tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69961692310464489942024-03-18T19:48:22.096-07:00My Chevy VoltVolt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-82041965661170733482016-02-10T12:38:00.003-08:002016-02-10T12:41:44.952-08:00Obsession with Electric Vehicle Range and the Value of Range Extenders...Too much, in my opinion, is made on electric vehicle range. It is true that too little range can significantly hamstring an electric vehicle from its proper utility. But what I also suggest is true is that too much electric range is overkill, and that the best option is to purchase a range extended vehicle.<br />
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Here is why:<br />
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Let's look at the upcoming Chevy Bolt. It is being lauded as the first longer range BEV that will be available to the masses. That is true, and I am sure many people are going to buy it. But how much better, really, is a 200 mile electric vehicle than say a 50-100 mile electric vehicle with a range extender? I opine that it really isn't better at all, for 'most' people (doesn't mean <br />
all). Somehow, over a period of 4 years, I managed to put 76,000 miles on my Chevy Volt, with only 4,000 of those miles being powered by gas. In fact, I've actually gone back and looked at how a 200 mile electric Bolt, with no gas generator would have worked out for me. I've concluded that many of the trips I took in my Volt which required me to burn gas, would have still required more range for me to comfortably drive with the Bolt. That means that the Bolt would have stayed in the garage, and I would have driven my wife's CRV. <br />
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So in reality I would have probably burned MORE gas with a 200 mile BEV and traveled fewer all electric miles than I would have with my 35 EPA estimated electric range Volt simply because 200 miles of range still isn't good enough to do away with a gas consuming vehicle.<br />
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I see this problem often with Leaf owners... <br />
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Leaf owners are great folks, but many of them would tell me, quite condescendingly, that the Volt was not a real electric car. The problem with that statement is they'd say this at about the same time as they pull into work with their spouses gas burning car 'because they had to run extended errands and the range of the Leaf wasn't sufficient', or the 'charging infrastructure at their destination was unreliable or unavailable'. They would say this as they pile into the family mini van to drive to the beach. For me, the Volt is every bit of an electric car as the Leaf as long as the owner of the Leaf has to rely on a second vehicle to travel places. This was never an issue for me with the Volt.<br />
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I think the real issue is perception. Many early adopters just can't stand the fact that they aren't decoupled from gasoline. It just burns them up inside (excuse the pun). And so they purchase an electric vehicle, which ends up not meeting all their needs, and then they think more range is going to solve the problem. It may for some, but not for many.<br />
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There will come a time where battery tech is so cheap and the energy density is so high that this argument no longer makes sense. But we are a good bit away from that. So I would appreciate even more effort in getting more electric vehicles in the market in the 50-100 mile range with COMPETANT gasoline powered range extenders rather than focusing on super large format BEV vehicles. If this happens, electric vehicles will become more and more widely accepted as an option and gain a lot of market share. That's what we want, right?<br />
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<br />Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-3097202885293035982016-01-13T10:36:00.000-08:002016-01-13T12:31:51.515-08:00Feature comparison between a 2015 BMW i3 and the Chevy VoltIf you have been linked here from Forbes, please see the next post for my cost of operation.<br />
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As stated in the previous post, with sadness, I have sent my 2012 Chevy Volt to greener pastures and have decided to do my first ever lease on a BMW i3 with Range Extender. I only have 500 miles now on my BMW, so I can't do a proper review, but from what I have seen, my review will be better than what is currently out there...<br />
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I am not going to compare the range extender. Not at this time. One of the benefits of a car with 80 miles of electric range is that you are not going to need it very often. I managed 93% of my driving to be electric with the Chevy Volt, with the assistance of public L2 charging, and I expect that number to be closer to 98% with the BMW i3.<br />
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What I am going to compare are the differentiators between the two. I'll let you assign a value to these...<br />
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Cool features the Volt just doesn't have...</h3>
1) Stop and Go Adaptive Cruise Control: This feature is the one that made the difference for me. In short, once on the highway, the car will follow the car ahead of you, adapt to their speed at a configurable following distance, all the way down to 0 miles an hour. Then the car will continue to follow them when they start moving again. I commute 1 hour each way to work, often in bumper to bumper traffic. In the 4 days I have used this, it has worked very well. I take my foot off the accelerator and just steer the car. It isn't the Tesla Auto Pilot, but it isn't too far away from it, either.<br />
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2) Automated parallel parking: It is a nice feature to have, and seems to work well. In the three instances I have tried to use it, it parked the car effortlessly without me touching anything.<br />
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3) Rain Sensing Wipers: I like not having to touch the windshield wipers and adjust them for the constantly changing amount of rainfall.<br />
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4) Collision Avoidance: Active braking to avoid collisions with vehicles that you are about to run into<br />
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5) Detailed sensor display during parking: Really nice. Will actually show you a picture of your car on the screen, and show active feedback to where sensors detect obstacles. The backup camera, by the way, is the best I have seen.<br />
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6) Advanced GPS routing to maximize your electric range (ECO Pro routing)<br />
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7) LED Headlamps: Finally happy to have properly bright, but low energy, LED headlamps.<br />
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8) Automatically folding side mirrors: I use this, often. When I park, I press a button, and the mirrors fold in. One less thing to get knocked off.<br />
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9) Better basic warranty: 4 year/50k miles versus 3 year/36k on the Volt.<br />
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10) Automated preconditioning: You tell the car your departure times, and it makes sure the car is warm... NOT the same as the Volt, where preconditioning is a manual process done through the app (no scheduling)<br />
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11) Totally lay flat rear seats: Great for Cargo. The Volts seats do not lay entirely flat, and the middle cup holders are still exposed.<br />
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12) 7+ kW charging: Makes the most of your charging. The Volt, even the second generation model still only has a 3.3 kW charger.<br />
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13) DC Quick Charge: Probably will never be available on the Volt, as the car is intended as a mix mode vehicle.<br />
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Cool features the Volt has, that the BMW does not...</h3>
1) Auto locking doors: When you walk away from your Volt with the keys in your pocket, the car automatically locks. I can tell you that I have been leaving my i3 unlocked a LOT because of the lack of the feature that they should support (they have proximity unlocking)<br />
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2) Remote unlocking of doors: BMW only allows you to lock, but not unlock your doors with the app. A huge fail, and poor decision.<br />
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3) Charge completed txt notification: BMW does not have an option to notify you when you car has completed charging. Another big swing and a miss, when plug sharing is very common. I cycle my car out as soon as the charging is done. With the BMW, I have to load the app, and routinely update the status to see how much longer I have.<br />
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4) Lane Departure Warning: Beeps if it senses you are tracking out of your lane<br />
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So, you can see that the BMW has a lot more offerings on the i3 than the Volt by just looking at features. If you look at performance, the i3 will also win. The Volt should hold more cargo. As to rear passenger comfort, this could be a toss-up, even though there is a lot more head room for passengers in the i3, and what I also to believe is a little more legroom. I also think that the i3 interior, with the Terra trim level, is vastly superior to the interior fit and finish of the Volt. I always thought the Volt relied too much on plastic for a 40k car.<br />
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In conclusion, the BMW i3 is a more expensive car for a reason. It has a lot more features. But the Volt could still be the car for you if you find yourself using the gas engine a lot, or don't value the features listed above and their associated premiums. Also, I don't think I would trust the i3 range extender for long distances. The Volt clearly has it beat in that area.Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-27476257030713640872016-01-13T08:25:00.001-08:002016-01-13T08:25:20.794-08:004 Year Chevy Volt Cost of Operation Report : FINALOn January 7, 2012, I had the privilege of being one of the first electric vehicle owners in the state of North Carolina when I purchased a fully loaded Chevy Volt. On January 7, 2016, 4 years exactly from its purchase, I traded my beloved Volt for a new BMW i3. So this marks the final cost of operation report for my car, one of the most traveled Volts on the planet in regards to electric miles driven. When I traded the Volt, I was filled with a lot of mixed emotions. The car had never failed me. It delivered more than advertised. It was the best car I have ever owned, and likely will ever own. It felt like I was letting it down by trading it in. But I also realized, being a first generation car, that the Volt acted as a bridge towards electrification. It wasn't the destination, but a stop on the way. And while I am likely going to be back in a General Motors product in the not too distant future, there was nothing they were going to provide me inside of the next 2 years (in North Carolina) that would prevent me from trying something else. So I decided to take my first ever lease, a 2 year lease, on a BMW i3 with a range extender. More on that in the next post.<br />
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For now, here is the last Operation Report for my 2012 Chevy Volt. I attempted to be as accurate as I could with the 4 year rolling price of gasoline. May my Chevy Volt go own to provide many more electric miles for its next owner!<br />
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<br />Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-87572135596675492202015-01-09T13:09:00.001-08:002015-01-09T13:09:50.148-08:003 Year Cost of Operation on My Chevy Volt!Hello, all! I know I've gone into hiding. It just seems as though things have been working out great for the electric car, and I can let other people do some of the heavy lifting ;) 2014 was a record year for electric car sales, nearly reaching 120,000 cars in a single year. I think its a safe bet we'll beat it next year, even as gas prices as in a decline (in my opinion, temporarily). There are just too many benefits of driving electric, and more and more people are seeing that.<br />
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With that said, here is my personal 3 year cost of operation report. You will notice that I've burned some gas in the last year. It is what happened when you renovate two homes that are over 2 hours away. A lot of driving :) It is just what makes the Volt so special, however. Limitless range!<br />
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I have a major project I am working on. I am attempting to have a 6 Kilowatt solar system installed on my home. I'm not sure why I didn't do this sooner. It will cost me, after tax credits, about $6,000, and the system will raise the value of my house by over $16,000, and generate over $1,000 in electricity each year!! Why didn't I do this sooner?<br />
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Anyway, here is the report!<br />
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Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-47261214699156316662014-07-02T13:58:00.000-07:002014-07-02T13:58:15.997-07:0050,000 miles with a 2012 Chevy VoltI recently hit a milestone... 50,000 miles with my 2012 Chevrolet Volt, almost entirely on electricity. That's about 2.5 years of my ownership. There are very few owners of Chevy Volts that have already hit 50,000 miles. What makes my experience even more special is that I've managed those miles in such a short period while maintaining 93% of that driving under pure electricity.<br />
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I had a lot of worries when I first bought the car... I'll try and answer them one at a time given my 2.5 year perspective.<br />
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<strong>Can the fuel savings alone make this car affordable to drive?</strong><br />
In short, yes. If you drive the number of miles that I drive, the efficiencies you gain from switching to a low electricity rate from high prices gasoline can save you massively. Below is a report I generated just after the 50k mark. To explain how I get the 6 cents per kilowatt/hour (about half the national rate), you'll have to look at previous blog entries.<br />
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To compare those numbers above to my previous vehicles... The previous two cars I owned was a Mini Cooper that got around 32 MPG and a BMW Z3 2.8 that averaged a little less than 23 MPG. So, had I kept driving either of those two cars, ignoring all other costs, I would have spent anywhere from $200-266 a month in fuel costs. Comparing this to the Volt, I am only spending about $40 a month in total fueling costs, netting me a savings of $160-$220 a month on fuel alone. You should also add in the cost of oil changes. I changed my oil around 7,000 miles (using synthetic) for both my previous cars. Oil changes averaged around $90 a change. After 50,000 miles, I would have changed the oil 7 times with my other vehicles. I have only changed the oil once with my volt, netting me an additional $540 in savings, or $18 a month.<br />
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<strong>Will the car be expensive to maintain? Will I have a lot of problems?</strong><br />
Well, this is a major jinx, but I don't know any other way to say it. I have brought my car into the shop one time. My car was one of the early Volts that needed the battery reinforcement upgrade. Short of that, I haven't had any issues that required service. I have connected to a bad electric vehicle service supply that threw some error codes, that had I not known better, would have resulted to me taking the car in. But nothing that required dealer service. My brakes appear to be almost new, as I drive in Low almost all the time (it reduces the use of brakes to almost nothing). My front two tires, which I have shamelessly ignored with only one rotation, will likely need replacing in about 6 or 7k miles. I did my one and only oil change last month. So far the car is not expensive, nor have I had any problems requiring dealer intervention.<br />
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<strong>Will I notice battery degradation?</strong><br />
I nervously watched the Leaf owner forums when owners in hot climates started seeing their batteries degrade in hotter climates. As someone who charges 1.5 cycles a day, I was worried I would be pushing the limits of the battery and would be one of the first Volt owners to see less daily range... While this still might be the case, at nearly 50k electric miles, my daily electric range is precisely where it was when I bought the car. And in actuality, it is better, as I have learned to drive the car more efficiently. So I am still getting 40 miles of range, give or take 5 or 6 miles depending on conditions, throughout the year. I have still yet to see anyone online convince me they are seeing any range degradation on a Volt, and I doubt I'll see anything until past 75k miles.<br />
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<strong>Will I be able to maximize my electric range?</strong><br />
Way back when the Volt was introduced as a concept, I was curious to know how a Volt would fit my commute. My roundtrip commute is anywhere from 64-75 miles, depending on if I carpool with anyone and if I need to run any chores. I never envisioned being able to charge at work, but by working with the county, I have been able to charge every day, at work, for free. It has allowed me to go thousands of miles before burning a drop of fuel. It has been the best possible arrangement for electrical efficiency.<br />
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<strong>Will the range extender meet my needs?</strong><br />
I went almost 2 years without knowing the answer to this question. I was nearly 97% all electric at the 2 year mark (with a combined MPG of over 1,000 MPG), with the most gas I had used at one time was to get the car home from a distant dealership immediately after purchase. However, I found myself in the need of renovating a 110+ year old house, over 100 miles away, in the last 4 months, and have been able to exercise the gasoline range extender quite a bit. It has worked flawlessly, and I feel very fortunate that I don't have to trade cars with my wife to make those long runs (because a regular electric car would be impractical, at best, to travel the distances I needed to make in the time allotted). This has convinced me that until 300+ miles of electric range is affordable and practical, a range extended electric vehicle is going to be the most practical single car solution if you want to drive electric and not feel the adverse effects of range anxiety.<br />
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<strong>Will I enjoy getting into the car, everyday?</strong><br />
