I made it 31 days without using any gas
 

So I made myself a challenge to go a full month without using any gasoline to get around and today I made it. I'm pretty stoked. I found 11 new places I could charge, and I got my per mile watt consumption down from an average of 310 Watts per mile at the beginning of the month to 261 at the end. I did that by moderating my gas pedal movements so keep them in thickest part of the eco band on the power meter of the Niro and by picking less traveled, slower routes. My new route to work is 13.68 miles instead of 17.61 and it's much slower at an average speed of 26 mph instead of 51.

Neat stuff! I remember one of my fav automotive personalities had the least likely car I'd have thought - a Chevy Volt - and loved it. Though not entirely analogous, he was stoked that it accommodated his Los Angeles needs yet he didn't refuel for the first several months that he owned the car. Used correctly, these can be pretty awesome types of transport.

Is it like the volt where it makes you burn a tank of gas per year?

Feels good, doesn't it? :thumbup:

I did the same thing, I spent years tweaking my route for the different cars I've driven until arriving at the current 19.05 mile route. It's perfect for the Volt and I haven't used any gas this year, the tank in the Volt is still the one the dealership put in.

So Kia says that you should drive at least 9 miles in hybrid mode at speeds of more than 50 mph not less than once every 60 days, and fuel stabilizer must be used after 75 days. Personally, I'm going to be taking a road trip in April, so it will get used up.

Yep, I would definitely use a fuel stabilizer if the gas is going to sit for that long. You would have trouble convincing me though to get one of those mostly electric, but still has 400-500 lbs of engine and engine equipment kind of cars.

Don't knock them til you've tried them, man!

My kid bought my old Volt from me, and for a while he had a long commute of close to an hour each way. He did 35 miles in EV mode and then his highway mpg using the ICE wasn't much less than what you're pulling on Baby Viff.
PHEVs make a lot of sense if you have a place to plug in (especially if you plug in for free like I do) and you don't sacrifice any range so you don't have to use it as a second car like an EV.

Oh, and they're pretty fast too!

Right?

I can drive 800+ miles all electric and then take a road trip from Albuquerque to Cheyenne on one tank of gas.

If we can get a plug in hybrid we might use some gas about every other weekend.