Rollin' in the Volt

Hey guys... just picked up the Chevy Volt. It's approx. 85 kms from Oshawa to my front door, I ran on pure electric power (at speeds up to 125 km) before the gas engine kicked in. Futuristic centre stack, interface... rather iMac influenced methinks. Far more engaging ride than a Prius (not that that's anything to crow about) and berklee-ing great brakes. Gonna plug this sucker in tonight and see if I can make it through the day without shelling out any gas $$.

But, will it charge your iPod?

Sure will! For the low low LOW PRICE OF ONLY 7 MILES!

My boss has one - averages 185 miles a gallon as he only uses electricity on his commute. I drove it and it was better than I expected. Wierd center consol though and why isnt there a shelf in the trunk traditional hatch back style to hide stuff from prying eyes?

monark192 wrote: My boss has one - averages 185 miles a gallon as he only uses electricity on his commute. I drove it and it was better than I expected. Wierd center consol though and why isnt there a shelf in the trunk traditional hatch back style to hide stuff from prying eyes?

The press car we had was equipped with a trunk privacy shelf. Option maybe?

And I told you it was awesome.

jg

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: Sure will! For the low low LOW PRICE OF ONLY 7 MILES!

i think that would be worth it :)

I'm curious to find out how much your average fill up will be on the electric bill. I don't doubt that it will be cheaper than gasoline, but by how much?

mtn wrote: I'm curious to find out how much your average fill up will be on the electric bill. I don't doubt that it will be cheaper than gasoline, but by how much?

A "ful charge" will use between 8.5 and 9.5kW of juice. Off peak here in Florida, that'll cost you about a buck. On peak, it'll cost about $1.50.

jg

Not sure what it will cost here, but you can actually "set it" (the charger) to kick in at off-peak hours. This one has a privacy cover for the hatch.

I'm glad GM built it.. or for that matter... that anybody built it, it's another step forward

I don't understand how it makes sense on the bottom line at all but it's an interesting idea.

Yeah, I'm glad they built it. It will spur progress and that's a good thing.
I'll keep my 230+ MPG car though

I hope our Dear Leader figures out how to tax the berkeley out of those Volt drivers. Yeah, you might fill the charge for a buck, but you are not paying $5 in various taxes for the road you use with it, you Volt leaching tax dodgers who won't pay up your fair share. I don't worry, though, Dear Leader will figure out how to tax you without ever bothering with that congress thing.

I hope people just run them off the road like they do cyclists around here, in the name of that road use tax.

Nah, j/k. I kinda like the Volt. I want to test drive one.

Well, I won't be one of those leeches you're referring to. Son of a bitch keeps blowing the breakers in my 99 year old house. That would be fine if it would just sit there, not soaking up juice... but nooooooo... it keeps berkeleying chirping like an angry little bird. My elderly neighbour has already knocked on the door in her nightie to let me know there's something weird going on in my back yard.

The taxman will come around to get theirs on EV's and even hybrids. Paying our road taxes by miles driven instead of by gasoline consumed will happen when the number of EV's and hybrids hits a turning point. I think it is obvious to the very same folks who always encourage us to conserve and be more efficient that the result is less revenue for them, so they will find a way eventually.

We'll all have GPS tracking devices on a vehicles and each month the taxman will deduct the required money based on miles driven out of our checking accounts automatically to take care of our taxes for us. That is the system they will want to put in place. The PATRIOT Act will of course let them take a look at where we go and how fast we drive as a matter of fighting the terrorists...if we don't submit or resist this intrusion of our privacy we will be told we are just helping the terrorists win.

That being said, I'd like to drive a Volt. I'd like to have one for a week to live with it. Most days I'd be 100% electric unless the engine kicked in just to not let the gas get old. Don't see buying one at the current prices though.

Dr. Hess wrote: I hope our Dear Leader figures out how to tax the berkeley out of those Volt drivers.

