Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
Comments
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Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.So appx 3.5 miles per kWh from wall to wheels then - sounds about right.
With my LEAF setup I am able to monitor exactly how much electricity I use (as long as I charge at home). I have a Blink EVSE which has an internal power monitor and that is also tied into a dedicated EV meter for billing. So yesterday, for example, I drove 27 miles and used 6.65 kWh to charge the car which gives me about 4 miles / kWh. FWIW - the car said 4.2 miles / kWh for the same driving.
The Electrician is showing up today for a quote on the 240 volt charger install, I have ordered another CT/MTU for the TED for the dedicated feed for the garage sub-panel. Yeah yeah, more permits and PITA with the local code guys. Man loading up that second 200 amp panel pretty good, I am thinking a 50-60 amp sub panel in the garage should suffice. It is more costly than just adding a dedicated line for the charger but will provide more flexibility for future charging options in the garage.
Monitoring is key in making sure we are charging at the right time and to determine overall cost of operations. There is some variability to the miles per charge, we currently have to run with the AC in full fan speed ECO mode at least, temps over 100F most days now. It is my understanding that this is a 10-20% hit in distance.My ideal garage would also include PHEV so that both drivers can use electricity most of the time to drive, but then we'd still have a car that can do the larger trips. The Ford CMAX Energi looks particularly interesting - I wonder how much EV range it will have when it comes out.
I am certainly considering a replacement of the CTS-V with a another Volt. It has the performance in town and the low cost of operation that I am looking for in retirement. (coming soon I hope). The CTS-V @ $4 per gallon is getting pricey to operate, costs to refill are approaching $75, however that is about month with how much it gets operated.Hah, no kidding! My house needs more solar - another kW of panels ought to cover my commuting miles, but if we add another plug-in we'll need more. That said - with the EVs running on a separate meter and billed separately, we don't get the full benefit of offsetting our EV miles on a cost basis, we'd have to go full-house TOU. Maybe after we get another plug-in I'll look at what it costs to add more panels. Hoping by then PV only costs $3 / watt to install, could add another 2 kW without much investment.
Well I think I will get some monitoring up on the current Volt with the 240V charger and see where I stand in the fall towards our goal of net $0. I am sure I will either have to change TOU rate plans and put the Volt on off-peak, add solar or both. Still with off peak at less than $0.06 a kWh it is super cheap just to buy night time electric to drive it. With the alternative rate plan available (noon to 7PM) we can load shift to control our usage and possibly stay net $0. It would be hard to justify more solar at the off peak rates and reduced rebates from APS (now down to like $1.45 a watt). The wife wants to keep the car as much no gasoline usage as possible but a balance of consumption seems like the correct thing to do from the capitalist in me. BTW the Volt did its first maintenance run on the ICE this weekend, 10 minutes at idle and showed no reduction in gasoline range.The more plug-ins, the better! Did you see that GM is opening orders to the whole country now and reduced the base price by making more features optional?
Yep just waiting for the local dealers to get them before I decided to move on the next one. I also want to let the technology cook just a bit more before I commit to going PHEV/Extended range for the majority of our driving. In any case I still have the I4 2.5L Colorado 5 speed overdrive gas sipper to fall back on. -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.SolarLurker wrote: »
Honestly, it would be much better for the environment if people would buy a Hyundai that gets 42 mpg for 14,000 dollars and put the difference into PV or energy efficiency at home.
I am not against the volt in any way, and I think that if you have excess PV production, and have already gotten all of the environmental low hanging fruit, I.e efficient net zero home, recycle, organic food, conserve, and such. Than one of these cars makes sense.
From my perspective a Jap/Foreign car is not the right thing to do in today's economy, but to each his own. Being originally from Michigan I just can't bring myself to by that stuff unless there is no American source.
Yep been down the low hanging fruit route and then some here. With my wife's driving habits and us striving for complete cost control the Volt makes perfect sense. All electric solar operation while giving the range extender to forgive her for not charging.
Now if I could figure out a way to ween the rest of them off cable TV!