I loved my BMW. After 10 years of ownership, I still got excited to drive it, to take the top down, to sport around the town pushing the speed limit. That car was special. Large amounts of maintenance, and high miles (256k) finally pushed me into a new car. I purchased a Mini Cooper, as a stopgap for the Volt, and I had lost any love affair with the Mini after the 6 month mark. I still have an enormous affinity for the Volt after 2 years, and suspect I'll be very happy with it through 100k miles. I will admit to flirting with the BMW i3, but for now, the Volt is still the car for me. I know that if I end up with a BMW, I'm just going to be throwing a lot more money into maintenance and needless inspections designed to pad the wallets of the dealerships.<br />
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<strong>Am I going to be buying a car that just won't make it?</strong><br />
I was worried more about the entire sector... "Will electric vehicles make it?" was a really good question at the end of 2011 and early 2012. To some degree, it still is... But with May's new record of over 12,000 electric cars being sold in one month, I think it is a safe growth market for now. I am confused about GM's commitment to the Volt and electric cars in general, as the advertising has been non existent for over a year, and by introducing an ELR that is vastly overpriced, but I think they'll get on target with a cheaper and better second generation Volt for 2016. So far, buying an electric car doesn't feel like I purchased a Betamax.<br />
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The car still looks and drives like new. I still have great pride of ownership. And I still have my friends ask me questions about it all the time. I love it. Owning this car has caused me to challenge my personal political beliefs, the leaders of our country, and what we are told through the media. It has been as transformative as any material purchase can be, and I feel honored to be considered an electric vehicle pioneer.<br />
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Please feel free and ask my any other ownership questions, and I'll be happy to update this entry with the answers!Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-22909267736848685862014-06-09T07:04:00.000-07:002014-06-09T07:05:39.180-07:00When life happens, the Volt is mighty nice to have...Well, its been a long time since I have made a post. There are a lot of reasons for that, but I'll save that for another day...<br />
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I often have dialogue with folks who see that I am 95-96% electric, and they ask, 'why not just buy a purely electric car.' I give them a few reasons.<br />
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Reason 1: A purely electric vehicle will have less effective range every year after purchase. This should be intuitive. As the battery ages, the range diminishes. However, what may not be intuitive is how this compares with a Volt. As the Volt's battery diminishes in capacity, the gas engine just takes over sooner. The effective range doesn't really change. Yes, its true that if you were to add up the diminished electric range to the gas mileage, there would be a difference. But the percentage of lost effective range is miniscule as a percentage of the total Volt range. And since the Volt can travel as far as you like on gas, I doubt it will change your driving habits much. Leaf owners, on the other hand, have to start adjusting to their new limited range.<br />
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Reason 2: Life happens... What does this mean? Well, for me, I've had to do an unexpected renovation of a property that is 100 miles each way from my house. I've been working on this thing since the first week in February, and I'm still not done. Can you imagine trying to do this in a Leaf? It would be impractical, at the least, and impossible in my circumstances. For those that buy cars with very limited range, they are going to be left with few options if things come down the pipe that are unexpected. Maybe those Leaf owners will borrow their spouses' cars when they need to take long journeys, but I love that my Volt is a single car solution. You don't realize how valuable this is until you really need it.<br />
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Reason 3: I just don't see the value in buying a big expensive battery that won't be utilized that often. As seen by Tesla, to get a true gasoline car replacement in electric form is VERY expensive. Even then, the 250+ miles of range is still a limiting factor. If I go to the Outer Banks, I would completely exhaust the battery, and probably have to plug into a 120V outlet for days to be able to travel back to my home. Not practical. And then you'll have those Volt owners that want bigger batteries. I think the Volt battery is right sized. You could always want a little more, but the goal for the mass adoption of the electric vehicle is cheaper pricing. You aren't going to get there with bigger batteries. If you are going to have a gas range extender, then I think the battery capacity of the Volt should be sized to fit the vast majority of American daily driving, and leave the rest up to the generator. While is does, and I think that is why we are unlikely to see any significant capacity changes in the Volt battery.<br />
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When pricing for batteries comes down significantly and fast chargers are prevalent everywhere, the equation changes. But, for now, I think my 3 reasons are enough to want a Volt as opposed to a BEV for the next 3-5 years.Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-90888749776787867862013-03-14T08:27:00.000-07:002013-03-14T08:27:00.074-07:00North Carolina PEV Readiness Plan Now AvailableI have had the honor of working with a bunch of PEV stakeholders during 2012 to compile and produce a large amount of PEV data and recommendations in one of the regional planning taskforces funded by the Department of Energy found in the plan below.<br />
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From the Advanced Energy site:<br />
"The North Carolina PEV Readiness Plans were supported through the NC PEV Readiness Initiative: Plugging in from Mountains to Sea (M2S) planning project with funding provided by the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Cities Program through Centralina Council of Governments. Project collaborators include: Advanced Energy, Land-of-Sky Regional Council, NC Solar Center/NC State University, Piedmont Triad Regional Council, & Triangle J Council of Governments."<br />
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There is a wealth of information in this comprehensive, large document, that will help a wide range of people including but not limited to individual purchasers, employers, and local and state government to plan for electric vehicles. While this focuses on North Carolina, much of the information is general in scope, and will apply everywhere.<br />
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I encourage you to go through it.<br />
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The plan can be found here in PDF format:<br />
<a href="http://www.advancedenergy.org/transportation/ncpev/docs/NCPEVRoadmap_February2013.pdf">http://www.advancedenergy.org/transportation/ncpev/docs/NCPEVRoadmap_February2013.pdf</a><br />
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The referencing page is here with some more details:<br />
<a href="http://www.advancedenergy.org/transportation/ncpev/readiness_plans.php#state">http://www.advancedenergy.org/transportation/ncpev/readiness_plans.php#state</a><br />
Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-62846070128226328442013-02-04T08:58:00.002-08:002013-02-05T10:00:47.211-08:00California Volt Inventory Makes or Breaks Sales...Prognosticating Volt sales has been a hobby of mine since February 2012. I've gotten fairly good at it. But I have also gotten it wrong a few times, most recently with the sales numbers for the last three months of the year. In this post, I analyze why I got it wrong, and what were the causes. In short, my loftly sales expectations were artificially deflated through a lack of inventory in key markets. Those goals would likely have been met had there not been extreme inventory losses in the California market.<br />
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With August sales nearing 3,000, I thought the Volt had finally made it over the hump. I expected progressively larger monthly sales through December, possibly breaking the 4,000 mark. With that said, I did expect a big drop in January 2013. With the Volt carrying a hefty tax credit of $7,500, I expected people would be more willing to buy a volt near the end of a tax season rather than at the beginning of a new one. Why wait over a year for $7,500 if you don't have to? <br />
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I was right to a point. Sales from August to October slowly rose to almost 3,000. But then the monthly sales streak that had been going on since April 2012 came to an end. November Volt sales plummeted to almost half the previous month. There has been no discernable momentum since, with a bounce back December immediately followed by a depressed January.<br />
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Why the dive? It wasn't demand. It wasn't that all of a sudden the Volt became unattractive. It wasn't the easing of promotions, although GM did get less aggressive after August. <br />
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The big reason behind the bipolar volatility of Volt sales is a enormous lack of inventory in key markets. <br />
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When the California market is under stocked, Volt sales are going to struggle. With California Volt sales <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/03/autos/chevrolet-volt-sales/index.html">purportedly 50% of the nationwide total</a>, GM has gotten way behind the eight ball in supplying this critical market. And complicating matters are California's emissions laws. If someone wants a Volt that isn't local, its not as simple as getting one across state lines. That Volt must be equipped for California emissions if HOV access is important to you (California requires the emissions package to be eligible for HOV single car occupancy).<br />
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Let's take a look at inventory levels in the 30 mile radius of the 90210 zip code. Why look at 90210? I have been checking inventory levels for this zip code since back in May of 2012 from data provided by cars.com, and given that it is likely the Volt's single largest market, it should provide a good illustration of the problem.<br />
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As you can see, the changes in inventory from May of last year to January of 2013 are pretty enormous. I don't think this graph is indicative of the inventory levels you would expect to see in a well-supplied growth product like the Volt.<br />
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In overlaying the nationwide sales numbers to the 90210 inventory graph, we can start to see how this inventory model is a problem.<br />
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The first shaded area I am going to call the "Volt Sales Growth Period". The green line, indicating monthly Volt sales, is on a fairly sharp slope through August 2012. Inventory in the 90210 area code is also sharply increasing through August (please note that I have scaled inventory by 10 in order to keep the orders of magnitude similar in the graphs- use the upper graph for actual numbers, and take note their are tiny differences between the two which are the result of rounding some numbers, and not others). <br />
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The next period I am going to call the "Volt Sales Constrained Period". Since Volt sales are so heavily dependent on California, any disruptions to either maintaining or increasing inventory is going to have an effect on sales. While sales marginally increased from August through October, you can see downward trending 90210 inventory pulling back the reigns. Available California inventory was able to maintain but not grow sales beyond 3,000. The quarterly growth rate we've seen since the first quarter of 2012 start to decline.<br />
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Then General Motors, for better or worse, takes a bad situation and makes it much worse.<br />
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From September 17, 2012 through October 15, 2012 GM shuts down the Volt plant for retooling and to add a new car line. <br />
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This created the perfect storm. <br />
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Los Angeles inventory is already very low, barely able to sustain the demand. A month long shutdown will cause a full 30 day disruption to the supply chain for California. While GM ramped up production prior to the shutdown in order to stockpile Volts, it wasn't enough.<br />
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And now we enter the "Volt Sales Destruction Period". <br />
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When the plant reopened on October 15, it would take 4-6 weeks to start seeing some inventory gains in the Los Angeles area. And as soon as we start to get a little inventory added back into the market in late November, during a period of the year where this car should have its maximum inventory, the plant gets shutdown AGAIN for most of the month of December for the holidays. There definitely were some buyers of the Volt in December, obviously looking to take advantage of the tax credit, but imagine how much better that number would have been had the L.A. inventory been at higher levels.<br />
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And then we got the expected January drop. With inventory levels at year lows in January 2013, is there any wonder why GM only sold 1,140 Volts last month? I expected a dip, but this dip was far worse than it needed to be.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPPqQEkcWmTtBU6y8LPdETgw2rfXKkkn7FOb9Toh17l2E6gwVmABE-HaxKyXy6FvsfUi_P75EVcvoL2vRvV3BYe4MD9ZG7GBMHqi2O89Yr45IToBRWiGiVUU5sn7JCIiy-u8lxQzQVkDU/s1600/volt-destroyed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="492" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPPqQEkcWmTtBU6y8LPdETgw2rfXKkkn7FOb9Toh17l2E6gwVmABE-HaxKyXy6FvsfUi_P75EVcvoL2vRvV3BYe4MD9ZG7GBMHqi2O89Yr45IToBRWiGiVUU5sn7JCIiy-u8lxQzQVkDU/s640/volt-destroyed.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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General Motors need only look at the decisions it has made in not maintaining proper inventory levels in key markets to see why Volt sales havent been able to reach and maintain that magical 3,000 sales a month mark.<br />
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To end on a positive note, there is FINALLY a large surge in Volt inventory coming into California. If history is an indicator, we should see February 2013 sales numbers up considerably from January 2013 as long as this increase continues.<br />
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Additional graph of nationwide inventory levels as an FYI:<br />
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Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-10432543016188365152013-01-31T09:13:00.001-08:002013-02-01T12:46:42.599-08:00Battle of the Plug-in Hybrids : Chevy Volt versus Prius Plug-in versus Ford CMAX EnergiWhen considering what plug-in electric vehicle to purchase, its often difficult to make good comparisons. Each manufacturer will generally only highlight what makes their particular model look best, and omit factors in which they don't compare very well. I'm going to help you in this quest to make some good comparisons, and even though I don't compare every model out there, if you dig deep enough, you'll be able to compare other offerings to this grouping. I am NOT focusing on pure electrics today. I will do that in another entry.<br />
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But first, let's take a look at why you have to be careful using manufacturer websites to make good purchase decisions...<br />
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This is from the Prius Plug-in webpage:<br />
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From looking at this, who the hell wouldn't want to own the Prius over the Volt? I mean, its over $7,000 cheaper than the Volt? Look at all that extra room! <br />
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Examined a little more closely, the price difference between the Volt and Prius is only about $2,100 when you factor in that the Volt gets a $7,500 tax credit and the Prius only gets a $2,500 tax credit. And with that extra $2,100, the Volt provides you with an EPA estimated electric range of 38 miles when the Prius only offers you 6-11 miles of electric range, depending on if you blend the EV mode with some gas or not (the Prius will burn gas above 62 MPH or if you accelerate too hard: the volt doesnt burn gas in either of those scenarios during your EV range). But people purchasing electric cars don't care about that stuff... Its the legroom, right? ;)<br />
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I figure most people wanting to buy an electric car actually want some significant electric range, so that's a pretty big important point to omit on your advertisement. Many people are going to fully qualify for the tax credit, so looking at the pretax cost as a comparison is also a bit wonky.<br />
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So, let's take a look at some comparisons, done 'Voltowner' style... I am absolutely biased. But I've done my best to show the differences between three cars in a similar price range, and highlight things that I believe will be important to people looking to buy electric cars. I am making a comparison between the 2013 Chevy Volt, 2013 Prius Plug-in, and 2013 Ford CMAX Energi. I have done my absolute level best to provide accurate information below. If there are typos or technical inaccuracies, all you need to do is comment below and I will fix them.<br />
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I think you'll find enormous value in the Volt, even though it's slightly more expensive than the other 2 vehicles, but depending on your circumstances, picking one of the other two could be the best choice for you. I have colored a cell green if I deem that car to be the category winner. The cost per mile metric is just for electric miles. Obviously you get a lot more electric miles with a Volt than you do the competitors, so while the Volt may not be 'as' efficient on electricity (the difference in monetary terms in minimal), it is 'efficient longer' than the others that convert to burning gasoline much sooner. I probably don't have to tell you that gasoline is going to cost a lot more than 4 cents per mile.<br />
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* The Cost Per Mile of EV Capacity is a metric I came up with that should give you an idea of what you are paying for each mile of EV capacity. It should be able to give you a value comparison of the 'bang for your buck' of EV range.</div>
