Others drove their Volt while waiting for GM or another automaker to release a long-range electric vehicle. It became a game, a sort-of competition for Volt owners, fueled by sites with real-time statistics like ,Tracking real world usage of Chevy Volts in the wild.… Some would simply start driving slowly-that Volt you see in the right-hand lane going 55 MPH on the freeway, the one that everyone is passing? Yeah, he’s trying to extend his electric range-it’s not like the Volt won’t go faster (it has a top speed over 100 MPH). They increased air pressure in the tires, sometimes to unsafe ranges (60 PSI).
Drivers learned that they could shut off heat in winter, and simply bundle up in warm clothing to increase their range. “When will GM release a car with more battery capacity?”Ī new generation of hyper-milers was born. Two things I heard nearly universally from others drivers: I met other Volt owners at EV events and discussed Volt driving on various owner forums. The truth is, hybrids were never revolutionary-even the leading hybrid on the market, the Toyota Prius, achieved only modest efficiency improvements over a standard subcompact, perhaps a 50% increase in MPG. “What happened with the big efficiency gains due to the hybrid design?” I wondered.
About the best I could do running on gasoline only was 37 MPG efficiency, highway driving, which was no better than the five-speed manual shift subcompact I drove before.
You say the gas engine “efficiently charges” but that isn’t really true at all. When braking the engine would stop completely, and normally never run at a stoplight, similar to the stop-start systems common on new vehicles today. The harder you accelerate the faster the RPM, and more noticeable the engine noise became. It felt then more like a regular car, except the engine speed would increase with acceleration, not vehicle speed-which was a weird sensation. I don’t know precisely why it is as enjoyable as it is, but I know I am not alone-tens of thousands of other Volt owners would agree with me.īut when the charge runs out, the noisy engine cranks up and all the fun goes out. Smooth, quiet, instant power, no vibration or jerking when shifting gears. It’s hard to describe the sensation of driving on pure electricity until you’ve done it. I was smitten! After a spin or two around the block, I knew I had to have that car. I pressed down the accelerator pedal and the car silently, instantly pulled away. I can still remember the first time I test-drove a Volt. Needless to say we know them both very well and appreciate both for what they can do.) My daughter still drives the 2nd Volt and I still drive the 2nd LEAF. (My family in fact owned one of each, replaced later by a newer, 2nd-generation Volt and another LEAF, so we have owned four cars total from the two models. The LEAF also made sense as a city car, for driving around town every day, with maybe short trips to neighboring cities nearby. The Volt made sense back then for everyday driving, because it gave buyers a way to adjust to driving on electricity without sacrificing the ability to make long-distance road trips if they chose. At the time most battery capacities were too small for practical long-range driving on electricity, so we could choose between a car we drove 70% on electricity (that was a GM estimate based on driving habits) and a car that we could not drive more than about an hour without stopping to charge. When the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan LEAF both came on the market in 2011, buyers had a choice. Why did the Chevy Volt "gas-electric" idea never catch on with hybrids? It seems that system would work best, gas engine efficiently charges and electric motor gives good performance.