Apartment living with a Volt ?
 

So - here is the situation : I live in an apartment.
They have garages you can rent, but out of my budget.

I live across the street from my job, and walk there every moring.
I go in at 3 A.M., and recently had my car stolen, and a person was sighted at night carrying a crowbar behind the building recently.

If I get a Volt, I would drive it to work every morning for safety.
That would add up to around 2 1/2 miles a week.
Besides that, the car will sit.
( I don't get out much - agoraphobic )

There is a Chargepoint station around 2 miles from my apartment.
I take two trips a year to see my parents, at 260 miles round trip.

Based on all of this, is this car impractical ?

Can I go a month without charging the car, or will this damage the battery ? ( that would add up to 10 miles a month, and be all electric miles )

If i drive the 10 miles a month, how much charge might I lose ? ( average speed to get across the street - maybe 30 mph ? )

Have any of you used a Chargepoint station with a Volt ?
I have read some stations charge by the minute.
For a Tesla, this by-the-minute charge would be no problem at all, but a Volt charges so slowly, that it would cost quite a bit, correct ?

I'm hoping that it wouldn't take long to charge up if I only drive 10 miles a month.

On the Volt forum, they suggest running a cord out the window of your (3rd floor) apartment.

Seriously.

If any of you have any advice, I really need it.
I'd also like to know what to look for when buying used.

So from what I understand, the battery is covered by warranty for 8 years or 100,000 miles.
Is that just for the original owner ?

With the Leaf, you can check the health of the battery.
How do you do this on a Volt ?


I have looked a several videos, but nothing that helpful yet.

- Thanks !

Not worth it, man. You're really stretching to make this work.

Wouldn't you rather rent a car when needed? You could save a ton of money, try a bunch of cars, and not have to fret about anything bad happening to it.

Sounds like you don't need a car. If you do, a Volt would probably be fine. You could probably top it off at a store that offers L2 charging while you shop. Get the car that you feel suits you best.

Regarding safety, I'd commute via electric unicycle while carrying a tactical cane. By that, I mean something classy that looks like you use it to balance on your rad unicycle, but can be used to fend off miscreants. Nobody would mess with a cane flailing, unicycle riding person.

I used to have horrid social anxiety until I decided the only cure was to push my comfort level until I habituated to normalcy in social interaction. Now I'd say I'm slightly extroverted. I'm still awkward in social interactions and have a small amount of anxiety, but it's fleeting.

Did you see the part about safety ?
I walk to work at 2:45 A.M.
Normal people might just carry a gun, but that has multiple problems.
(I already carry pepper spray. )
I would need to rent a car every single day.

I can get a Volt for around $6,500.
That is extremely expensive, when I could just drive an $800 'beater", but my family hopes that by having something nice, it would make me more sociable.

Why a Volt ?
Well I have OCD as well, and I stress about the amount of pollution I would create to drive that short trip every single day.
I'm reading that statement and laughing at how crazy that sounds.
The amount of pollution created to drive such a short distance would probably not even come close to the amount created by the Volt because of its' manufacture But hell i dont know. I am buying used.

Or just ride a unicycle, while carrying a flamethrower bagpipe.

https://youtu.be/cnVjkE87FDY

Literally across the street or 1/4 mile down?

Did you drive your car before it was stolen?

Where would you park a Volt, on the street?

Expect for the two road trips, a Volt sounds like overkill. What would you think of a bulletproof stainless steel velomobile? Reference: Randy Grubb's Deco-pods or the Golden Submarine or the Golden Zeppelini?

https://randygrubb.com/wp-content/up...ue-River-4.jpg
https://randygrubb.com/wp-content/up...ue-River-4.jpg

https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/Pk...ubmarine-2.jpg
https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/Pk...ubmarine-2.jpg

https://content.instructables.com/OR...DGGECKPZXY.jpg
https://www.instructables.com/The-Go...art-on-wheels/

I can provide a pattern you could scale up to minimize the cutting. See also totruted plywood:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCkARrO_iEc

Counterpoint: that short commute would be incredibly hard on an ICE car... it wouldn't even be remotely warm by the end each way. It would be ideal to do this on an EV instead. A volt sounds perfect for this if you're getting a car for safety anyway, since it gives you the option to skip the charge if you're in a rush one day and covers a couple long trips with aplomb.

Sounds good to me.

The main thing is don't charge it up to 100% and leave it there.
You're in Texas and I think constitutional carry is going to pass. Criminals aren't affraid of being seasoned with aerosol based seasoning, but they are affraid of bing shot.
Being sociable is over rated.

It's a Volt...... it has an engine that will recharge the pack when it gets too low, but if what you show for parameters is valid, that's like once every 2 weeks. Down side is fuel powered recharge time (since I don't do that so I don't know how long). At 2500 watts input, my ranger volt pack is full after 6 hours for what I use of capacity or at Cali rates <$2.60.

2:45am, everybody can be considered a threat, (doesn't mean they actually are a threat) but if you're the only one out there, where's the problem? Getting it vandalized, stolen: statistical chance for everything, but a Volt is a really niche vehicle, so no demand to steal. Might as well hang a sign on a honda that says "free parts"

Volts and Prii kill 12v batteries when they sit,
(Leafs seem to as well)

If you were to get one you could risk putting it in storage mode every time you park or you would need a solar panel maintainer.

The big battery in the Volt can sit unused for years but the gas in the tank will automatically burn off if you don’t drive enough, people in your situation keep the tank very low and only fill when they drive distances to keep the engine from running in maintenance mode all the time.

Winter (unless you hack the temp sensor) will run the engine for heat, in your case sounds like you would definitely want the hack and to keep the tank near empty with e free premium
(Which I normally never recommend)