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** Thermal Management Systems are important in extending the life of a high voltage battery. The Volt wins as its thermal system is considered superior in laboratory tests for maintaining a constant temperature.</div>
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*** GM has established the gold standard of HV battery warrantees. They actually warranty the battery for capacity loss, which is a huge protection. The other manufacturers generally state that degradation in batteries is to be expected, but they don't pin down an exact capacity loss which will result in a replaced battery.</div>
<br />Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-63063427719806839172013-01-28T13:26:00.003-08:002013-01-28T13:36:36.684-08:00Buying a Volt: It's an American thing, not a Republican or Democrat thing...An interesting poll is <a href="http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?24049-Are-most-Volt-owners-Democrats">currently underway on gm-volt.com</a>. The poll is soliciting responses for those who own a Volt or are strongly considering owning one, asking "Did you vote for Obama or not?" Presumably, the original intent of the poster was to find out who is registered as a Republican or Democrat, but as evidenced in the thread, there are a few self-professed Republicans that voted for Obama. Nevertheless, while the poll isn't scientific, and is not as clear cut as I would like (Are you a registered Democrat, Republican, or Independent would have been better), the results still say a lot.<br />
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With just over 100 votes collected, the poll is evenly split.<br />
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I am sure to most Volt owners, this is a 'duh' moment. But it seems to many in the media, and those blogging critically on the Volt, that owning a Volt is like having a drivable billboard advertising that you are a hardcore tree hugging liberal (I am using that term affectionately here, not intended as derogatory). While there are plenty of those types of people that drive the Volt and other electrics, there are plenty of Volt driving Republicans that would disagree with that assertion.<br />
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I have long wondered how it is possible so many Republican leaders have gotten the 'electric car' issue completely wrong, pigeoning it as a left wing environmentalists brain child. It's not even close to the truth. Especially for the Volt, when it was pioneered by conservative GOPer, Bob Lutz, that professed he didn't believe in global warming.<br />
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This poll, while small, should be a wakeup call. More and more Republicans, like myself, are rejecting undisciplined and unintelligent platforms, especially as it pertains to energy. Republican leadership risks alienating more and more people, like me, when they spout and support ignorant and incomplete assessments or our country's dire energy situation. They also risk being on the wrong side of history, and I think that's going to happen a lot sooner than expected.<br />
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As I tell critics, you could believe the entire environmental movement is complete crock, that global warming is a hoax, and that electric cars provide no benefit to the environment over traditional gas guzzlers, and STILL support this country making a concerted effort to significantly diversify our country away from oil and towards electric. <a href="http://voltowner.blogspot.com/2012_02_01_archive.html">I explained all of my reasoning to this endeavor back in my first post</a>.<br />
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The electrification movement is an 'American thing', and the sooner the thought leaders in my party get on board, the better it will be for all of us.Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-54994055813145767822013-01-07T08:20:00.001-08:002013-01-10T06:34:32.358-08:00One Year of Volt Ownership: The Costs of Operation and Comparisons[Attention visitors: As this entry has received a lot of notice, a few points. I have over 20 blog entries. If a question you have isnt answered in this entry, it is likely in one of the numerous other entries. I did not intend this entry to be a 30 page novel. Just a quick summary. If you will look at the 2012 entries, you'll find answers to a lot of questions. Or you can just comment below and I will answer. Please view my very first entry, <a href="http://voltowner.blogspot.com/2012/02/why-i-bought-chevy-volt.html">Why I bought the Chevy Volt</a>, to see my personal motivations. They likely aren't what you expect.]<br />
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One year of Chevrolet Volt ownership was reached on January 6, 2013. Today, January 7, 2013, marks the beginning of year two. My previous blog entries go over a lot of my<a href="http://voltowner.blogspot.com/2012_02_01_archive.html"> personal feelings</a> on the car, so I am going to focus on just the numbers for this entry.<br />
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According to <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/31/news/economy/gas-prices/index.html">AAA</a>, the average price of gas in 2012 was $3.60 a gallon, which set the record. Below I computed my savings based on the average price of gas for 2012. When I post these through-out the year, I use the weekly average for my numbers because keeping track of a yearly rolling average can be tricky. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrs97S5RChoji5szhrBzC5PMA0mV_KOe4QagrAvXdQskkuY32ogmBwLAtzrnzPckZ27fSt5Rg1WnuPO4523AqUQ862ybfFaDQ9gbkLYaxGdWfm-2ckuq_4zBB-V6LiIX2syupMSSqZDg/s1600/year-end-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrs97S5RChoji5szhrBzC5PMA0mV_KOe4QagrAvXdQskkuY32ogmBwLAtzrnzPckZ27fSt5Rg1WnuPO4523AqUQ862ybfFaDQ9gbkLYaxGdWfm-2ckuq_4zBB-V6LiIX2syupMSSqZDg/s640/year-end-12.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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What isn't listed here in additional savings is that I had no oil changes for the year. Throw in 3 oil changes (at around 7,500 mile intervals) that most of the comparison cars would have needed and makes the Volt even more attractive. I also only paid for about half the electricity listed up there. While I did use about $371 in electricity, the place I charge at work provides electricity at no cost to me (supporting their sustainability mission) and a lot of the malls and shopping centers I go to also allow me to charge for free. I also received my level 2 charger at no cost to me, thanks to Progress Energy and being an early adopter. While that giveaway is no longer available, new Volt owners are making this up with by often paying 3-4k below sticker price. I paid almost sticker price for my Volt. It is now possible to get Volts around 30k, after tax credits, at dealerships that push heavy volume Volt sales.<br />
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In retrospect, my actual numbers were pretty close to my early <a href="http://voltowner.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-mileage-and-statistics-to-date.html">estimates</a> for yearly driving assumptions and expenses. I had initially thought I would drive 22k miles a year, but a long vacation abroad at the end of December ended up shaving about 1,000 miles off my anticipated total.<br />
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One of the more interesting observations after a year of ownership is the degree the EPA label underrates Volt performance and savings. Many Volt owners have stated that the EPA label should be considered a floor. In other words, in all likelihood, a Volt owner will do MUCH better than what is stated on the EPA label. For example, the range of 35 miles for a 2011 and 2012 was generally only seen during winter months, and most owners that I have spoken to exceed 40 most of the year (including me).<br />
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So I decided to have a little fun.<br />
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I took the EPA label for a 2012 Volt then edited it to match my actual performance. I changed their assumptions in the fine print to match my circumstances exactly, including REDUCING the 5 year price of gas average the EPA has on the label (as $3.95 a gallon) to the average gas I experienced in 2012 of $3.60. I recomputed <a href="http://voltowner.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-mpge-really-doesnt-matter-much.html">MPGe</a> based on my average consumption of 31 kWh/100 miles.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHiWYMp4nUOxjEOI0fAB9RHWYARSd721Hatyju3k26X3wdS5WNwQAxrD_k_rDQsIVZUOIEEeCbwNdLj2p8jce8Sywt7ms7ObBd0cyNNaJje8dMLkBf9W7nJVmfeMTy1f0iz2ILl31IKtw/s1600/fake_epa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHiWYMp4nUOxjEOI0fAB9RHWYARSd721Hatyju3k26X3wdS5WNwQAxrD_k_rDQsIVZUOIEEeCbwNdLj2p8jce8Sywt7ms7ObBd0cyNNaJje8dMLkBf9W7nJVmfeMTy1f0iz2ILl31IKtw/s640/fake_epa.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Anything in GREEN is an improvement on the label. Anything in RED was when the Volt underperformed. The only thing in red was the combined MPG of 36 instead of the labeled 37. My engine ran so little, often coming on for 1 or 2 miles throughout the year, that the engine was not able to warm up and gain any efficiency. On the few trips where I traveled a long distance, the engine was averaging about 45 MPG. <br />
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Below is the original label. The differences are pretty stark. Without a doubt, I have some of the best electrical rates in the country, and have found ways to charge when I am at work to prevent the gas engine from ever turning on. But this should give readers an indication of the ENORMOUS variability in calculating the costs of operating an electric car. There is room for a lot of improvement over the EPA label.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGQnCI5794I4BrjGKQy7UwKTD9PsDh_EQoSHOcV6IqfpCtyc-djCOTBDd2SD3JP2BHMAfVq64eZfkyk5jSH4bdQMAinatnpUFLNTKFDeovXDN-2pJEQzUSrLMw-nEfVF7w3Xem6Qb0URY/s1600/2012_Chevrolet_Volt_EPA_window_sticker_0483.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="419" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGQnCI5794I4BrjGKQy7UwKTD9PsDh_EQoSHOcV6IqfpCtyc-djCOTBDd2SD3JP2BHMAfVq64eZfkyk5jSH4bdQMAinatnpUFLNTKFDeovXDN-2pJEQzUSrLMw-nEfVF7w3Xem6Qb0URY/s640/2012_Chevrolet_Volt_EPA_window_sticker_0483.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Pictures speak louder than words.<br />
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This is how much gas the Volt used in one year<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUmB35uVebmDONjzHgtsQ8GA8j7PPxkv0IL-5jB1FKeGDI63ReibhkTBj_1473ExXtM1-QEI-NKevjuEQrztrKtbOeCO2IR7ddi5CQH-7C7i1Iqh37ek7MzKlfV4V-g3mGRblS1GmQ5A4/s1600/Volt+gas+use.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="70" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUmB35uVebmDONjzHgtsQ8GA8j7PPxkv0IL-5jB1FKeGDI63ReibhkTBj_1473ExXtM1-QEI-NKevjuEQrztrKtbOeCO2IR7ddi5CQH-7C7i1Iqh37ek7MzKlfV4V-g3mGRblS1GmQ5A4/s640/Volt+gas+use.jpg" width="640" /> </a></div>
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Had I driven a car getting 50 MPG, like a Prius, this is how much gas I would have used:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnlxWyI-rlP3fiKDnmEKBmBZtRoByEhQ9_LkZTGDw9zqwm50dywYSXyWOjLsQpJpwadvLwDJlcZtvzDdVOSm1BmI5UfqeSz7g-det1NAaHsNqCc3Qbo2qoSP7uCnhZuxtqD-f3oqF4E9c/s1600/50+mpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnlxWyI-rlP3fiKDnmEKBmBZtRoByEhQ9_LkZTGDw9zqwm50dywYSXyWOjLsQpJpwadvLwDJlcZtvzDdVOSm1BmI5UfqeSz7g-det1NAaHsNqCc3Qbo2qoSP7uCnhZuxtqD-f3oqF4E9c/s640/50+mpg.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Had I driven a car getting 30 MPG, like a Chevy Cruze, this is how much gas I would have used:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW62ysfyFPC2VLLgR_YETEHO3aiVoUHf76XiBeunyrUJ_wPV9vWVxXvbRCBlwixvgsyK2q238wMkESuWgyIX464uAmEUUtyg0P8WOrDfCT2SnCBNyiyjTZFfLcq2L23XFjID6IzihqhYQ/s1600/30+MPG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW62ysfyFPC2VLLgR_YETEHO3aiVoUHf76XiBeunyrUJ_wPV9vWVxXvbRCBlwixvgsyK2q238wMkESuWgyIX464uAmEUUtyg0P8WOrDfCT2SnCBNyiyjTZFfLcq2L23XFjID6IzihqhYQ/s640/30+MPG.jpg" width="640" /> </a></div>
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Had I driven a car getting 23 MPG, approximately the new car average, this is my fuel burn:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_1Nv2S8NKSkGQYQvmJ_mvDdzwqZL_XcKZgpmi2F22PuWc3MH4VJuTIsy5aMHO8KNlDH7C1MJ58QlexnLtpLXK2fxTdTMKhMhvRj8kv1l_a746oMWU4Dnb7QmPTM4Azbvv2UJBkQzOr1c/s1600/23+MPG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_1Nv2S8NKSkGQYQvmJ_mvDdzwqZL_XcKZgpmi2F22PuWc3MH4VJuTIsy5aMHO8KNlDH7C1MJ58QlexnLtpLXK2fxTdTMKhMhvRj8kv1l_a746oMWU4Dnb7QmPTM4Azbvv2UJBkQzOr1c/s640/23+MPG.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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And finally, if I elected to drive a car getting 17 MPG, I would have used this small amount of petrol:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfb8Ef34l7jB01voGlJTMb7cxEp7V_B1YukHFbhX1ZnaqqcVuKFqOR_niGZhuFLWP8X4Rc0UQhB9cj3eR2xDsiw0-b3wE_nUu8VEyqCJES6zd29Sdphjhl3hSS68XswLP2aBSUgWQwLHA/s1600/17+MPG+illustration.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfb8Ef34l7jB01voGlJTMb7cxEp7V_B1YukHFbhX1ZnaqqcVuKFqOR_niGZhuFLWP8X4Rc0UQhB9cj3eR2xDsiw0-b3wE_nUu8VEyqCJES6zd29Sdphjhl3hSS68XswLP2aBSUgWQwLHA/s640/17+MPG+illustration.png" width="640" /></a></div>
This is one year. Can you imagine how this is going to look in 5 years?<br />
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If anyone believes my power rate is wrong, please see the bottom of this <a href="http://voltowner.blogspot.com/2012/11/almost-1-year-of-ownership-with-volt-my.html">post for an explanation</a>.Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-64816411976594808232013-01-04T11:56:00.003-08:002013-01-04T12:17:10.731-08:00One Year of Volt Ownership: My Reflections<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Come Monday, January 7, 2013, I will have owned a 2012
Chevrolet Volt for one year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s been
one hell of a year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What started out as
a simple car purchase turned out to be a life altering event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s a long list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The car vastly exceeded my expectations which were born from
a technological car crush way back when the Volt was announced as a concept in
2007.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I followed the Volt’s development
closely, mainly on gm-volt.com, for several years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My goal was to own a Volt as soon as it was
sold in my state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And based upon my
expected use cases, I figured I would average around 100 MPG combined with my
70+ miles per day commute, not the 1000+ MPG I would get after a full year of ownership
and 20,000 miles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Owning a Volt for one year has removed any doubts about the viability of the electric car movement. While nay sayers will complain about the cost of EVs at the same time people like me can show these cars are already a cost effective solution for many, I have no doubts that the electric car industry will follow the same trend that every other piece of technology has gone through during our lifetime: initially high adoption premiums, whose costs are rapidly diminished through economies of scale, and delivered not only cheaper, but better. You would have to completely ignore history to believe otherwise.</span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I didn’t realize the influence I could have as an early
adopter, helping usher in the electric car age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I participated in several state wide Plug-in Vehicle Readiness Groups
funded through the Department of Energy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That work is helping our entire state get educated on electric vehicles,
and promoting sustainable, thoughtful and appropriate policies for their
adoption.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only that, but working
with large and powerful stakeholders such as car manufactures, power companies,
and legislators helped fill in any knowledge gaps I had about electric
cars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this past year, I learned what
it is like to be a true advocate, sacrificing a lot of personal time to help
promote electrification.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This blog is
only a tiny portion of that work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I even
battled a conservative radio talk show host, I believe successfully, for about
15 minutes on air.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As a result of owning this car, I pay a lot more attention
to where I get my news, and how much I trust what I hear/read/see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you know the sky is blue, and the news
sources that you trust so much tell you the sky is orange, you have a
problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>News sources I once trusted,
probably to my own ignorance, such as Fox and Drudge Report, have not only
distorted facts about electric cars, specifically the Volt, but they have told
lies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, Matt Drudge in my opinion
has directly libeled GM and the Volt, and should have been taken to court and
sued for millions, as I believe he has negatively affected Volt sales in that
amount. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you have read this blog, you
know I’ve written a few entries attempting to expose a lot of the lies told by
the media about this car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But my
distrust of the news now goes way beyond just the electric car, as I am now
forced to scrutinize almost everything else I see reported.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thankfully, my critical thinking ability has
been reinvigorated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t say the same
the same for most Americans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have even reevaluated my once strong love of the
Republican Party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still consider
myself a Republican.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But much of the
Republican Party has left me in its extremism, loss of a balanced approach to
solving our nation’s complex problems, and a lack of intellectual integrity and
honestly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fact that the Republican Party
cannot see the enormous and repeated damage caused by our dependence on crude, foreign
or domestic, and sees the only viable solution in expanded drilling is beyond
comprehension.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given that this was an
election year, it wasn’t difficult to get the candidates’ views on
electrification of the transportation sector.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Needless to say, electric vehicles are not widely supported by
Republican leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I have a
