Volt Questions
September 28th, 2013, 9:10 AM
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Volt Questions
The volt has both a gasoline motor and the battery / electric drive system ?
The battery can be re-charged from house current ? 120 VAC or 240 VAC ? What amperage circuit ?
How much does the Volt cost , out the door ?
Thanks , :-)
Wyr
God bless
The battery can be re-charged from house current ? 120 VAC or 240 VAC ? What amperage circuit ?
How much does the Volt cost , out the door ?
Thanks , :-)
Wyr
God bless
November 3rd, 2013, 11:12 AM
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The volt is a complete full electric vehicle. The engine is a gas generator to help recharge the battery drive system. The vehicle can be charged using either a 120 or 240 volt "dedicated circuit". The 240 setup will give the vehicle a full charge in half the time or less than the 120 will. I see most sticker prices on the volts for around 38k-46k. Depends on options. A lot of people lease them due to great rates too.
August 21st, 2014, 6:23 AM
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Love My 2013 Volt
The volt has both a gasoline motor and the battery / electric drive system ?
-The gasoline engine is not connected to the drive line. The car is 100% Electric Driven. The Engine, a 1.4L "Range Extender", is there only to produce electricity once the batteries are depleted. (There are other drive modes that will engage the engine).
-For us we get about 40 Miles per charge. This includes running the AC, radio, and running about 34 miles round trip, 30 of which is I-26 highway miles. We are in South Carolina so it is a warm place.
The battery can be re-charged from house current ?
-Yes
120 VAC or 240 VAC ?
-Both
-The car comes with the 120v Charging Cord.
-At the 120v charging level you can select 8 Amp or 12 Amp.
Once the battery is depleted it takes about 12ish hours to completely re-charge at 8 amps and 10ish at 12 amps(I will log this over the next week and update this post)
What amperage circuit ?
15/20 amp circuit will be just fine. Just make sure that if you are charging at 12 amps you don't overload the circuit with anything else that could push the circuit breaker to trip.
How much does the Volt cost , out the door ?
$40,000 (All Options), -$5,000 Rebate, Paid $2,000 for 0% Financing for 60 Months. 8 Year Warranty, 3 years of OnStar, Free Window Tint.
Don't forget the Tax Breaks:
- $7,500 Federal
- $1,999 for SC State
Notes:
Costs to Charge the car (Electricity is not free):
I could use some help here, this is confusing.
SC Cost is $0.09933 per kWh
Volt Battery is 17.1 kWh
If the battery is fully depleted then cost to recharge is $0.09933 X 17.1 = $1.70 per day? So if this is accurate then we spend about $34.00 per month on electricity for her to travel 680 miles. So if you have a car that is getting 30mpg we are paying about half of what the fuel costs.
When we are on a trip to FL we run the car off the engine when on the highway and get about 36mpg at 70-75mph.
We love the car. My Wife drives it daily. She has not filled up in over a month. OnStar is very useful! The mobile app is awesome! Don't forget that not using the engine as much means less oil changes!
There is PLENTY of power. Put the car in Sport Mode and you can use both the batteries and engine and it does scoot. Now I also have a Corvette Z06 so there is no comparison there but for daily driving it is acceptable.
Cons:
- Backup light, there is only one, is really dim. So using the backup camera at night is not very useful especially if there is no other external light source.
- No power seats. (Really GM!)
- Rain on the windshield. I don't know if it is the slope or the windshield or air flow over the hood, but in heavy down pour visibility is not that great.
- Regenerative Breaking. As you slow down and apply the breaks, this energy is redirected to recharging the battery until you get to a certain point, press the break pedal down just a little bit more, and then it seems that the physical breaks kick in and stop the car. If you are going slow you can get a bit of a surprise at the point of this transition; the deceleration G-forces increase by about 25%ish. So you can really feel when this happens. My Wife blames it on the driver.
- The engine will NOT recharge the battery per-say. We use the battery to get to the highway then switch over to the engine. Let's say this uses 5 of the 40 miles. Then we drive for 7.5 hours to Florida. When we get there we only have 35 miles left on the battery.
As you can see you will have to weigh the pros and cons on the purchase of a Volt. I do find myself driving differently between the Volt and Corvette.
If you have any questions for me about the car let me know. I would love the opportunity to provide my experiences both good and bad and to hear yours.
-The gasoline engine is not connected to the drive line. The car is 100% Electric Driven. The Engine, a 1.4L "Range Extender", is there only to produce electricity once the batteries are depleted. (There are other drive modes that will engage the engine).
-For us we get about 40 Miles per charge. This includes running the AC, radio, and running about 34 miles round trip, 30 of which is I-26 highway miles. We are in South Carolina so it is a warm place.