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Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
Good stuff - if you really want to future proof yourself, I would consider a 100A sub-panel. Even though the only mass-market plug-ins on the market right now only charge at 240V/16A (Volt/LEAF) it will only be a matter of time before that doubles or more. The Ford Focus EV launching later this year will be capable of 240V/32A charging. When the Tennessee LEAF plant comes online the LEAF will start shipping w/32A Level2 charging, too. Should you have a Tesla Roadster, it can suck down 240V/70A - the Model S will undoubtedly be capable of charging that fast as well.solar_dave wrote: »The Electrician is showing up today for a quote on the 240 volt charger install, I have ordered another CT/MTU for the TED for the dedicated feed for the garage sub-panel. Yeah yeah, more permits and PITA with the local code guys. Man loading up that second 200 amp panel pretty good, I am thinking a 50-60 amp sub panel in the garage should suffice. It is more costly than just adding a dedicated line for the charger but will provide more flexibility for future charging options in the garage.
Sounds about right...solar_dave wrote: »Monitoring is key in making sure we are charging at the right time and to determine overall cost of operations. There is some variability to the miles per charge, we currently have to run with the AC in full fan speed ECO mode at least, temps over 100F most days now. It is my understanding that this is a 10-20% hit in distance.
Yeah - I sold my WRX for the LEAF - going from $0.20/mile in fuel to $0.04/mile is a huge difference!solar_dave wrote: »I am certainly considering a replacement of the CTS-V with a another Volt. It has the performance in town and the low cost of operation that I am looking for in retirement. (coming soon I hope). The CTS-V @ $4 per gallon is getting pricey to operate, costs to refill are approaching $75, however that is about month with how much it gets operated.
Does the Volt use the engine to charge the battery when running in maintenance mode? Otherwise it might be more efficient to force the engine on by running the battery low or perhaps by enabling mountain mode for the equivalent amount of time with the battery low enough when you know the maintenance run will be scheduled soon.solar_dave wrote: »BTW the Volt did its first maintenance run on the ICE this weekend, 10 minutes at idle and showed no reduction in gasoline range.
I hear you - but the Japanese have a huge challenge right now to recover from the Earthquake/Tsunami - I would argue they need the money more than we do right at this moment. And without demand for the LEAF - Nissan wouldn't be upgrading their Tennessee plant to build the LEAF there...solar_dave wrote: »From my perspective a Jap/Foreign car is not the right thing to do in today's economy, but to each his own. Being originally from Michigan I just can't bring myself to by that stuff unless there is no American source.
I'm looking at the Ford C-Max Energi for the 2nd car - a bit larger so better for hauling the kids and still plugs in. And is reported that it will do better than the Fusion Hybrid in charge-sustaining mode, so that means ~40mpg. I really wish that they weren't killing the 3rd row of seats, though. There's a lot of times where having an extra seat or two would let us avoid using a 2nd vehicle. Biggest drawback is that it's rumored that it won't be a serial-PHEV like the Volt - which means that at highway speeds or heavy acceleration the engine is likely to turn on... We shall see. I would love to see something like a Mazda 5 (seats 4 comforatably with a small 3rd row that can be used in a pinch for kids) that plugs in with 20-40 miles of EV range. -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.solar_dave wrote: »From my perspective a Jap/Foreign car is not the right thing to do in today's economy, but to each his own. Being originally from Michigan I just can't bring myself to by that stuff unless there is no American source.
Yep been down the low hanging fruit route and then some here. With my wife's driving habits and us striving for complete cost control the Volt makes perfect sense. All electric solar operation while giving the range extender to forgive her for not charging.
Now if I could figure out a way to ween the rest of them off cable TV!
The new Hyundai is built right in Alabama, I doubt that any car is 100% us parts. I suspect the volt has foreign parts. The lines have been blurred, Cars are the sum of millions of parts countless middleman and sources.
I think the volt is great for excess pv production, it's a stepping stone towards a more renewable future. -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.SolarLurker wrote: »The new Hyundai is built right in Alabama, I doubt that any car is 100% us parts. I suspect the volt has foreign parts. The lines have been blurred, Cars are the sum of millions of parts countless middleman and sources.
I think the volt is great for excess pv production, it's a stepping stone towards a more renewable future.
The parts are built in Mexico and Korea I think. Still Once a Michigan boy, at least keep some profits and jobs here. I think GMs engineering on the Volt is outstanding.
