I have a 2014 Chevy Volt that gets between 25 and 56 miles charge. I get 25 miles charge in winter and 50 miles plus in warmer weather. I have had my car for about 9 months and only been to the gas station 7 times. A great money saver! I love how it handles and love the regen brakes in L mode. I have not had any issues with the center console infotainment system. Purchased this at Carmax and got a great deal! Great car that has saved me lots of money!
You got a great deal at $15K for 17K miles. Mine was around David's at $16K with 21K miles also from CarMax. I also got the CarMax extended warranty which I'm glad I did. The left from bearing went out about 10K miles after the purchase. Pulled in, dropped off, picked up the next day. I do have a $150.00 deductible. I asked the service tech how much it would have cost without the coverage. He said that with the coverage CarMax got about $600.00 and if I had to pay out of pocket it would have been in the $800.00 range. I still haven't used what the cost of the extended warranty cost, but really, I hope I never have to. It's just nice to have it available if needed, and absolutely no hassle with CarMax. They took the car in, made sure the issue was covered before starting work, and once confirmed, the work was done.
I imported an Opel Ampera from the Netherlands to north Sweden 14 months ago. We are very happy with the car so far. We have 3 cars and this is the one all want to use because it is so much fun and economical to drive with good Bose sound system. We are running like 95% on electricity for our daily driving. Have had no problem with the infotainment system. We have very cold winters here up in the north with a lot of snow. Temperatures around -25c is common. The heating system performs well on battery down to about -15, then support of gas engine is needed for comfort. Appreciate he remote start of the car to warm up or cool down the cabin before taking off. It is a very stable car on winter roads. Prices on these cars are dropping here in Sweden and is now down to about €10000 for a used one. I think price is dropping because people don't understand the car and are afraid of battery problem.
its now 2021 and our Volt (bought in 2013) is still going as strong today as it did then. In Australia there weren't many sold and such they're becoming a rare vehicle to see on the road! We are regularly approached and asked, "wow what is that car"? I'm keeping it until it becomes so rare it will be worth more than its new car price!!
Purchased a 2014 Volt for my son and haven't put fuel in it since April. We get about 50 miles of EV range in Florida with AC turned on. Great car for what it's used for and he loves it. As you noted, back seats are cramped but lift back has plenty of cargo room.
Love my 2013 Volt! 80k trouble free miles so far, 139+ MPG, and 40 MPC with no battery degradation. High safety, reliability, low maintenance, and sportiness, with no range anxiety, make it a winner. I have saved over $5000 in gas and maintenance so far, so the more I drive, the more I save!
I've had a 2013 Ampera for just over 13 months now and it's the perfect car for my needs. Working from home I have no commute and my average daily mileage is around 20, so the winter/summer range of c28/52 miles has meant I've only driven using petrol on 12 days, the other 393 days have been pure electric. Pre-heating in winter is wonderful, the torque from a standstill makes pulling out at a junction or roundabout effortless and the smooth, silent, delivery of power is very satisfying. It's also been very reliable over the time I've had it, apart from one or two known minor Volt/Ampera glitches. As for downsides - only 4 seats has been a problem twice. I have to travel 45 miles each way for servicing at a good Ampera/Chevrolet dealer. Parts may be a problem as Nikki says, I've only needed a couple of small things and found it cheapest to order directly from the USA. The satnav is now very outdated and has hilarious pronunciation for local roads. The centre stack buttons do take some getting used to and it's easy to knock on the heated seat accidentally in the middle of summer, as I did a few days ago! Mine has the Bose sound system which works well playing from a USB stick. In range extended mode the fuel consumption is not as good as my Prius was, but still OK at 50mpg+. Mine cost a little over Nikki's used EV budget, but for the price it is an excellent 2nd hand (range extended) EV choice if your normal daily mileage is not too high and you want to drive fully electric those days, yet still have the option to take on a 420 mile round trip in one day, as I did just after buying the car.
I have a 2012 volt and I love it since I work further away my wife now driving it and she loves it also we got 130k miles on it and only drove 10k miles on gas engine. Battery still get 40 miles on average each charge. I would recommend this car many times over.
Thuy Ngo - I recommended a Volt to my neighbor, but he ended up buying the (then-new) Prius Prime. Now he complains about the absence of trunk space, insufficient battery range, and flaky touchscreen interface. GM was building a better PHEV five years before Toyota even tried, and the Volt is still vastly superior.
2017 volt, with 210 lifetime MPG. With my wife’s commute it’s essentially EV only, minus the maintenance mode/cycle. Perfect car for most, gateway to full EV. I would buy this car again in a heartbeat. Best car I have ever owned. I may pick up a first gen volt for my secondary commuter.
@@bmw803 I ended up getting a lease return Fiat 500e really cheap, it’s perfect as a second car. And the drivetrain is made by Bosch, so none of the Fiat issues.
I have a first generation 2013 Volt that has 80,000 miles on it. I still get 45 miles of range every morning. My lifetime is 115 mpg. It has never been in the shop other than for oil changes. I'm surprised to this day how many people do not understand how it works. They either think it's pure electric or a plain hybrid. I think it looks really good even to this day. My next car will be a pure electric with over 200 miles of range.
I have a 2011 volt with almost 190,000 miles on it. We drive it all year including Michigan winter . It gets 40+ miles elec summer 25 to 30 miles in winter. No battery degradation at all. The same as new in 2011. We love it and will be buying a new one in the future.
The weird thing - and the great thing - about the Volt, thanks to it's dramatically over-engineered powertrain, is that it is both a REx and a PHEV, and the driver gets to choose which one it operates as. It's designed as a REx first and foremost, but GM discovered that it would be more efficient at highway speeds if the ICE powers the wheels directly. And so they engineered that additional transmission and drive mode.
Love seeing this thing still getting the attention I think I deserves! I was in the market for my first car and I bought my 2013 used a year ago and since I’ve put 25k miles on it. It’s been a dream. I’ve averaged about 88 mpg as I only use electric during the week to work/school and use gas on the weekends as my parents home is about twice the distance of my battery. The only money I’ve put into is an oil change 9000 miles ago (still at 76%) and a set of new front tires (ily torque ❤️). This car has been satisfying as HELL to drive for a multitude of reasons and it’s made me into the EV apostle of my family. I even got my grandfather to buy one lol but my grandmother still says it sounds strange when I come over and ask “Can I plug in my car?” I was happy to invest my money in a new technology instead of one that’s dying and killing our planet.
Excellent video! I bought a 2015 Volt 3 months ago for a fraction of what a new EV goes for. It's an excellent value and one of the best kept secrets of the automotive world! I'm commuting to work on electric power and charging there. Yesterday I ran all my errands and racked up 41 EV miles with 1 left in reserve. Incredible car!
just like my landlord with his V60, only fills a couple times a year. and that just because his cabin is far away, without it he wouldnt need a plug-in at all..
The Ampera / Volt is the best kept secret in the Motor Industry. Here in the UK the Vauxhaul dealers simply didn't want to sell and EV and did everything possible to not sell them. The result is they are not very common second hand. It took me 6 months of hunting to find a good one. Its been a fantastic car. I normally don't use the ICE as the battery is good enough for my needs, however I go on regular trans continental journeys when the car simply transforms itself from EV to petrol car. Its very quiet and relaxing to drive, acceleration from 0 to 30 is very fast so its great to drive onto a roundabout and one pedal driving is a Revalvation. I've had no issues with it at all. Only downside is like most vehicles there is no spare wheel and I'm not going on a 1000 KM drive without one so bought a space saver.
I remember strolling in to my local Vauxhall dealer a couple of years after they were on sale.. they never had one on display and despite being Car Of The Year in 2012 they feigned ignorance. On some level they understood that it would destroy their business model if everyone started phasing out pure ICE cars and drove on electric mode almost all of the time. I felt like it was just one last sting in the tail after the EV1 capture&crush betrayal from Who Killed The Electric Car.
My first Chevy Volt had 118,000 miles with no battery degradation. I bought a new 2018 just for the newer technology but my old 2012 Volt was in perfect condition and probably would have given me at least a few hundred thousand more miles of trouble free driving based on the fact that I spent nearly nothing on maintenance & repairs in the first 118,000 miles. They are a steal on the used car market.
After a year and 14,000 miles I'm still loving my 2017 Volt. Always able to beat the advertised range and mileage with moderate driving, and its a fun ride. The regenerative braking is my favorite feature, often just using the mechanical brakes to keep the car from moving once stopped.
I purchased my 2014 Volt Premier in Oct. of '17 for $16,000 and have to say I'm very pleased with my purchase! It had 32,000 miles on it when I bought it and was GM Certified pre owned with full factory new car warranty. It's lifetime mpg average is sitting at 130mpg and we simply love this car. We've put just under 5,000 miles on it since owning it. Once a month I have to drive more than the battery range, just to run the engine for a few minutes. Last time I filled the tank was in May. Should be good on gas til after Labor Day. Our daughter just purchased a 2018 Honda Clarity and this weekend we were comparing the 2018 Volt to the 2018 Clarity. I think the Volt beats the Clarity in all categories other than interior roominess. The Volt has more all electric range, faster 0-60 times AND a heated steering wheel! Daughter doesn't realized it yet because it's still summer, but she's going to miss not having a heated steering wheel like the 2018 Volt has. I'm looking forward to buying the 2019 Volt as my next used car in about 3 years!
opel ampera 2013 facelift owner with e-pioneer (means all features, at least it's called like that here in my country) - daily usage 20-30km - always electric. 3 months and counting, don't even remember how a gas station looks like from the inside. If you can charge it at home, you have arrived :) 2000+ user fb community stands together with 2 specialists +1 official way available for repairs. BEST buy currently imho in Hungary!
I have a 2014 Chevrolet Volt Premium, this car has been the most reliable, low cost vehicle I’ve ever owned. I live in the US and have a US-spec model, finding dealers over here to service my car can be difficult sometimes so, often I end up doing maintenance on my own which actually isn’t any harder than on a conventional car, if any thing, it’s easier, it takes a little less oil than it’s gas counterparts, and common maintenance items are very handily at reach.
Awesome review, I have a 13 Volt with 110,000 miles on it now, It still drives and rides like a new car, very seamless and smooth to drive and so silent. I have got as much as 51 miles on a charge in 75deg weather and 30 miles in 20deg below zero weather. Once you understand how to drive the car it is amazing. This car is such a bargain to buy used and will give you years of trouble-free service.
Just bought a 2012 Opel Ampera, absolutely love it so far, a dream car I would say! Only if I could find a proper place for the mobile phone on the center console, or even better, I wish the main display was compatible with Android Auto / Apple Carplay. But honestly, this car is amazing.
I've been very happy with my recently-purchased used BMW i3 REx. Definitely more expensive than any of these options, but worth it. Full "low capacity EV" range (60-120 miles depending on which battery size and how you drive,) rather than the generally much shorter "plug in Hybrids" in the 10-30 mile range. (I drove 140 miles yesterday, as 35 miles out and 35 miles back twice, with only a 90 minute Level 2 charge in the middle, and the REx didn't come on until I was one block from home.) "Luxury" quality, although a bit unconventional styling, and that REx Range Extender for if you have range anxiety. (Yesterday was the first time it had turned on, other than for its every-so-often maintenance cycle, since the first weekend we got the car and took it for a trip to the coast only to find out the fast charger we were going to plug in to first was out of order. REx got us home just fine.)