The battery can be re-charged from house current ?
-Yes
120 VAC or 240 VAC ?
-Both
-The car comes with the 120v Charging Cord.
-At the 120v charging level you can select 8 Amp or 12 Amp.
Once the battery is depleted it takes about 12ish hours to completely re-charge at 8 amps and 10ish at 12 amps(I will log this over the next week and update this post)
What amperage circuit ?
15/20 amp circuit will be just fine. Just make sure that if you are charging at 12 amps you don't overload the circuit with anything else that could push the circuit breaker to trip.
How much does the Volt cost , out the door ?
$40,000 (All Options), -$5,000 Rebate, Paid $2,000 for 0% Financing for 60 Months. 8 Year Warranty, 3 years of OnStar, Free Window Tint.
Don't forget the Tax Breaks:
- $7,500 Federal
- $1,999 for SC State
Notes:
Costs to Charge the car (Electricity is not free):
I could use some help here, this is confusing.
SC Cost is $0.09933 per kWh
Volt Battery is 17.1 kWh
If the battery is fully depleted then cost to recharge is $0.09933 X 17.1 = $1.70 per day? So if this is accurate then we spend about $34.00 per month on electricity for her to travel 680 miles. So if you have a car that is getting 30mpg we are paying about half of what the fuel costs.
When we are on a trip to FL we run the car off the engine when on the highway and get about 36mpg at 70-75mph.
We love the car. My Wife drives it daily. She has not filled up in over a month. OnStar is very useful! The mobile app is awesome! Don't forget that not using the engine as much means less oil changes!
There is PLENTY of power. Put the car in Sport Mode and you can use both the batteries and engine and it does scoot. Now I also have a Corvette Z06 so there is no comparison there but for daily driving it is acceptable.
Cons:
- Backup light, there is only one, is really dim. So using the backup camera at night is not very useful especially if there is no other external light source.
- No power seats. (Really GM!)
- Rain on the windshield. I don't know if it is the slope or the windshield or air flow over the hood, but in heavy down pour visibility is not that great.
- Regenerative Breaking. As you slow down and apply the breaks, this energy is redirected to recharging the battery until you get to a certain point, press the break pedal down just a little bit more, and then it seems that the physical breaks kick in and stop the car. If you are going slow you can get a bit of a surprise at the point of this transition; the deceleration G-forces increase by about 25%ish. So you can really feel when this happens. My Wife blames it on the driver.
- The engine will NOT recharge the battery per-say. We use the battery to get to the highway then switch over to the engine. Let's say this uses 5 of the 40 miles. Then we drive for 7.5 hours to Florida. When we get there we only have 35 miles left on the battery.
As you can see you will have to weigh the pros and cons on the purchase of a Volt. I do find myself driving differently between the Volt and Corvette.
If you have any questions for me about the car let me know. I would love the opportunity to provide my experiences both good and bad and to hear yours.
Last edited by ChipHead; August 21st, 2014 at 6:26 AM.
August 22nd, 2014, 5:42 AM
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Nothing is 100% efficient , so I would figure the charger would consume about 20 kw ? That would give about $ 2.00 a charge . Maybe ?
They may be fine little cars , I do not know ? But $ 40,000 is way too much $$$ for a small car . $ 30,000 would be too much for me .
But each to his / her own . Have fun . :-)
God bless
Wyr
They may be fine little cars , I do not know ? But $ 40,000 is way too much $$$ for a small car . $ 30,000 would be too much for me .
But each to his / her own . Have fun . :-)
God bless
Wyr
August 25th, 2014, 12:17 AM
#5
Nothing is 100% efficient , so I would figure the charger would consume about 20 kw ? That would give about $ 2.00 a charge . Maybe ?
They may be fine little cars , I do not know ? But $ 40,000 is way too much $$$ for a small car . $ 30,000 would be too much for me .
But each to his / her own . Have fun . :-)
God bless
Wyr
They may be fine little cars , I do not know ? But $ 40,000 is way too much $$$ for a small car . $ 30,000 would be too much for me .
But each to his / her own . Have fun . :-)
God bless
Wyr
What? You don't find it as 'MotorTrend' put it--- ". It’s a technological breakthrough that many American families can use for gas-free daily commutes and well-planned vacation drives. It’s expensive for a Chevy, but many of those families will find the gasoline saved worth it. "
August 25th, 2014, 4:31 AM
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My wife's current car is a 1996 Chevy Lumina 4 door sedan w/ ~ 160,000 miles on it . I have been able to do most of the repairs myself .
The prospect of trying to keep an electric or hybrid car running , myself , scares the ******* out of me ! :-(
Both from the point of view of not having the know how / experience and the potential cost of replacement parts .