Alabama, but the profit runs off shore and most of the parts are off shore as well. -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.Good stuff - if you really want to future proof yourself, I would consider a 100A sub-panel. Even though the only mass-market plug-ins on the market right now only charge at 240V/16A (Volt/LEAF) it will only be a matter of time before that doubles or more. The Ford Focus EV launching later this year will be capable of 240V/32A charging. When the Tennessee LEAF plant comes online the LEAF will start shipping w/32A Level2 charging, too. Should you have a Tesla Roadster, it can suck down 240V/70A - the Model S will undoubtedly be capable of charging that fast as well.
Don't think I can top out my second panel with that much, 60 amp should suffice for now.
Yes it ran for 10 minutes, my electric range was identical after the cycle so it used it.
Does the Volt use the engine to charge the battery when running in maintenance mode? Otherwise it might be more efficient to force the engine on by running the battery low or perhaps by enabling mountain mode for the equivalent amount of time with the battery low enough when you know the maintenance run will be scheduled soon.I'm looking at the Ford C-Max Energi for the 2nd car - a bit larger so better for hauling the kids and still plugs in. And is reported that it will do better than the Fusion Hybrid in charge-sustaining mode, so that means ~40mpg. I really wish that they weren't killing the 3rd row of seats, though. There's a lot of times where having an extra seat or two would let us avoid using a 2nd vehicle. Biggest drawback is that it's rumored that it won't be a serial-PHEV like the Volt - which means that at highway speeds or heavy acceleration the engine is likely to turn on... We shall see. I would love to see something like a Mazda 5 (seats 4 comforatably with a small 3rd row that can be used in a pinch for kids) that plugs in with 20-40 miles of EV range.
There is only the 2 of us, and the grandkids so a 4 seater will suffice. If we need a long haul we can always rent a Caddy Deville! -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
I find this amusing since the Volt is only 40% American/Canadian parts content and the single largest foreign parts components appear to come from Korea (probably the batteries as they are supplied by LG Chem, a Korean company), the engine comes from Austria and the transmission comes from Japan...solar_dave wrote: »The parts are built in Mexico and Korea I think. Still Once a Michigan boy, at least keep some profits and jobs here. I think GMs engineering on the Volt is outstanding.
Alabama, but the profit runs off shore and most of the parts are off shore as well.
Now it probably was mostly engineered in Michigan, but just sayin... the Volt isn't quite as American as you think it is... -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.I find this amusing since the Volt is only 40% American/Canadian parts content and the single largest foreign parts components appear to come from Korea (probably the batteries as they are supplied by LG Chem, a Korean company), the engine comes from Austria and the transmission comes from Japan...
Now it probably was mostly engineered in Michigan, but just sayin... the Volt isn't quite as American as you think it is...
Well it put 3 shifts to work at Hamtramck, and the sheet metal plants for sure. It also move work to other plants which have added shifts to compensate.
I agree that lots of the parts come from everywhere, but the company profits come here. -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
Not to nit pick as I really like the volt, however I don't think Gm makes any makes a profit on the volt. If it diid the profit would go to the shareholders, many vary well may be oversees.
Who knows what's American anymore, my Nissan truck was built in TN. It's a Japanese controlled by French companies with a stock in the us. -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
I ran across this today. Thought it might be interesting for folks on the go.
Clipper Creek Unveils Smallest Electric Car Charging Station yetWell-established charging station manufacturer Clipper Creek has just unveiled what it claims is the smallest electric vehicle charging station currently available on the market.
Costing $995 and weighing in at 7 pounds, the Clipper Creek LCS-25 unit looks like the portable 110V level 1charging cable found in the 2011 Chevrolet Volt - but is a level 2 unit capable of providing more than twice the power through a wired 220V, 25A connection.
Unlike other charging stations on the market, Clipper Creek aren’t insisting they install the unit for you either. Instead, consumers can purchase the units directly from Clipper Creek and have their own electrician permanently wire the unit in.
In other words, there’s no site surveys, no pre-sales visits and no overly expensive installation costs. It’s up to the buyer to arrange installation themselves.
Due to its small size, the new Clipper Creek unit looks and feels very much like a portable charging station. But to comply with various building and electrical codes, Clipper Creek are selling the LCS-25 as a unit designed to be permanently wired into an electrical supply.
But much like the charging station Ford is planning to ship with its 2012 Focus Electric, the Clipper Creek Unit comes with a short ‘pigtail’ power connector, meaning it could theoretically be wired up on a suitable 220V plug similar to those which power domestic clothes driers.