Incorrect. This was believed to be true right up until GM released the service manuals. The engine is connected via a clutch system to the drive train. However as Nikki stated in the video, it is under very unusual and rare conditions that the engine will engage and help (notice help not take over) to drive the wheels (the generator is still providing the majority of the power). Something like going up a steep hill with no battery power available and flooring the accelerator type situation. I forget the exact circumstances because I've never had it happen with my 2013 Volt, but it can occur. Still, as Landon states and you've agreed, it really is in a classification by itself, an electric vehicle with a range extender.
you are correct, my apologies, just had a look at the weber channel and as you stated is used in exceptional circumstances.... i would presume that it just gives you a fairly singular constant speed due to the limitations on constant engine revs settings through the ecu
No need to apologize at all and everyone was under the impression that the engine was completely disconnected. Even GM kept this a secret from everyone as long as they could. Totally agree with you on the exceptional circumstances too. More like an absolute got to save this driver because he/she forgot to put the car in mountain mode before trying to assault that freaking monster summit! I'm very happy with my Volt and also for Nikki for doing this video. I believe that Chevrolet's absolute horrid marketing is what hurts the Volt the most. The car itself is very dependable, and though cheaply made in places, it's holding up well for my 60 mile daily commute. I have no complaints. Take care and keep evolving!
Todd Crenshaw I agree about lack of marketing. I'm Currently at a 98% Ev only driving. My commute is 70km and I charge at work. Only reason I'm not closer to 100% is I forgot to defer the temperature setting in winter and my engine would run at 0 Celsius. Have 30k kms on it and only filled up 1 time and still have over half a tank left. Love this car. If only the bolt was more stylish I'd get that when we trade the minivan in. Going with the Kona unless something else with 450km+ range comes along other than Tesla.
I owned a 2013 Chevy Volt. It was an extremely well built vehicle. During the several years that I owned the car, I never had to have the car repaired for a single issue. The car was very comfortable to drive. The fully electric range was 27 miles in the cold New Hampshire winters and averaged 38 miles in the summer. However, with careful driving the range can easily be extended to 45 miles. Once, while hypermiling I achieved a range of 55 miles. Awesome car. Just wished that this model had a longer fully electric range and did not require premium gas. Later models do not require premium gas and have better fully electric range.
I have a BMW i3. BMW Germany makes available the option to upgrade the battery - but lets the local country offices decide if they want to offer it or not. The original i3 came with a 22 kWh battery, and now it has a 33 kWh battery. BMW USA (and Canada) don't offer it. Mine doesn't need a new battery yet, but I hope they start offering it (or especially the rumored-to-come-out-soon double-original-capacity ~40 kWh battery) by the time needs replacing.
My 2014 Volt with 38 miles ev range was enough that I rarely switched to Hold mode. The lifetime EPA on it was 90 miles. There is a Plug in hybrid Jaguar with 97 ev miles of range, but the cost is around 100 grand.
Brian Sherick, you know, although I would also like to be all-electric on my occasional longer trips, the benefit would not justify the cost. And even if the price were somehow $0, and pack volume and thermal management capacity weren't issues (they are), there's still other issues. Don't forget that all the extra weight would reduce your electric range, and be tougher on your suspension & handling, as well. So, I'm just happy that I have a practical EV that's a PURE EV 90% of the time for me, yet has no operational limitations. When it's -3F outside (engine cabin heat when needed, makes it "OK" to burn gas!), or on the fairly rare occasions that I have to take a day-trip of a couple hundred miles or so, I'm grateful for the range extender! I think Chevy hit the *perfect* trade-off between cost and capability. The engineers had a TON of variables to consider, and made some downright brilliant design choices.
We have had a 2014 Ampera for 18 months now and we both love it. My wife drives it to work during the week and has never had to use the engine at all. We both use it at weekends and I tend to do the longer journeys which involve a mix of battery and petrol power. I tend to drive electric in towns and use the engine on motorways and A roads. Unlike other range extended EVs (which is how GM and I would describe the Ampera) I am in complete control of whether I use electric or engine power, as long as there is charge in the battery. We have never charged it anywhere except at home (using an EV charger) or at the homes of our parents using their 3-pin sockets and the 'granny charger'. Since we bought the car, the balance of petrol and electric mileage has tipped in favour of petrol because of frequent visits to elderly parents who live hundreds of miles away. Nevertheless, the lifetime fuel efficiency for our car is still 100mpg. The car cost us £15K from a Vauxhall dealer when it had 36K on the clock and we think its a keeper. We both love the way it looks and drives, and the sound system is pretty good for a car at this price point. However it definitely has the quirks that Nikki mentions, buggy in car entertainment especially. It has been super reliable for us and although Vauxhall is now part of PSA (with unknown consequences for legacy vehicles like the Ampera) there's a good network of knowledgeable and enthusiastic owners on SpeakEV who help each other out. If you're in the market for a good looking hybrid see if you can test drive an Ampera/Volt. You will be impressed.
I have a 2012 ampera which I absolutely love. It's my first foray into electric cars and for my type of driving which is just mainly short trips around town it's absolutely perfect. In the warmer months I get above 45 miles on a full charge and in the colder months I get round 26 to 30. I've also taken it on many long-distance trips and it still gets up upwards of 50 miles to the gallon. The build quality is easily up there with the high-end German brands such as Audi and BMW. Put it in sport mode and it will easily take most other petrol cars off the line up to about 40mph. I paid 10500 for it a year ago and it's probably worth similar now privately. It's definitely worthwhile checking out one of these if you're considering a move to electric as it does away with the Range anxiety all together and if you like me and just potter around town you very rarely need to put fuel in.
Thank you Nikki for covering the Volt. I purchased a 2013 Volt in 2016 (21K miles/16K$ purchase). I have a 60 mile a day commute so I use a little gasoline each day .10 to .23 gallons. I get 45 to 50 miles even in the summer with A/C use. I haven't seen any drop in battery capacity and now have over 50K miles on it. It's not the car I really wanted (I wanted the Volt concept!), but the production Volt I must say is a lot more practical and all around was what I needed (needs before wants). I've only had one issue, left from trans-axle bearing went out. Covered by my extended warranty by CarMax. Only had to pay $100.00 deductible. Other than that the car has never let me down, even with the occasional (I think 3 times since I purchased the car) computer glitches where a power off/on resolved the glitch. Funny, sort of reminds me of the response GM issued after Bill Gates compared the computer and auto industry (www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/joke/crash.htm). Thank goodness the Volt doesn't act even close to Microsoft products!
I've had my 2014 Volt for a little over 2 years now. Terrific car and it's surprisingly smooth riding for being such a small and 'economy-minded' car. My only serious complaints are 1) The windows are short and the A-pillar is really big, leading to some visibility issues, and 2) The infotainment system doesn't crash, but it's very clunky and BT takes forever to connect. The only time the engine runs that's outside of your control besides when the battery is low is 1) When ambient temperatures drop below 32/20f (Can be changed in vehicle settings) and 2) If the engine hasn't reached operating temperature for long enough, or enough fuel has been used in *6 weeks*. This is to circulate oil and boil off water in it, and to help keep the fuel in the fuel lines from going bad. I believe the latter is a _necessary evil_ to keep the engine running reliably. The first one is more of a convenience for battery range and battery temperature. BEV's don't have an alternative energy source available, so keeping the battery warm means using its own power, along side having to warm the cabin and power the motors.
I own a 2014 Volt, and like it quite a bit. Bought the thing used for a bargain, a fully loaded version. Imagine I traded in a loaded Mustang GT (three years ago) and they gave me a newer car with fewer miles and a check for the difference :) I spent $21 total in gas this year, and drive about 1,000 miles monthly. I get 40 miles with A/C on consistently, city/hwy mixed drive, while my wife gets 30 max (drive fast, range tanks). Lifetime MPG on my car is >230. Things that I wish were better / issues I had: - My infotainment is buggy, GPS doesn't work as I keep drifting on map. Lane departure and distance warning systems get confused often (false alerts are frequent). - The OE tires (Goodyear low rolling res) wear too fast. I suspect my current set will last altogether 30k, maybe. Since I am in Houston it could be a combination of heat and cement (abrasive) roads - Back seat is too tight, hatch back makes annoying creaks on bumpy roads (here it's everywhere) - Drivetrain bearing failed under warranty one time, and it's starting to make spaceship sounds again now (30k miles after). I think this is an $800 job at Chevrolet. - Had a strange issue one time: The glue used to bond the floor pan cracked and was letting water in from the road. I thought it was from air conditioner, took me several tries to find out where it was coming from. Dealer never found it, I did and fixed it with plumbing putty. I guess this could be any GM vehicle. - Chevy dealers here in Houston don't understand what the car is, look at you like you're stupid when you refer to Voltec warranty, and become speechless when you say you don't need them to change the automatic transmission fluid. Things I love about the car - Ability to commute without using any gas and the ability to travel using gas - Torque off the line - How quiet the ride is, car handles very well, there's a sense of smooth, high quality (except when hatch creaks) - Never have to worry about replacing break pads or rotors, in fact the mechanics don't wear if you drive primarily electric. Your IC motor is almost brand new even when your car is not (therefore practically no wear maintenance) - Battery pack is rock solid, absolutely no hint of degradation. - I love the electric AC unit, every car in the market should have systems like this - Data the car generates is unique and very engaging. Used this with my son for his science fair experiment (strangely volt uses less energy to drive with windows open vs with windows closed and AC on, except at highway speeds). - Like explaining how the car works to my fellow engineers and colleagues, still a novelty. - From a package standpoint I find the Volt was well planned: you can take it to Lowes and bring home a stack of half dozed 8ft long 2x4s.Fits so snuggly :) Hatch back is very useful. - I like how I changed personally as a consequence of this little car: I feel I don't compromise much while avoiding adding to air pollution, and I now think loud sports cars mufflers sound like farts :) - I personally think Gen 1 Volt is by far the best looking EV/Plug in in the entire market, south of Tesla. Looks super sharp.
TOP MARKS for an excellent, and in my opinion very accurate, discussion of the first-generation Volt/Ampera! Really cool to see this in late 2018! I have leased a 2012 Volt (3 years, 33,000 mi., 94% electric, 33gal gas TOTAL), and when the lease ended, I bought a 2014 Volt. This is in the very frigid USA state of Wisconsin (think "cold winters"). Both have performed magnificently, were/are super-fun to drive, and highly reliable. Their high efficiency goes without saying, of course. Personally, I've always had a hard time criticizing my Volts for having only 4 seats, because my sweetheart and I only have one rear-end each. That means we really have TWO SPARE SEATS already. We don't really feel we need a third one :-)
I own a Volt for the sole reason that...it's the only EV I can find in my area. You can actually just hop on over to a dealership and buy a pre-owned Volt. Any other EV, I'd have to get shipped to me via Carvana or drive out of town. Well, that's not 100% true. There's also the leaf, but I'm super wary of its battery longevity. I don't want to buy a used leaf and end up having to replace its battery just a couple years down the road.
Warning about Carvana (and I know some have had excellent service, but not me) - I picked a 2013 Volt and was promised a delivery date four times over a period of 4 weeks! Nothing but excuses. Finally they offered me $50.00 a week for each week the car was not deliverable (starting after the 4 weeks had passed). I went to Carmax, picked up a 2013 Volt, same price, better warranty. The next day I called Carvana and told them to keep their Volt. Note: They were always polite, but being nice doesn't do much good if you can't delivery the product. Agree with your assessment of the Leaf. Nissan rushed it, both 1st and 2nd gen Leaf. Too many issues and excuses. Nikki has covered them so we all know about the problems. I just don't trust the car like I do my Volt. Besides, it's even more butt ugly than the Prius. :)
yeah, I live in eastern part of EU, I only saw Volt once, and never saw an Ampera. By comparison there are a lot of Prius'es, like every second taxi. Volts/Amperas are rarer than ferarris in EU
I like the Volt. It looks snazzy and can be used as a commuter and the occasional long trip as well. Seems like a winner until solid state batteries arrive on the scene and change the whole game.
