My New Chevy Volt

My wife and I just bought a Chevy Volt. I have thought for some time that my next car would be the Nissan Leaf, but my wife convinced me that the Volt was a better choice - at least for us at this time.

So how do I like the Volt? I was a bit reluctant at first to really get excited about buying yet another car that has a gas tank, but my experience driving it has been nothing short of incredible. And for most of my driving, I don't need to use gas. So effectively, it is an all electric vehicle - most of the time.

We did drive to my brother-in-law's home some distance away, and the gas generator "kicked in", but you'd never notice the difference, if you weren't paying attention. I have put some gas in the Volt since we bought it. I used premium (it is recommended), and paid all of $16 for four gallons. My biggest concern is that that four gallons of gas might get old, not being used in the tank for quite a while. I'll have to make sure I drive further than the 35 mile range, so I can keep the gas "turned over".

For those, who wonder about "performance", I can say that the Volt is pretty powerful. On a couple of occasions, I've "punched" it, accelerating from a traffic light. I had no trouble "leading the pack" on those occasions. But I intend to drive the Volt in the most efficient manner possible, so I won't make this a practice. Incidentally, the instrument panel (you probably should have to take a college course to understand it all) gives you plenty of feedback, so you can easily determine how efficiently you're driving. Most of my trips are registering 250+ mpg, making my old Honda Insight look like a gas-guzzler at 62mpg. For the life of the Volt, currently, it is registering 98.4mpg. That likely will increase over time, since I don't drive much beyond the 35 mile range of the electric charge.

Plugging in the Volt is easy. It comes with a charging cord that plugs into a standard residential electrical outlet (120 volt), and charges in about 10 hours. I plug it in at night, to take advantage of lower electrical rates, and it is ready when I leave in the morning.

The Chevy Volt is an extremely nice car, and I am very happy with it. My wife was right. On occasion, we do need range, and the Volt provides it. But most of the time - for us - it will effectively be an electric car.

A final note. I had planned to wait another couple of years before buying an electric car, but ultimately decided to do so now. There were a couple of reasons for this. First, the $7500 tax credit isn't going to last forever. It will likely expire at the end of this year. Second, what better time to make this purchase? The economy - and GM - need sales, particularly now. And third, it is a technology that is evolving, and will only continue to evolve, if there is a market. Hopefully, I have helped to create one. But I don't think GM is going to have any trouble selling the Volt. If you don't believe me, go test drive one yourself.

I have changed my icon. It used to be a picture of my old Honda Insight. Now, pictured is my new Chevy Volt.