What does this mean? Instead of a permanent connection, enterprising owners could have a truly portable 220V charging station capable of charging cars like the 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevrolet Volt more than twice as quickly as the cables which shipped with their cars.
Source:
http://www.allcarselectric.com/news/1061614_clipper-creek-unveils-smallest-electric-car-charging-station-yet -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
Very pricey @ $995, the one I purchased for a permanent mount was $495 plus tax. Plus I got a screaming deal on the install.
I guess it is a sign of the times! Lots of construction trades struggling to get work. I got a quote today to wire up the garage 240V Charger. Well maybe a bit more than that.Install a 100 amp, 8 space, indoor flush mounted, main lug only, sub panel in the garage near the water heater. Sub panel to be fed from the 200 amp sub panel located outside next to the 400 amp main service. Dedicated 60 amp 240 volt sub panel feeder circuit to be piped out of the top of the panel, above ceiling height, from that point we will change to romex, run into and across the attic, into garage wall near water heater.
Once the sub panel is installed we will take a dedicated 20 amp 240 volt rated circuit to be fed by a 15 amp breaker from the new sub panel over to a small wall near the 2 car garage door for the electric car charging system. The car charging system will be mounted on the wall and will be hard wired.
Drum roll please $741.90 Price includes tax.
Now I am future proofing for the second charger install location for a second Volt. And they are going to stub up for that location too for $100 extra.
They are coming Friday! Yippee!
BTW that is about a 60 foot run of copper. -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.solar_dave wrote: »Very pricey @ $995, the one I purchased for a permanent mount was $495 plus tax. Plus I got a screaming deal on the install.
OH, Sorry Dave I should have said I was thinking out of the box just a bit. Not so much for the Volt, but an all electric and maybe a Volt would like this on extended trips. It's portable, not stuck on a wall. Add a 240 electric dryer plug onto the other end and charge up at the inlaws while visiting. Most modern houses have both a gas and electric dryer setup. -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
But it's not portable - it's designed to be hard-wired...OH, Sorry Dave I should have said I was thinking out of the box just a bit. Not so much for the Volt, but an all electric and maybe a Volt would like this on extended trips. It's portable, not stuck on a wall. Add a 240 electric dryer plug onto the other end and charge up at the inlaws while visiting. Most modern houses have both a gas and electric dryer setup.
Right now there's only one way to get a portable Level 2 EVSE that I know of and that's through evseupgrade.com who modifies the stock Nissan portable EVSE to handle 240V instead of just 120V and optionally 16A instead of 12A as well as the Volt. -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.But it's not portable - it's designed to be hard-wired...
Right now there's only one way to get a portable Level 2 EVSE that I know of and that's through evseupgrade.com who modifies the stock Nissan portable EVSE to handle 240V instead of just 120V and optionally 16A instead of 12A as well as the Volt.
True it's not supposed to be portable, but it is small enough to be portable, and could be portable. The article even says:What does this mean? Instead of a permanent connection, enterprising owners could have a truly portable 220V charging station capable of charging cars like the 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevrolet Volt more than twice as quickly as the cables which shipped with their cars. -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
Solardave,
You said earlier "From my perspective a Jap/Foreign car is not the right thing to do in today's economy, but to each his own. Being originally from Michigan I just can't bring myself to by that stuff unless there is no American source.
Yep been down the low hanging fruit route and then some here. With my wife's driving habits and us striving for complete cost control the Volt makes perfect sense. All electric solar operation while giving the range extender to forgive her for not charging.
Now if I could figure out a way to ween the rest of them off cable TV! "
I agree but feel the Volt is not the right solution.
I purchased a 2007 Ford Focus SE (not one option on it) for my commuting car (23k mi per year just driving to work). I paid 11,300 out the door for it and it's getting 42 mpg. I don't believe any other vehicle is coming close to that for the value and the car has been a dream.
I still believe GM won't survive and am disappointed the Govt bailed them out. They just don't get it.
Good luck and the Volt will be interesting to watch from the sidelines - I have yet to see one here in SoCal.... -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.autoxsteve wrote: »Solardave,
I agree but feel the Volt is not the right solution.