Agreed. Plus the selling point of "range anxiety" is poor and should not be used to sell the Volt. Clearly most of those who buy an electric vehicle (speaking for the US) have a second vehicle in the family. When they plan a trip that's going to go beyond their pure electric vehicles range, they switch to the alternate. With the Volt there is no "oh yeah, we have to use the gas guzzling SUV). We Volt owners simply drive our Volts and still get great fuel mileage. I recently drove from Dallas TX to Waco and back. The average MPG was just under 60 mpg. If I had a pure electric, I would have had to drive my Chevy Avalanche 2500 (8.1L big block under the hood). Instead of burning 4 gallons of gasoline I would have burned over 16. It's nice to have the choice instead of having my electric vehicle just sit in the driveway because I can't get to/from where I want to go. Great car.
The same is true of the Prius Prime, which has better MPG on gasoline than the Volt/Ampera, but shorter electric range than current versions. The Prius Prime is more suitable than the Volt for situations where charging availability is limited and gasoline prices are high.
I think the volt is one of the best transition EV's... Indeed, my dog is named "Volt!" Never got one as I got a used Leaf but it's really the only used option out there that can go a thousand miles when needed and the design was pretty ingenious...
I have owned my 2013 Holden Volt for 3.5 years. Only 246 were sold in Australia. Best car I have ever owned so far. I have used 128 litres of fuel to travel over 42,000 kilometres (0.3 litres/100km lifetime economy). I would class it as an electric car for most of my driving. Slow changing of max 3.3kw is the biggest negative. Tesla is really the best option for long distance travel in Australia. Waiting for RHD Model 3 production to come to Australia.
I am jealous of my coworkers volt. We live at the extent range for the volt if you drive careful. And work installed plugs. He has bought gas in 2018 a couple times. I buy gas every week for my Prius. Jealousy doesn’t mean I am buying volt... but I sooo want to get into an EV before they are everywhere.
I owned a used 2014 Volt Premium for a year and a half before I traded it in on a used 2017 Volt LT. The 2014 is a great car, but I wanted a second generation Volt and bought the 2017. They are the best cars I have owned. The more familiar you get with the car the smarter you become on how to utilize it. On average, I take a 600 mile round trip every three months. In between that time, I drive on EV power only. Always look at the life time MPG; I purchased mine with a 67 MPG, and currently it is at 77. Some people have more than doubled that, which is excellent. There are Volts on the road with well over 200,000 miles and I know of some with more than 300,000 thousand miles. Buy one !
I purchased my 2014 Volt in Oct. of '17 for $16,000 and have to say I'm very pleased with my purchase! It had 32,000 miles on it when I bought it and was GM Certified pre owned with full factory new car warranty. It's lifetime mpg average is sitting at 130mpg and we simply love this car. We've put just under 5,000 miles on it since owning it. Our daughter just purchased a 2018 Honda Clarity and this weekend we were comparing the 2018 Volt to the 2018 Clarity. I think the Volt beats the Clarity in all categories other than interior roominess. I'm looking forward to buying the 2019 Volt as my next used car in about 3 years.
Aha, this is the first I've heard about people knowing the firsthand differences between the Clarity and the Volt. The one problem I have with the honda is its 6 gallon gas tank, but it looks like a nice car with a 47 mile EV range. GM has made new improvements on the 2nd generation Volt, you'll be able to charge it faster for starters. You'll love the extended range from 38 miles to 53. On average, my car gets a 55 mile ev range. Enjoy !
I really like the Clarity's interior and it definitely is roomier than the Volt. My reading says it has a 7gal. tank. I still like the Volt better even though I'm a big guy. I really want one with the regen paddles on the steering wheel and adaptive cruise control. Plus I like the 2 tone leather options Volt offers now. When my daughter and son in-law visited this weekend they used the adaptive cruise control feature on their Clarity and really liked it on the whole 150 mile trip through city freeway and mountain roads and were very impressed with the way it functioned, so I'm looking forward to getting an '18 or '19 Volt. when they start hitting the used market.
Here in America you see these shops "We repair laptops and mobile phones" but in the future maybe they will say "We repair laptops, mobile phones, and BEVs" LOL!
It's an amazing car and it's very reliable. With the last update I got 20% less in range which is non sense since they should allow the user to take advantage of more of the 16KWH battery pack. I wish there were more information on how to improve the car customizing some parts like the infotainment or bring the onboard charger to 32amps which is totally legit for the battery.
That's great. I unfortunately live in Australia and once GM (Holden) stopped bringing them into the country those who bought them are simply hanging onto them. There are simply none available. It's a pity; I thought I would be driving a 4 year old one by now.
I may be wrong but I thought ford was still making going to roll out the 2019 Fusion... The Ford energi models have an EV mode switching button. The "EV Now" mode will lock out the engine, under heavy acceleration a message will pop up asking if you want to engage the engine... So
I own a '12 Volt and I'm in love with it still. It has been an issue-free car that has 60K + miles. My next car will be a second Gen Volt once the price drops. I say the Volt is a better choice than any fully electric car due to the need for long range trips, you still might need a second car. But not with the Volt.
I have looked at a few Ampera's here in the UK as they are really cheap used and all low mileage and seem a really good option, but like the Prius plug-in it is only a 4 seater which is a bit of a bummer for me, but we will see
I fully understand the four seat issue, and even then the two in the back are a pretty tight fit. However when looking at the Volt a potential buyer needs to consider what the car was really designed for - a commuting vehicle, not a family vehicle. Taking that into consideration, it's a great design and exceptional vehicle for commuting. However, there is another area that is often overlooked - as a hatch back, there's a lot of room in the back when the rear seats are folded down. It makes running to the market an other stores a breeze. The hatch opens wide and I've loaded the back up and still had plenty of room for more. The car passes for not only a commuter but a grocery get'er too.
Thank you so much for your info. Be prepared and warn that this comment will be a long one just because I'm a Volt owner and I can't say enough about the car. I just hope that I don't jinks myself and say all the good stuff about the car and then something major happens to the car. Anyhow I have been wanting a car sooooooooooo bad that I no longer need to visit the gas station. For many years or rather for at least 10 years I envied all of the Prius owners achieving over 50 mpg. I wanted so bad to get that type of mileage and would directly affect my pocket book so for years my ultimate dream car was a Hybrid Prius. It was only when I stumbled on a TH-cam video to discover what it means what a Plug-in Hybrid vehicle was. I was floored and couldn't believe what type of mileage I would get if I went with a Plugin Hybrid. This means if I plugin my vehicle daily and my commute was less then 40 miles round trip I could wipe out my gas cost all together. Mind you that before I even bought my Chevy Volt I was drive a very fuel economy vehicle which was the Hyundai Accent. The best MPG that I got out of the car was 36 mpg. Even that was horrible to me because driving around town and not taking the freeways was killing my wallet. I live in the city of Torrance CA which is in the county of Los Angeles and my average miles would be 5 miles here, 3 miles to the a shopping mall, 4 miles to the theatre, going to church which is 6 miles from my house. I totally hated it. Filling my tank every 3 days or at times even 5 days and putting $12.00 to $16.00. I hated pulling out my wallet just to do small errands and driving to my normal activities through out the week. My total gas expense was anywhere from $30.00 to $80 per week which may not be a lot to many people but it was enough for me to say enough is enough. When I finally started hunting for my car I literally threw up and could believe the pricing I was finding for a used Chevy Volt. I knew in the past that when you look for a used car you'll find incredible pricing and not nearly what they were straight from the dealer showroom when they were brand new. A brand new 2015 Chevy Volt at the time was going for $35k and with a full package model climbs to $40k. There is no way in hell that I would ever afford something like that. Being now 4 years later I found a used Chevy Volt with on 33k miles on the odometer to me was a brand new vehicle. I was able to find my Volt for only $11k and with all of the other fees such as gap insurance, tax and license, my total out the door came to a whopping $14k. I wanted super low payments every month so my total monthly car note comes to $291 per month. To me that is so doable and my life doesn't have to suffer because I have to come up with a huge car bill every month and I could enjoy once in a while going to dinner, and a movie here and there. I never in my life had ever purchase an American vehicle trusted only on Japanese made cars. I just couldn't put my faith in them just because till now the track record of American vehicles are not as reliable or stable as Japanese imports but being how informative TH-cam is and finding out what real Volt owners would say about the car just had me at a stand still. Owner after owner, after owner rave about the car. To top it all no real major fault or problems with even owners that have a 2011 models. That's almost 10 years since Chevy produced the very first Chevy Volt. Right now my total average mpg is at 117 miles. That is fricken unbelievable. Funny I thought my most desired dream car was the Toyota Prius and it was only because of the 50mpg. I totally blew that mileage out the door based on my daily driving. The more and more I thought about purchasing the Prius the more I said to myself that it's all about the styling also. Forgive me but every model Prius that's out there are simply butt butt ugly. I totally feel that my particular model has sexy lines and doesn't look like what I call a moon car which is what a Prius is to me. It is sleek and looks very aerodynamic. So yes to say do I like the car, I think after reading this you can say that I more than like the car. GM has nailed this car out of the park and totally has achieved a grand slam for what they did.
I drive my cmax energi for weeks without using any gas; there 's a button on the dash that keeps the gas engine off, no worries about pushing it too hard.
I would like to know the gas milage of hybrid cars if your battery was dead when you start. I can find out how far you can go on battery and gas milage combined with battery but not with just the gas milage without battery.
I drove my 2013 Volt down to Waco and back (about 250 miles round trip). After driving full electric for 45 miles and switching over to ICE my average when I arrived back at home was still over 61 mpg. I know you're asking about on a dead battery, but for the most part you wouldn't drive the Volt this way. From what I understand it'll pull about 38 mpg if the drive was entirely on ICE.
I drive an X5D my wife has a BEV i3. I switched with her to see what i could do with my 100% street 8.8 mile commute. I had it for 9 days. Drove 161 miles (this is not a REX) and it said i still had 9 miles of range. And the level 2 charger put back 31.88 kw in 4 hours 25 minutes. AWESOME
We love our Volt and are reluctantly selling it. It handles California driving beautifully, the 38 mile range is enough that we will go months between gas usage and close to a year between fill-ups. However, we got our Model 3 and can't afford two car payments, so if anyone wants a 50,000 mile 2013 Volt in the SF Bay Area with five months of HOV sticker usage remaining, send me a message.
I have a 2012 Chevy Volt with 91k miles and it has been honestly the most reliable car I have ever owned. It's super low maintenance, compared to my past cars. My car is in the shop currently due to an accident and I have been driving a Ford fusion Energi. Comparing the 2, the 2012 volt wins hands down. I like the space in the fusion but its drivetrain is clunky and it's almost impossible to stay in all electric mode. I reccomend the volt to anyone who asks. And I get 45-50 miles range consistently here in Georgia.
My 2012 volt usually has 35 or more miles of electric range (got it used). The only thing I wish mine had was hold mode, but that's available on 2013 and newer. Otherwise, I love my volt.