difficult time supporting candidates that don’t have a balanced, intelligent,
and honest answer to our nations’ energy crisis, and as a result, can’t trust
them to make good decisions on other issues.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, all of this change and self-reflection from a simple car
purchase…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Long live electric cars and
long live the Volt!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
For those that want all the nity gritty details, I'll be publishing a new post very soon with my details.Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-968158377630866752012-12-03T08:11:00.001-08:002012-12-03T10:57:56.459-08:00Why MPGe really doesn't matter much...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK7vQts1rSisK5eFKIXS4amPPegQn3E5J_nUFkvc-Fusk9x7ypFLD66Es8sbNTiB9J7Cs4EcwWjymdLxi6u5o84h1OTHrA8shrvssyaMr90uq2QvQOYkTNetE9lATW7dgh6Rqw9hXCJ90/s1600/crossout-mpge.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK7vQts1rSisK5eFKIXS4amPPegQn3E5J_nUFkvc-Fusk9x7ypFLD66Es8sbNTiB9J7Cs4EcwWjymdLxi6u5o84h1OTHrA8shrvssyaMr90uq2QvQOYkTNetE9lATW7dgh6Rqw9hXCJ90/s1600/crossout-mpge.png" /></a></div>
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I have long hated MPGe. Miles Per Gallon Equivalent is an often misunderstood rating, that is prominently placed and emphasized by the EPA in its window stickers, and successful in confusing consumers, dealerships, and reporters alike. I have seen many well intentioned dealerships advertise the Volt as a car with a "98 MPG" rating (dropping the 'e' altogether). I have seen critics wrongly try to showcase cheaper cars with a higher MPGe as better than the Volt. Competing car manufacturers are using the MPGe metric to make their inferior electric car offerings look better than the Volt. Certain electric hybrid automobile manufactures, with their offerings being short on range but high on MPGe, are playing a game of smoke and mirrors. "Ignore the short range, and put all your attention to our higher MPGe!" The devil is in the details, and I worry that too many consumers aren't going to understand how to properly evaluate their choices.<br />
<br />
What is MPGe?<br />
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Well, it is really an efficiency rating. The EPA determined how many BTUs of heat a gallon of gas would put off if you if burned it. Then they calculated how much electricity would be needed to generate to the same number of BTUs. This number is 34 kilowatt hours. Then the EPA determined the range of a car after consuming 34 kWhs of electricity. So, if you see a car that is rated at 95 MPGe, that means the EPA rated that car to go 95 miles on 34 kWhs of electricity. If you see a car rated at 115 MPGe, that means it could go 115 miles on 34 kWhs. <br />
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So, why is the car rated at 115 MPGe not necessarily better than the car with a 95 MPGe. There is no doubt that on a given amount of electricity, the car getting the 115 MPGe is going to do more with a given unit of energy. However, if the car getting 115 MPGe can only drive 10 miles on electricity before turning on the gas engine, and the car getting 95 MPGe can go 45 miles before turning on the gas engine, the overall efficiency of the longer ranged, yet inferior MPGe car, is going to best the shorter ranged, higher MPGe car, on all but the shortest of trips.<br />
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Looking at this from the abstract. Let's say I need to hire a worker. I tell that worker that he/she can work up to 8 hours a day.<br />
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Option 1: Your first hour of work is paid at $10 an hour. All subsequent hours are paid at $2 an hour. (Compare this to Car option 1: 115 MPGe and 50 MPG on gas)<br />
Option 2: Your first four hours of work are paid at $8 an hour. All subsequent hours are paid at $1 an hour.<br />
(Compare this to Car option 2: 98 MPGe and 37 MPG on gas)<br />
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With option 1, the worker can make a maximum of $24 for 8 hours of work. $10 for the first hour, then $14 for the remaining 7.<br />
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With option 2, the worker can make a maximum of $36 for 8 hours of work. $32 for the first four hours, then $4 for the remaining 4.<br />
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So what can we take from this?<br />
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1) Option 1 has the highest hourly rates. The starting rate and secondary rate are BOTH higher than the second option's rates. BUT FOR A FULL WORKDAY, OPTION TWO WILL PAY YOU MORE.<br />
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2) If the person that is going to be hired plans on working 1 hour only, option 1 is the best. The benefits of the second option don't come into play until after the first hour, so if the worker is only going to be working one hour a day, the first option is obviously best.<br />
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3) You have to look beyond just the raw numbers, and see what fits your situation the best.<br />
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So, bringing this back to cars... <strong> A car that promises a higher MPGe than the Volt, may not be better for you at all. </strong> You need to look at the electric range of the car, estimate your daily driving habits, and come up with a combined fuel economy in your situation. This obviously extends to the MPG rating on range extended cars like the Volt and Plug in Prius. The Volt gets about 37 MPG when running on gas, with the Prius at 50 MPG. Ignoring the fact that the Prius will turn on the gas motor even during the initial electric range if the car gets to 62 MPH or if you accelerate too hard, the Prius's superior MPG shouldn't matter much to Volt owners. Volt owners use their gas engine so little that the added 13 MPG efficiency of the Prius won't cut much into the fuel savings.<br />
<br />
What would I like to see done about this? <br />
<br />
Despite there being a lot of criticism on this idea, the EPA needs to consider adding other metrics to their label that reduce the bias of MPGe. Given the cheap nature of electricity compared to gasoline, one car being 10-15% more efficient with the power it consumes isnt going to amount to much difference in the wallet of the buyer, but that car only going 11 miles on a charge versus 40 is going to make a big one. It would also be nice to display the potential tax credits for the car. With the Volts much larger battery, it gets 3x the tax credit of the Plug in Prius ($7500 versus $2500). With this difference, the Volt has over 3x the electric range for about the same cost.<br />
<br />
One final note... I know for 100% electric vehicles, MPGe is a good metric. It could also be a good 'tie break' metric if two cars are identical in range. Its just not a great starting point to evaluate electric cars, and the EPA can do much better.Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-67396594842822348942012-11-29T22:00:00.000-08:002013-01-07T12:21:55.730-08:00Almost @ 1 year of ownership with the Volt. My fuel savings!I am not going to do a big write-up on this one. I think the numbers speak volumes. At the end of the year, I will calculate the yearly average price of fuel (will likely be about 20 cents higher than the current rates listed) and give a total. Look for that post around the one year anniversary mark, which will be January 7, 2013.<br />
<br />
If you drive a car that gets 23 MPG (the national average), the yearly savings based on my driving habits and electricity costs are going to be around $3000 PER YEAR.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjE7Dd-TgKHc10Ce5CwDDg7bBn3NIWVYUThZmqLN7zKINpdaFKIKNPGSaHDJrNcReElFnXSgpNfShR78JPkNTt-T6fC2X-SzYioCaCwEKb7R4HLpL6bb2MYv7J4lJBfWA9im38-4Rs8XM/s1600/volt-november-stats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="487" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjE7Dd-TgKHc10Ce5CwDDg7bBn3NIWVYUThZmqLN7zKINpdaFKIKNPGSaHDJrNcReElFnXSgpNfShR78JPkNTt-T6fC2X-SzYioCaCwEKb7R4HLpL6bb2MYv7J4lJBfWA9im38-4Rs8XM/s640/volt-november-stats.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here is a snippet from my bill. It has three components. On-peak kWh is the top line. Off-peak kWh is the second line. Demand factor is the third line. Demand factor by definition is the most amount of energy used during peak hours for any 15 minute period. That number, the demand factor, is multipled by a rate that changes seasonally. I can completely discount the demand factor from any costs associated with the Volt. Why? Because I know when we generate the peak rate. It happens when the clothes are being washed, the HVAC is on, and I am cooking on the stove. When I know those moments are going to happen, I simply throw the breaker on the car charger. If I allowed my car to charge during those peak moments, it would likely add about '1' to the demand factor, increasing my bill anywhere from $3.50 to $6 a month. Since I make the decision to disconnect the car during peak moments, my car does not affect the demand factor. All that is left is adding up the on peak hours and off peak hours, and that will average out somewhere around 6 cents per kWh.<br />
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Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-28001269398284156802012-11-01T13:08:00.000-07:002012-11-02T09:39:44.459-07:00October Sales are in!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Electric cars are here to stay. The market for electric cars was around 1,300 cars at the beginning of the year. This month: nearly 6,500. If you include Tesla, Fisker, Ford, Mitsubishi, and the other smaller players, the number is likely over 7,000. The market growth is amazing. Had sales numbers been stock prices, and we bought in at the beginning of the year, we'd all be very happy people right now. </div>
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As I stated in my previous blog, electric cars are late bloomers. Are they selling in the quantity that the manufacturers wanted straight out of the gate? No. Are they getting really close in a fairly short period of time? Absolutely. 10 months into the year, General Motors is only about 5k away from their targeted sales rate of 40k a year.</div>
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How long can this growth maintain? I'm not entirely sure. I think the Volt could sustain about 40k-50k Volts a year with current gas prices. If prices go lower, so do sales. I do believe that come January, we will see a big drop in sales. This is due to the nature of a heavily subsidized car. Not only is January a bad sales month, but people will have to wait over a year to get their tax credit if they buy in January. A lot of people will not want that.</div>
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I will also prognosticate that we will see a dip in November sales. Is it demand related? No. Inventory is at year low levels due to the factory shutdown. Demand has been so high, inventory has been stripped to a 30 day supply. Back in January, we had close to a half a year supply of Volts on the lots. It takes about a month for the supply chain to be cranking again. Since the Volt assembly line restarted in the middle of October, dealerships won't see new inventory in significant quantity until the middle of November. This is going to hurt sales a good bit.</div>
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But look for December to be the largest ever, possibly above 3,500 Volts delivered to customers.</div>
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It is an exciting time for electric vehicle advocates!!</div>
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<br />Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-46426444126989412462012-10-19T08:54:00.000-07:002012-10-20T17:16:15.444-07:00Volt Sales Targets: Disappointment and Triumph<br />
<strong>Missed Targets</strong><br />
<br />
General Motors is being repeatedly beat up about missing sales targets set for the Volt.
They said they'd sell 10,000 in 2011 with a limited release of the Volt in
select states across the nation. They sold about 7,500. They said they would
sell 40,000-45,000 in 2012 once the car was rolled out nationwide, and it looks
like they are going to sell about 25,000 through December. Without putting this
into perspective, and following the Volt's tumultuous and short life thus far,
it would be easy to label the Volt as a failure.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
However, this is a new market. When it comes down to it, GM is attempting to
sell a type of car that has never been sold before. It was difficult to gauge how
well the public would initially take to liking the Volt. Would they be able
to see past the initial higher purchase price to recognize the vastly cheaper operating costs as it compares to the total cost of ownership
comparisons to gas vehicles? Would they put concerns about the battery behind
them with a generous warranty that shields the consumer from any issues for a
long time? Would gas prices remain high in order to make an alternatively
fueled vehicle attractive? Would dealers embrace the car and promote it, or
would they shun it in favor of more traditional vehicles?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
I think those issues alone should have been enough to make General Motors
give more conservative sales estimates. But they didn't. They put out bold
numbers. Not being an automobile insider, I suspect there are good reasons for
high sales estimates that go beyond the obvious. I suspect car companies need
to negotiate good prices from suppliers based on volume estimates. A lower
estimate is likely going to mean a higher price per unit. This is completely
speculation on my part, but otherwise I don't understand why such high targets
were placed on such a fledgling product.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<strong>Things get worse.<o:p></o:p></strong><br />
<br />
Then the unthinkable happened. In late 2011, widely publicized and
congressional involvement in a NHTSA Volt safety investigation would stoke
fears in potential buyers. A Volt caught fire at a test facility 3 weeks after
a side impact test. NHTSA eventually concluded that the Volt was as safe as or
safer than most cars on the road, and General Motors made a modification to
further reduce the likelihood of a battery fire in the event of a serious
accident. But the damage was done. The Volt had become a political lightening
rod. The conservative media was hailing the 'combustible Volt' as an example of
wasted government tax dollars in the wake of the General Motors bail-out.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Up until that point, the Volt sales looked to be on an upward pace near of the
end of 2011 with consecutive sales increases, culminating with a sales record of
1,529 in December. But the NHTSA hearings, and enormous amount of negative press,
mostly unfair and speculative, took its toll. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<strong>Enter 2012.<o:p></o:p></strong><br />
<br />
Volt numbers in January plummeted to just 603 vehicles sold. February wasn't
much better with sales rising to 1,023. At this rate, GM would struggle to pass
the 10k mark on the second full year of production. Then General Motors
announced that the plant would suspend production of the Volt for 5 weeks,
starting in the middle of March. Vultures were circling. Pundits were calling
this the end of the Volt. Owners and advocates were desperately trying to
explain the sales drops, stating that the media had been so unfair and harsh
during the NHTSA trials, that people weren't willing to trust the Volt as a
result. General Motors publically abandoned its sales targets for the Volt,
simply stating they would match supply with demand. It was indeed, grim.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<strong>Early Spring.<o:p></o:p></strong><br />
<br />
Then something happened. In a rush to bring the Volt to the market, General
Motors had underestimated the importance of producing the Volt to meet
California emissions standards. The nation's largest car market was selling an
alternatively fueled vehicle that did not qualify for the states' $1500
additional tax credit, nor did it qualify for single occupancy HOV lane access.
The Nissan Leaf did. The Toyota Prius during its early years did as well. GM
had missed a critical component to jump start sales. Back in January, GM had
announced its intention to deliver California emissions compliant Volts by
March. In the midst of the plant shutdown, rumors started to pop up. New Volt
records? Could it be possible? How was this possible? The HOV compliant
California Volts were produced before the shutdown, and were
being delivered to dealerships. There was a line out the door to get them. Then we got the
March sales numbers: 2,289 domestic units sold. The press was in a frenzy. The Volt had a pulse! As a result of this unexpected jump in sales,
General Motors decided to restart production a week early. Volt
advocates sighed with tentative relief that perhaps the worst was over. In April, it was reported by the Detroit Press that the CEO of GM, Dan Akerson stated that he expected sales of the Volt to be averaging around 2,000 to 3,000 a month by the end of the year, and that should be enough to silence critics. Once again, GM had created a target for the media.<br />
<br />
<strong>Fast forward.<o:p></o:p></strong><br />
<br />
It has now been 6 months since the Volt seemed to turn the sales corner. After the March spike, Volt sales retreated below 2,000 and began an
unbroken series of consecutive month over month sales increases. The Volt
market is in a period of sustained growth. It would take until August for the
Volt to break through the March sales record, but in August and September sales
were 2,832 and 2,851 respectfully. All indications show another month around or
above the 3,000 unit sales for October. Finally, a sales target that was met!<br />
<br />
The anti Volt pundits will just look at the total. They'll say, the Volt has only
sold 16,348 cars through September, well short of making the 40,000-45,000
initial goal of General Motors. While that is true, it isn't being fair to the
facts or obvious trend for anyone closely following the car. The Volt will
likely end October with 3 consecutive months of around 3,000 units. This will
annualize out to about 36,000 cars a year. So, while General Motors has taken a
little longer than expected to get there, they are likely to meet or exceed the
40,000 a year mark in 2013 given current trends.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The Volt is a late bloomer. The electric vehicle market as a whole is going
to be a late bloomer. We aren't going to have 500,000 electric vehicles on the
road in the U.S. by 2015, let alone a million. That doesn't mean that electric
cars are a failure just because they may not have come out of the gates as
strong as the government and some companies had hoped for. But given a little
perspective, I think you'll see that the steady and improving adoption of the
Volt and its competitors is a trend worth betting on.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
Quarterly Sales Rates:<br />
January -> March: 1,305 a month or 15,660 a year<br />
April -> June: 1,634 a month or 19,608 a year<br />
