In Defense of the Chevy Volt

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Took my Volt to the dealer for the first scheduled MTC. + the charger exchange. Forgot to tell them not to fill up the car. I've been driving with 2 gallons in the tank to keep the weight down.
Now I have 7 gallons I need to burn off! Sheeeesh! I never had that problem in my Caddy's.
Bought 8 gallons in 7 months, but only 2 gallons at a time to make sure I could make the trip.
What energy crisis?

Iluvmyvolt of CA 9:11AM June 06, 2012

During my 83 years on this planet I have owned about 50 cars, trucks, vans, minivans et al of all shapes and sizes and I can state unequivocally that my 2012 Chevy Volt is absolutely the best of the bunch. It is fantastic and a game changer. The naysayers, political or otherwise are either ignorant or duplicitous, or maybe both

Old Barney of VA 11:40PM June 02, 2012

In spite of the blatantly dishonest reporting about the Volt from Fox "News," sales are picking up. I just ordered a 2013 Volt, to be delivered in July or August. Trading in a Lexus ES. I'll bet not one of the naysayers here has driven a Volt; certainly no one who compares it to a Cruze or Prius has. Unbelievable that so-called patriots are hoping for the failure of a major American industry. Pure idealogy is the only thing that could make someone think that letting GM go under would be a good thing for this country. Pissed off about the subsidy? Why haven't you been complaining about the tax break one gets when buying a vehicle that's over 6000 lbs? Because the pundits who tell you what opinions to have haven't mentioned this to you? The irritating thing here is the sneering attitude from people who don't have a clue what they're talking about.

Don of TX 9:08AM May 29, 2012

We have had our Volt since March 22nd of this year, a demo with 2,500 miles and we have added 1,200 more. I went to the gas station to fill up but it would only take 3/4 gal of gas, I guess Chevy gave it to us almost full. My wife has never been to the gas station, and since March 22nd we have used 4 gallons. I used 3.5 gal on a 150 mile trip and we have used 5/10 gal in town since 3/22/12. Our electric bill has gone up $13.00 per month.
Oh, we did go to the gas station once, but to get a bottle of aspirin. We just started laughing when we parked by the pumps.
I absolutely love this car! My wife hates cars but she won't give it back. GM really over-achieved on this one.

Cotty Lowry of MN 11:38PM May 15, 2012

Yesterday I drove my Chevy Volt 59 miles on 0.3 gal of gas, That's 196 MPG.
The electricity for the first 47 miles cost me $1.30, the gas for the last 12 miles cost $1.12.
Although gasoline has a much higher energy density than a battery, a gas engine wastes 66% of gasoline's energy as heat. Gas engines are only 34% efficient.
In contrast, an electric motor is about 90% efficient. That's why a dollar of electricity will take me more more than 4x farther than a dollar of gasoline.

Tinapoli of IN 2:27PM May 12, 2012

You my friend are "brake job deprived"
I would bet 100,000 miles or more life on the brake pads on a Volt or Leaf.
One of the many benefits.

kevin of VA 1:31PM May 11, 2012

ZIV, I think it was Bob Lutz, who is the REAL father of the EV

Richard Joash 12:03AM May 11, 2012

For me, the benefit of an EV is that I can manufacture my own fuel at home. A 3KW solar array provides about 10KWh a day on average at my latitude, so I never have to go stand out in the weather to re-fuel. It takes a few seconds to plug in, and a few more to unplug. The car does the rest, silently charging itself while I sleep. And yes, I charge at night when the rates are low, so my solar production during the day is sold at the higher daytime rates, so my 10KWh daily production actually means I can use a little more than that at night for the same price. Win-Win. Driving past a gas station and seeing y'all pumping your life-blood into your car just seems sad now. Perhaps you will learn someday...

Volt Owner of CA 1:45PM May 10, 2012

Rotated my tires on the Volt last night (7500 miles). Amazingly, there is absolutely no brake dust buildup! None. Remarkable.
Every other car I've had blackens the wheels with brake dust.
Because the regenerative braking on the Volt slows the car while recapturing/generating electricity, not only is bake pad wear almost eliminated, but I get an extra 5 miles of travel every day FREE just from slowing down for stoplights, traffic, etc.

Tinapoli of IN 11:30AM May 10, 2012

@Disappointed
You appear to be fairly knowledgeable but you are just slightly off in your understanding about the differences in the Prius and the Volt. The Volt is a huge leap forward from the Prius. The Volt operates as a pure electric vehicle for most of the miles driven unlike a Prius. The Volt can operate as a series and a parallel hybrid. The Volt can go 100 miles an hour in pure electric mode while the Prius' gas engine kicks on at a pretty low speed (something like 20 or 30 miles an hour IIRC). For most drivers, the Volt can get well over 100 MPG. Some Volt drivers get 200, 500, 1000, even over 2000 MPG. The Prius is stuck around 50 MPG. Every Volt comes with a plug, how many Prii have been sold in the US with a plug?
As for your comment that "fuel efficiency is the equivalent of 93 miles per gallon" is a worthless thought, well, that shows you don't quite understand what you read. Yes, with two sources of energy MPG is a somewhat misleading statistic. That you are absolutely correct about. That is why a concept called MPGe (MPG equivalent) has been created. Now, you can bicker with how the government estimates how a typical person will drive a plug-in car when they also have a gasoline backup. But the idea behind MPGe is sound. If you don't like the calculations come up with a better one that is data driven and the EPA might just listen to you.
In addition, you slipped up when you made the observation that "as long as it's running off of pure battery power, it has INFINITE mpg technically." Well, that is the main technological difference between the Volt and the Prius. The Volt you can drive without using gas for a vast majority of your car trips (hence the infinity MPG). The Prius you use gas on every single trip.
Finally, you say "the Volt deserves the cristicism it receives and every comment mocking it." I'll give you a bit of a hint. When it comes to people giving reviews/comments about a product the people that actually own the product might be in a better position to give an informed review. This is true of an iPad, or a particular cell phone or a particular car, including the Volt. Volt owners have given the Volt the highest customer satisfaction ratings in the history of Consumer Reports. If you think that the Volt owners have poor judgment then you might want to go to the professionals who review cars for a living. On that front, you have the Volt winning almost every major car award including North American Car of the Year, Motor Trend Car of the Year, and, for the first time ever (so I'm told) an american car has won the European Car of the Year. The list goes on quite a bit from there.
My suggestion... drive one, judge for yourself and then admit that the Prius isn't in the same league as the Volt. Be well.

Koop of VA 8:43AM May 10, 2012