Yes it is. It offers good value and performance. I average 10,000 MPG on my 17” and did my first oil change at 20,000 miles. Dealer forced the oil change to maintain the warranty even though the gas engine only has 80 miles on it.
dustin hatch I’d say change that oil at least once a year no matter the miles. Might seem crazy to change barely used oil but “they” say the additives break down over time. I have an “older” F150, have to change the oil every summer even though I rarely put 1500 miles a year on it. It may not matter but I wouldn’t want to find out the hard way that it did...
here is some help full info .. med year 2014 volts have the lager battery pack . when going used make sure of what kind of tires are on them. wrong tries can cut 50% rang from the car . 2013 and 2014 has added parts in the fount for a crash and added safety . if you live in FL or some thing like it and run the tires at 40 psi and set the AC at 79 you well see rang as high as 55 miles as i do but i all so have alot of 45 mpr zones around me and drive in L all the time . driving in low all the time well add ware to the CV and well get the knocking sound like Tesla gets in about 40K miles .the AC work well for the front seats only.it takes alot more power to cool the hole car.. i payed 7K for my 2014 volt 16K miles on it but that was before EVs got so hot . if you find a EV for 7K it should only take 3 years for the car to pay for it self in gas saved . my firend gave up his volt for a older leaf and is more happy with the leaf with 80miles rang
Good video. I've shied away from considering hybrids, whatever their configuration, simply because they are carrying 'dead' weight, in one form or another. Though the Volt is an interesting version of the type. An important point to consider with the Volt, in terms of becoming a potential owner is that GM sold Opel/Vauxhall to PSA Group [Citroen, Peugeot, DS] and although they produce the Volt [and Bolt] for the PSA Group, the servicing and accident repairs will undoubtedly bring issues in years to come. With a Bolt that may not be a problem in terms of servicing alone [topping up that washer bottle], but the Volt has a sophisticated engine. Perhaps enquire of a good independent garage first if the vehicle is out of warranty.
It's not really dead weight - If you swapped the weight of the engine and its anciliaries out for more Volt batteries you wouldn't get a fraction of the range that the ICE motor gives you. The fact that the Volt battery only ever charges to 80% and doesn't discharge bellow 20% is only possible because of the ICE engine being there in reserve. People worry too much about the maintenance of the ICE engine too. Reality is its not stressed in any way and is impossible to thrash so should be very low maintenance. It's just not doing any of the work even hybrid would be doing provided you charge up every day.
So quiet, ride feels bold and big. Never received an issue, wherever I live there is a plugin that charges only $20-40 a month. And I love this Bose sound system. I do not care about the long trip because of builtin electronic generator that uses good gas mileage. I'm fairly sure the Volt engineers are separated from other models. Good sciences. Do they still make Volt? This automobile is so underrated.
I have a 2017 and overall I'm very happy with my first 12,000 miles. Not emphasized in the video was acceleration/torque. The Volt leaves a Prius Prime (or many a BMW for that matter) waaaay behind at the stoplight.
The Chevy Volt is a very underrated and under talked about vehicle. I'd be all over one on the used Market if it had the extra seat in the back unfortunately that's a deal-killer for me personally right now. Reliability has been extremely good on the Chevy Volt there is a guy on TH-cam who has a first gen and a 2nd gen. 500,000 miles on the 1st Gen and the only repairs that he's had are replacement front wheel bearings. He's had to replace the wheel bearings 4 times, so that definitely seems to be a weak point. However Chevrolet covered the first replacement under warranty and those Replacements bearings were then covered under warranty each time. but even if you had to replace wheel bearings out of your own pocket that is not a very expensive repair.
I had the front left replaced once so far. If this occurs more than once then there's a bigger problem. They need to replace the entire drive components. Something is out of spec and causing the repeating failure. That's simply a bad mechanic not recognizing the issue. If my left front goes bad again I'll be talking to CarMax (extended warranty) about replacing more than just the bearings. Since the car was pre-owned I can't say if the former owner did anything that caused the premature failure of the left front bearings. Only time will tell. Having 500,000 miles with only this issue though is pretty remarkable. The 1st gen were certainly overbuilt. Chevrolet couldn't afford to have this car fail. Will gen 2 last as long? Only time will tell. I do love my 2013 though the extra range of the 2016+ Volt is enticing. One of those would cover my 60 mile a day commute, where my 2013 falls just shy by 10 miles. I just can't seem to squeeze that extra 10 miles out of her, at least, not yet :)
Todd Crenshaw one possibility on the wheel bearing failures in the front is that you've got a pretty significant amount of torque Being applied since it's an electric vehicle. It's possible that the bearing that they chose was probably just an off-the-shelf bearing that they had available from a Chevy Malibu or some other vehicle. Perhaps it's slightly under built for the task at hand. It's also possible to have a seal fail on a bearing and some crap gets in there and damages it. changing wheel bearing is not that difficult to do yourself if you have a few tools most of the GM wheel bearings are a bolt in design. So you would pull the wheel take ofg the axle nut and there should be three or four bolts that hold the bearing and hub assembly to the steering knuckle. I would love to have a Chevy Volt unfortunately the lack of three seats in the back limits its use for me.
Good points and with the instant full torque out of electric motors it wouldn't be unusual that this could be an issue. I know I've seen many drive Volts like ICE cars, not realizing that they don't need as much throttle pulling from a stop sign/light as an ICE vehicle. Of course once they find they can accelerate quicker than an ICE from those situations, they continue to do so, possibly causing more issues. However I also have to put some consideration into Chevrolet's testing and have some faith that they did put in a bearing that is capable of dealing with the issue. Since this has been an on-going issue with the Volt, there are a lot of possibilities. Considering that some (like me) have had this issue, but many more haven't, it's a toss up what's really going on here. As for the doing the work myself - well when I was younger that most likely would have happen. Now days though I'm well past tired of smashing fingers and getting grease everywhere :) Plus I paid for that extended warranty, I want my money back out of it, so CarMax gets to do the work for me.
Todd Crenshaw Absolutely if you paid for the extended warranty I would definitely let CarMax do the work. You might make sure that when they put a replacement part in there that they either get it directly from Chevrolet or a quality aftermarket part possibly Moog or Timken or whatever brand is available that is of good quality. The TH-cam video that I saw where the guy had 500, 000 miles he had put 4 front bearings. That's a bearing failure every 125k that's not that far out of the reasonable lifespan for a front wheel bearing. I've seen some last far less than that. definitely enjoy your car I wish I could own one but I simply must have three seats in the back. So for now I keep buying used Toyota Priuses. Not exactly an exciting car but they are practical and reliable and where I live quite inexpensive. I've got a 2008 with 242000 miles on it.
Love my VOLT, coming from luxury sedans the VOLT does not feel or drive like an economy car. I've been measuring charging power out of the wall for 15 months (13k miles), I get exactly 98.0MPGe on electricity (7kmiles). At an average of $.131/kwh, comparing to $2.747/gallon of regular over the same time period, on electricity I get equivalent of 61mpg. When using gasoline (premium) I get 39.2 mpg (6k miles). Converting total fuel cost to MPG I get 52MPG compared to the cost of premium and 44 compared to regular. Honestly I am a little disappointed at those numbers, then I remember that is every mile I drive in all 4 seasons. I drive a lot of long trips so my gasoline usage is high. I have converted that data to a Gen 2 and I would get cost equivalent to regular of 53MPG, a hard number to beat, again 12 month a year, every mile, not just that one time you got 60MPG on a road trip in your Corolla.
Creaking noise from the n/s/r I have 2014 Ampera and love it apart from a creaking sound from the left side rear. It’s been to Vauxhall while under warrantee over 5 times they had it weeks but could never get to the bottom of it. They changed the shocks, breaks, bushes etc. but still there It only does it when its dry (stops when it rains) when you move forward or backwards at very low speed quite loud, if you bounce the car up and down - nothing! Only when you take off and come to a stop. Any thoughts?
Bought an Ampera Earth with only 3k on the clock for £18k and mostly use it on pure electric around town. But it's great to have the ability to do the odd long range trip and get over 50mpg. It's a great car and introduction to EVs. There are plenty of examples out there with 30-40k on the clock for around £12k. Considering the equipment on the Electron and Positiv variants it's a steal
There's a guy on the forums with over 400,000 miles on his 2011 Volt. Love my gen 2 Volt. Round trip 30 mile commute today w/ 40 miles left on the GOM when I got home. I was driving, um, carefully.
I just sold my 2012 Chevy volt. I would not get a used Chevy Volt unless I purchased an extended warranty. In the last year of ownership I had many issues with failed battery packs which caused the car to completely lose power while I was on the highway a number of times. The Volt actually has 3 different and separate battery packs. I replaced my Volt with a Chevy BOLT and a three-year lease. I would not recommend the Chevy BOLT as it has major aerodynamic issues.
Premium gasoline is formulated in a way it degrades slower than regular. Gasoline degradation over time is a problem when rarely used. The engine uses an Atkinson Cycle, with a delayed closing of the admission valves that lower the effective admission displacement in relation to the combustion displacement. This setup converts a higher proportion of the chemical fuel energy into mechanical energy (thermal efficiency) at the cost of lowering power density of the engine (that behaves as a smaller displacement one). The engine is not run at extreme conditions, and probably does not require higher grade fuel for this, just to survive more time unused in the tank.
Celso Starec thanks for the explanation... maybe I will use a gas additive instead of premium ? Although wit avg 170 mpg of gas and -2 to plus 6 dollars of electricity a month compared to before since I bought my 2015 used Volt for $15,000/ 24000 m., it’s a revolution in auto technology. Now, if the tire manufacturers could solve the tire noise problem since I can hear them...
I love my used volt. I don’t think my model year (2013) has a mechanical link between the generator and the wheels. I would recommend picking one up for anyone looking for something they can drive as a pure EV without paying out the nose or sacrificing range for road trips or errands. Bonus for the pack-in chargers being easily and safely modifiable to L2 functionality.
Cool I have 3 Chevy volts and one of my big selling points is getting off of Middle Eastern Oil and being able to produce my own electricity to drive the car I'm not going to be too happy if Tesla uses too much Saudi money to go private since I planned on buying a Tesla and this may affect my decision and other Americans decisions
I don't know if you read these . I want to get a leaf and I'm thinking I will wait till the e + comes to market in California . I know the dealers are pushing the 2018. I hear that the e + is larger ,liquid cooled and is not made by Nissan . It may have a range of around 225 miles. I drove the current model and fell in love. Can you give me any insight?
I feel like the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV would be a better choice for ROW used markets. Used ones can be found in the low teens in Europe now. Kinda bummed the US didn't get them back in 2014 when they had originally planned on selling them in the States.
Andrew yep, but the battery degradation is a concern and you can't get full ev power without the engine starting up. But they have chademo and can to 1500kg
Yeah, please don't call it a hybrid! call it what it is: an EREV. The ICE motor almost never actually couples to the wheels. It is an electric drive car even when the ICE motor is running. Also you said it shifts. It does not. It has one forward gear ratio. period. Also, driving in "low" is only an increase in regenerative braking (you can drive at any speed in low) I love my 2013 Volt! 942 mpg average over last 4,000+ miles!!!
I’m going to stick my neck out here. It’s nomenclature that nobody agrees on. I could have called it an EREV, but then I’d have seen as many people protesting...
Transport Evolved fair enough. And yes, it is probably the best deal going here in the US anyways. About $15000US for 2014/2015 Premium model with +-35,000 miles.
Just add to the price the cost of a 600 mile round trip to check out the car plus a 300 mile follow-up trip if you then decide to buy and collect it. I've never used it but BlaBlaCar can find you a rideshare if you and others want to save money on the journey.
I had one (before my divorce) and loved the drive. Hated the console and infotainment system. Also the air con / heater was annoying as you can't control it manually. Would def recommend tho for someone who has a commute that will fit into its EV range, wants to occasionally use it for longer journeys and can't yet afford a bigger battery full BEV.
