Recently I saw my good friend, Bill Diehl of BBK, checking out my Volt before a meeting. After answering some general questions about speed, mileage and battery-life, I invited Bill to take the car for a weekend so that he could experience the Volt first-hand. I let him know that when the weekend was over all he would have the answers to all his questions and that he would share my appreciation for GM’s most fuel-efficient product.

Bill took me up on the offer. As predicted, when the weekend was over, Bill had all kinds of good feedback for me. He mentioned more than once about the feeling of security he had with the Volt’s hybrid system.

Bill stated, “It’s like having the best of both worlds. I did not have that feeling of anxiety that I get with other electric vehicles. I was not worried about losing a charge, because even if I do, the gas engine will kick it and get me to anywhere I want to go…no problem.”

Bill also relayed some comments that he heard about the recent GM Ride and Drive event. The Nissan Leaf could only last for 45 minutes before it had to recharge for another six to eight hours. Nissan was out of the game early, while the Volt continued to impress everyone all day long.

Perhaps the best story of all came out of Bill’s Sunday drive. Bill drove the Volt to a vintage car show in St. Clair Shores. He parked the Volt with every intention of walking around the crowded show to take in all of the beautiful cars. Instead, he started to draw a crowd of his own… curious on-lookers who wanted to get more information about the Volt. The result ended up being an hour-long impromptu Q&A session with many interested self-proclaimed auto fanatics. Not only did Bill enjoy his weekend experience with the Volt, he became a good-will ambassador for the Volt and General Motors.

William G. Diehl – President, CEO and Global Automotive Advisory Group Lead, BBK Southfield
For more information on Bill and his company, visit BBK website at www.e-bbk.com

See what happened when some of Ideal’s more adventurous types took the bikes for a spin.

To find out more about EG Bikes USA and their electric bicycles visit http://egbike.com/EGUSA/.

I was getting mad because most days I would walk outside to my garage to an empty charging station and no Volt in sight, my Laurie girl had taken it yet again for another day.  To top it off, she also started lending the Volt to her friends so they could experience the car.   I had to make a decision.  If I was going to enjoy the Volt the way I wanted to, I was going to have to buy another one for her.  So I did!

So we now have “His and Her” Volts, and we are a happy couple once again.  Who would have known that a Chevy Volt would cause so much trouble in my relationship?

The Volt’s electric engine and gas generator don’t generate nearly as much noise as a typical combustion engine.  This is a really nice feature of the car.  Except – what if there is a blind person (or someone who just isn’t paying attention) crossing the street or walking in the parking lot?  With how quiet the car is, it’s reasonable to think that they might not hear it.  After all, there are people who have driven my car that didn’t even know it was running at first because it’s so quiet.  So, is this a valid concern?  It’s hard to say until there are a lot of Volts on the road interacting with people.  Whether the answer is yes or no, no one wants to find out the hard way, by having an accident.

To prevent this type of situation the Volt comes equipped with a pedestrian friendly alert.   The alert only works when you are going 40 mph or less – any faster and there really shouldn’t be any pedestrians around.  To use it you pull the turn signal lever all the way toward you momentarily.  This will turns on the high beams and emits a soft horn chirp sound to let people know you are there.  It’s a little bit friendlier laying on the horn, but loud enough to keep someone from stepping in front of your car.

This car is a game changer, and when the game changes you need new rules.  The reality is we now have cars that are so quiet it could be a hazard.  A new rule for this car is a pedestrian friendly alert that lets people know that you are there.

Normal Driving Mode
Normal driving mode is exactly what it sounds like: normal.  This is the most fuel efficient, everyday, regular driving mode.  In normal driving mode, all things being equal, you will get the farthest on battery power and the best MPG.

Sport Driving Mode
Sport driving mode, my personal favorite, has got a bit more kick to it.  The Volt is a quick car off the line, the torque you have at zero is huge no matter what mode you’re in.  But when you kick this car into sport driving mode, it’s even spunkier, although a bit less efficient.

