So upgrading to a 240 line is recommended if you plan to own a plug-in vehicle of any kind. Charging it from almost empty takes 12 or more hours on a regular plug in your garage. There is also a Mountain setting that reserves battery for hill climbs. You can actively change how the car operates to be the most efficient at the specific time. It's ideal for people who drive in town, then highway to work, then in town again. What this does is lock the battery at the current charged level and uses the generator almost exclusively to save battery for city driving. One of the features I loved about the Volt was “Hold” mode. You can plug in for 40-plus miles of electric charge and use the gas engine to help on highway commutes. But really, if you commute in the city to suburbs primarily, the Volt is a really nice alternative to gasoline or even hybrid cars. The car jumps to attention and will blast down the highway. It’s a smooth application of power and even more rewarding when in sport mode with a full charge. For the most part, most people won’t notice the difference while driving this car as opposed to any other small sedan.Īs far as a transmission goes, the car is really just a CVT with electric propulsion, so there is no shifting like traditional gear boxes and the car doesn’t hop around gears. Acceleration is pretty decent, and driving an electric vehicle is actually really nice, with no hesitation in the gas pedal. Those combine with the 1.5-lion range extender gas engine to provide a total output of 149 horsepower but 297 pound-foot of torque that will propel this hatchback to 60 mph pretty quickly. Under the hood is a Voltec Electric drive unit and a Li-ion battery unit. This week we take a look at one of my favorites: the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle. Keep in mind these are all introductions to the cars of the future that will combine all of this tech in different ways to make all sorts of efficient vehicles. Then everyone would really understand the pros and cons of all types of electric, hybrid and plug-in vehicles.Įach has a niche, and each has its drawbacks. At $2.50 per gallon and 50 mpg, the same 100 miles would cost the driver $5 driving on gas.Everyone should spend some time with a Volt, a Prius, an Insight and a Tesla. The Chevy web-site notes that the EPA will rate the Volt as using 25 KwH of electricity/100 miles driven for an average price of $.75 to $2.50 per 100 miles driven on electricity. Left unanswered: what is the EPA mppc (miles per pound of coal) for the Volt when running off the electric engine? Based on the EPA decision to rate the Volt at 230 mpg, they are assuming a trip of 51.11 miles. But, for a trip of 200 miles, the Volt gets 62.5 mpg. For a trip of 50 miles, the Volt gets 250 miles per gallon. Beyond 40 miles, the mpg decreases the more miles driven. At 40 miles driven or less, the mpg is infinite since no gas is being used. This holds for trips greater than 40 miles. Mpg=(50 * miles driven)/(miles driven-40). Simplifying, the equation for calculating the mpg for the Volt is: Mpg=Miles Driven/((Miles Driven-40)/50mpg) You get 40 miles of driving gas-free on the electric charge. Calculating the gas mileage of the Volt is tricky.
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