![]() The level 2 charger makes a significant difference in how quickly I can charge the car during the day. Level 2, a dedicated circuit at 220V – 4 hours.Level 1, 110v at 12 amps – 10 hours (but check your home wiring to see if it supports the extra demand.Here is how quickly the Volt recharges when fully depleted: The size of the charger and the physics and chemistry of battery life limit how quickly a battery can recharge. The Volt has a 3.3kw charger inside the car. That being said, 53 miles covers most of my daily driving well. I reduced it slightly to account for that we don’t drive as the crow flies. The green circle is 45 miles and the blue circle is 22 miles. Climbing hills costs more power reducing range. I’ve centered the circle around Sacramento. I’m totally approximating here, but I’d like to illustrate that 53 miles is a long way. I very rarely use gas when I’m running around town. However, the 53 miles is enough to handle just about all of my daily driving. As a single person, a fully electric car wouldn’t have done well deep in the mountains. When I was looking for a new car I had it narrowed down to the Volt and the Bolt (fully electric). With the Volt though, you never run out of power as you can always use the gas motor. ![]() The extra miles need to get me to the next charger when I’m parked when I’m on electricity. I’ve found that I don’t need to fully charge the battery wherever I go. As I write this, the car is charging at airport parking to be full when I get back! You do something else while the car is charging. With an electric car, you plugin when you are shopping, at work, or the car is sitting in the garage. With the Volt, you connect to a power source when the car is idle. You connect the vehicle to the pump and fill the tank to the brim (and then some for you topper offers). When driving a gas car, you are trained to go to the gas station to fill up. Charging up is not the same as filling up Generally, only road trips force a gas station stop. The Tacoma would have brought me to the gas station about 17 times. I’ve got about 5,000 miles on the car, and I’ve been to the gas station 3 times. It was also a lot of trips to Costco, which was not convenient but sometimes $0.70 cheaper a gallon making it worth the drive and line. When I had my Tacoma I was driving over 20,000 miles a year. The car is quietest when running under electric power. I want to use electricity as the primary fuel. Also, if you put it in neutral and hit the gas… also quiet. Sometimes I do like to hit the gas and hear the roar of the motor. Once the screen turns on, though, you are ready to go. ![]() Starting the car is a lot like turning on your computer. Calls with the Bluetooth system are clearer.Īt first, it was hard to know sometimes if the car was on. Conversations in the car are easier to hear. The electric motor barely makes a whirring sound-making. Having driven trucks, rode motorcycles, and bumped along on public transit just about all of my career, I’ve come to accept that transit is noisy. Now that it’s been about three months with the Volt, I wanted to give some tidbits on how the car is working out for me. But it became more awesome for reasons I’ll explain later. The next 350 miles are powered by the gas engine, giving 420 miles of range. The Volt is a range-extended electric car (not a hybrid). I bought a new car! I wanted something with good fuel economy as I’m driving about 20,000 miles a year, and my Tacoma just wasn’t the right vehicle anymore. Bike Accessories Riding Gear Toolkit RoadCrafter 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 17 mm wrenches Helmet Vise Grips Boots Pliers Boot Laces Flat Head screwdriver Summer Gloves Phillips head screwdriver Earplugs Zip Ties Sunglasses Battery O-Rings Heated Gear GPS/Gerbing Fuses Jacket Metric Allen Keys Socks Chain Care Wire for heated socks 24 mm Socket Gloves Torque Wrench HeatTroller WD40 Teflon Lube Electrical Rags GPS Tire Care USB cable Tire Gauge Cell Phone and charger Cycle Pump Digitial Camera and charger Cycle Pump Gator Clips Laptop and power adapter Clothing Tire Plug Kit Two pairs of jeans Etc. Usually on the weekend trips I only bring about 1/2 the stuff. I just use this form so I know I’ve at least considred everything. Obviously I don’t bring everything on every trip.
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