Cowmeat learns to drive the Volt

[Ecky]

He's cheating, he doesn't have to put in the cost of the electricity he uses.

[KFM]

Hmm.. without a Kill-A-Watt, or something, it's hard to get an idea of what was grid and what was regenerative charge.

However, no matter what, the Volt had enough leg room in those *back seats* that I'm so jealous of to fit me and a little more. I'm about 5'10", for reference.

Did I do this math right? Looks like at $.07/kWh, .37kWh/gal, and 158mpg, it costs $.014/mile?

[Hank1510]

What does your commute look like?

I have a round trip of 48 miles, but I usually use gas for 1-2 miles. I've gone 52 miles on a charge with the AC off.

My route is about 75% state highway (with stop lights) and the rest is city. I have a 2014 so the battery is a little larger.

You can run high tire pressures of you really want, but the ride is a lot rougher. Since most of the braking is done with regen, you can also put aero on the car without worrying about brake cooling.

[ocnorb]

Awesome thread!

Glad to see Volts getting some positive attention! Bought my '13 in June 2015 and still love driving it every day.

Has anyone else noticed that the top volt on Volt Stats! Tracking real world usage of Chevy Volts in the wild... has topped the 350,000 mile mark!! Incredible.

[WyrTwister]

Are you using the 120 VAC EVSE ?

We had a Nissan Leaf , until it got rear ended .

Only charged it once on 120 VAC , before I installed a 240 VAC EVSE . Like night and day . Something like 3 times shorter charge time .

How many KWH is the battery on your car . The Leaf had a 24 KWH battery .

I pay a flat rate for electricity , no matter what time of day . So , never tried the delayed charging .

How many miles did your Volt have on it when you bought it ?

Have fun ! :-)

God bless
Wyr

[cowmeat]

What does your commute look like?

I have a commute that's practically set up like a Volt commercial. 19 miles each way, no more than 50 mph on any part of the route, all flat land with relatively few stops. Driving in "L" regens enough to give me at least 45 miles of range.

Are you using the 120 VAC EVSE ?

Not sure what that is, but I charge it at home on 120 with the stock Volt charger. I charge it from about 9:00pm to 5:00am

How many KWH is the battery on your car . The Leaf had a 24 KWH battery .

The Volt has a 16 kWh battery, but only uses a max of 9.9 kWh of it (to preserve battery life). It had 51K miles on it when I bought it

[LioNiNoiL]

Originally Posted by KFM

Did I do this math right? Looks like at $.07/kWh, .37kWh/gal, and 158mpg, it costs $.014/mile?

Your result looks pretty good, even though your electrical-to-gasoline equivalent is not.
Below I used the EPA value of 33.7kWh/gallon, and your figures for mpg and electrical cost in cents per kWh:

[ocnorb]

This is the best mod I've done:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2-_pfCtPu4

Allows you to seamlessly move between 120v and 240v and use several styles of 240v outlets anytime.

[Hank1510]

Originally Posted by cowmeat

Not sure what that is, but I charge it at home on 120 with the stock Volt charger. I charge it from about 9:00pm to 5:00am

An EVSE is electric vehicle supply equipment. The actual charger is in the car. The EVSE plugs into the wall to communicate and cut power quickly if something goes wrong. If you call it a charger, we all know what you're talking about.

Level 2, 240v, is actually more efficient than 120v. It uses less kWh to charge. 12 amp is more efficient than 8 amp 120v charging. I can't remember how much more efficient.

Originally Posted by ocnorb

This is the best mod I've done:
Allows you to seamlessly move between 120v and 240v and use several styles of 240v outlets anytime.

I really wish I saw this before I got a level 2. I keep the stock one in the car to charge at work though.

[cowmeat]

This is the best mod I've done:
Allows you to seamlessly move between 120v and 240v and use several styles of 240v outlets anytime.

That's pretty amazing if it's really that easy to upgrade to the 240v

Are you still using this mod? How is it holding up?