July -> September: 2,511 a month or 30,132 a year<br />
* October -> December: 3,100 a month or 37,200 a year<br />
<br />
* estimates based on generalized upward trend seen through previous quarters<br />
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<br />Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-72980505322135041862012-08-10T08:56:00.000-07:002012-08-20T08:02:53.601-07:00EPA Sticker of the 2013 Chevy Volt: Savings ExaminedAs I have stated in previous posts, buying an electric car takes a little more thought and consideration when compared to a normal car. Not only do you have to examine your typical commute and accessibility to charging infrastructure, but you also need to look beyond the EPA Sticker on the car to determine your actual savings. Let's look at the 2013 EPA Sticker for the Volt, and examine this in some detail.<br />
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<br />
According to this label, the average driver will save ~$7,000 in fuel in 5 years of ownership. How do they define the average driver?<br />
<ul>
<li>15,000 miles a year</li>
<li>$3.80 a gallon fuel</li>
<li>12 cents per kWh energy rate</li>
<li>35 kWh/100 miles</li>
</ul>
Compared to the same driver purchasing a vehicle getting 23 MPG.<br />
<br />
So there are actually 5 variables here plus one hidden variable. At least hidden to me (point it out if I have missed it). They are considering that Volt owners will enjoy a mixture of both electric driving and gasoline driving. How do I know that? We'll examine below.<br />
<br /><br />
After 5 years of driving a car at 15k miles a year, you will have 75,000 miles on the odometer. For the car averaging 23 miles per gallon, this means that car will have burned 3,261 gallons of fuel. At $3.80 a gallon, this will give you $12,392 spent in gas (in the fine print on the sticker, they have $11,600 in gas, but they obviously forgot to update that with a new gas price, as my math is not wrong).<br />
<br />
The Volt, if driving by the sticker efficiency of 35 kWh per 100 miles, and driving 100% of the time in electric mode, will cost the following in electricity:<br />
<br />
75,000 miles divided by 100 mile units = 750 units<br />
750 units multiplied by 35 kWh = 26,250 kilowatt hours<br />
26,250 kWh multiplied by 12 cents per kWh = $3,150<br />
<br />
If we take the fuel cost in the 23 MPG car and subtract it from the electricity cost:<br />
$12,391 - $3,150 = $9241. This savings exceeds the EPA sticker rating.<br />
<br />
So, if you drove the Volt 100% of those miles in electricity, your savings are $2,000 more than the sticker. So how did they come up with a savings of $6,850? By assuming a considerable percentage of your driving will be on gas.<br />
<br />
How do we figure out the percentage?<br />
<br />
Take $9,241 (our savings with 100% electric driving) and subtract from their savings of $6,850<br />
= $2,391<br />
<br />
We take that number, and divide by their fuel cost of $3.80 per gallon<br />
= 629 gallons<br />
<br />
In the Volt, 629 gallons will get you 23,902 miles (based on 38 MPG combined). <br />
<br />
So, exactly what percentage of your time driving the Volt does the EPA think you'll be using gas? Apparently just about 1/3 of the time. They are giving you a combined MPG rating of 119 miles per gallon (75,000 miles / 629 gallons). As it turns out, that reasonably matches what we're seeing on Voltstats.net for the average Volt driver.<br />
<br />
So, the sticker is making some reasonable assumptions. Why can't you take this at face?<br />
<br />
Let's examine my situation with a few changes to their assumptions to match mine:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><strike>15,000</strike> 22,000 miles per year</li>
<li>$3.80 a gallon fuel</li>
<li><strike>12</strike> 6 cents per kWh energy rate</li>
<li><strike>35</strike> 31 kWh/100 miles</li>
</ul>
<br />
So, I drive a lot more. My energy rate for charging is HALF the national rate. I am more efficient in my driving than the sticker, and am averaging about 31 kWh per 100 miles, which extends my actual electric range per kWh consumed.<br />
<br />
I'll use their assumption of 119 MPG combined for the moment. Let's run through our math again:<br />
<br />
22,000 miles per year * 5 years = 110,000 miles<br />
<br />
For our traditional car getting 23 MPG.<br />
110,000 miles divided by 23 MPG = 4,782 gallons<br />
4,782 gallons multiplied by $3.80 = $18,171<br />
<br />
For the Volt:<br />
We need to get their 'electric and gas miles' based on 119 MPG combined rating.<br />
110,000 / 119 MPG = 924 gallons burned<br />
924 gallons multiplied by 38 miles per gallon = 35,112 miles<br />
<br />
So, they think the average person will travel 74,888 miles on electricity and 35,112 miles on gas.<br />
Those costs:<br />
<br />
924 gallons burned mutiplied by $3.80 = $3,511<br />
74,888 miles divided by 100 mile units = 749 units<br />
749 units multipled by my efficiency of 31 kilowatt hours per unit = 23,215 kWh<br />
23,215 kWh times my electric rate of 6 cents per kWh = $1,392<br />
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Combined cost of gas and electricity in the Volt: $4,903<br />
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<strong>5 YEAR FUEL SAVINGS OVER THE 23 MPG CAR: $18,171 - $4903 = $13,268</strong><br />
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My actual savings are closer to $16,000, as I am driving 96% electric, or over 850 MPG combined rating, which is over SEVEN TIMES BETTER than the EPA rating. I have included my running total chart below. Its more math, but just know that it isn't hard to improve dramatically beyond the 119 MPG combined rating of the EPA chart and really increase your savings.<br />
<br />
So, what does all this boil down to? The Volt is NOT an expensive car when you look at all the costs:<br />
<br />
In the EPA case (15k miles a year with all their assumptions):<br />
Volt cost of ownership = $32.5k (post tax rebate) + $4,538 (fueling cost) = $37,038<br />
23 MPG car = [$20k .. 25k] + $12,391 (fueling cost) = $32,391 .. $37,391<br />
<br />
In my case (22k miles a year with a higher efficiency and half cost electrical rate):<br />
Volt cost of ownership = $32.5k (post tax rebate) + $4903 (fuel costs) = $37,403<br />
23 MPG car = [$20k .. 25k] + $18,171 (fueling cost) = $38,171 .. $43,171<br />
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Conclusions: The Volt, even by EPA data is marginally more expensive than a very inexpensive $20-$25k car, and WILL be cheaper as your approach the top of that range and go beyond. If you drive more miles and have better electricity rates, the Volt is CHEAPER UNDER THAN A $20K CAR.<br />
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<br />Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-31101196603976849662012-07-26T20:45:00.004-07:002012-10-08T13:43:42.353-07:00Volt Sales - Updated through September 2012Below are 2012 Domestic Sales numbers for the Chevrolet Volt. <br />
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GM does NOT consider a delivery to a dealership as a sale. The reported numbers are purchased Volts by a customer.<br />
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I update the below graph and data monthly. Bookmark this thread. <br />
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Some of the media are saying the Volt is a flop, and is failing. Does this look like failure to you?<br />
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I want to explain the Purple and Yellow line. <br />
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The purple line shows sales if you took that month and multiplied it by 12. It would give you the annual sales rate based on just a single month's sales. Obviously, this is not a good indicator of sales, which is why the media should be more careful when using ANY single month as an example of yearly car sales. I am really using it as a scaler, as the sales numbers overlayed against the higher figures are negatively biased in this graph.<br />
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The yellow line shows estimated annualized sales if you added up previous sales including the charted month, and then extended that sales rate for the year. The increasing rate shows that sales are accelerating month to month. It normalizes the large individual sales spike in March, and does a better job showing the improving sales picture.<br />
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The Volt is the number one selling electric vehicle. The above graph gives you some YTD sales numbers of the Volt's primary competitors.<br />
<br />
THE BELOW DATA WILL NOT ALWAYS BE UPDATED. THE BELOW DATA IS CURRENT FOR 2012 TOTAL SALES THROUGH JULY. <br />
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According to <a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/news/june-2012-dashboard-47943.html">http://www.hybridcars.com/news/june-2012-dashboard-47943.html</a>, the Volt outsold almost every hybrid in America. It is the number one selling American owned and produced hybrid, including all electric cars.<br />
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The Volt has outsold year to date in the hybrid/electric/PHEV categories:<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 154px;"><colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 5632; mso-width-source: userset; width: 116pt;" width="154"></col></colgroup></table>
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/toyota-prius-plug.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Prius PHV</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.plugincars.com/nissan-leaf"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nissan LEAF</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;">Smart forTwo EV</span><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/news/ford-focus-electric-initial-impressions-46641.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ford Focus Electric</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/news/bmw-moves-methodically-toward-electric-cars-27323.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">BMW Active E</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/news/us-version-mitsubishi-i-electric-mincar-due-novenmber-30373.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mitsubishi i<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></a><br />
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<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 186px;"><colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 6802; mso-width-source: userset; width: 140pt;" width="186"></col></colgroup></table>
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/compacts-sedans/chevy-malibu-hybrid.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Chevy Malibu Hybrid</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/2012-buick-lacrosse-eassist.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Buick LaCrosse</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/lexus-rx-450h.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Lexus RX400/450h</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;">Kia Optima</span><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/ford-fusion-hybrid.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ford Fusion</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/compacts-sedans/honda-civic-hybrid-overview.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Honda Civic</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/compacts-sedans/honda-insight-overview.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Honda Insight</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/suvs-minivans/toyota-highlander-hybrid-overview.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Toy. Highlander</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/lincoln-mkz-hybrid.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Linc. MKZ Hybrid</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/honda-cr-z.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Honda CR-Z</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/suvs-minivans/ford-escape-hybrid-overview.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ford Escape</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Buick Regal</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/suvs-minivans/porsche-cayenne-hybrid.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Porsche Cayenne</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/lexus-hs250h.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Lexus HS 250h</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/cadillac-escalade-hybrid.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Cad. Escalade</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/infiniti-m35-hybrid.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Infiniti M35h</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/suvs-minivans/chevy-tahoe-hybrid.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Chevy Tahoe</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/gmc-yukon-hybrid.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">GMC Yukon Hybrid</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/trucks/gm-hybrid-pickup-trucks.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Chevy Silverado</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/porsche-panamera-s-hybrid.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Porsche Panamera S</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/bmw-activehybrid-7.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">BMW Hybrid 7</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/compacts-sedans/lexus-gs-450h-overview.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Lexus GS450h</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;">Acura ILX</span><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/volkswagen-touareg-hybrid.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">VW Touareg Hybrid</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/mazda-tribute-hybrid.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mazda Tribute</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/compacts-sedans/nissan-altima-hybrid-overview.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Altima</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/mercedes-benz-s400-hybrid.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mercedes S400HV</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/gmc-sierra-hybrid.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">GMC Sierra</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/compacts-sedans/lexus-ls-600hl-misguided-hybrid.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Lexus LS600hL</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/suvs-minivans/mercedes-benz-ml-450-hybrid.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mercedes ML450</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;">BMW ActiveHybrid5 (535ih)</span><br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/vehicle/bmw-x6-hybrid.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">BMW X6</span></a>Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-55292736248413085092012-07-22T23:48:00.012-07:002012-08-16T13:14:34.015-07:00Debunking Seton Motley: Dealing with AbsurdityATTN: Unlike Seton Motley, if you see anything below that you feel is not accurate, and you can correct it with appropriately sourced material, comment below. I will consider all corrections to details in this article.<br />
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It is a sign of the times when Matt Drudge decides to link to a blogger's site as a source of legitimate news, especially when that blogger is clearly not in touch with reality or the truth. He did so last week when linking to a blogger named, Seton Motley. Ironically, the blog entry is mentioned as an 'Update,' when most of the material sourced within the blog is old news, some of it almost 2 years old. Seton has just recycled and mischaracterized old information. I have thoroughly debunked his attempts in the past associate the Volt with fires. I have attempted to have Seton correct his misinformation, yet he refuses to do so. If he did, his argument against the Volt would be limited. It is now necessary to confront his misinformation. In fact, show me one Seton Motley interview or article that isn't filled with inaccurate, false, or misleading information, and I'll be amazed. I am going to link you to his latest blog entry on the Volt so you can read it in its entirety. Debunking his posts are an exercise in tedium, so while I don't discuss everything, I do hit the big issues.<br />
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One other thing to keep in mind. As you see all the liberties that Seton takes with 'version' of the truth, take note that he is routinely on radio and television. That means that a lot of people hear what he has to say, believe it is true, and move on. It is sad when such misinformed people, like Seton, are given such a loud platform by which to spread their lies.<br />
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This is the offending blog:<br />
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<a href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/seton-motley/2012/07/17/media-fail-chevy-volt-makes-gm-no-money-costs-taxpayers-hundreds-thous"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://newsbusters.org/blogs/seton-motley/2012/07/17/media-fail-chevy-volt-makes-gm-no-money-costs-taxpayers-hundreds-thous</span></a></div>
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<o:p>Seton uses a few tactics to make his points, which often fail when compared to rational and logical arguments. </o:p></div>
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<o:p>Tactic 1: Guilt By Association.</o:p></div>
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<o:p>Tactic 2: Using outdated and usurped material.</o:p></div>
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<o:p>Tactic 3: Just plain bad logic. Seton often strings together things that are completely unrelated to attempt to make a point.</o:p></div>
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<o:p>Let's start to examine his latest blog post. I am attempting to respond to as many of his inaccuracies as possible. </o:p></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">SETON BLOG: The Press has failed to <span style="color: black;">mention at least five Volt fires</span>, myopically focusing on the one the Obama Administration hand-selected </span><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">for attention.</span></blockquote>
The Press hasn't failed to do anything. The Press has likely seen, as I have previous posted, that there has only been one Volt fire, a fire that happened during a government test crash. <a href="http://voltowner.blogspot.com/2012/06/volt-fire-myth-debunked.html">I explain this in great detail in one of my blog entries</a>, complete with lots of sources. I suggest reading it, because I'm not going to rehash it in this entry.<br />
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In addition to the government testing and garage fires that I have meticulously and accurately explained, he also says:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">SETON BLOG: <em>In January, GM<span style="color: black;"> “</span><span style="color: black;">called back</span><span style="color: black;">” every</span> single Volt ever sold in the U.S., to fix the allegedly already “fixed” battery….</em></span></blockquote>
