I bought a Chevrolet Volt recently.

I don't know how much the range is reduce by lower or higher temperature. Lithium ion batteries perform better than lead acid at low temperature. The heater when running electrically also consumes more power. You can see how much on the display. You can configure it to heat up while plugged in which will save some battery capacity.

Whats your general im pression of the car, quality and concept?

I got to look for something else in the next couple of years. If I could cut my fuel it would be like a pay raise.

The interior is nice. Some people have criticized the use of less luxurious plastics for portions of the dash and other areas versus that softer rubberized stuff. It doesn't bother me. The body panel fit isn't as good as I'd expect. One of the doors needs adjustment to line up and there's a dust particle in the clear coat on the roof.

In a couple years you'll probably have a lot more options, the prices will be better and electric range greater.

Sitting in traffic isn't quite as bad when you know you're not burning gas. It uses about 500 watts stopped in traffic. Two hours of that seem to cost about $.15, one Kilowatt hour. I drove into work, about 13 miles and topped off the battery in about three hours.

My daily routine starting around this time of year, is to get up at 5:00am, start my Car and let it idle for 10 or 15 minutes to create enough heat to safely leave for work. I then have a 15 minute all highway, 60mph plus commute to work. My car has a V-8 but I still have to run the heater fan on high with the heat cranked all the way to work just to be comfortable and keep the windows clear.
I can see how the Volt will work for you, but electric cars just won't work anywhere that gets a real winter.

Might be good for me, I'm not worried about luxury or it being exciting. I just want to get from point A to B as cheap as I can.

Thanks

Then buy a piece of shit used Toyota Corolla for 3 grand, get 38 mpg, and invest the other 30 grand.

Maybe BCC can chime in...

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=771616&highlight=chevy+volt


I wouldn't think you would have gotten a Volt unless it was made by Mercedes.

Similar to a diesel train?

Except that diesel-electric locomotives don't use batteries for propulsion and the engine is always on.

I, for some reason, thought the Volt was 100% electric, i.e., no gas engine at all.

Did they ever figure out why they would catch fire after a crash? Last I heard about it is a couple of the crash test cars went up in flames at random times (hours to days) after being crashed.

The Volt was originally being marketed as an electric car with a gas generator. It would have got all the federal electric car rebates. But the engineering leaked out that internal parts could not take high speeds without the gas engine running. So it changed from an extended range electric car into a plug in hybrid, and the federal rebated got reduced.

Sounds like the Volt has a similer enviromental control package that the Leaf does. You can preprogram it (or phone control it) to preheat or precool the cabin before you drive. As for electric cars being a southern only thing, they are selling the leaf in Canada. It looks like they can take on cold weather. I am sure if you let it sit stone cold, hop in the car and crank up the heater it will likely take a huge chunk off the range.

I've been told I should turn it on in the garage a few minutes before I unplug it, to let the electric heater and heated seats warm up (which apparently you can do with an app). That way I won't deplete the battery and the car's toasty. You can do the same with the air conditioner in the summer, but we never bothered.

We've put over 13,000 miles on it, so far.

Here's a chart with a rough guide to range versus temperature.

From my persona here, it would seem that way but as I mentioned earlier, it has been all domestics save for three, one of which is a 21 year old S class Benz. One of the cars in which I learned to drive was a 1968 280SE Benz so I am imprinted on the brand.

Well, I'll be damned, it really IS Anorak!

I didn't make the chart, I just found one using resources unavailable to other people.

Oh and by the way, the Duke II is the most fun, bitchin' bike I've owned. I'm still surprised at how fast it winds up. I'm concerned about the longevity at 90 mph on the freeway, though. It has been running fine but I don't know much about the LC4. Is it going to blow up soon if I keep cruising it at 90ish?

You're as good a judge of the longevity as I am. You know that you're damn-near full throttle to be going that fast. Not many engines like that as their main mode of operation. Mine gets used exclusively on twisty roads, a couple of times a year. It rarely sees over 80.

Stay on top of that oil level. My experience (from the Adventure) has been that blow-by and airbox oil consumption goes up alarmingly fast at those throttle loads. As mentioned in the old PM, once that downtube starves for oil, the flow stops.

I think full throttle, a tailwind and down hill might get me 110 at redline. That thing is far faster than it should be.

But still being able to slalom in the middle of a tight mountain corner is its forte.

Yes or riding like a dick in San Francisco. Riding more than a few miles on the freeway is really a bore.

Can the Volt tow a trailer?

I know the Prius isn't rated for one but people still put hitches on and pull trailers anyway.

I only got up to 100 downhill on my LC4. It was still picking up speed though, I was just afraid I was going to blow something up and have a seized engine at 100mph. BTW, that was about 600 mile into a 7,000 mile trip on the LC4, with virtually zero maintenance (aside from adding oil every day). But when I got back, I tore it down because of a leaky base gasket, and found that the piston had seized at some point because the piston-cooling oil jet was full of gunk from the ktm factory (aluminum mill shavings all packed in there). Still ran fine though.


I don't get what the hubub is about though, the real anorak/Flourescent brown is an equal opportunity mercedes/bentley/corvette fan, among other makes. Volt actually looks like a pretty damn good car, I'm still surprised it's made by GM.