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Best Car in the World…Buddy

May 27, 2011

I’ve said it many times before and I know I’ll say it many times again.  This is the best car in the world.  1000 times better than any other car on the road.

Why?  Here’s 10 reasons:

  1. 95 mpg
  2. It’s really quiet, super quite – almost eerie quite
  3. The smooth ride – you can’t feel the car shift
  4. Super tight handling – it drives like a race car.
  5. Touch-screen LCD dashboard
  6. Regenerative power – finally a reason to enjoy getting caught in traffic
  7. It’s real quick off the line
  8. Roomy inside, unlike those other dinky “fuel efficient” cars
  9. Energy-efficient Bose® Sound System
  10. 8 yr/100,000 mile warranty

There are a hundred more reasons I can list.  Check back, I will keep discussing them.  Can you list 10 reason you love your car?  I’m sure the answer is yes if you drive a Volt.  If not, what can I say?  You should get one.

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Volt Check-Up, May 2011

May 17, 2011

Every month I get an email from my car checking in and letting me know how things are going.  This technology isn’t exclusive to the Volt – OnStar is standard on almost all GM cars manufactured after 2007.  It’s a pretty handy feature that can give you a little piece of mind knowing that your car is in good shape, or help you plan to have maintenance done before there are any problems. View full article »

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Filed Under: Chevrolet, Dash, Electic Cars, energy efficiency, Green Leaf Ball, OnStar Diagnostic Report, Volt by franksvinthed — 2 Comments

A little tip

May 9, 2011

The other day I left my car at the Valet while attending an event. And remember how I’ve said people comment on how quiet the car is? Well, its so quiet the Valet didn’t turn my car off. It idled the whole time I was at the event! When I picked it up from him the battery life was almost gone and he was very apologetic. Luckily, and not to say it again but I will, the gas generator is crucial to a car that runs so quietly! I would have have been stranded in downtown Detroit and my car would have needed to be towed back to my house! That would have been embarrassing. Luckily, there is the gas generator and I was able to come to drive to the office and get a good charge before I had to head home.

Word to the wise – make sure to remind people to turn off the car when they park it for you!

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Community Garden in Southwest Detroit

April 29, 2011

A few months ago I was cruising the neighborhood around Ideal Group in my Volt. After looking around I had an idea. A Community Garden would give my neighbors a place to grow trees and flowers while building our sense of community.

The city of Detroit has urban farms and community gardens peppered throughout and I wanted to establish one here in southwest Detroit. So a group of hard working individuals ran with my idea and tomorrow is the first day of the community garden at Merritt and Junction Streets. Tomorrow’s focus is cleaning up the lot because there’s quite a bit of trash there and then staking out the garden plots so we can use the Rototillers next week! Hopefully we can get some planting done next week too!

I’m excited to load up my Volt with my gardening tools and supplies and help tomorrow from 9am until noon! I’ll upload pictures on Monday of the progress we make.

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Review of My Home Charging Installation Experience

April 25, 2011

Since this is all still so new to everyone information is key. I covered some of this earlier but here is a complete picture. I hope this helps you on your journey to home charging!

My home charging station was installed through the DTE Energy Plug-In Electric Vehicle Program. DTE is the major utility company is metro Detroit. I got my Volt in early February before the program even launched. I was going to use SPX for the home charger but then heard about the DTE program.

Home Charging Station

The Plug-In Electric Vehicle program team was great to work with. They answered all my questions and really explained the program. The best part about the DTE program that sets it apart from others is that they offer $2,500 toward the purchase of the charging unit and the installation. If I had had to pay for it it would have been a little over $2,000.

The process goes as follows:

  • Complete the application
  • Send in a copy of your Michigan registration for your Volt or RD108 Form
  • Wait for email from PEV representative that includes the Electric Vehicle Program Agreement
  • Send back the agreement
  • PEV will contact you, walk you through your options, send you the pre-installation survey for your property and set up installation

DTE Energy works in partnership with SPX for the installation. You’ll work with reps from SPX for installation coordination. I called them a lot to see about the status of my order. I like to be kept in the loop.