Technically, it wasn't a recall. GM did this voluntarily after the NHTSA tests exposed an area of concern, and GM made the correction before any government mandated recall was necessary. I don't know why he says the battery was allegedly 'already fixed' as this is the only corrective action GM has made with regards to the battery. The correction basically adds some extra steel around the battery cage to protect it more from intrusion in a severe accident. This is the first example Seton uses to make it seem like GM is failing to make the Volt a safer car. Here is the second:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><em>SETON BLOG: But that didn’t fix the problem either. So in March Chevrolet announced they <span style="color: black;">were </span></em><em><span style="color: black;">replacing the power cords</span></em><em><span style="color: black;"> for</span> nearly every single Volt ever sold in the U.S…</em></span></blockquote>
Actually, the battery cage enhancement did satisfy the government. It did fix the only battery related issue to date with the Chevy Volt. <strong>Completely unrelated to the battery</strong> was an issue with the car provided charging equipment (EVSE). An EVSE is essentially an expensive extension cord which interfaces the charger that is built into the car with your wall power (in this case, 120 Volts). The plug for this EVSE was not very rugged. People were hanging these EVSEs by the plug, as opposed to properly mounting them to the wall with a bracket. Imagine you have a chest high mounted standard outlet, and you plug your alarm clock up to this outlet, allowing the alarm clock to dangle on the wall and not resting on a table or the floor, with all the weight on the plug as it connects to the outlet. This would result in wear on the outlet, cord and plug. There were some reports of damage to the plug, which could have lead to a fire. In an abundance of caution, and since people were clearly using the EVSEs in a manner that was not in accordance to the manufacturer's guidelines, they replaced the cords and plugs on the EVSEs with a heavier duty version. This is not related to the Volt fire. This is not related to the garage fires. This is not related to any battery issues. It was component that needed updating. <br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><em>SETON BLOG: And on Wednesday (April 11), a General Motors (G<span style="color: black;">M) </span></em><em><span style="color: black;">lithium-ion battery exploded and caused a fire</span></em><em><span style="color: black;"> at a research </span>facility near its Detroit headquarters. Most unfortunately, …one employee faces life-threatening injuries</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><em>Lithium-ion batteries like this one are used by GM in the Chevy Volt. Making this just the latest in a long line of Volt fire problems.<span id="more-565"></span>”</em> </span></span></blockquote>
Seton uses Guilt by association for this. GM was testing, by their own accounts, prototype batteries in <strong>'extreme conditions'</strong> that are <strong>'not in any production car' </strong>including the Volt. Since this wasn't a Volt battery, by extending his logic, since one lithium battery exploded, we could conclude that all lithium batteries must be dangerous. This obiously isn't the case. Have the rest of you thrown out the numerous other devices in your house that use lithium batteries? I didn't think so. Another strike for false Seton logic...<br />
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">SETON BLOG: The Press has failed to mention that the Volt fire <span style="color: black;">problem remains unsolved. Is it the battery? Is it the charging station? Is it the charging cable? All of the </span>above?</span></blockquote>
The correct answer to his question is 'None of the above'. The Volt battery issue was resolved in January. "Is it the charging station?" Again, Seton uses the 'outdated and usurped material' tactic in this instance. During one of the garage fires in which the Volt was cleared of fault, Duke Energy initially told its customers to stop using the charging station they had installed for early adopters, as it was present in one of the two garage fires. After an investigation, Duke would clear the charging station of any blame. Does this matter to Seton? Nope. I actually sent him a link the the article where Duke Energy is quoted. No corrections. And since the 'charging cable' issue to the best of my knowledge hasnt been linked to any fire, I'm not even sure why he is mentioning it. Misdirection?<br />
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;">SETON BLOG: “The Press has for the most part failed to mention how pathetic this “second-best sales month” actually is. And even when one Dinosaur does, the unwarranted enthusiasm is palpable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<em><span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><a href="http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120704/AUTO0103/207040345/GM-sells-1-760-Volts-June-double-from-2011?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cs" id="Seton Motley | NewsBusters.org" target="_blank" title="Seton Motley | NewsBusters.org"><span style="color: blue;">GM sells 1760 Volts in June, double from 2011</span></a></span></em><span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Wow. Huge number.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The Press also fails to put this pathetic tally in perspective. </span></div>
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Actually, I think the press has done a pretty good job at putting this number into perspective. Year to date, there are only 6 hybrid cars and zero electric or hybrid electric vehicles that have outsold the Volt. <a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/news/june-2012-dashboard-47943.html">The Volt has actually outsold, year to date, over 30 other cars in those categories</a>. In fact, the Volt is the number one selling American owned and made hybrid car. The Volt has outsold other notable hybrids such as the Honda Civic, Insight, Ford Fusion, and Chevy Malibu. Seton goes on to compare the Volt to the Chevy Cruze, an econobox, that has already sold over 100k cars in the first 6 months. If you compare just about ANY car to the Chevy Cruze, it will look like a failure. The Volt and the Cruze may share the same chassis, but this is common in the industry. There have been Toyota platforms that were also sold under the Lexus name, and VW that sold under Audi, to name a few. Just because the Volt is built on a Cruze platform doesn't mean the car is just a 'Cruze with batteries'. Since the top 4 traded cars for the Volt are the Prius, Camry, Civic Hybrid, and BMW 3 series, all cars that carry a large premium over the Cruze, it is safe to say the Volt is much more heavily valued than a 17k Cruze.<br />
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">SETON BLOG: And speaking of the<span style="color: black;"> Volt’s ridiculous $41,000 sticker price</span></span></blockquote>
There goes Seton, again, using outdated information. The 2012 Volt reduced the base price to ~40k. Seton is quoting the price of the base 2011 Volt. But this is onpar with the rest of his very outdated analysis. The following being the worst:<br />
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><em>SETON BLOG: According to multiple GM executives </em></span><strong><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">there is little or no profit being made on each Volt</span></strong><em><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> built at a present cost of around $40,000. Furthermore, the $700 million of development that went into the car has to be recouped</span></em><br />
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Where does he get this? An article published back in 2010, almost 2 years old, in which an executive stated that it will take some time to amortize the expenses out of the Volt development, and that it will take a while to increase the per unit profit. Why is this news? This is the case for many new vehicles, especially ones that have a lot of new technology. The Toyota Prius was reported to sell at a loss of 10k per car when it was initially sold in the United States. They are now selling over 15k a month, presumable at a reasonable profit, as they have earned back their R&D. Why should the Volt be any different? Does Seton want GM to produce the same model year after year, never refresh its lines, so that it can be made completely irrelevant?<br />
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">SETON BLOG: </span>Speaking of those “tax breaks for purchasers and other consumer incentives” - as of November of last year that tally all by itself <span style="color: black;">was $250,000 per Volt sold.</span></span></blockquote>
I'll let you read the following link that discuss the credibility of that report. It may be interesting for the reader to note that the Koch Brothers have funded the Mackinac Center. The Koch Brothers have wealth in the billions, and are heavily invested in the oil and gas industry. Can you really trust a study from a group that being partially funded by essentially oil and gas investors?<br />
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<a href="http://www.thestreet.com/story/11354404/1/setting-it-straight-chevy-volt-vs-the-government.html">http://www.thestreet.com/story/11354404/1/setting-it-straight-chevy-volt-vs-the-government.html</a><br />
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I also find the view of subsidies incomplete. While electric vehicles definitely enjoy some government incentives, <a href="http://ntl.bts.gov/data/military.pdf">according to our own government</a>, we spend between $6 billion and $60 billion a year to protect Middle Eastern Oil Reserves. This is an ENORMOUS indirect subsidy that every consumer in America gets, as that military protection is stabilizing worldwide oil prices.<br />
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So who is really getting the biggest subsidy?<br />
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">SETON BLOG: And with GM’s new 60-day return policy, it looks like you can buy a Volt and cash the $7,500 bribe check. Then return the Volt - <span style="color: black;">and keep the $7,500 bribe cash. How’s</span> that for Taxpayer coin stewardship?</span></blockquote>
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Is there a possibility of fraud as a result of loopholes in the government tax credit? It is possible. I am trying to get some details on this. This isn't so much a Volt problem, as it is an IRS problem. So in a blog filled with inaccurate data from Seton, it is possible he got one thing partially right. Then again, given his track record, I won't be betting the house on his revelation. <br />
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In conclusion, if a blogger were really trying to make an informed audience, he would not resort to any of the tactics that Seton uses. It is dishonest. It purposely distorts the argument and misinforms its readers. Seton's blog is an embarrassment to the truth. He is obviously ignoring any data that stands to tear down his poorly constructed arguments. I hope the rest of you can see through it. While there are good discussions that can be had about electric cars, lets build those discussions on an honest debate, not a facade of the truth.<br />
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Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-42954876218827200892012-07-10T21:22:00.005-07:002012-07-11T09:30:39.723-07:006 months of owning a Chevy Volt: The costs and experiencesI have now owned my 2012 Chevy Volt for a little over 6 months. This past Saturday marked my 6 month anniversary that I marked by traveling about 160 miles round trip for a July 4th weekend with my family. A trip that was made possible due to the gas generator coupled with my initial electric range of about 44 miles. For the past two weeks, much of the country has been experiencing a record heat wave. Extreme heat definitely reduces electric range. Had I opted for the Nissan Leaf, I seriously doubt I would have made the 80 mile initial leg on a fully charged battery, and had I been able to eek it out, it would have been a pucker moment for sure, as I would have literally coasted into my Aunt's house on fumes. But that is the beauty of the Volt. While critics like to laugh at an electric car with a gas engine, this is precisely why it is such a brilliant idea: Range anxiety is nonexistent... even battery degradation, which will occur over time, doesn’t mean as much to someone who has a gasoline backup.<o:p></o:p><br />
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So, let's talk about my numbers. Some of the images below were made last Tuesday before I went on vacation. Slightly dated, but it isn't worth me editing a bunch of new screen shots to add a few miles.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqkXhNDgYfn-z4D5hdrIxfV5dGByubc9mqoFSvLNjRFADtBEzTDg7Gk6FrnzdMtgNMNw94uGNka7OZ3nFN0VOthCowlB64ocAjjiF0U_hpE0MI0ZR70-rRuWont7iBK6MrwcvvNFUNuK8/s1600/6-months-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqkXhNDgYfn-z4D5hdrIxfV5dGByubc9mqoFSvLNjRFADtBEzTDg7Gk6FrnzdMtgNMNw94uGNka7OZ3nFN0VOthCowlB64ocAjjiF0U_hpE0MI0ZR70-rRuWont7iBK6MrwcvvNFUNuK8/s640/6-months-.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
I make this chart weekly. As you can see, the savings on the car is pretty amazing at my level of driving. At the 6 month mark, I am driving an annualized 22,000 miles a year. I am managing to maintain my 95% all electric driving that I have written about for the past 6 months. So, even a high mileage driver, someone who commutes 70 miles a day, is able to burn next to no gas.<br />
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How is this significant? Well, the average car sold in America last year was rated at about 22 MPG. That means that I will NOT burn about 1,000 gallons a year with the Volt. Multiply that by 5 years, and you get 5,000 gallons. I think we all know that 5,000 gallons is a helluva lot of fuel saved. What does 5,000 gallons look like?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghUdzzqHccEvp8zmeV9zwGyOg8CWgvdeBw9TAUSba7d4t3nY96Tj3Zi1DuWmjeQqAhcQz8-jc2BRDcQOe3dOK6EhOy6lSgNJV2VqM1e2i0GkU9JX36N2GLoDCXbqbubseL227YQ2pWR78/s1600/5000+gallon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghUdzzqHccEvp8zmeV9zwGyOg8CWgvdeBw9TAUSba7d4t3nY96Tj3Zi1DuWmjeQqAhcQz8-jc2BRDcQOe3dOK6EhOy6lSgNJV2VqM1e2i0GkU9JX36N2GLoDCXbqbubseL227YQ2pWR78/s640/5000+gallon.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is what 5,000 gallons looks like. So, don't kid yourself. The potential to save massive amounts of money through not burning gas is there. Sure, if you wanted to drive a Prius, you'd only save about 2,100 gallons of fuel during 5 years ;) Still nothing to laugh about.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The data below is courtesy of voltstats.net. They collect data multiple times a day directly from my car's computer. I cannot manually input data or tamper with their statistics. The first chart is my mileage over time. Green represents electric miles while the blue is gas miles. You'll notice my gas miles have barely moved. The majority of my gas miles were during the first week of ownership, when I had not established a charging routine at work.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBvvNur1BDhJyUnI569JKST_Rn2pQ65DNGsDpiIruIVdwkczhfvORP6NmqwEowRx1jd_Y62jQPCw4_ZeJqyRAXb0ar-1oHy2LyPCr6H1qzP1g2fNlKXMCvPtIqWUbBadpulBSir5WgZkE/s1600/ev-miles-traveled-chart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBvvNur1BDhJyUnI569JKST_Rn2pQ65DNGsDpiIruIVdwkczhfvORP6NmqwEowRx1jd_Y62jQPCw4_ZeJqyRAXb0ar-1oHy2LyPCr6H1qzP1g2fNlKXMCvPtIqWUbBadpulBSir5WgZkE/s640/ev-miles-traveled-chart.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOvHbC5q71E-U8hLxH_GJNehczx5OvPPTGaidMDIEcoP9E980WuWAyFyP7SDWy0hZdMwKIAva2ezW3YrlxhA7Z1afW-0j3w-ry4kpg_li-vysj-FWH0KzGwlUkKfs3X1vKOKgxVFyywLU/s1600/monthlt-mpg-graph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOvHbC5q71E-U8hLxH_GJNehczx5OvPPTGaidMDIEcoP9E980WuWAyFyP7SDWy0hZdMwKIAva2ezW3YrlxhA7Z1afW-0j3w-ry4kpg_li-vysj-FWH0KzGwlUkKfs3X1vKOKgxVFyywLU/s640/monthlt-mpg-graph.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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With the above graph, you can see my MPG as it changes per month. If I used little to no gas in a month, it will be represented by 1000 MPG. Voltstats will not publish MPG above 1000 in these charts. I burned a little gas in May, driving the car to the Lake, which is why it dipped for that month. February was cold, as I would often just start to burn a little gas as I approached work.<br />
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My Accomplishments:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj_eh_xMVAj_u533e39M80Mxvzo7Y8k7_MZWbBTLAe3sGjC-owp0NUul9fYvJLPsC5BexdJD11FtCmcrA1Mrlcjued2Sq2EBy-NeB8RAhl9blijxMYYmXa-DswWdbF5EUHIo1HtvnBErE/s1600/miles-driven-without-gas-2842.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="79" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj_eh_xMVAj_u533e39M80Mxvzo7Y8k7_MZWbBTLAe3sGjC-owp0NUul9fYvJLPsC5BexdJD11FtCmcrA1Mrlcjued2Sq2EBy-NeB8RAhl9blijxMYYmXa-DswWdbF5EUHIo1HtvnBErE/s320/miles-driven-without-gas-2842.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifbw7rS0ulv8hKj9J2q6AL0V27I0uGSaCXNitUcVrQsw-xQEqv291EXtd9NyF-DXpAVyK_EycZssK7Z6TOvxu7bNK59_mNF0vC3e1KpOQs6M4DgPUXvr4kMEVvsp2My6rQo2maYqD7q70/s1600/miles-per-tank-9084.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="70" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifbw7rS0ulv8hKj9J2q6AL0V27I0uGSaCXNitUcVrQsw-xQEqv291EXtd9NyF-DXpAVyK_EycZssK7Z6TOvxu7bNK59_mNF0vC3e1KpOQs6M4DgPUXvr4kMEVvsp2My6rQo2maYqD7q70/s320/miles-per-tank-9084.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipm9RMhpul7ILBV76I-Zb4c6hikg2xulwU3dfLQb7cPTSiwC-v-PMcLSvci2xvc3rjlfblBBDqNw8DcPhukdJPUdXVQ4aeOcJKPqM7ZeAD3lXQFC6zkkn5XuxLNdvWe4KwSu511-1HrBA/s1600/miles-driven-in-day-115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="76" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipm9RMhpul7ILBV76I-Zb4c6hikg2xulwU3dfLQb7cPTSiwC-v-PMcLSvci2xvc3rjlfblBBDqNw8DcPhukdJPUdXVQ4aeOcJKPqM7ZeAD3lXQFC6zkkn5XuxLNdvWe4KwSu511-1HrBA/s320/miles-driven-in-day-115.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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So, I am approaching 10,000 miles on a SINGLE tank of gas. I managed to drive 115 miles all electric in one day (multiple charges). And my current record is 2,800 concurrent miles without burning a single drop of gas. I think this is pretty impressive. But what is more impressive is that there are a good number of Volt owners that have done better than I have. While I am in the top 15%, I am not in the top 5% in any category.<br />