Add in the high initial cost . I can not see this is being a vehicle for me .
But for those that want / like it , enjoy .
One last question . Isn't there a Chevy Spark ? Is it an electric or Hybrid ?
God bless
Wyr
The prospect of trying to keep an electric or hybrid car running , myself , scares the ******* out of me ! :-(
Both from the point of view of not having the know how / experience and the potential cost of replacement parts .
Add in the high initial cost . I can not see this is being a vehicle for me .
But for those that want / like it , enjoy .
One last question . Isn't there a Chevy Spark ? Is it an electric or Hybrid ?
God bless
Wyr
November 28th, 2014, 1:33 PM
#7
CF Senior Member
The volt has both a gasoline motor and the battery / electric drive system ?
-The gasoline engine is not connected to the drive line. The car is 100% Electric Driven. The Engine, a 1.4L "Range Extender", is there only to produce electricity once the batteries are depleted. (There are other drive modes that will engage the engine).
-For us we get about 40 Miles per charge. This includes running the AC, radio, and running about 34 miles round trip, 30 of which is I-26 highway miles. We are in South Carolina so it is a warm place.
The battery can be re-charged from house current ?
-Yes
120 VAC or 240 VAC ?
-Both
-The car comes with the 120v Charging Cord.
-At the 120v charging level you can select 8 Amp or 12 Amp.
Once the battery is depleted it takes about 12ish hours to completely re-charge at 8 amps and 10ish at 12 amps(I will log this over the next week and update this post)
What amperage circuit ?
15/20 amp circuit will be just fine. Just make sure that if you are charging at 12 amps you don't overload the circuit with anything else that could push the circuit breaker to trip.
How much does the Volt cost , out the door ?
$40,000 (All Options), -$5,000 Rebate, Paid $2,000 for 0% Financing for 60 Months. 8 Year Warranty, 3 years of OnStar, Free Window Tint.
Don't forget the Tax Breaks:
- $7,500 Federal
- $1,999 for SC State
Notes:
Costs to Charge the car (Electricity is not free):
I could use some help here, this is confusing.
SC Cost is $0.09933 per kWh
Volt Battery is 17.1 kWh
If the battery is fully depleted then cost to recharge is $0.09933 X 17.1 = $1.70 per day? So if this is accurate then we spend about $34.00 per month on electricity for her to travel 680 miles. So if you have a car that is getting 30mpg we are paying about half of what the fuel costs.
When we are on a trip to FL we run the car off the engine when on the highway and get about 36mpg at 70-75mph.
We love the car. My Wife drives it daily. She has not filled up in over a month. OnStar is very useful! The mobile app is awesome! Don't forget that not using the engine as much means less oil changes!
There is PLENTY of power. Put the car in Sport Mode and you can use both the batteries and engine and it does scoot. Now I also have a Corvette Z06 so there is no comparison there but for daily driving it is acceptable.
Cons:
- Backup light, there is only one, is really dim. So using the backup camera at night is not very useful especially if there is no other external light source.
- No power seats. (Really GM!)
- Rain on the windshield. I don't know if it is the slope or the windshield or air flow over the hood, but in heavy down pour visibility is not that great.
- Regenerative Breaking. As you slow down and apply the breaks, this energy is redirected to recharging the battery until you get to a certain point, press the break pedal down just a little bit more, and then it seems that the physical breaks kick in and stop the car. If you are going slow you can get a bit of a surprise at the point of this transition; the deceleration G-forces increase by about 25%ish. So you can really feel when this happens. My Wife blames it on the driver.
- The engine will NOT recharge the battery per-say. We use the battery to get to the highway then switch over to the engine. Let's say this uses 5 of the 40 miles. Then we drive for 7.5 hours to Florida. When we get there we only have 35 miles left on the battery.
As you can see you will have to weigh the pros and cons on the purchase of a Volt. I do find myself driving differently between the Volt and Corvette.
If you have any questions for me about the car let me know. I would love the opportunity to provide my experiences both good and bad and to hear yours.
-The gasoline engine is not connected to the drive line. The car is 100% Electric Driven. The Engine, a 1.4L "Range Extender", is there only to produce electricity once the batteries are depleted. (There are other drive modes that will engage the engine).
-For us we get about 40 Miles per charge. This includes running the AC, radio, and running about 34 miles round trip, 30 of which is I-26 highway miles. We are in South Carolina so it is a warm place.
The battery can be re-charged from house current ?
-Yes
120 VAC or 240 VAC ?
-Both
-The car comes with the 120v Charging Cord.
-At the 120v charging level you can select 8 Amp or 12 Amp.
Once the battery is depleted it takes about 12ish hours to completely re-charge at 8 amps and 10ish at 12 amps(I will log this over the next week and update this post)
What amperage circuit ?