The most important thing to consider as you fill out paperwork is how you want to be charged for your electricity usage. There are two options.

One: flat rate $40/month. You can plug in and charge whenever and not worry if its an on-peak time or not.

Two: pay per usage. On-peak rate $0.18195/kwh and the off-peak rate is $0.07695/kwh

Your Volt can be programmed to charge during off-peak times even if you plug it in during on-peak times. It just depends on your needs. I use the flat fee program. This calculator can be really helpful to figure out your needs.

Overall, my experience was very positive. I wish I had known about DTE’s program before I started the process with SPX so there wouldn’t have been some overlap in work but it all worked out in the end. And having a 240 volt charging system is the only way to go. If you live outside of metro Detroit make sure to investigate what your local utility company offers for electric vehicle charging and make sure to start the process as soon as possible. I would have gotten way better mileage if I hadn’t had to charge off a 110 volt plug for a month. I kept running out of charge and switching over to the gas generator.

Happy charging!

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3,000 Miles and the Drivings Fine

April 15, 2011

I’m giving my 3,000 mile report today. I rolled 3,000 miles on the odometer last night. All I can say is the longer I drive this car the more I enjoy it.

Fuel statistics: I’ve used 44.4 gallons of gas since February and am averaging 71.5 mpg. I think I could have done better but my charging stations at home and work weren’t installed until March. I estimate I could have hit 88mpg if both stations had been operational.

I use two stations to charge my Volt – at home and at the office. I find its rather difficult to find a station when I’m out and about. I know there has been a lot of talk about putting in charging stations but there isn’t the infrastructure in place yet. Hopefully we start seeing more charging stations soon.

The ride in this car is memorable, I adjust the settings to Sport Mode because the Volt rides like a baby Corvette. The acceleration is amazing and the steering when in Sport Mode tightens up and even I-75 feels like a race track.

I do have one problem though-people slow me down and I don’t mean slow drivers on the highway. I mean everyone wants to ask questions about my Volt. Common questions include:

  • What’s the mpg?
  • How does is ride?
  • How is it so quiet?
  • Do I like it?
  • How does the battery work?

These are all questions I’ll address in future posts.

Other great things I’ve found:

  • It has a lot of cargo space especially when you put the seats down. Easy to put the seats down and easy to load stuff in.
  • The rubber mats Chevy sells is a great buy, they are a little pricey but boy do they do the job.
  • Its like driving in a fishbowl because you can see everywhere but it doesn’t look like it.
  • Tall people need to sit in the front, there just isn’t the leg room for them in the back
  • The trim and interior are great. The seats are comfortable and lend themselves to the race car feel.

 

I give the Chevy Volt and my experiences with it an A plus. There is so much to learn from the Volt and the only way to do it is by driving one. I’m so glad I choose the Volt because as I’ve said before and I’ll say again there is no range anxiety driving a Volt.

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Broken Charging Station

April 15, 2011

Following up on Frank’s last post, I’m Amanda and I take care of the commercial charging station at Ideal Group. Our charging station recently need a new plug, after less than a month of having it the plug went bad and it needed to be replaced. If that wasn’t inconvenient enough it was going to take an undetermined amount of time according to ChargePoint America. Fortunately my contact at Lane Valente, Ken, was help to help me get a replacement that was installed four days later. Not bad considering I wasn’t sure when I was originally going to see a replacement. But still not good for Frank’s Volt. He normally charges it while in the office. And to top it all off his home charging station wasn’t installed yet either so he was charging on a 110 outlet which takes so long to charge and doesn’t compare to the charge you get from a 240 volt station. Without the gas generator Frank would have been out of a charge and I would have had a real problem on my hands. Thanks Ken for all your help and quick work. And thank goodness for the back up technology.

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Extended Range Importance

April 12, 2011

Last week I drove my Volt from Bingham Farms to Southwest Detroit to Warren back to Southwest Detroit and then home. It was a busy day at Ideal. I drove 86 miles that day. And I’m so glad the Volt has a battery and gas generator engine. I would have been stuck somewhere on I-75 since I would have run out of charge along the way had it not been for the back up system. I know I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again the technology in the Chevy Volt is right on and exactly what was needed in an electric vehicle.