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And for those that question the electricity usage. This is a side by side of this year's and last year's electricity use. While the Volt has definitely used electricity, I have actually used LESS overall electricity in the previous 6 months of charging a Volt than I did last year without an electric car. The climate had more effects on my electricity bill than the Volt did by a long shot.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ2e45QSfut3u2c01Ma2reIlH7HJQyK5ZY7DVUoOpj4VCe41d5De4SMyezNcJQ9YbGR8MH9GnV4qoqEO4tiEwkt0v3mdqvbT8jnyCaL0rDMHRKQKeb0lCW-d-AwAbRRnVMCWTrfSo4daI/s1600/electricity+use.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ2e45QSfut3u2c01Ma2reIlH7HJQyK5ZY7DVUoOpj4VCe41d5De4SMyezNcJQ9YbGR8MH9GnV4qoqEO4tiEwkt0v3mdqvbT8jnyCaL0rDMHRKQKeb0lCW-d-AwAbRRnVMCWTrfSo4daI/s1600/electricity+use.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">2012 Total: 9,544 kWh 2011 Total: 9,797 kWh</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div>Clearly the Volt is not electricity hog, even when I charge it from practically zero almost every single day. My electricity bills confirm what is being reported to me as the kWhs consumed through myvolt.com and the built-in meter in my Aerovironment charging station.<br />
<br />
Summary:<br />
The car is performing to my VERY high level of expectations. To date, my car has not been in for service for anything other than factory suggested corrections, and that was for a total of 2 days in which I was given a rental car by GM. I have personally added only 3.5 gallons to the car since I purchased it on January, 7, 2012. This car, hands down, is a world changer.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div>Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-32618307458052951722012-06-29T16:03:00.001-07:002012-07-26T12:23:04.470-07:00My interactions with the Public about the Chevy Volt<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As a Volt owner, I have had the unfortunate opportunity to come to the conclusion that large numbers of our citizens have lost, or never learned to begin with, the ability to think critically. What exactly does that mean to me? If you have a passionate view on a particular issue, you should be able to articulate your position well, have that position grounded in facts that you have not just heard or read, but also verified, and be able to rebutt an opposing viewpoint. A critical thinker should also, upon reflection and being exposed to new facts, be able to accept that his/her position may have been incomplete and consider the possibility it was entirely wrong to begin with.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Unfortunately, for the vast majority of people that are so passionately against the electrification of the automobile, they do not have the ability to think critically. When the case for electric cars has more positives than negatives, and fixes issues on both sides of the political aisle, it should be a no brainer for us to support it. But very rarely in this country can a Republican support anything a Democrat believes, or vice versa.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is a parody of my interactions with those who lack critical thinking ability, an all too vocal group of individuals. There is some adult language in the clip below, but nothing too terrible.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/motK7CDPSKs?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-58310017095314789262012-06-26T13:02:00.002-07:002012-06-27T06:50:54.811-07:00Fire Recalls for other manufacturersThis really is only tangentially related to the Volt. In the Volt's case, it is getting tied to the Chevy Cruze fire recall, even though they are completely different vehicles, with different engines and setup under the hood. I took about 15 minutes to do quick google searches of car recalls that were related to fire hazards that were not General Motors cars. I am absolutely sure I have missed a lot. But to put the Cruze recall into perspective:<br />
<br />
1.3 Million BMW 5,6 series for Fire Hazard<br />
<a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/319683/20120326/bmw-recall-1-3-million-5-series.htm">http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/319683/20120326/bmw-recall-1-3-million-5-series.htm</a><br />
<br />
Possible Recall for 1,000,000+ Toyotas<br />
<a href="http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/18/12279930-toyota-fire-probe-expanded-to-14-million-autos?lite">http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/18/12279930-toyota-fire-probe-expanded-to-14-million-autos?lite</a><br />
<br />
646,000 Honda Fits<br />
<a href="http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/29/news/companies/Honda_recall/">http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/29/news/companies/Honda_recall/</a><br />
<br />
490,000 Ford Vehicles<br />
<a href="http://www.injurytriallawyer.com/blog/ford-recalls-490-000-vehicles-due-to-potential-fire-hazards.cfm">http://www.injurytriallawyer.com/blog/ford-recalls-490-000-vehicles-due-to-potential-fire-hazards.cfm</a><br />
<br />
235,500 Mini<br />
<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/16/us-bmw-minirecall-idUSTRE80F1MM20120116">http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/16/us-bmw-minirecall-idUSTRE80F1MM20120116</a><br />
<br />
168,000 VW TDI<br />
<a href="http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/volkswagen-recalls-168000-tdi-models-for-fire-hazard/">http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/volkswagen-recalls-168000-tdi-models-for-fire-hazard/</a><br />
<br />
167,000 Acura<br />
<a href="http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/acura-recalling-167000-tsx-models-for-fire-hazard/">http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/acura-recalling-167000-tsx-models-for-fire-hazard/</a><br />
<br />
79,275 Nissan<br />
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CFAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.autoguide.com%2Fauto-news%2F2012%2F02%2Fnissan-recalls-79275-due-to-fire-risk.html&ei=bAvqT6XgKIOK8QTg_dE1&usg=AFQjCNGEgtvxLp1XydXtvAz5-a2NOKbR1Q&sig2=_IW_WJrpwddEruLR_Q5R6g">http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CFAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.autoguide.com%2Fauto-news%2F2012%2F02%2Fnissan-recalls-79275-due-to-fire-risk.html&ei=bAvqT6XgKIOK8QTg_dE1&usg=AFQjCNGEgtvxLp1XydXtvAz5-a2NOKbR1Q&sig2=_IW_WJrpwddEruLR_Q5R6g</a><br />
<br />
67,872 Jeep Wranglers<br />
<a href="http://www.lemonlawamerica.com/chrysler-recalls-jeep-wranglers-due-to-fire-hazard.aspx">http://www.lemonlawamerica.com/chrysler-recalls-jeep-wranglers-due-to-fire-hazard.aspx</a><br />
<br />
2800 BMW <br />
<a href="http://www.productliabilityfirm.com/Defective-Product-Blog/2012/May/2800-BMWs-Recalled-due-to-Fire-Risk.aspx">http://www.productliabilityfirm.com/Defective-Product-Blog/2012/May/2800-BMWs-Recalled-due-to-Fire-Risk.aspx</a><br />
<br />
1,000 Audi R8 Super cars<br />
<a href="http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/12/audi-r8-spyder-4-2-and-5-2-fsi-recalled-for-fire-hazard/">http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/12/audi-r8-spyder-4-2-and-5-2-fsi-recalled-for-fire-hazard/</a><br />
600 Rolls Royce Ghost<br />
<a href="http://www.autoevolution.com/news/rolls-royce-ghost-recalled-due-to-fire-hazard-40097.html">http://www.autoevolution.com/news/rolls-royce-ghost-recalled-due-to-fire-hazard-40097.html</a>Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-19297430451195445222012-06-21T16:29:00.016-07:002012-10-17T09:24:07.946-07:00Truth Matters: A Compendium of Volt and EV related articlesI come across articles weekly that speak to the truth of electric vehicles, and soundly debunk the arguments posed by the anti EV crowd. I am creating this living blog entry in order to keep track of all this research in hopes it will aid others as they hopefully engage in thoughtful debates with opponents of electrification. Granted, that isn't always possible. But I hope this blog will supply you with facts, not rhetoric.<br />
<br />
If you want to contribute a link to this article, please comment below and I'll add it in the appropriate section. Please report broken links.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Subsidy Issues Examined:</h3>
Mackinac Electric Vehicle Study<br />
The following links examine the exaggerated and factually incorrect report that states each tax payer is paying 250k for each Volt sold.<br />
<a href="http://www.thestreet.com/story/11354404/1/setting-it-straight-chevy-volt-vs-the-government.html">http://www.thestreet.com/story/11354404/1/setting-it-straight-chevy-volt-vs-the-government.html</a><br />
<a href="http://www.plugincars.com/250k-chevy-volt-111105.html">http://www.plugincars.com/250k-chevy-volt-111105.html</a><br />
<br />
<h3>
Indirect Subsidies to support our nation, and its reliance to oil</h3>
Government Accountability Office examines various government and non government expenses for Military Protection of Middle Eastern Crude; Concludes about 30 billion a year has been spent.<br />
<a href="http://ntl.bts.gov/data/military.pdf" target="_blank">http://ntl.bts.gov/data/military.pdf</a><br />
<br />
Academic Analysis of U.S. Military Expenditures to Protect the use of Persian-Gulf Oil for Motor Vehicles<br />
<a href="http://pubs.its.ucdavis.edu/publication_detail.php?id=1165">http://pubs.its.ucdavis.edu/publication_detail.php?id=1165</a><br />
<br />
<h3>
Volt Sales Not from Fleet or Government</h3>
Fleet sales at bottom<br />
<a href="http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120830/AUTO0103/208300352">http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120830/AUTO0103/208300352</a><br />
<br />
Less than 2% of total sales YTD are to the government (includes military)<br />
<a href="http://wot.motortrend.com/we-hear-army-and-navy-buying-chevrolet-volts-for-domestic-use-262383.html">http://wot.motortrend.com/we-hear-army-and-navy-buying-chevrolet-volts-for-domestic-use-262383.html</a><br />
<h3>
Domestic Drilling</h3>
Drilling won't lower gas prices. It will reduce the foreign trade deficit, but that is about it<br />
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/why-more-drilling-wont-lower-gas-prices/2012/03/01/gIQALNBtkR_blog.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/why-more-drilling-wont-lower-gas-prices/2012/03/01/gIQALNBtkR_blog.html</a><br />
<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/03/22/450136/20-experts-who-say-drilling-wont-lower-gas-prices/">http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/03/22/450136/20-experts-who-say-drilling-wont-lower-gas-prices/</a><br />
<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/03/01/435330/more-drilling-wont-lower-gas-prices/">http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/03/01/435330/more-drilling-wont-lower-gas-prices/</a><br />
<br />
<h3>
The Environmental Effects of Electric Cars</h3>
In a study by the Union of Concerned Scientists, they concluded that electric vehicles are far cleaner than the average car in even the most polluted power grids, but are far better than even 50 MPG cars in the cleanest states.<br />
<a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/clean_vehicles/electric-car-global-warming-emissions-exec-summary.pdf">http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/clean_vehicles/electric-car-global-warming-emissions-exec-summary.pdf</a><br />
<a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/clean_vehicles/electric-car-global-warming-emissions-report.pdf">http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/clean_vehicles/electric-car-global-warming-emissions-report.pdf</a><br />
<br />
<h3>
Battery Issues</h3>
Battery prices are falling sharply<br />
<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-16/battery-prices-for-electric-vehicles-fall-14-bnef-says.html">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-16/battery-prices-for-electric-vehicles-fall-14-bnef-says.html</a><br />
<br />
Lithium prices are up, but this has little effect on battery prices<br />
<a href="http://lithiuminvestingnews.com/1727/lithium-prices/">http://lithiuminvestingnews.com/1727/lithium-prices/</a><br />
<br />
<br />
New study supporting 'prices of batteries are going to come down greatly over time'<br />
<a href="http://www.chargedevs.com/content/news-wire/post/mckinsey-analysis-predicts-li-ion-pack-prices-could-fall-160kwh-2025">http://www.chargedevs.com/content/news-wire/post/mckinsey-analysis-predicts-li-ion-pack-prices-could-fall-160kwh-2025</a><br />
<br />
Batteries to be Recycled:<br />
<a href="http://auto.howstuffworks.com/can-electric-car-batteries-be-recycled.htm">http://auto.howstuffworks.com/can-electric-car-batteries-be-recycled.htm</a><br />
<a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=lithium-ion-batteries-hybrid-electric-vehicle-recycling">http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=lithium-ion-batteries-hybrid-electric-vehicle-recycling</a><br />
<br />
<h3>
Grid Impact Issues</h3>
Many studies have been conducted. The basic conclusions of these studies are that while EVs will present certain challenges to power providers, there are many things that can be done overcome the challenge, and that we can support a large adoption of EVs with proper planning.<br />
<br />
EPIRI Study:<br />
<a href="http://my.epri.com/portal/server.pt?space=CommunityPage&cached=true&parentname=ObjMgr&parentid=2&control=SetCommunity&CommunityID=404&RaiseDocID=000000000001021334&RaiseDocType=Abstract_id">http://my.epri.com/portal/server.pt?space=CommunityPage&cached=true&parentname=ObjMgr&parentid=2&control=SetCommunity&CommunityID=404&RaiseDocID=000000000001021334&RaiseDocType=Abstract_id</a><br />
<br />
KEMA Study<br />
<a href="http://www.isorto.org/atf/cf/%7B5B4E85C6-7EAC-40A0-8DC3-003829518EBD%7D/IRC_Report_Assessment_of_Plug-in_Electric_Vehicle_Integration_with_ISO-RTO_Systems_03232010.pdf">http://www.isorto.org/atf/cf/%7B5B4E85C6-7EAC-40A0-8DC3-003829518EBD%7D/IRC_Report_Assessment_of_Plug-in_Electric_Vehicle_Integration_with_ISO-RTO_Systems_03232010.pdf</a><br />
<br />
<h3>
Volt Sales</h3>
The Chevy Volt will outsell the Corvette in 2012<br />
<a href="http://www.insideline.com/chevrolet/corvette/2012/volt-outsells-vette-in-2012.html">http://www.insideline.com/chevrolet/corvette/2012/volt-outsells-vette-in-2012.html</a><br />
<br />
The Chevy Volt is the number one selling electric car, and outselling almost every other hybrid being produced<br />
<a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/news/may-2012-dashboard-46746.html">http://www.hybridcars.com/news/may-2012-dashboard-46746.html</a><br />
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The TOP four traded cars are all foreign cars, and include the BMW 3 series<br />
<a href="http://www.chevroletvoltage.com/index.php/volt-blog/18-volt/2645-volt-generates-first-time-interest-in-chevrolet.html">http://www.chevroletvoltage.com/index.php/volt-blog/18-volt/2645-volt-generates-first-time-interest-in-chevrolet.html</a><br />
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No, Virginia, Fleet sales are not inflating Volt sales [read the article, not the link]<br />
<a href="http://nation.foxnews.com/chevy-volt/2012/04/19/fishy-ge-behind-record-chevy-volt-sales">http://nation.foxnews.com/chevy-volt/2012/04/19/fishy-ge-behind-record-chevy-volt-sales</a><br />
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<h3>
Foolish Predictions</h3>
Read this CATO article published back in 2001 about a car that is now the number 3 top selling car in the United States<br />
<a href="http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/dont-subsidize-car">http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/dont-subsidize-car</a><br />
<br />
<h3>
The Volt Fire Controversy</h3>
Both Garage Fires that were occupied with Volts ruled out as likely cause by both fire marshals (as well as NHTSA, GM, insurance companies, and other investigators)<br />
<a href="http://gm-volt.com/2011/05/18/exclusive-chevrolet-volt-unofficially-cleared-in-connecticut-garage-fire/">http://gm-volt.com/2011/05/18/exclusive-chevrolet-volt-unofficially-cleared-in-connecticut-garage-fire/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2011/11/chevy-volt-not-the-cause-of-garage-fire-says-fire-marshall.html">http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2011/11/chevy-volt-not-the-cause-of-garage-fire-says-fire-marshall.html</a><br />
<br />
NHTSA Conclusion that the Volt is safe<br />
<a href="http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/2012/NHTSA+Statement+on+Conclusion+of+Chevy+Volt+Investigation">http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/2012/NHTSA+Statement+on+Conclusion+of+Chevy+Volt+Investigation</a><br />
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<br />
Popular Mechanics: Don't worry about the battery<br />
<a href="http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/alternative-fuel/electric/dont-worry-about-the-volts-reported-battery-woes-11423298?click=pm_latest">http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/alternative-fuel/electric/dont-worry-about-the-volts-reported-battery-woes-11423298?click=pm_latest</a><br />
<br />
<h3>
Chevy Volt Cost</h3>
Snopes debunks one of the most outrageous email chains going, stating that electric vehicles cost 7x the cost of gas to operate<br />
<a href="http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/chevyvolt.asp" target="_blank">http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/chevyvolt.asp</a><br />
<br />
Is the Volt Too Affordable?<br />
<a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/06/21/is-the-chevy-volt-too-affordable.aspx">http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/06/21/is-the-chevy-volt-too-affordable.aspx</a><br />
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<h3>
User provided Total Cost of Ownership Links</h3>
<a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ageg_Pnricg9dGZTVW9ZTzFNWHJlMmhrNDh2TVZ6cXc#gid=0">https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ageg_Pnricg9dGZTVW9ZTzFNWHJlMmhrNDh2TVZ6cXc#gid=0</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://voltowner.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-mileage-and-statistics-to-date.html">http://voltowner.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-mileage-and-statistics-to-date.html</a><br />
<br />
<h3>
Misc Websites</h3>
The average Chevy Volt owner gets 120+ MPG combined<br />
<a href="http://www.voltstats.net/">http://www.voltstats.net</a><br />
<br />
Lots of EV myths discussed here<br />
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/201202080012" target="_blank">http://mediamatters.org/research/201202080012</a><br />
<br />
Fox News segment how the Volt will help win the war on terror<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnMxtET-gWg">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnMxtET-gWg</a><br />
<br />
Chevy Volt: One of the most awarded cars on the road<br />
<a href="http://gm-volt.com/2011/11/21/volt-accolades-and-awards-from-inception-through-2011/">http://gm-volt.com/2011/11/21/volt-accolades-and-awards-from-inception-through-2011/</a><br />
<br />
This is a list of 'Upscale Midsize Vehicles' in which the Volt best some the nicest cars in the world<br />
<a href="http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/rankings/Upscale-Midsize-Cars/">http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/rankings/Upscale-Midsize-Cars/</a><br />
<br />
Foreign Trade Deficit as it relates to oil<br />
<a href="http://useconomy.about.com/od/tradepolicy/p/Trade_Deficit.htm">http://useconomy.about.com/od/tradepolicy/p/Trade_Deficit.htm</a><br />
<br />
The biggest Volt Owner forum<br />