I purchased a 2007 Ford Focus SE (not one option on it) for my commuting car (23k mi per year just driving to work). I paid 11,300 out the door for it and it's getting 42 mpg. I don't believe any other vehicle is coming close to that for the value and the car has been a dream.
I still believe GM won't survive and am disappointed the Govt bailed them out. They just don't get it.
Good luck and the Volt will be interesting to watch from the sidelines - I have yet to see one here in SoCal....
Well you have right to your opinion and I have a right to mine. American made plug-in Electrics certainly have there place especially when renewable energy power them. Ford goes there in 2012/13 I think.
So far we have driven the Volt about 1000 miles and not used any gasoline while charged off our solar system. The car has been flawless and performs exactly as advertised. For us that is a very low carbon foot print, keeps as much of the dollars at home as possible while keeping some of the brothers in Michigan working and puts my 2 cents in at telling OPEC to ******! All of those have value to us, and a social cost is associated with each, let alone a financial cost.
Personally I am glad you bought a Ford, they are another company doing it right IMHO. If GM had been about a year earlier in the refinancing of the company and downsizing operations like Ford did, I suspect the Government may not have been involved. GM just got caught in the credit crunch created by Wall Street greed. Alan Mullaley literally hocked all of Ford's assets to avoid bankruptcy and did benefit from the re-negotiations of the UAW contracts spurred on by the GM/Chrysler bailouts. In the end it was bean counters that drove all of the Big 3 in to trouble.
[lets not go there... -Bill b.] -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
Certainly can't beat the value of buying a used car. But today, the starting price for a Focus is $16.5k. Even the Fiesta starts at $15.5k.autoxsteve wrote: »I purchased a 2007 Ford Focus SE (not one option on it) for my commuting car (23k mi per year just driving to work). I paid 11,300 out the door for it and it's getting 42 mpg. I don't believe any other vehicle is coming close to that for the value and the car has been a dream.
If you're getting 42 mpg, you're also handily beating the EPA (rated 27/37 on the old system, estimated at 24/33 on the new rating system) - I have to think that the new cars rated at ~40 highway on the new EPA rating would do even better for you. Of course - a new car won't provide the value that your existing Focus does.
Now if only you could get an econobox which can run E85 - but it seems that they will only make that option available on the bigger cars/trucks. -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.Certainly can't beat the value of buying a used car. But today, the starting price for a Focus is $16.5k. Even the Fiesta starts at $15.5k.
bought it new in March of 2008...... -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
I finally got the TED MTU/CT wired up yesterday to measure the dedicated line to charge the Volt. Interesting data coming off the Volt Charger via the TED. It looks like the charger wakes up every 3.5 hours and hits the battery with about 950 watts for about 15 minutes. The Volt actually controls the charger, and will use line voltage, if attached to a charger, for any internal functions required.
It has to be either temperature conditioning the battery or pushing in a few watts to hold the state of charge. Garage temps are right @ 100F. Y scale is Kw. -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
After posting on the Volt forum, it would appear that this is the battery temperature management system kicking in, the 100F temp in the garage is the most likely culprit. Many others in more temperate climates have not seen this behavior. -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
So about 1 kWh / day to keep the battery conditioned?
Will be interesting to see how long the LEAF batteries last in AZ w/o any thermal management. Nissan says it's no problem thanks to the nature of their batteries, but even then elevated temps will increase rate of capacity loss. -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.So about 1 kWh / day to keep the battery conditioned?
Will be interesting to see how long the LEAF batteries last in AZ w/o any thermal management. Nissan says it's no problem thanks to the nature of their batteries, but even then elevated temps will increase rate of capacity loss.
I would think the heat is a crucial issue for any battery, I know the Volt team was very conservative to ensure at least the 8 year warranty life. -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
Dave do you know/found out what the optimal battery temp is?
this seems to be a critical point re the effectiveness of the car, ie I live in a ,as low as -40 in the winter, area, and a friend has a Prius that is seemingly unaffected by the cold. Though I will ask him if his electricity bill rises in the winter due to the car.
ej
KID #51B 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
West Chilcotin, BC, Canada -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
It depends on the specific battery chemistry. Some are much more tolerant of heat/cold than others.westbranch wrote: »Dave do you know/found out what the optimal battery temp is?