I can’t imagine how I would explain to my customers that my car ran out of juice and I wouldn’t be able to make it to any of the meetings that day. It wouldn’t fly and it would have been embarrassing. With my Volt I never need to worry about it. I just get in the car and go. As I thought more about it, I realized how important backup power is. Imagine seeing electric vehicles littering the highway because they ran out of battery life. At least you won’t see my Volt on the side of the road.

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First Time Volt Drivers

April 1, 2011

A couple Ideal Group employees drove the Volt yesterday, here’s what they had to say.

Chris

Yesterday we had a meeting with a potential customer to discuss how we can create, or adapt our product to work with their products.  The company is the leader in EV charging stations.  Since the company is actively involved in the electric vehicle industry it made sense for us to take the Volt, and I got to drive.  Driving the Volt is kind of like being in a video game.  The challenge is to keep the spinning green leaf ball in the center of the gauge; if you speed up or slow down too fast it will move out of the center and turn yellow.  Keeping the ball centered meant that I couldn’t gun it out of the parking lot, or stop short, but it was worth it since the energy efficiently was way up at the end of the trip – so basically I won the “Volt Efficiency Game.”  Now if I can just figure out how to enter my initials for my high score…what is your top efficiency score when driving your Volt?

Amanda

When I saw the Volt at the Auto Show I just looked at it from afar because the crowd around it was so large and I knew Frank was getting a Volt and I eventually I’d get a chance to get inside it without having to wait in line. I was really excited to drive it but nervous because Frank was in the car with me! No pressure, right?

I drive a 2009 Pontiac G6 with a 4 cylinder engine, it has enough pick up in it to keep me from getting hit merging on to I-75 but not too much that I end up with speeding tickets. I was amazed at the get up and go of the Volt. Way better than my G6, we merged on the freeway and I didn’t even have to worry about the semi trucks it the first lane, I was far ahead of them. Frank was right when he told me to drive it like a regular car.  I also got to experience the Volt battery running out of charge and it switching over to the gas motor. Seamless, other than a little bit of a hum and vibration when it kicked in, you never would have known the difference. I will say my driving habits changed a little as he explained that if I coasted up to a stoplight rather than slamming on the brakes as I got close I could recharge the battery. Probably wouldn’t hurt if I tried this trick in my car to save the brakes a bit.  I bet my G6 will thank me. I think I have a new car to keep on my list of options when it comes time to buy a new car!

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2,158 Miles

March 31, 2011

Seems like a lifetime, these 2,158 miles but its been less than a month. The gas mileage is great. Never thought I’d see the day of 65.9 mpg but driving the Volt has been a real learning curve. In my estimation I could get 80 mpg if I would have had my home charging station when I first got my car AND learned to drive slower.

I found driving fast and hard was not only invigorating and I’m saving gas at the same time! Every time I hit the accelerator and look at the miles per gallon I think of the hamsters driving the Kia commercial because I feel cool, hip and most importantly I feel like I have a car that everyone else would like to have.

The excitement, gas savings and sheer newness of the Volt is totally different than anything else out there. My mindset has changed.

I equate it to plugging in my iPad for the first time and having fun using and discovering all the neat apps and learning as I use it. Every day my Volt teaches me something new. One of the best things I’ve learned is I rarely have to smell gas fumes as I have only been to the gas station three times and I still have another quarter tank to go before my next fill up. Who would have believed five years ago you can over 2,000 miles on 3.5 tanks of gas! It used to blow my mind, now its a reality. Running with electricity is a real gas, no pun intended!

I will say this, not to get political, but I think Chevy and GM hit out of the ballpark incorporating a gas engine that works as a generator to charge the battery. The crazy thing about driving electric is ‘range anxiety’, something I’d never heard of until the birth of the electric car. According to MacMillian Dictionary the definition of range anxiety is concern about the battery of an electric car going flat. With the Volt the only range anxiety I deal with every day is the same anxiety any other driver deals with. Using a little electricity and using a little gas is giving a longer range than 90% of cars being built today. And I never have to worry about being stranded because the battery died.

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