Cowmeat learns to drive the Volt

[NeilBlanchard]

Originally Posted by cowmeat

Electric companies charge different rates at different hours of the day so I'm charging my car at night, when the grid sees the lowest usage and they charge less per kwh

During the day at peak usage the electric is a lot more per kwh.

Also, I read somewhere that finishing the charge just as you're getting ready to use the car will keep the big battery at a proper operating temperature

Below is the rate chart at Lakeland Electric, the rates vary A LOT!. So charging the car, running the dryer, etc . . . are way cheaper late at night

Does that price include the transmission costs, as well? My generation charges are about 10¢ / kWh and the transmission cost is about the same, so the total is in the 19-21¢ / kWh range.

[vskid3]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

Check out GM-volt you just need to look up somms
The sensor tells the car the outside temp which is displayed on the center console.

Below 25 degrees and the motor idles to make heat every few minutes.

Link for the lazy: ERDTT Modification Options

Originally Posted by rmay635703

Also if you drive lots of 1000 + mile trips like me you will wish you had a 13 volt but in another way your car still has the full underbody aero panels
Lucky

What would be the best year to shoot for? Looks like 2013+ from this list:

2011: 5 years onstar, 16 kWh battery
2012: 3 years onstar, added button locks on door handles (keyless entry), tail lights slightly different, kWh used stat added
2013: 16.5kWh battery, added hold mode, mylink, no more dual tone color scheme, selectable ERDTT
REMOVED: 30gb HDD, DVD playback, changed default 120v charge setting to 8 amps.
2014: manual charge port door, slightly increased battery depth of discharge, exterior color options changed, 5k price drop
2015: 17.1 kWh battery, 4G LTE + wifi hotspot

Are there any other differences that we would care about?

[rmay635703]

2011 are the best built
2011/2012 have a full belly pan (better undocumented highway )
2011/2012 have thickest most comfortable seats (some care)
Late 2012 onward have 16.5 kW battery (more range)
2013+ have a lower Erdtt setting and a very important hold mode (game the system if you drive further than electrically possible often)
2013+ also has a very important scanguage like energy meter)

For me heated seats and hold mode were necessities along with the Erdtt mod.

I can choose to use gas on the highway for longer trips see above attachment.

[cowmeat]

Getting ready to see how the Volt handles in a hurricane. The outer bands are already hitting the area, so I'm gonna time it so I drive home in between bands. Hey, at least I'll have a tail wind!

[ME_Andy]

I bet your energy cost is <1c per mile now. Wow!

[elhigh]

That's a pretty sweet electrical rate, esp. off-peak. Mine is about $.096 per hour, 24/7 - AND I'm about two miles as the crow flies from the nearest hydro dam! Insult on top of injury.

YKYAEI you look at a hurricane as an opportunity for some awesome tailwinds.

[cowmeat]

Well, the hurricane blew about as hard as a box fan in central Florida, so I ended up working outside around the house Friday since the office was closed. My daughter did send me a pic of a tree that blew over at her house though!

I haven't used a drop of gas since I started charging the Volt at night. My commute is exactly 38 miles, and I have made that drive with more miles showing left in reserve every day this week.

This morning I started out the drive with the gauge showing a 37 mile range. After driving the 19 miles to work, it still shows 27 miles of range. I'm getting used to feathering the gas pedal like I did in the Insight, using just enough power to maintain speed. I'd love to see if I could make it to work, back home and to work again but that would mean driving on gas the second day.

***UPDATE***

Ended up driving almost 45 miles on the charge today!

I have a question for any Volt owners here: Is there any kind of instrumentation on the Volt other than the green floating ball that tells the instant electric usage? I'd like to see feedback like I had in my Insight, which showed my instant mpgs as I drove. I think that would help me learn the car even quicker than I'm doing.

[rmay635703]

In 2010 Chevy was strongly against any instrumentation stating that it was a distraction. The car was smarter than you ( a quote I saw far too many times)

After complaints in 2013 GM finally added a kW meter that unifies gas and electrical flow onto the speedo at the bottom. (One reason 2013 was my parameter for purchase)

Scanguage can be specially programmed to show kW but you take a chance of bricking the car during startup & shutdown. Some plug and remove it to avoid this issue but if you have it wiggle intermittently or aren't smooth that can also brick the car.

The dashdaq is the GM certified solution for all states and measures in the car. It too can brick if the connector is loose or accidentally removed.

[cowmeat]

Well, I finally drove the Volt in "sport" mode this weekend, and I doubt that I'll ever again get the amount of EV range I was seeing prior to that! It's got a lot of kick compared to "normal" mode, pretty addictive.

Nah . . . . . in reality I'll use it sparingly, but if I need to pass a line of cars I know I can do it, unlike when I was driving the Insight or the Festiva, or even my wife's Explorer.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by ME_Andy

I bet your energy cost is <1c per mile now. Wow!

My cost per mile on ev is bobbing around 1.42Cents to 2 cents per mile
(but then when I'm at work its free, can't beat that)

And I pay 9.8 cents per KW and still am almost to the 1 cent range!

sadly Wisconsin used to offer almost the same deal the OP is getting, they changed off peak by a factor of six 8 months ago

Made the 3 tiered pricing almost the same as the normal non-tiered pricing, total stupidity.

Why would I opt into a tiered rate structure to save 3.5 cents 9 hours a day only to pay much higher rates the other 15 hours?

Even with solar the way the times and prices are chosen for the rates there is no way to save unless you can run battery in the afternoon and evenings (when there is little or no solar)

Based on the change I don't think WPS wants the tiered option to be used.