactly what I want from a the same dealership Lyle used, that seems to have been very upfront with me. Or do I go through the order process again, this time with a good dealership, and get the car around March.
Anyone know of a dealership in the NYC area selling a Red Volt with heated seats, for MSRP?
Then the bombshell, they wanted $1500 over MSRP, if you've been following my interest in the Volt, you'll know I had a very hard time getting them to set a firm price for the car, finally they gave me a price that was $535 over MSRP and I thought the issue was settled. Now the dealer is saying he doesnt remember giving me that price, I sent them the paper he wrote it on and he said that isnt his handwritting. anyway I'm upset, and we didnt finish the order before the end of the year meaning it will be spring of 2012 before I get the Federal tax credit back. I also have a deposit with Englewood Chevrolet, as my backup and they told me I could have first pick of the dealer cars they are getting in in a couple weeks at MSRP, but none of them are Red with Heated seats (what I most want)
So now I'm stuck, do I buy the car I've been waiting for for the last 6 months, from a dealership I dont trust at a price I dont feel is right. Or do I buy a car that may not be exactly what I want from a the same dealership Lyle used, that seems to have been very upfront with me. Or do I go through the order process again, this time with a good dealership, and get the car around March.
Anyone know of a dealership in the NYC area selling a Red Volt with heated seats, for MSRP?
Friday, December 17, 2010
A New Volt is Born
I just got word from the chevroletconnect.com web site that my Red Chevrolet Volt has been built, I even have the VIN number the last 3 digits of which are 593 making it the five hundred and ninty third saleable Volt to be produced. The first 300 Volts have already been shipped and a few lucky souls have taken delivery of their Volts, including the very first delivery which was in Denville NJ less then 10 miles from where I work. I had the crazy idea that ordering from a dealership closer to New York City would mean getting the Volt sooner, as at first they were only selling it in NYC later they said NYC Area, then it was some of New Jersey, turns out they ment anywhere in northern New Jersey. But I'll be getting mine soon enough.
So what now. Well it goes into Quality and Control, where they test it, including the battery, many of the first Volts were in QC for almost a month, but it sounds like they have it down to a week, I think they need that time to verify the batteries are charging and holding charge correctly. Then they ship the Volt, which could take anywhere from a couple days to a few weeks, depending on how they ship it.
The Volt Chevrolet Advisor I spoke to mentioned the 27th, though I'm not sure if thats the date the dealer can expect the car, or the date they ship it out. Either way I'll probably be getting my car the last week of the year or the first of the next.
So what now. Well it goes into Quality and Control, where they test it, including the battery, many of the first Volts were in QC for almost a month, but it sounds like they have it down to a week, I think they need that time to verify the batteries are charging and holding charge correctly. Then they ship the Volt, which could take anywhere from a couple days to a few weeks, depending on how they ship it.
The Volt Chevrolet Advisor I spoke to mentioned the 27th, though I'm not sure if thats the date the dealer can expect the car, or the date they ship it out. Either way I'll probably be getting my car the last week of the year or the first of the next.
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