Simply saying that the 40 km Vehicle from 2010 - 2014 and the 80 km 2015 - 2019 variants are their range is not truthfully their real world ranges. I happen to own a 2018 Chevrolet Volt Premier. ( Please note having a Premier does not make the range better as the LT model of the Volt is basically the same when it comes to battery sizes and capacity to charge ). My Volt routinely achieves a real world range of 160 km in summer which is better than the rated range of 85 km that the vehicle is slated to get year round. I also have managed to get a nominal charge when I plug the car in overnight of 135 km from May until October. NOTE: The regenerative range of the car makes up the other 25 km easily to bring the car up to the 160 km previously stated. So basically, in Spring - Summer - Fall, I plug in the car overnight while I am sleeping from mid-night until 5:00 am to wake up then next day to a fully charged battery of 135 km. The ONLY time the Volt gets the rated range is during the winter months when the car charges to 85 km unless it is -40 degree's C. At which time the battery management system kicks in to keep the battery at optimal temperature, I get somewhat lower at -40 C, perhaps 75 km instead of the 85 km, but it still runs the ICE whenever I start the car anyways during the winter, as the engine automatically starts at +10 C. Disclaimer, I live in Northern Ontario, Canada. The ideal temperature in the Spring - Summer - Fall is +20 to +30 degree's C, most of the time from the middle of April until the middle of November. After that period the Winter weather kicks in and the temps dip below 0 most days and colder at night.
Too bad you guys didn't get the 2016 ELR - fantastic upgraded version of gen 1 Voltec in a dead sexy Cadillac coupe body. (leased a 2013 Volt for 3 years...just upgraded from a Chevy Spark EV to the ELR and LOVE it)
Question ? Do hybrids/range extender cars have two separate clocks for each engine mileage ie . You drive the car for 50000 miles ,bet just use the engine for 10000 ,can you find this out in the on-board computer
I have a second generation Volt, and that information is accessible from the app (and probably elsewhere). The app shows you total miles, miles in EV mode, and percentage of miles in EV mode, both for the lifetime of the vehicle and since the last full charge.
I have a 2014 Chevy Volt that gets between 25 and 56 miles charge. I get 25 miles charge in winter and 50 miles plus in warmer weather. I have had my car for about 9 months and only been to the gas station 7 times. A great money saver! I love how it handles and love the regen brakes in L mode. I have not had any issues with the center console infotainment system. Purchased this at Carmax and got a great deal! Great car that has saved me lots of money!
David Tietz Dave, would you be so kind as to say about what you paid? Thanks...
Bill Salopek it was about $15,000 with about 22,000 miles on it at Carmax. Hope that helps you out.
I paid about 15k for mine, too, at 17k miles. LOVE this car. Just so easy
You got a great deal at $15K for 17K miles. Mine was around David's at $16K with 21K miles also from CarMax. I also got the CarMax extended warranty which I'm glad I did. The left from bearing went out about 10K miles after the purchase. Pulled in, dropped off, picked up the next day. I do have a $150.00 deductible. I asked the service tech how much it would have cost without the coverage. He said that with the coverage CarMax got about $600.00 and if I had to pay out of pocket it would have been in the $800.00 range. I still haven't used what the cost of the extended warranty cost, but really, I hope I never have to. It's just nice to have it available if needed, and absolutely no hassle with CarMax. They took the car in, made sure the issue was covered before starting work, and once confirmed, the work was done.
I imported an Opel Ampera from the Netherlands to north Sweden 14 months ago. We are very happy with the car so far. We have 3 cars and this is the one all want to use because it is so much fun and economical to drive with good Bose sound system. We are running like 95% on electricity for our daily driving. Have had no problem with the infotainment system. We have very cold winters here up in the north with a lot of snow. Temperatures around -25c is common. The heating system performs well on battery down to about -15, then support of gas engine is needed for comfort. Appreciate he remote start of the car to warm up or cool down the cabin before taking off. It is a very stable car on winter roads. Prices on these cars are dropping here in Sweden and is now down to about €10000 for a used one. I think price is dropping because people don't understand the car and are afraid of battery problem.
Vilken handlare använde miner av.var det besvärligt att få in den i sverige.skulle ni vilja kontakta mig på min mail svetzarn68@yahoo.se tack
its now 2021 and our Volt (bought in 2013) is still going as strong today as it did then. In Australia there weren't many sold and such they're becoming a rare vehicle to see on the road! We are regularly approached and asked, "wow what is that car"? I'm keeping it until it becomes so rare it will be worth more than its new car price!!
Purchased a 2014 Volt for my son and haven't put fuel in it since April. We get about 50 miles of EV range in Florida with AC turned on. Great car for what it's used for and he loves it. As you noted, back seats are cramped but lift back has plenty of cargo room.
Love my 2013 Volt! 80k trouble free miles so far, 139+ MPG, and 40 MPC with no battery degradation. High safety, reliability, low maintenance, and sportiness, with no range anxiety, make it a winner. I have saved over $5000 in gas and maintenance so far, so the more I drive, the more I save!
I've had a 2013 Ampera for just over 13 months now and it's the perfect car for my needs. Working from home I have no commute and my average daily mileage is around 20, so the winter/summer range of c28/52 miles has meant I've only driven using petrol on 12 days, the other 393 days have been pure electric. Pre-heating in winter is wonderful, the torque from a standstill makes pulling out at a junction or roundabout effortless and the smooth, silent, delivery of power is very satisfying. It's also been very reliable over the time I've had it, apart from one or two known minor Volt/Ampera glitches.
As for downsides - only 4 seats has been a problem twice. I have to travel 45 miles each way for servicing at a good Ampera/Chevrolet dealer. Parts may be a problem as Nikki says, I've only needed a couple of small things and found it cheapest to order directly from the USA. The satnav is now very outdated and has hilarious pronunciation for local roads. The centre stack buttons do take some getting used to and it's easy to knock on the heated seat accidentally in the middle of summer, as I did a few days ago! Mine has the Bose sound system which works well playing from a USB stick. In range extended mode the fuel consumption is not as good as my Prius was, but still OK at 50mpg+.
Mine cost a little over Nikki's used EV budget, but for the price it is an excellent 2nd hand (range extended) EV choice if your normal daily mileage is not too high and you want to drive fully electric those days, yet still have the option to take on a 420 mile round trip in one day, as I did just after buying the car.
I have a 2012 volt and I love it since I work further away my wife now driving it and she loves it also we got 130k miles on it and only drove 10k miles on gas engine. Battery still get 40 miles on average each charge. I would recommend this car many times over.
Thuy Ngo - I recommended a Volt to my neighbor, but he ended up buying the (then-new) Prius Prime. Now he complains about the absence of trunk space, insufficient battery range, and flaky touchscreen interface. GM was building a better PHEV five years before Toyota even tried, and the Volt is still vastly superior.
I drive a 2013 Volt with 120 000 km on the clock and still running great. Best buy ever!
2017 volt, with 210 lifetime MPG. With my wife’s commute it’s essentially EV only, minus the maintenance mode/cycle. Perfect car for most, gateway to full EV. I would buy this car again in a heartbeat. Best car I have ever owned. I may pick up a first gen volt for my secondary commuter.
Gen 1 is even better made than 2. The drive unit uses gears to spin the shafts vs a chain in 2nd generation.
@@bmw803 I ended up getting a lease return Fiat 500e really cheap, it’s perfect as a second car. And the drivetrain is made by Bosch, so none of the Fiat issues.
I have a 2014 and love it. There is a 2012 out there in Ohio with 450k miles on it
I have a first generation 2013 Volt that has 80,000 miles on it. I still get 45 miles of range every morning. My lifetime is 115 mpg. It has never been in the shop other than for oil changes. I'm surprised to this day how many people do not understand how it works. They either think it's pure electric or a plain hybrid. I think it looks really good even to this day. My next car will be a pure electric with over 200 miles of range.
I have a 2011 volt with almost 190,000 miles on it. We drive it all year including Michigan winter . It gets 40+ miles elec summer 25 to 30 miles in winter. No battery degradation at all. The same as new in 2011. We love it and will be buying a new one in the future.
The weird thing - and the great thing - about the Volt, thanks to it's dramatically over-engineered powertrain, is that it is both a REx and a PHEV, and the driver gets to choose which one it operates as.
It's designed as a REx first and foremost, but GM discovered that it would be more efficient at highway speeds if the ICE powers the wheels directly. And so they engineered that additional transmission and drive mode.
Great article! Plesase keep talking about used car options, and baterry replacement options in and out of official dealerships
Love seeing this thing still getting the attention I think I deserves! I was in the market for my first car and I bought my 2013 used a year ago and since I’ve put 25k miles on it. It’s been a dream. I’ve averaged about 88 mpg as I only use electric during the week to work/school and use gas on the weekends as my parents home is about twice the distance of my battery. The only money I’ve put into is an oil change 9000 miles ago (still at 76%) and a set of new front tires (ily torque ❤️). This car has been satisfying as HELL to drive for a multitude of reasons and it’s made me into the EV apostle of my family. I even got my grandfather to buy one lol but my grandmother still says it sounds strange when I come over and ask “Can I plug in my car?” I was happy to invest my money in a new technology instead of one that’s dying and killing our planet.
My 2011 Chevrolet Volt has already 171k miles and still goes the original 35 miles original range.
Excellent video! I bought a 2015 Volt 3 months ago for a fraction of what a new EV goes for. It's an excellent value and one of the best kept secrets of the automotive world! I'm commuting to work on electric power and charging there. Yesterday I ran all my errands and racked up 41 EV miles with 1 left in reserve. Incredible car!
My dad just filled up his tank after going over 2,800 miles since his last fill-up in his the 2017 Kia Optima Plug-in!
just like my landlord with his V60, only fills a couple times a year. and that just because his cabin is far away, without it he wouldnt need a plug-in at all..
My volt does 250+mpg average.
The Ampera / Volt is the best kept secret in the Motor Industry. Here in the UK the Vauxhaul dealers simply didn't want to sell and EV and did everything possible to not sell them. The result is they are not very common second hand. It took me 6 months of hunting to find a good one. Its been a fantastic car. I normally don't use the ICE as the battery is good enough for my needs, however I go on regular trans continental journeys when the car simply transforms itself from EV to petrol car. Its very quiet and relaxing to drive, acceleration from 0 to 30 is very fast so its great to drive onto a roundabout and one pedal driving is a Revalvation. I've had no issues with it at all. Only downside is like most vehicles there is no spare wheel and I'm not going on a 1000 KM drive without one so bought a space saver.
I remember strolling in to my local Vauxhall dealer a couple of years after they were on sale.. they never had one on display and despite being Car Of The Year in 2012 they feigned ignorance.
On some level they understood that it would destroy their business model if everyone started phasing out pure ICE cars and drove on electric mode almost all of the time.
I felt like it was just one last sting in the tail after the EV1 capture&crush betrayal from Who Killed The Electric Car.
My first Chevy Volt had 118,000 miles with no battery degradation. I bought a new 2018 just for the newer technology but my old 2012 Volt was in perfect condition and probably would have given me at least a few hundred thousand more miles of trouble free driving based on the fact that I spent nearly nothing on maintenance & repairs in the first 118,000 miles. They are a steal on the used car market.
After a year and 14,000 miles I'm still loving my 2017 Volt. Always able to beat the advertised range and mileage with moderate driving, and its a fun ride. The regenerative braking is my favorite feature, often just using the mechanical brakes to keep the car from moving once stopped.
