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Since the love of my life and I currently have two Chevy Volts in the driveway, I like to lend my Volt out on the weekends to friends and colleagues.
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
My electric bikes came in last week and they look great. The Bali 350 and Maui (both from EG Bikes USA) are both equipped with a 36V 10AH Li-Ion Battery that powers an electric motor. The motor is designed to kick in once the rider starts peddling. So no matter how steep the hill, or how long the road; as long as I am pumping my legs, I keep moving along.
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 having a constant battle with the love of my life, Laurie Sall, on who gets to drive the Volt for the day. We both enjoy driving the car and the idea of sharing was not working. She usually won because (1) she gets up MUCH earlier (2) she is faster and (3) she is the boss! View full article »
As I‘ve mentioned in the past, the Volt is quiet. Really quiet. Almost eerily 
quiet. And not just for drivers and passengers in the car, but also for people outside the car.
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? View full article »
The Chevy Volt has three driving modes: normal, sport and mountain. As I’ve said before, everything is better with this car, so naturally just one regular old driving mode wouldn’t be good enough for the Volt, there has to be three. So what’s the difference? View full article »
How long does it take to charge your car? I get asked this question all the time, and I can see why. When you think about plugging something in to charge, it’s usually something small like a phone or laptop. There really isn’t anything as big to use as a frame of reference, so it’s hard to imagine how long it will take to charge a whole car. View full article »
Trevor Lauer, Vice President, Retail Marketing at Detroit Edison, visits the Ideal Group Headquarters and gives his feedback on his newly purchased Chevy Volt.
Play the video below to see what he has to say, we were so glad to have him here today!
Gas prices are at it again – going through the roof! When prices rise like this people automatically start talking about the cost of the daily commute and MPGs. When I tell people that I am getting about 100 MPG I get a lot of surprised looks (maybe a little jealousy) and then, when the shock wears off, I’m asked the same two questions: “how high is that making your electric bill?” and “Aren’t you worried about overloading the grid?” View full article »