15/20 amp circuit will be just fine. Just make sure that if you are charging at 12 amps you don't overload the circuit with anything else that could push the circuit breaker to trip.
How much does the Volt cost , out the door ?
$40,000 (All Options), -$5,000 Rebate, Paid $2,000 for 0% Financing for 60 Months. 8 Year Warranty, 3 years of OnStar, Free Window Tint.
Don't forget the Tax Breaks:
- $7,500 Federal
- $1,999 for SC State
Notes:
Costs to Charge the car (Electricity is not free):
I could use some help here, this is confusing.
SC Cost is $0.09933 per kWh
Volt Battery is 17.1 kWh
If the battery is fully depleted then cost to recharge is $0.09933 X 17.1 = $1.70 per day? So if this is accurate then we spend about $34.00 per month on electricity for her to travel 680 miles. So if you have a car that is getting 30mpg we are paying about half of what the fuel costs.
When we are on a trip to FL we run the car off the engine when on the highway and get about 36mpg at 70-75mph.
We love the car. My Wife drives it daily. She has not filled up in over a month. OnStar is very useful! The mobile app is awesome! Don't forget that not using the engine as much means less oil changes!
There is PLENTY of power. Put the car in Sport Mode and you can use both the batteries and engine and it does scoot. Now I also have a Corvette Z06 so there is no comparison there but for daily driving it is acceptable.
Cons:
- Backup light, there is only one, is really dim. So using the backup camera at night is not very useful especially if there is no other external light source.
- No power seats. (Really GM!)
- Rain on the windshield. I don't know if it is the slope or the windshield or air flow over the hood, but in heavy down pour visibility is not that great.
- Regenerative Breaking. As you slow down and apply the breaks, this energy is redirected to recharging the battery until you get to a certain point, press the break pedal down just a little bit more, and then it seems that the physical breaks kick in and stop the car. If you are going slow you can get a bit of a surprise at the point of this transition; the deceleration G-forces increase by about 25%ish. So you can really feel when this happens. My Wife blames it on the driver.
- The engine will NOT recharge the battery per-say. We use the battery to get to the highway then switch over to the engine. Let's say this uses 5 of the 40 miles. Then we drive for 7.5 hours to Florida. When we get there we only have 35 miles left on the battery.
As you can see you will have to weigh the pros and cons on the purchase of a Volt. I do find myself driving differently between the Volt and Corvette.
If you have any questions for me about the car let me know. I would love the opportunity to provide my experiences both good and bad and to hear yours.
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July 9th, 2015, 8:33 PM
#8
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We bought a 2015 Sonic a few weeks ago . Around $ 13,000 + TTL . Wifey gets around 24 mpg in town . Went on a road trip last week . 37.4 mpg 70 - 75 mph + A/C .
This is much more cost effective , to me . Especially the up front cost .
I did spend an extra $ 250 ( on top of that ) to install an after market cruise control .
God bless
Wyr
This is much more cost effective , to me . Especially the up front cost .
I did spend an extra $ 250 ( on top of that ) to install an after market cruise control .
God bless
Wyr
November 15th, 2016, 4:32 AM
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Back again .
We still have the Sonic .
Last June we bought a used 2012 Nissan Leaf . So I took the EV plundge , fully knowing it was an in town only car .
A few months latter someone rear ended my Wife , while she was stopped for a traffic lite . :-(
If & when we finally finish wrestling with insurance companies , I may consider a used Volt , if I can find one priced in my budget .
I still have a Level 2 ( 240 VAC ) EVSE . So I would be set for charging .
The Leaf has / had a known fault of battery degradation in hot climate ( air cooled only ) .
My understanding is the Volt has a liquid cooled battery I has not seen this to be a significant problem ?
Thanks for your help . :-)
God bless
Wyr
We still have the Sonic .
Last June we bought a used 2012 Nissan Leaf . So I took the EV plundge , fully knowing it was an in town only car .
A few months latter someone rear ended my Wife , while she was stopped for a traffic lite . :-(
If & when we finally finish wrestling with insurance companies , I may consider a used Volt , if I can find one priced in my budget .
I still have a Level 2 ( 240 VAC ) EVSE . So I would be set for charging .
The Leaf has / had a known fault of battery degradation in hot climate ( air cooled only ) .
My understanding is the Volt has a liquid cooled battery I has not seen this to be a significant problem ?
Thanks for your help . :-)
God bless
Wyr
September 29th, 2017, 10:38 AM
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I really like the Volt, but now that I do the math, it's not remarkably more efficient than my diesel Cruze. I'm planning my next car to either be a newer Cruze TDI or a Volt. I wonder if anyone has any thoughts on comparing the two.
