Apartment living with a Volt ?

[Cd]

Originally Posted by ME_Andy

There's a 2011 Leaf on Austin Craigslist right now for $2250. But it only has 30-35 miles of range. Yikes!

The Leaf is great around town, but I run into the same problem of not having a place to charge besides public charging stations.
Thank you for the tip though !

If I bought a Leaf, I wouldn't even leave the dealer without modifying the car.
The first thing to go being the "braces" on the cars mouth ( grille )
And then on to aeromods and removing the light covers that stick up.
I'd add a Kammback too.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by ME_Andy

There's a 2011 Leaf on Austin Craigslist right now for $2250. But it only has 30-35 miles of range. Yikes!

I would own a car just like that for tooting locally as a second car, sadly Wisconsin is trying to ban second cars by charging 1/3 that price in taxes title+registration for something that is no more useful than a moped.

Then you have the fact that insurance on such a secondary vehicle has gone from $85 a year to around $600 a year.

In all reality private vehicle insurance should be banned, those who follow the law pay through the nose and because of the cost it seems like no one else has insurance or even a valid registration then you get hit and your fighting with your insurance company but your deductible is $500+ making it a waste anyway and even if they pay nothing and it’s not your fault your rate goes up.

[Cd]

My aparments will let me charge on a standard 110 outlet at the office.
Maybe one or two sessions of an hour per week.

What might that get me in EV range on a 2011 Volt with maybe 130,000 miles ?

I'd also like to ask how you all deal with the HUGE blindpots on the car.
Not only out the rear, but the sides, and even the front.
Is it just an optical illusion, or are the A pillars on this car wider than any other car ?
When looking at even the latest models with great crash ratings, you don't see such wide A pillars.
I have seen that there was an option for blind spot alerts.
What can you tell me about this ?
I have seen aftermarket systems for around $500.
Is the stock version pretty good ?
What about some of the other safety alerts ?
If you have them on your car, please comment.
I really need the alerts, since I have problems turning my head to look to my side ( fused vertebrae )
What was this option called ( what option name should I look for when buying used - such as "driver safety alert package" )
The car does not actually brake if it detects a car in front of you, correct ? ( I'm wondering if an aftermarket system would brake the car )

I also wanted to ask about what years are best for us hypermilers.

I want to spend less than $7,000 on the car, so will be looking at older versions.

So the 2013+ models have instant usage and other geeky info ?
That is something I would definately want !
The more info the better !

But is this something that can be added as a software update ?
If not, is there something like a Scanguage, but for EVs ?

I just recently found out about "hold" mode.
From what I understand, this helps your gas mleage if you know you are going to take a long highway trip, since it shuts off the generator.

Could this also be added as a software update, or are physical parts involved that are not on older cars ?

Would I have to look for the "premier" versions of the car to get the good safety features ?

If i find a cheap 2011 Volt, what will I miss out on with a 2013+ car ?

I'm looking at Volts, because I have seen good ones for under 7K.
I have seen Prius Plugins that have around 20 miles of EV range. That may be fine for my situation, but they are more expensive than the Volt.

[freebeard]

( fused vertebrae )

duckduckgo.com/?q=wink+mirror&iax=images&ia=images

I couldn't live without mine. It's time to migrate it to the XFi.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Cd

My aparments will let me charge on a standard 110 outlet at the office.
Maybe one or two sessions of an hour per week.

What might that get me in EV range on a 2011 Volt with maybe 130,000 miles ?

Depends. Winter range can be half of summer depending on heater usage and speed of travel.

An average efficiency might be 3.5 miles per kWh. A standard 120v outlet can supply 12 amps, or 1,440 watts (120v * 12 amps). That's 1.44 kWh (1hr x 1,440 watts) in an hour... 1.44 kWh * 3.5 miles = 5 miles. Taking into account less than perfect efficiency, you're looking at about 4 miles of range added per hour charging.

I just recently found out about "hold" mode.
From what I understand, this helps your gas mleage if you know you are going to take a long highway trip, since it shuts off the generator.

Could this also be added as a software update, or are physical parts involved that are not on older cars ?

No hold mode on the older cars. Chevy isn't going to be adding features to the older models either, or probably even the newer ones.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Cd

My aparments will let me charge on a standard 110 outlet at the office.
Maybe one or two sessions of an hour per week.

GM says the Volt charges at a rate of 3 miles per hour on 110V (It will charge faster at 50% SOC than at 90% SOC)

That should be plenty for your 2.5 miles of driving per week. You would get 14 weeks on driving on one full charge. However, you shouldn't full deplete the battery if you want it to last. Keep it at 50% and charge it once a week for an hour and you should be fine.

[Cd]

Originally Posted by freebeard

duckduckgo.com/?q=wink+mirror&iax=images&ia=images

I couldn't live without mine. It's time to migrate it to the XFi.

I got to sit in a 2013 Volt today.
My former co-worker just happened to be here from out of state.

MASSIVE A,B,and C pillars on the car, and the glass panel between the rear taillights is tiny.

The wink mirror looks great, and I plan to buy one.

However, I don't see how it can help vision from rhe C pillars.
Even the best viewing angles are just going to reflect the C pillar and not show what is hidden behind them.

[Cd]

Originally Posted by JSH

GM says the Volt charges at a rate of 3 miles per hour on 110V (It will charge faster at 50% SOC than at 90% SOC)

That should be plenty for your 2.5 miles of driving per week. You would get 14 weeks on driving on one full charge. However, you shouldn't full deplete the battery if you want it to last. Keep it at 50% and charge it once a week for an hour and you should be fine.

It's my hope that driving the car to work every day will make me more comfortable in the car. ( and with driving )
Hopefully it makes me want to branch out more and drive even more.

[freebeard]

The main thing is not having to turn your head.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Cd

It's my hope that driving the car to work every day will make me more comfortable in the car. ( and with driving )
Hopefully it makes me want to branch out more and drive even more.

You can do it. Take the risk and reap the reward of freedom.