I purchased my 2014 Volt Premier in Oct. of '17 for $16,000 and have to say I'm very pleased with my purchase! It had 32,000 miles on it when I bought it and was GM Certified pre owned with full factory new car warranty. It's lifetime mpg average is sitting at 130mpg and we simply love this car. We've put just under 5,000 miles on it since owning it. Once a month I have to drive more than the battery range, just to run the engine for a few minutes. Last time I filled the tank was in May. Should be good on gas til after Labor Day. Our daughter just purchased a 2018 Honda Clarity and this weekend we were comparing the 2018 Volt to the 2018 Clarity. I think the Volt beats the Clarity in all categories other than interior roominess. The Volt has more all electric range, faster 0-60 times AND a heated steering wheel! Daughter doesn't realized it yet because it's still summer, but she's going to miss not having a heated steering wheel like the 2018 Volt has. I'm looking forward to buying the 2019 Volt as my next used car in about 3 years!
opel ampera 2013 facelift owner with e-pioneer (means all features, at least it's called like that here in my country) - daily usage 20-30km - always electric. 3 months and counting, don't even remember how a gas station looks like from the inside. If you can charge it at home, you have arrived :) 2000+ user fb community stands together with 2 specialists +1 official way available for repairs. BEST buy currently imho in Hungary!
I have a first gen volt and a tesla model s, I really like this vehicle it's reliable and sporty
I am in the same situation. I love the Volt as my daily driver and my Model S as the more fun weekend car. The Volt is a great car.
I have a 2014 Chevrolet Volt Premium, this car has been the most reliable, low cost vehicle I’ve ever owned. I live in the US and have a US-spec model, finding dealers over here to service my car can be difficult sometimes so, often I end up doing maintenance on my own which actually isn’t any harder than on a conventional car, if any thing, it’s easier, it takes a little less oil than it’s gas counterparts, and common maintenance items are very handily at reach.
Bought one brand new 6 years ago. No issues whatsoever. It is a great car. No regrets.
Awesome review, I have a 13 Volt with 110,000 miles on it now, It still drives and rides like a new car, very seamless and smooth to drive and so silent. I have got as much as 51 miles on a charge in 75deg weather and 30 miles in 20deg below zero weather. Once you understand how to drive the car it is amazing. This car is such a bargain to buy used and will give you years of trouble-free service.
My girlfriend has one, and she does her commute on electricity alone. If we want to leave town on the weekend, then we might use a little gas.
Just bought a 2012 Opel Ampera, absolutely love it so far, a dream car I would say! Only if I could find a proper place for the mobile phone on the center console, or even better, I wish the main display was compatible with Android Auto / Apple Carplay. But honestly, this car is amazing.
There are way to do that, but I found it to expensive...
th-cam.com/video/4qdaOQ7W9sY/w-d-xo.html
I've been very happy with my recently-purchased used BMW i3 REx. Definitely more expensive than any of these options, but worth it. Full "low capacity EV" range (60-120 miles depending on which battery size and how you drive,) rather than the generally much shorter "plug in Hybrids" in the 10-30 mile range. (I drove 140 miles yesterday, as 35 miles out and 35 miles back twice, with only a 90 minute Level 2 charge in the middle, and the REx didn't come on until I was one block from home.)
"Luxury" quality, although a bit unconventional styling, and that REx Range Extender for if you have range anxiety. (Yesterday was the first time it had turned on, other than for its every-so-often maintenance cycle, since the first weekend we got the car and took it for a trip to the coast only to find out the fast charger we were going to plug in to first was out of order. REx got us home just fine.)
It's a range-extended EV. Literally, every person I've heard who says otherwise isn't a car enthusiast or just doesn't know anything about cars.
Very true the engine has no physical connection to the wheels and only powers a generator to recharge the battery
Incorrect. This was believed to be true right up until GM released the service manuals. The engine is connected via a clutch system to the drive train. However as Nikki stated in the video, it is under very unusual and rare conditions that the engine will engage and help (notice help not take over) to drive the wheels (the generator is still providing the majority of the power). Something like going up a steep hill with no battery power available and flooring the accelerator type situation. I forget the exact circumstances because I've never had it happen with my 2013 Volt, but it can occur. Still, as Landon states and you've agreed, it really is in a classification by itself, an electric vehicle with a range extender.
you are correct, my apologies, just had a look at the weber channel and as you stated is used in exceptional circumstances.... i would presume that it just gives you a fairly singular constant speed due to the limitations on constant engine revs settings through the ecu
No need to apologize at all and everyone was under the impression that the engine was completely disconnected. Even GM kept this a secret from everyone as long as they could. Totally agree with you on the exceptional circumstances too. More like an absolute got to save this driver because he/she forgot to put the car in mountain mode before trying to assault that freaking monster summit! I'm very happy with my Volt and also for Nikki for doing this video. I believe that Chevrolet's absolute horrid marketing is what hurts the Volt the most. The car itself is very dependable, and though cheaply made in places, it's holding up well for my 60 mile daily commute. I have no complaints. Take care and keep evolving!
Todd Crenshaw I agree about lack of marketing. I'm Currently at a 98% Ev only driving. My commute is 70km and I charge at work. Only reason I'm not closer to 100% is I forgot to defer the temperature setting in winter and my engine would run at 0 Celsius. Have 30k kms on it and only filled up 1 time and still have over half a tank left. Love this car. If only the bolt was more stylish I'd get that when we trade the minivan in. Going with the Kona unless something else with 450km+ range comes along other than Tesla.
I owned a 2013 Chevy Volt. It was an extremely well built vehicle. During the several years that I owned the car, I never had to have the car repaired for a single issue. The car was very comfortable to drive. The fully electric range was 27 miles in the cold New Hampshire winters and averaged 38 miles in the summer. However, with careful driving the range can easily be extended to 45 miles. Once, while hypermiling I achieved a range of 55 miles. Awesome car. Just wished that this model had a longer fully electric range and did not require premium gas. Later models do not require premium gas and have better fully electric range.
I have owned the Volt since 2014......I wish there was a battery upgrade (100+ miles)
I have a BMW i3. BMW Germany makes available the option to upgrade the battery - but lets the local country offices decide if they want to offer it or not. The original i3 came with a 22 kWh battery, and now it has a 33 kWh battery. BMW USA (and Canada) don't offer it. Mine doesn't need a new battery yet, but I hope they start offering it (or especially the rumored-to-come-out-soon double-original-capacity ~40 kWh battery) by the time needs replacing.
Anonymous Freak I'm considering leasing an i3. Until the model 3 $35,000 version is available
I would love to be able to upgrade battery to a higher capacity for the Volt!
My 2014 Volt with 38 miles ev range was enough that I rarely switched to Hold mode. The lifetime EPA on it was 90 miles. There is a Plug in hybrid Jaguar with 97 ev miles of range, but the cost is around 100 grand.
Brian Sherick, you know, although I would also like to be all-electric on my occasional longer trips, the benefit would not justify the cost. And even if the price were somehow $0, and pack volume and thermal management capacity weren't issues (they are), there's still other issues. Don't forget that all the extra weight would reduce your electric range, and be tougher on your suspension & handling, as well.
So, I'm just happy that I have a practical EV that's a PURE EV 90% of the time for me, yet has no operational limitations. When it's -3F outside (engine cabin heat when needed, makes it "OK" to burn gas!), or on the fairly rare occasions that I have to take a day-trip of a couple hundred miles or so, I'm grateful for the range extender!
I think Chevy hit the *perfect* trade-off between cost and capability. The engineers had a TON of variables to consider, and made some downright brilliant design choices.
We have had a 2014 Ampera for 18 months now and we both love it. My wife drives it to work during the week and has never had to use the engine at all. We both use it at weekends and I tend to do the longer journeys which involve a mix of battery and petrol power. I tend to drive electric in towns and use the engine on motorways and A roads. Unlike other range extended EVs (which is how GM and I would describe the Ampera) I am in complete control of whether I use electric or engine power, as long as there is charge in the battery. We have never charged it anywhere except at home (using an EV charger) or at the homes of our parents using their 3-pin sockets and the 'granny charger'. Since we bought the car, the balance of petrol and electric mileage has tipped in favour of petrol because of frequent visits to elderly parents who live hundreds of miles away. Nevertheless, the lifetime fuel efficiency for our car is still 100mpg. The car cost us £15K from a Vauxhall dealer when it had 36K on the clock and we think its a keeper. We both love the way it looks and drives, and the sound system is pretty good for a car at this price point. However it definitely has the quirks that Nikki mentions, buggy in car entertainment especially. It has been super reliable for us and although Vauxhall is now part of PSA (with unknown consequences for legacy vehicles like the Ampera) there's a good network of knowledgeable and enthusiastic owners on SpeakEV who help each other out. If you're in the market for a good looking hybrid see if you can test drive an Ampera/Volt. You will be impressed.
I have a 2012 ampera which I absolutely love. It's my first foray into electric cars and for my type of driving which is just mainly short trips around town it's absolutely perfect. In the warmer months I get above 45 miles on a full charge and in the colder months I get round 26 to 30. I've also taken it on many long-distance trips and it still gets up upwards of 50 miles to the gallon. The build quality is easily up there with the high-end German brands such as Audi and BMW. Put it in sport mode and it will easily take most other petrol cars off the line up to about 40mph. I paid 10500 for it a year ago and it's probably worth similar now privately. It's definitely worthwhile checking out one of these if you're considering a move to electric as it does away with the Range anxiety all together and if you like me and just potter around town you very rarely need to put fuel in.
140000 miles on it and it still makes me giggle
Thank you Nikki for covering the Volt. I purchased a 2013 Volt in 2016 (21K miles/16K$ purchase). I have a 60 mile a day commute so I use a little gasoline each day .10 to .23 gallons. I get 45 to 50 miles even in the summer with A/C use. I haven't seen any drop in battery capacity and now have over 50K miles on it. It's not the car I really wanted (I wanted the Volt concept!), but the production Volt I must say is a lot more practical and all around was what I needed (needs before wants). I've only had one issue, left from trans-axle bearing went out. Covered by my extended warranty by CarMax. Only had to pay $100.00 deductible. Other than that the car has never let me down, even with the occasional (I think 3 times since I purchased the car) computer glitches where a power off/on resolved the glitch. Funny, sort of reminds me of the response GM issued after Bill Gates compared the computer and auto industry (www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/joke/crash.htm). Thank goodness the Volt doesn't act even close to Microsoft products!
I have a 2013 volt with 83k miles, it is our best most dependable car so far.
I've had my 2014 Volt for a little over 2 years now. Terrific car and it's surprisingly smooth riding for being such a small and 'economy-minded' car. My only serious complaints are 1) The windows are short and the A-pillar is really big, leading to some visibility issues, and 2) The infotainment system doesn't crash, but it's very clunky and BT takes forever to connect.
The only time the engine runs that's outside of your control besides when the battery is low is 1) When ambient temperatures drop below 32/20f (Can be changed in vehicle settings) and 2) If the engine hasn't reached operating temperature for long enough, or enough fuel has been used in *6 weeks*. This is to circulate oil and boil off water in it, and to help keep the fuel in the fuel lines from going bad. I believe the latter is a _necessary evil_ to keep the engine running reliably. The first one is more of a convenience for battery range and battery temperature. BEV's don't have an alternative energy source available, so keeping the battery warm means using its own power, along side having to warm the cabin and power the motors.
MY'13 Ampera driver here, it's phenomenally good.... Done 19k miles since last October, 135mpg :) average 4m/kWh in winter and 4.7m/kWh in summer
I own a 2014 Volt, and like it quite a bit. Bought the thing used for a bargain, a fully loaded version. Imagine I traded in a loaded Mustang GT (three years ago) and they gave me a newer car with fewer miles and a check for the difference :) I spent $21 total in gas this year, and drive about 1,000 miles monthly. I get 40 miles with A/C on consistently, city/hwy mixed drive, while my wife gets 30 max (drive fast, range tanks). Lifetime MPG on my car is >230.