Edit: Found some info on what temperature GM aims to keep the Volt's battery between 68-72*F if I'm reading the chart right:
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?5243-Volt-thermal-management-system-temperature-band&p=48601#post48601
The Prius does not plug in (not yet, anyway without a custom-conversion), so his electricity bill will be unchanged. Fuel economy does suffer on the Prius in the cold, but that's mostly due to the extra time it takes to warm up the engine and related emissions equipment (the Prius is tuned to favor low emissions over low fuel consumption and as such is one of the cleanest cars on the road).westbranch wrote: »this seems to be a critical point re the effectiveness of the car, ie I live in a ,as low as -40 in the winter, area, and a friend has a Prius that is seemingly unaffected by the cold. Though I will ask him if his electricity bill rises in the winter due to the car. -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
That's the truth. About seven years ago I bought my 1995 Buick Regal for 1500 - that's 15 hundred, not thousand - dollars. It still runs like a top, passes all emissions testing, and has had only minor maintenance issues. It only gets about 20-25 miles to the gallon, but I can buy a lot of gasoline for what I saved up front in the cost of the vehicle. Sad but true.Certainly can't beat the value of buying a used car. But today, the starting price for a Focus is $16.5k. Even the Fiesta starts at $15.5k. -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
Even more interesting, only one spike between last charge cycles -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
Solar Dave, Interesting story on our local tv from Youngstown, Ohio. The GM plant at Lordstown Ohio, where the Cruze is made is running to capacity. They installed a large charging bay for people traveling on I-80 to stop and charge up for free. This should be a good deal for anyone traveling by the loedstown GM plant to get a free charge. There is an Exit right at thier plant. Lordstown is in eastern ohio about 15 miles from the Pennsylvania border. I wonder if any other Gm plants will have free charging stations and how long this might be free. Other good news is there will be a diesel version of the Cruze in the fall of 2013. They are saying it will get 52 MPG. :Dsolarvic:D -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
solarvic,
2 points here.
1> do you think it would be free if there were that many to take advantage of it as those kwhs would add up?
2> the only reason it is there is because gm sells the volt and it is near one of gm's plants. would they extend those e stations farther out i80 or i90 and even to i79 here in pa or i11 in ohio, free or otherwise?
as i see it it's a pr move, but if you've got an ev in the area of their e station then take advantage of it while you can. -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
Niel, # 1. I agree that it is preety good PR. They also said the local Chevy dealer near there is taking orders for the volt. This probably is a short term free thing also. I thought it would be a good thing to post here as some people that travel by the GM plant with a volt could take advantage of the offer.
#2 I kind of dought if Gm will put any of thse charge stations in any other locations from thier plants. I am curious if they are doing this at any other GM plants. The lordstown plant is having open house tours on Thursday and I am attending.#3 It is not going to do me any good personally as I couldn,t afford to buy a volt unless I cashed in my 401-k. And I live too far from the Gm plant f I did have a volt.I was lucky enough to buy a new Chevy HHR in Febuary because the car had a $3500.00 factory rebate and I also got a $2800.00 rebate from my GM card rebate earnings. With all that I was able to buy a brand new car for the low $12,000 price or I wouldn,t have bought it. So far I really like it and it gets somewhere between 28.5 and 30 MPG for me. And they quit making them. By the time the cruze diesel proves itself I may bu -
Re: Diamond White Volt has arrived, first impressions.
Ohio is a long ways from PHX
Phoenix-based Ecotality North America expects to install about 1,000 chargers across the Valley and Tucson by the end of the year to make way for the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2011/01/22/20110122phoenix-electric-vehicles-installation-charging-stations-begins.html#ixzz1TEbDkkTo <-- Obama money!
So far the Volt now has about 1821 electric miles on it. We have use 0.1 gallons of gasoline since the purchase. So far this month we have used 217 kWh of electric but we expect that is a larger than normal month because all the running with the grand kids.(school starts in about 2 1/2 weeks
) Usually charges are taking about 120-180 minutes depending on how depleted the battery is using the 3.3Kw 240 volt charger in the garage. The garage is now pre-wired for a second charger.
The car is 100% trouble free so far, no dealer visits required. Only maintenance done was to air up the tires to 40 psi.
In talks with the dealer to purchase a second Crystal Red with light leather interior one for Me! Hence the second charger wiring.
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