<a href="http://www.gm-volt.com/">http://www.gm-volt.com</a>Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-52062824727096598072012-06-11T21:30:00.013-07:002013-01-30T10:56:19.111-08:00The Volt Fire Myth, Debunked<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the lovely twittersphere, there are some 'uninformed' individuals, through apparent lack of intelligence, critical thinking ability, or ability to properly research an issue, that would just as soon spread lies about the Volt than tell the truth. And more interestingly enough, when approached to correct some of the flat out lies, they continue to refute evidence that is plainly visible and published for all to see. When I find a person like this, it becomes plainly obvious that they have no intent to see or report the truth, and will only give to their readers as much information as they dare as to not cast doubt on their preconceived and ill formed beliefs. While there is good debate to be had about electric cars, let’s have the debate on the real issues, not fictitious ones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
We will start out with a bold statement, and prove it below:<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<strong>At the date of this blog posting, there have been NO CONSUMER FIRES CAUSED BY THE CHEVY VOLT, either in garages or as a result of an accident. The ONLY fires were a result of government testing, the majority of which was done in a manner to purposely incite a fire through non real world conditions (the battery pack was setup to fail).<o:p></o:p></strong><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let's examine a few issues....<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1) There were two (to my knowledge) fires in garages in the last year that happened to have Volts parked in the garage. As reported in my previous blog entry (<a href="http://voltowner.blogspot.com/2012/03/responsibility-in-journalism.html">Responsibility in Journalism</a>), Matt Drudge has been one of the main culprits of linking, prior to any investigation, the Chevy Volt to the garage fire. In BOTH garage fires, the Volt was ruled out as the probable cause.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=236254&dfpPParams=ind_184,industry_auto,industry_consumer,aid_236254&dfpLayout=blog"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=236254&dfpPParams=ind_184,industry_auto,industry_consumer,aid_236254&dfpLayout=blog</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Regarding the Conneticutt home:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It wasn’t the cars,” Barkhamsted Fire Marshal William Baldwin told<a href="http://gm-volt.com/"><span style="color: blue;"> GM-Volt.com</span></a> regarding the cause of a fire at the Barkhamsted residence of Dee and Storm Connors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SOURCE: <a href="http://gm-volt.com/2011/05/18/exclusive-chevrolet-volt-unofficially-cleared-in-connecticut-garage-fire/"><span style="color: blue;">http://gm-volt.com/2011/05/18/exclusive-chevrolet-volt-unofficially-cleared-in-connecticut-garage-fire/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Regarding the North Carolina home:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When news first came out regarding this incident, many believed the culprit behind this fire could be the Volt, but Iredell County chief deputy fire marshal Garland Cloer says; “the source of ignition seems to be from outside the area of the vehicles.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SOURCE: <a href="http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2011/11/chevy-volt-not-the-cause-of-garage-fire-says-fire-marshall.html"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2011/11/chevy-volt-not-the-cause-of-garage-fire-says-fire-marshall.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, there you have it. Two Fire Marshals have removed most to any doubt of the Volt being the cause. Let's also not forget these fires were investigated by MULTIPLE sources. Car companies, power companies, insurance companies. People that know a little bit about this stuff and they have ruled out the Volt as the cause. Duke Energy also ruled out the charging station.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SOURCE: <a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/12/01/v-print/2816618/charger-for-volt-didnt-spark-iredell.html">http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/12/01/v-print/2816618/charger-for-volt-didnt-spark-iredell.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let's talk about the NHTSA fires... This is the one that really got a lot of press attention. Here is the summary of what happened in a Nut Shell:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1) NHTSA received Volts for collision testing, and performed these tests at their contractor's site (MGA Research).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2) They performed 4 crash tests on 4/20, 5/6, 5/11, and 5/12. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3) The car received 5 Star Frontal and Side Impact Crash ratings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4) On June 6, NHTSA was informed by MGA that the Volt that was impacted THREE WEEKS prior had caught fire and was destroyed outside the testing facility.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">5) Through an extensive and long investigation, they determined that the fire was caused when the battery casing was cracked during the last side impact test, and coolant meant to manage battery temperature leaked onto the battery, causing a short and a fire. The coolant leaked, when as a part of the test to simulate a rollover, they rotate the car in the air 360 degrees (circulating the ruptured coolant).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">6) On 9/21 they repeated the side test on another Volt to attempt to recreate the accident along with 360 degrees rotation. The attempt did NOT succeed in producing a fire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">7) A this point, NHTSA, along with other government agencies, worked to recreate a condition that would purposefully puncture the battery housing and cause a coolant leak. The only way they could do this was remove the batteries from the protective shell of the car, and impact JUST THE BATTERIES with the sled. After the impact, they literally rotated these batteries, in air, a full 360 degrees, making sure that the coolant would make contact with all parts of the battery (simulated roll over). They did this on 6 batteries. 2 of the batteries caught fire several days after the testing. So they ran tests on a car battery in a condition that would not be found with consumers, that wouldn't be found in the vast majority of accidents, and even after this, were only able to create fires on 1/3 of the batteries several days after the impact.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">8) NHTSA monitored EVERY major Volt crash (airbags deployed), and found not a single incident where a crashed Volt started a fire. They also investigated the garage fires mentioned above.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">8) General Motors, aware of these issues, voluntarily made an enhancement to the cage surrounding the battery that would further reduce the likelihood of a fire. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">9) NHTSA closed the investigation, citing the Volt as being no more flammable than any other car on the road, being comfortable with the enhancements made by General Motors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">From NHTSA:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration closed its safety defect investigation into the potential risk of fire in Chevy Volts that have been involved in a serious crash. Opened on November 25, the agency’s investigation has concluded that no discernible defect trend exists and that the vehicle modifications recently developed by General Motors reduce the potential for battery intrusion resulting from side impacts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/2012/NHTSA+Statement+on+Conclusion+of+Chevy+Volt+Investigation"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/2012/NHTSA+Statement+on+Conclusion+of+Chevy+Volt+Investigation</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM399393/INRP-PE11037-49880.pdf">http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM399393/INRP-PE11037-49880.pdf</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">BTW.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Want to know how many cars actually DO catch on fire a year?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>250,000 of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About 1% of all cars on the road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And not a single one of them, to date, is electric.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/view/426318/much-needed-perspective-on-the-gm-volt-battery/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.technologyreview.com/view/426318/much-needed-perspective-on-the-gm-volt-battery/</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Eventually, something will happen, and a Volt will catch fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what happens with any machine where massive amounts of energy are stored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But taken in context, it’s nothing spectacular or unnerving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Electric vehicles are safe to own and drive, and are here to stay.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6996169231046448994.post-6991294252050220562012-04-26T21:50:00.000-07:002012-06-11T18:43:44.152-07:00After 4 months of driving my Volt, these are my numbers...I blogged with a frenzy of posts in late February and early March. Now that I am 4 months in (well, 2 days short of it, but close enough), I wanted to give you my statistics so far and other important information.<br />
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In short: The Volt has been everything I had hoped it would be, and has actually exceeded my expectations. I have made arrangements through a change in parking at my workplace in order to charge during the day. I am paying for ALL of my electricity. As a result, I rarely, if ever, use gas. I am driving at the rate of about 20-23k miles per year in the first 4 months.<br />
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All the graphs and pictures you are about to see are courtesy of voltstats.net. Voltstats, through an API with On-Star, polls owner vehicles (those that have given them to permission to do so) several times a day. This data is polled straight from the car's computer.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBi1sdbTNoBMPx52FwkLduiYWiIXNNQdguISpQPPeoRJoqPWt72Jvr9o8WiJ5UNdtEO6VVjWheKZu6PPpTB99Ry6vJ3IQVd35Tzh_3NHI38RQ31d3cf5uMBkXD2OIuRlNCrVewnN1J96c/s1600/blog-graph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBi1sdbTNoBMPx52FwkLduiYWiIXNNQdguISpQPPeoRJoqPWt72Jvr9o8WiJ5UNdtEO6VVjWheKZu6PPpTB99Ry6vJ3IQVd35Tzh_3NHI38RQ31d3cf5uMBkXD2OIuRlNCrVewnN1J96c/s640/blog-graph.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I started letting voltstats.net collect data about 3 weeks after I had the car. The blue line is miles powered with the gas generator. The green indicates miles powered through electricity only. You will notice that since January, I have driven less than 100 miles on gas. As of this blog post, 95% of all my driving has been electric.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong>MY COMMUTE IS 70 MILES A DAY. THE ENTIRE COMMUTE IS ELECTRIC ONLY.</strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I am highlighting this point, because many people criticize the Volt's electric range when compared with other cars. The 40 mile range is entirely satisfactory to virtually all drivers, especially those that get access to charge at work. Any more battery size, in my case, would be virtually unused and a waste of my money.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ5NjiRmb8bAjMnrRSyBHEd5f0R9ogbWB7FH3lv3xSRVS54uPkr8qY66K_k9NTqv0TrLR5fgYgZVaop520vy0HDtW40If3HGqsxRhP3p_A-9_qqR8ZEW-obm1EUQiwNr3BvDzX6ZRg9ys/s1600/blog-mytotals-monthly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ5NjiRmb8bAjMnrRSyBHEd5f0R9ogbWB7FH3lv3xSRVS54uPkr8qY66K_k9NTqv0TrLR5fgYgZVaop520vy0HDtW40If3HGqsxRhP3p_A-9_qqR8ZEW-obm1EUQiwNr3BvDzX6ZRg9ys/s640/blog-mytotals-monthly.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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Above are my actual MPG readings over the past 4 months. Since I started tracking late in January, it doesn't show much for that month. In February, when it was cold and I had to use the heater, my range suffered. I would get about 33 miles on a charge, and come in about 2 miles short to work, running on gas. That was going uphill. On the way back home, I typically would make it, even with the heater, without using gas. That is why my EV% is lower in February. When things got warmer, my range shot up dramatically. Since March, I am getting consistently over 40 miles a charge. That is with the air conditioner. The air conditioner doesnt affect range like the heater. Notice my EV percentage is nearly 100%. In fact, I went over 45 days without burning a drop of fuel. When you go 45 days without fuel, this is what the Volt wants to do:<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5J50eEpb7oCSEiNYEuIAUMo7lTLXcrf0QiDezEHY3CZSg-L9E3Div_Ukw4gIOHWLbmWPfZvd1TXjEc75g8EoSklOvDuOItSrqc358q4R7MEvTkpJ2EBMWxaTQhDbzc43BjVgXLYlezRw/s1600/IMG_1585.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5J50eEpb7oCSEiNYEuIAUMo7lTLXcrf0QiDezEHY3CZSg-L9E3Div_Ukw4gIOHWLbmWPfZvd1TXjEc75g8EoSklOvDuOItSrqc358q4R7MEvTkpJ2EBMWxaTQhDbzc43BjVgXLYlezRw/s640/IMG_1585.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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Needless to say, this is what all Volt owners hope to see.<br />
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So, how do my numbers compare to others in my state? Let's examine that.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQTpYEYYZIWeDzLU2F4gHJa0BNgCQ0INPpLkVPaMW6DVMZBHDlRM2l85ZPHTr8K25SUPmTQ9vMwPV2CI1tUEKAI50sEeO6JWsVi2qylg_U94Uuz24ycdT_XfXdmnOryaKKtQ5TJYldOBU/s1600/blog-nctotals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQTpYEYYZIWeDzLU2F4gHJa0BNgCQ0INPpLkVPaMW6DVMZBHDlRM2l85ZPHTr8K25SUPmTQ9vMwPV2CI1tUEKAI50sEeO6JWsVi2qylg_U94Uuz24ycdT_XfXdmnOryaKKtQ5TJYldOBU/s640/blog-nctotals.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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I am leading the charge with 640+ MPG. If I add up the others, and average, we get a NC fleet average MPG of <strong>200 MILES PER GALLON. </strong>Why is this important? Because when you look at the various bogus payback calculators and articles for electric vehicles (especially the horrible one on the New York Times), they <strong>HEAVILY </strong>underestimate electric mile percentage. They have many other problems in their calculations, but that is a big one.<br />
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How does North Carolina compare to the 800+ national users participating in voltstats.net?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFDxakEYqGBWpSN7AqcgF4J8h0pugeox3ZzdHBpBUr4btrUHOYaEE6kZWWMdEejeztu-vAs3Bs7OOSBQlsYkG2BmgMNs5r8C2vSdjJxJvle_hrj5Sed4GFqdKf2gxVpjav1tGw777Q2Yw/s1600/blog-fleettotals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="62" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFDxakEYqGBWpSN7AqcgF4J8h0pugeox3ZzdHBpBUr4btrUHOYaEE6kZWWMdEejeztu-vAs3Bs7OOSBQlsYkG2BmgMNs5r8C2vSdjJxJvle_hrj5Sed4GFqdKf2gxVpjav1tGw777Q2Yw/s640/blog-fleettotals.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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North Carolina is beating the national average. The national average is 121 MPG with about 70% of all miles being electric. There are over 4 million recorded electric miles for the Volts being monitored on voltstats, with about 5.8 million total miles.<br />
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Some of my personal achievements:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJKFdeCOiBrVevThz3LCtDo6pFYiAOYbgFfyltR0QUeiVeuwZJ9buf8onHA6aDluN2xE8yOVg5fWZeze_8un_xjVkHJxs2InulNKezfqvo6Bl4jP2NWMtYu5hgqpMRs8_WCoJFtOk4x5I/s1600/blog-mileswithoutgas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="77" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJKFdeCOiBrVevThz3LCtDo6pFYiAOYbgFfyltR0QUeiVeuwZJ9buf8onHA6aDluN2xE8yOVg5fWZeze_8un_xjVkHJxs2InulNKezfqvo6Bl4jP2NWMtYu5hgqpMRs8_WCoJFtOk4x5I/s320/blog-mileswithoutgas.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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I drove over 2,800 miles without burning a single gallon of gas between 3/7 and 4/23. I was finally forced to burn a little when NC has a cold front come through, and I was forced to use a little heat.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrae3q1SOfAM23YUPZKfzIav7yC2vtRztRUzJ3irn4cAxxXRTQT96GZ5jLqFDaaE9v2DTNho6PcqLVASSo8q08oK99wtPuSP1DYtQawR8murOGm8AB7Q0NkJvOgl3fXbeXggteSKw906s/s1600/blog-milespertank.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="78" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrae3q1SOfAM23YUPZKfzIav7yC2vtRztRUzJ3irn4cAxxXRTQT96GZ5jLqFDaaE9v2DTNho6PcqLVASSo8q08oK99wtPuSP1DYtQawR8murOGm8AB7Q0NkJvOgl3fXbeXggteSKw906s/s320/blog-milespertank.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Still going on this one. I suspect I'll get over 10,000 miles before I go through a tank of fuel. <strong>10,000 miles. </strong><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQicvmDosM6ShIxCGht2Z6QFQIbIjbyKYPD7QTrpVbZGrF9OtA6Uy0pqie6zltPZDIFGVCAgSmCr510pm3JI4jKX7fo2jklBjD4pZX_eva2unPEWfWcnmcagkH6aoRA8Qp2pqZAVX010E/s1600/blog-milesinaday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="84" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQicvmDosM6ShIxCGht2Z6QFQIbIjbyKYPD7QTrpVbZGrF9OtA6Uy0pqie6zltPZDIFGVCAgSmCr510pm3JI4jKX7fo2jklBjD4pZX_eva2unPEWfWcnmcagkH6aoRA8Qp2pqZAVX010E/s320/blog-milesinaday.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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How many miles have I managed on a single charge? Over 50!<br />
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I get more than 70 miles electric all the time. I get 95 miles every week all electric when I come home from work, plug the car up, and then go to the bowling alley two hours later. So yeah, the Volt only has 40 miles per charge. <strong>SO WHAT? </strong><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirNhMNSSQAkNa9PYh1eiq8L-rQ5425_e7YjmzPpo5nRIN9XFTYkmrA4v0-VH3a7tNMPfbe0f2z1rRzYMUbCNyX3VImxexZJLNi6mMXA8VcAP630gHm2Y6A42cOzdx1gd14iMLr56MqfoA/s1600/volt-4-24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirNhMNSSQAkNa9PYh1eiq8L-rQ5425_e7YjmzPpo5nRIN9XFTYkmrA4v0-VH3a7tNMPfbe0f2z1rRzYMUbCNyX3VImxexZJLNi6mMXA8VcAP630gHm2Y6A42cOzdx1gd14iMLr56MqfoA/s640/volt-4-24.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So, in my situation, what did all these electric miles cost me???</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">~6200 ELECTRIC MILES COST ME ~$120 IN ELECTRICITY.</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In summary, while the Volt isnt for everyone, it certainly can make a difference. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div>Volt Ownerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09891372788203040296noreply@blogger.com2