Things that I wish were better / issues I had:
- My infotainment is buggy, GPS doesn't work as I keep drifting on map. Lane departure and distance warning systems get confused often (false alerts are frequent).
- The OE tires (Goodyear low rolling res) wear too fast. I suspect my current set will last altogether 30k, maybe. Since I am in Houston it could be a combination of heat and cement (abrasive) roads
- Back seat is too tight, hatch back makes annoying creaks on bumpy roads (here it's everywhere)
- Drivetrain bearing failed under warranty one time, and it's starting to make spaceship sounds again now (30k miles after). I think this is an $800 job at Chevrolet.
- Had a strange issue one time: The glue used to bond the floor pan cracked and was letting water in from the road. I thought it was from air conditioner, took me several tries to find out where it was coming from. Dealer never found it, I did and fixed it with plumbing putty. I guess this could be any GM vehicle.
- Chevy dealers here in Houston don't understand what the car is, look at you like you're stupid when you refer to Voltec warranty, and become speechless when you say you don't need them to change the automatic transmission fluid.
Things I love about the car
- Ability to commute without using any gas and the ability to travel using gas
- Torque off the line
- How quiet the ride is, car handles very well, there's a sense of smooth, high quality (except when hatch creaks)
- Never have to worry about replacing break pads or rotors, in fact the mechanics don't wear if you drive primarily electric. Your IC motor is almost brand new even when your car is not (therefore practically no wear maintenance)
- Battery pack is rock solid, absolutely no hint of degradation.
- I love the electric AC unit, every car in the market should have systems like this
- Data the car generates is unique and very engaging. Used this with my son for his science fair experiment (strangely volt uses less energy to drive with windows open vs with windows closed and AC on, except at highway speeds).
- Like explaining how the car works to my fellow engineers and colleagues, still a novelty.
- From a package standpoint I find the Volt was well planned: you can take it to Lowes and bring home a stack of half dozed 8ft long 2x4s.Fits so snuggly :) Hatch back is very useful.
- I like how I changed personally as a consequence of this little car: I feel I don't compromise much while avoiding adding to air pollution, and I now think loud sports cars mufflers sound like farts :)
- I personally think Gen 1 Volt is by far the best looking EV/Plug in in the entire market, south of Tesla. Looks super sharp.
TOP MARKS for an excellent, and in my opinion very accurate, discussion of the first-generation Volt/Ampera! Really cool to see this in late 2018!
I have leased a 2012 Volt (3 years, 33,000 mi., 94% electric, 33gal gas TOTAL), and when the lease ended, I bought a 2014 Volt. This is in the very frigid USA state of Wisconsin (think "cold winters"). Both have performed magnificently, were/are super-fun to drive, and highly reliable. Their high efficiency goes without saying, of course.
Personally, I've always had a hard time criticizing my Volts for having only 4 seats, because my sweetheart and I only have one rear-end each. That means we really have TWO SPARE SEATS already. We don't really feel we need a third one :-)
Love my Volt (2013 1st gen), the best practical EV in my mind.
I own a Volt for the sole reason that...it's the only EV I can find in my area. You can actually just hop on over to a dealership and buy a pre-owned Volt. Any other EV, I'd have to get shipped to me via Carvana or drive out of town.
Well, that's not 100% true. There's also the leaf, but I'm super wary of its battery longevity. I don't want to buy a used leaf and end up having to replace its battery just a couple years down the road.
Warning about Carvana (and I know some have had excellent service, but not me) - I picked a 2013 Volt and was promised a delivery date four times over a period of 4 weeks! Nothing but excuses. Finally they offered me $50.00 a week for each week the car was not deliverable (starting after the 4 weeks had passed). I went to Carmax, picked up a 2013 Volt, same price, better warranty. The next day I called Carvana and told them to keep their Volt. Note: They were always polite, but being nice doesn't do much good if you can't delivery the product.
Agree with your assessment of the Leaf. Nissan rushed it, both 1st and 2nd gen Leaf. Too many issues and excuses. Nikki has covered them so we all know about the problems. I just don't trust the car like I do my Volt. Besides, it's even more butt ugly than the Prius. :)
yeah, I live in eastern part of EU, I only saw Volt once, and never saw an Ampera. By comparison there are a lot of Prius'es, like every second taxi. Volts/Amperas are rarer than ferarris in EU
I like the Volt. It looks snazzy and can be used as a commuter and the occasional long trip as well. Seems like a winner until solid state batteries arrive on the scene and change the whole game.
Agreed. Plus the selling point of "range anxiety" is poor and should not be used to sell the Volt. Clearly most of those who buy an electric vehicle (speaking for the US) have a second vehicle in the family. When they plan a trip that's going to go beyond their pure electric vehicles range, they switch to the alternate. With the Volt there is no "oh yeah, we have to use the gas guzzling SUV). We Volt owners simply drive our Volts and still get great fuel mileage. I recently drove from Dallas TX to Waco and back. The average MPG was just under 60 mpg. If I had a pure electric, I would have had to drive my Chevy Avalanche 2500 (8.1L big block under the hood). Instead of burning 4 gallons of gasoline I would have burned over 16. It's nice to have the choice instead of having my electric vehicle just sit in the driveway because I can't get to/from where I want to go. Great car.
What about the Kona, 400 mile range, justed raced a tesla across norway and won because it had to charge a lot less!
Great! But this video is about USED plug-in cars ;) The Kona Electric won't be available used for some time!
The same is true of the Prius Prime, which has better MPG on gasoline than the Volt/Ampera, but shorter electric range than current versions. The Prius Prime is more suitable than the Volt for situations where charging availability is limited and gasoline prices are high.
But again, the Prius Prime isn't available on the used car market... yet!
The Prime's electric range is shorter than all Volts. EPA electric for the PP is 25 miles but G1 V was 35-38 miles and G2 V is 53 mi.
I think the volt is one of the best transition EV's... Indeed, my dog is named "Volt!" Never got one as I got a used Leaf but it's really the only used option out there that can go a thousand miles when needed and the design was pretty ingenious...
I have owned my 2013 Holden Volt for 3.5 years. Only 246 were sold in Australia. Best car I have ever owned so far. I have used 128 litres of fuel to travel over 42,000 kilometres (0.3 litres/100km lifetime economy). I would class it as an electric car for most of my driving. Slow changing of max 3.3kw is the biggest negative. Tesla is really the best option for long distance travel in Australia. Waiting for RHD Model 3 production to come to Australia.
I am jealous of my coworkers volt. We live at the extent range for the volt if you drive careful. And work installed plugs. He has bought gas in 2018 a couple times. I buy gas every week for my Prius. Jealousy doesn’t mean I am buying volt... but I sooo want to get into an EV before they are everywhere.
better buying an ev as soon as possible, the car pays it self!
R A as long as you do mega miles.
I owned a used 2014 Volt Premium for a year and a half before I traded it in on a used 2017 Volt LT. The 2014 is a great car, but I wanted a second generation Volt and bought the 2017. They are the best cars I have owned.
The more familiar you get with the car the smarter you become on how to utilize it. On average, I take a 600 mile round trip every three months. In between that time, I drive on EV power only. Always look at the life time MPG; I purchased mine with a 67 MPG, and currently it is at 77. Some people have more than doubled that, which is excellent.
There are Volts on the road with well over 200,000 miles and I know of some with more than 300,000 thousand miles. Buy one !
I purchased my 2014 Volt in Oct. of '17 for $16,000 and have to say I'm very pleased with my purchase! It had 32,000 miles on it when I bought it and was GM Certified pre owned with full factory new car warranty. It's lifetime mpg average is sitting at 130mpg and we simply love this car. We've put just under 5,000 miles on it since owning it. Our daughter just purchased a 2018 Honda Clarity and this weekend we were comparing the 2018 Volt to the 2018 Clarity. I think the Volt beats the Clarity in all categories other than interior roominess. I'm looking forward to buying the 2019 Volt as my next used car in about 3 years.
Aha, this is the first I've heard about people knowing the firsthand differences between the Clarity and the Volt. The one problem I have with the honda is its 6 gallon gas tank, but it looks like a nice car with a 47 mile EV range.
GM has made new improvements on the 2nd generation Volt, you'll be able to charge it faster for starters. You'll love the extended range from 38 miles to 53. On average, my car gets a 55 mile ev range. Enjoy !
I really like the Clarity's interior and it definitely is roomier than the Volt. My reading says it has a 7gal. tank. I still like the Volt better even though I'm a big guy. I really want one with the regen paddles on the steering wheel and adaptive cruise control. Plus I like the 2 tone leather options Volt offers now. When my daughter and son in-law visited this weekend they used the adaptive cruise control feature on their Clarity and really liked it on the whole 150 mile trip through city freeway and mountain roads and were very impressed with the way it functioned, so I'm looking forward to getting an '18 or '19 Volt. when they start hitting the used market.
I use the regen paddles all the time. The car is sleek looking and gets a lot of compliments.
Here in America you see these shops "We repair laptops and mobile phones" but in the future maybe they will say "We repair laptops, mobile phones, and BEVs" LOL!
i appreciate the use of kilometers
I love my 2014 Chevy Volt. It has 70,000 miles & I've had zero problems.
It's an amazing car and it's very reliable. With the last update I got 20% less in range which is non sense since they should allow the user to take advantage of more of the 16KWH battery pack.
I wish there were more information on how to improve the car customizing some parts like the infotainment or bring the onboard charger to 32amps which is totally legit for the battery.
That's great. I unfortunately live in Australia and once GM (Holden) stopped bringing them into the country those who bought them are simply hanging onto them. There are simply none available. It's a pity; I thought I would be driving a 4 year old one by now.
I may be wrong but I thought ford was still making going to roll out the 2019 Fusion... The Ford energi models have an EV mode switching button. The "EV Now" mode will lock out the engine, under heavy acceleration a message will pop up asking if you want to engage the engine... So
I own a '12 Volt and I'm in love with it still. It has been an issue-free car that has 60K + miles. My next car will be a second Gen Volt once the price drops. I say the Volt is a better choice than any fully electric car due to the need for long range trips, you still might need a second car. But not with the Volt.
I have looked at a few Ampera's here in the UK as they are really cheap used and all low mileage and seem a really good option, but like the Prius plug-in it is only a 4 seater which is a bit of a bummer for me, but we will see
I fully understand the four seat issue, and even then the two in the back are a pretty tight fit. However when looking at the Volt a potential buyer needs to consider what the car was really designed for - a commuting vehicle, not a family vehicle. Taking that into consideration, it's a great design and exceptional vehicle for commuting. However, there is another area that is often overlooked - as a hatch back, there's a lot of room in the back when the rear seats are folded down. It makes running to the market an other stores a breeze. The hatch opens wide and I've loaded the back up and still had plenty of room for more. The car passes for not only a commuter but a grocery get'er too.
Thank you so much for your info. Be prepared and warn that this comment will be a long one just because I'm a Volt owner and I can't say enough about the car. I just hope that I don't jinks myself and say all the good stuff about the car and then something major happens to the car. Anyhow I have been wanting a car sooooooooooo bad that I no longer need to visit the gas station. For many years or rather for at least 10 years I envied all of the Prius owners achieving over 50 mpg. I wanted so bad to get that type of mileage and would directly affect my pocket book so for years my ultimate dream car was a Hybrid Prius. It was only when I stumbled on a TH-cam video to discover what it means what a Plug-in Hybrid vehicle was.