Yeah, I'm sure they will. Here in MI they have no idea. A friend of mine and I have tried to find how what we have to do to pay the road tax I'm not paying. They have NO IDEA! We explained that we use our own fuel and that we can keep track of miles driven and submit our taxes. They said "Sir, we don't have anything in place for that. There is simply no way for you to pay those taxes."
Never thought I'd hear that from a gubment official.

JG Pasterjak wrote:

mtn wrote: I'm curious to find out how much your average fill up will be on the electric bill. I don't doubt that it will be cheaper than gasoline, but by how much?

A "ful charge" will use between 8.5 and 9.5kW of juice. Off peak here in Florida, that'll cost you about a buck. On peak, it'll cost about $1.50. jg

Yep. It's surprisingly cheap ( I do these sort of calculations for my job).

The tax issue will eventually be looked at, but right now the real world numbers don't make it worth the effort. Collecting the tax would likely cost more than the revenues.

DrBoost wrote:

Dr. Hess wrote: I hope our Dear Leader figures out how to tax the berkeley out of those Volt drivers.

Yeah, I'm sure they will. Here in MI they have no idea. A friend of mine and I have tried to find how what we have to do to pay the road tax I'm not paying. They have NO IDEA! We explained that we use our own fuel and that we can keep track of miles driven and submit our taxes. They said "Sir, we don't have anything in place for that. There is simply no way for you to pay those taxes." Never thought I'd hear that from a gubment official.

I remember a story from North Carolina where state patrol was citing people with tax evasion for using bio-diesel.

Volt is happily charging under the leafy wisteria canopy in my backyard (how's that for a green photo op?) Old house with 100 amp service can't run dryer, dehumidifier and hybrid car all at once...

Might be worthwhile, if it didn't cost over 40 large- even w/the obiemamma subsidy it's $32+. I thought the Prius was outrageous at $25k !

minimac wrote: Might be worthwhile, if it didn't cost over 40 large- even w/the obiemamma subsidy it's $32+. I thought the Prius was outrageous at $25k !

A computer cost $4000 in 1995.

The prices will come down.

This one's for the early adapters who can afford it.

DILYSI Dave wrote:

DrBoost wrote:

Dr. Hess wrote: I hope our Dear Leader figures out how to tax the berkeley out of those Volt drivers.

Yeah, I'm sure they will. Here in MI they have no idea. A friend of mine and I have tried to find how what we have to do to pay the road tax I'm not paying. They have NO IDEA! We explained that we use our own fuel and that we can keep track of miles driven and submit our taxes. They said "Sir, we don't have anything in place for that. There is simply no way for you to pay those taxes." Never thought I'd hear that from a gubment official.

I remember a story from North Carolina where state patrol was citing people with tax evasion for using bio-diesel.

Lucky for me, I run straight veggie oil. IF I were to get pulled over I'd just switch to diesel. They couldn't prove I was using veggie. I could tell them the veggie is only used for when I idle my car to power my house.....
I don't expect any trouble, but at least I tried to do the right thing.

Arguing that it is cheap is enormously short sighted, unless we are all advocates of coal fired power plants.

57% of all electricity in the nation is generated by burning coal. Coal power plants are responsible for 93 percent of the sulfur dioxide and 80 percent of the nitrogen oxide emissions generated by the electric utility industry. My state (GA) imports more coal from other states than any other state. I guess while we are talking "green", we don't need to count the environmental impact of the emissions of the trucks and trains doing the hauling.

I know you guys have heard it before. But I can't view it as an "advancement" when the root of it's power source is 150 years behind the times in terms of environmental technologies.

Until we can update the infrastructure (which will take a huge amount of time), electrics will be a net drain on the health of the environment. Gasoline is a lot cleaner.

Having said that, I may own one soon. I am partial owner in a patent for a great new micro electric generating turbine which looks like it is about to go viral. I'll drive one when I can generate my own clean energy.

Relax! Obama's got rules coming place to shut down those pesky coal-fired plants in the next eighteen months. What's going to replace them? Uh... we'll get back to you on that.

Nice car, but it's way too early for 90% of America to be thinking about buying one.