2017 Chevy Volt

Electric commuting in style...

As I mentioned in my previous post, I took the plunge and am leasing a 2017 Chevy Volt for my daily driver.  I couldn't be more pleased.  My lease payment and monthly electric use is about the same as I was spending driving my Suburban around. Oh, did I mention the little green stickers that let me use the HOV lanes?

In case you (like I) were ignorant of how the Volt is different than a Prius here is the skinny.  Most hybrids are a parallel hybrid -- the internal combustion (IC) engine and the battery pack work together at all times to propel the car.  Sometimes it might be all battery, sometimes all IC, but they are both always on.  The Volt is a serial hybrid that can be driven in a parallel mode.  Serial means that this car runs on its battery until the energy is gone and then the IC switches on.  In fact, the IC isn't even connected to the wheels directly.  The IC powers a generator to provide electricity to the battery pack or the drive motor.  This is very much like a diesel-electric locomotive and allows a tiny 1.5L IC to drive this thing around.

The genius of this was unknown to me until early 2016.  My attention was paid to the Volt when it was announced and as I followed Chevy's struggle to find battery technology to make it the electric- only vehicle that it was originally supposed to be.  I lost interest when it came out in 2012 or so as a hybrid.  I thought that they had given up and just tried to compete with the Prius (Pious).  What I missed is that they simply realized that the range was too low to sell to the general public and added a range extender in the form of a small IC + generator.  Brilliant!

So I drive an electric car every day using not one drop of gas.  If I need to go farther I can let the IC fire up and take me where I need to go.  No "range anxiety."  Plus, with the 9 gallon gas tank and a full battery I can go about 420 miles.  Not that I would know since I am still using the tank of gas the dealership gave me.

A word about chargers.  The charging system is actually built into the car.  You simply have to provide a well-regulated 120V, 8 to 12A AC source.  Conveniently the car is sold with just such a device.  I call it the "opportunity charger."  This is all I am using to charge my car.  Currently (see what I did there?) it takes between 5 and 8 hours to recharge at 120V/12A since I rarely use more than 11kWh of my 18.5kWh battery pack.  I did not have to put any expensive equipment in the garage.  I am, however, considering just that.  If I install a 240V, 24 to 36A circuit and regulator in my garage I should be able to charge in about one-quarter of the time it takes now.

Next up a tour of the fit and finish of the Volt followed by a discussion of how to drive this unique vehicle and a summary of the state of the art in alternative fuel vehicles.