Mountain Mode
What about mountain mode?  Before I explain mountain mode let’s take a step back and have a little refresher on how the Volt works.   As we know the Volt is designed to go 40 miles on the energy stored in the battery.  If you drive farther the gas generator will turn on to power the electric motor that drives the car.  This gas generator isn’t what drives the car, the electric motor drives the car, but it’s powered by the gas generator.

So back to mountain mode.  Let’s say you’re driving and you want to make your battery last a bit longer? Or maybe you’re heading on a trip through the mountains and you want to maintain maximum power heading up steep hills, and (if you’re like me) be able to pass slow moving cars along the way? Put your car in mountain mode.  This mode runs using the gas generator and battery power at the same time, which conserves the battery power.  The car will hold, or charge the battery, at 45% state of charge.

Mountain mode is the only mode that produces enough energy to “charge” the battery.  So why not use it all the time?  Because it’s also the most inefficient driving mode.  But for longer trips where you want to conserve a bit of gas or save up battery power, this is a great option.

What’s your favorite driving mode?

We all know how long it takes to fill your car up with gas and we budget this time into our schedules.  With an Electric Car you have to budget in time to charge your car.  Keep in mind that, if your EV is a Volt, you don’t need to worry about your battery running out of juice.  Unlike EVs such as the Nissan Leaf, the Volt has a gas generator that runs your motor, enabling you to get where you need to go.  So no charge, no problem.

But the whole reason for buying an electric car is to avoid hitting the gas pump, so let’s talk battery power.  I’ve had my car for almost 6 months and have charged it using both 120v and 240v.  On average, it takes a little over 8 hours to charge the car via a standard 120-volt plug.   So you plug it in when you get home, by morning you are good to go.  Using my 240-volt SPX charger, it’s taking approximately 2.5-3 hours – clearly much faster than 120-volt.  For this reason I fully recommend to all Volt drivers to use a 240-volt line, even if you don’t have the charging station.  But if you are a much more patient person than me, a 120-volt line will get the job done.

Weather does affect charging performance; when it’s cold out it takes longer to fully charge the battery.  I got my car in February, through mid- March, it took closer to 10 hours to charge with 120-volts and closer to 4 hours with 240-volt – still plenty of time.

You do have to make charging part of your routine; 10 hours is much longer than the 10 minutes you’re used to spending at the gas station, but it is definitely worth it.  And, with a Volt, you don’t have to worry about missing an important meeting because your battery has no juice, the gas generator will get you where you need to go.

Play the video below to see what he has to say, we were so glad to have him here today!

It is true that I am trading the cost of gas for the cost of electricity, but with electricity I get a way better price. I can plug my car into a regular wall outlet, the same type of outlet that you plug your stereo or hair dryer into, and charge my car for less than $1.50 a day. On that charge I can drive 40 miles using no gas, which comes out to $.04 per mile. Let’s compare this to the cost of driving 40 using gas in a car that gets 35 mpg (which is really fair since most cars don’t get that kind of mileage.) At $4.00 a gallon, it costs $.11 per mile. So yeah, my electric bill is a bit higher than it was, but it’s nowhere near as expensive as a tank of gas.

As far as the grid is concerned, even if every one of my neighbors got a volt (which would be great) and charged them all at the same time, I wouldn’t be worried about overloading the grid. Do you worry if your neighbors all do laundry at the same time or bake a cake at the same time? These activities use as much energy as it takes to charge my car. This car is designed to charge in 10 hours using a regular 120 outlet. The Volt will charge in 4-5 hours if it is plugged into a 240 volt outlet which is what your dryer and range and oven are plugged into.

The people who designed this car are smart – I mean really smart. They have already thought about any problem that could come up and addressed it. I can officially tell you, as an experienced Volt owner, charging is nothing to worry about. As for being jealous of my 100 mpg, the only solution is to get a Volt!