I was floored and couldn't believe what type of mileage I would get if I went with a Plugin Hybrid. This means if I plugin my vehicle daily and my commute was less then 40 miles round trip I could wipe out my gas cost all together. Mind you that before I even bought my Chevy Volt I was drive a very fuel economy vehicle which was the Hyundai Accent. The best MPG that I got out of the car was 36 mpg. Even that was horrible to me because driving around town and not taking the freeways was killing my wallet. I live in the city of Torrance CA which is in the county of Los Angeles and my average miles would be 5 miles here, 3 miles to the a shopping mall, 4 miles to the theatre, going to church which is 6 miles from my house. I totally hated it. Filling my tank every 3 days or at times even 5 days and putting $12.00 to $16.00. I hated pulling out my wallet just to do small errands and driving to my normal activities through out the week. My total gas expense was anywhere from $30.00 to $80 per week which may not be a lot to many people but it was enough for me to say enough is enough. When I finally started hunting for my car I literally threw up and could believe the pricing I was finding for a used Chevy Volt. I knew in the past that when you look for a used car you'll find incredible pricing and not nearly what they were straight from the dealer showroom when they were brand new.
A brand new 2015 Chevy Volt at the time was going for $35k and with a full package model climbs to $40k. There is no way in hell that I would ever afford something like that. Being now 4 years later I found a used Chevy Volt with on 33k miles on the odometer to me was a brand new vehicle. I was able to find my Volt for only $11k and with all of the other fees such as gap insurance, tax and license, my total out the door came to a whopping $14k. I wanted super low payments every month so my total monthly car note comes to $291 per month. To me that is so doable and my life doesn't have to suffer because I have to come up with a huge car bill every month and I could enjoy once in a while going to dinner, and a movie here and there.
I never in my life had ever purchase an American vehicle trusted only on Japanese made cars. I just couldn't put my faith in them just because till now the track record of American vehicles are not as reliable or stable as Japanese imports but being how informative TH-cam is and finding out what real Volt owners would say about the car just had me at a stand still. Owner after owner, after owner rave about the car. To top it all no real major fault or problems with even owners that have a 2011 models. That's almost 10 years since Chevy produced the very first Chevy Volt.
Right now my total average mpg is at 117 miles. That is fricken unbelievable. Funny I thought my most desired dream car was the Toyota Prius and it was only because of the 50mpg. I totally blew that mileage out the door based on my daily driving. The more and more I thought about purchasing the Prius the more I said to myself that it's all about the styling also. Forgive me but every model Prius that's out there are simply butt butt ugly. I totally feel that my particular model has sexy lines and doesn't look like what I call a moon car which is what a Prius is to me. It is sleek and looks very aerodynamic. So yes to say do I like the car, I think after reading this you can say that I more than like the car. GM has nailed this car out of the park and totally has achieved a grand slam for what they did.
I've owned (3) Chevrolet Volts and currently own the Cadillac ELR. An EV for daily commutes and an EREV without "range anxiety"!
How about Mitsubishi outlander PHEV ? It does 30 miles in EV and it has EV only mode + AWD and space for 5 + gear.
I drive my cmax energi for weeks without using any gas; there 's a button on the dash that keeps the gas engine off, no worries about pushing it too hard.
I would like to know the gas milage of hybrid cars if your battery was dead when you start. I can find out how far you can go on battery and gas milage combined with battery but not with just the gas milage without battery.
I drove my 2013 Volt down to Waco and back (about 250 miles round trip). After driving full electric for 45 miles and switching over to ICE my average when I arrived back at home was still over 61 mpg. I know you're asking about on a dead battery, but for the most part you wouldn't drive the Volt this way. From what I understand it'll pull about 38 mpg if the drive was entirely on ICE.
I drive an X5D my wife has a BEV i3. I switched with her to see what i could do with my 100% street 8.8 mile commute. I had it for 9 days. Drove 161 miles (this is not a REX) and it said i still had 9 miles of range. And the level 2 charger put back 31.88 kw in 4 hours 25 minutes. AWESOME
The 8.8 miles is one way
How much for a Ford Fusion Energi ? $1,100 ? What! at 2:22
I noticed that too, I think a zero was missed.
Yeah, like WHERE
We love our Volt and are reluctantly selling it. It handles California driving beautifully, the 38 mile range is enough that we will go months between gas usage and close to a year between fill-ups. However, we got our Model 3 and can't afford two car payments, so if anyone wants a 50,000 mile 2013 Volt in the SF Bay Area with five months of HOV sticker usage remaining, send me a message.
I have a 2012 Chevy Volt with 91k miles and it has been honestly the most reliable car I have ever owned. It's super low maintenance, compared to my past cars. My car is in the shop currently due to an accident and I have been driving a Ford fusion Energi. Comparing the 2, the 2012 volt wins hands down. I like the space in the fusion but its drivetrain is clunky and it's almost impossible to stay in all electric mode. I reccomend the volt to anyone who asks. And I get 45-50 miles range consistently here in Georgia.
My 2012 volt usually has 35 or more miles of electric range (got it used). The only thing I wish mine had was hold mode, but that's available on 2013 and newer. Otherwise, I love my volt.
Another great honest and short review. Not bad, not good, just as it is. You continue to be a great ambassador to your mission.
Yes it is. It offers good value and performance. I average 10,000 MPG on my 17” and did my first oil change at 20,000 miles. Dealer forced the oil change to maintain the warranty even though the gas engine only has 80 miles on it.
dustin hatch I’d say change that oil at least once a year no matter the miles. Might seem crazy to change barely used oil but “they” say the additives break down over time. I have an “older” F150, have to change the oil every summer even though I rarely put 1500 miles a year on it. It may not matter but I wouldn’t want to find out the hard way that it did...
I believe the Volt service calculator lets the car go up to 2 years between oil changes based on engine use.
here is some help full info .. med year 2014 volts have the lager battery pack . when going used make sure of what kind of tires are on them. wrong tries can cut 50% rang from the car . 2013 and 2014 has added parts in the fount for a crash and added safety . if you live in FL or some thing like it and run the tires at 40 psi and set the AC at 79 you well see rang as high as 55 miles as i do but i all so have alot of 45 mpr zones around me and drive in L all the time . driving in low all the time well add ware to the CV and well get the knocking sound like Tesla gets in about 40K miles .the AC work well for the front seats only.it takes alot more power to cool the hole car.. i payed 7K for my 2014 volt 16K miles on it but that was before EVs got so hot . if you find a EV for 7K it should only take 3 years for the car to pay for it self in gas saved . my firend gave up his volt for a older leaf and is more happy with the leaf with 80miles rang
Good video. I've shied away from considering hybrids, whatever their configuration, simply because they are carrying 'dead' weight, in one form or another. Though the Volt is an interesting version of the type. An important point to consider with the Volt, in terms of becoming a potential owner is that GM sold Opel/Vauxhall to PSA Group [Citroen, Peugeot, DS] and although they produce the Volt [and Bolt] for the PSA Group, the servicing and accident repairs will undoubtedly bring issues in years to come. With a Bolt that may not be a problem in terms of servicing alone [topping up that washer bottle], but the Volt has a sophisticated engine. Perhaps enquire of a good independent garage first if the vehicle is out of warranty.
It's not really dead weight - If you swapped the weight of the engine and its anciliaries out for more Volt batteries you wouldn't get a fraction of the range that the ICE motor gives you. The fact that the Volt battery only ever charges to 80% and doesn't discharge bellow 20% is only possible because of the ICE engine being there in reserve. People worry too much about the maintenance of the ICE engine too. Reality is its not stressed in any way and is impossible to thrash so should be very low maintenance. It's just not doing any of the work even hybrid would be doing provided you charge up every day.
totally agree my 2012 volt ($10000) is the best car have ever had,nice styling as well
I bought my 2013 with 54k miles for $9k. Best money ever invested. I love my little volt
So quiet, ride feels bold and big. Never received an issue, wherever I live there is a plugin that charges only $20-40 a month. And I love this Bose sound system. I do not care about the long trip because of builtin electronic generator that uses good gas mileage.
I'm fairly sure the Volt engineers are separated from other models. Good sciences. Do they still make Volt? This automobile is so underrated.
I have a 2017 and overall I'm very happy with my first 12,000 miles. Not emphasized in the video was acceleration/torque. The Volt leaves a Prius Prime (or many a BMW for that matter) waaaay behind at the stoplight.
The Chevy Volt is a very underrated and under talked about vehicle.
I'd be all over one on the used Market if it had the extra seat in the back unfortunately that's a deal-killer for me personally right now.
Reliability has been extremely good on the Chevy Volt there is a guy on TH-cam who has a first gen and a 2nd gen. 500,000 miles on the 1st Gen and the only repairs that he's had are replacement front wheel bearings. He's had to replace the wheel bearings 4 times, so that definitely seems to be a weak point. However Chevrolet covered the first replacement under warranty and those Replacements bearings were then covered under warranty each time.
but even if you had to replace wheel bearings out of your own pocket that is not a very expensive repair.
I had the front left replaced once so far. If this occurs more than once then there's a bigger problem. They need to replace the entire drive components. Something is out of spec and causing the repeating failure. That's simply a bad mechanic not recognizing the issue. If my left front goes bad again I'll be talking to CarMax (extended warranty) about replacing more than just the bearings. Since the car was pre-owned I can't say if the former owner did anything that caused the premature failure of the left front bearings. Only time will tell. Having 500,000 miles with only this issue though is pretty remarkable. The 1st gen were certainly overbuilt. Chevrolet couldn't afford to have this car fail. Will gen 2 last as long? Only time will tell. I do love my 2013 though the extra range of the 2016+ Volt is enticing. One of those would cover my 60 mile a day commute, where my 2013 falls just shy by 10 miles. I just can't seem to squeeze that extra 10 miles out of her, at least, not yet :)
Todd Crenshaw
one possibility on the wheel bearing failures in the front is that you've got a pretty significant amount of torque Being applied since it's an electric vehicle. It's possible that the bearing that they chose was probably just an off-the-shelf bearing that they had available from a Chevy Malibu or some other vehicle. Perhaps it's slightly under built for the task at hand. It's also possible to have a seal fail on a bearing and some crap gets in there and damages it.
changing wheel bearing is not that difficult to do yourself if you have a few tools most of the GM wheel bearings are a bolt in design. So you would pull the wheel take ofg the axle nut and there should be three or four bolts that hold the bearing and hub assembly to the steering knuckle.
I would love to have a Chevy Volt unfortunately the lack of three seats in the back limits its use for me.
Good points and with the instant full torque out of electric motors it wouldn't be unusual that this could be an issue. I know I've seen many drive Volts like ICE cars, not realizing that they don't need as much throttle pulling from a stop sign/light as an ICE vehicle. Of course once they find they can accelerate quicker than an ICE from those situations, they continue to do so, possibly causing more issues. However I also have to put some consideration into Chevrolet's testing and have some faith that they did put in a bearing that is capable of dealing with the issue. Since this has been an on-going issue with the Volt, there are a lot of possibilities. Considering that some (like me) have had this issue, but many more haven't, it's a toss up what's really going on here. As for the doing the work myself - well when I was younger that most likely would have happen. Now days though I'm well past tired of smashing fingers and getting grease everywhere :) Plus I paid for that extended warranty, I want my money back out of it, so CarMax gets to do the work for me.
Todd Crenshaw
Absolutely if you paid for the extended warranty I would definitely let CarMax do the work. You might make sure that when they put a replacement part in there that they either get it directly from Chevrolet or a quality aftermarket part possibly Moog or Timken or whatever brand is available that is of good quality. The TH-cam video that I saw where the guy had 500, 000 miles he had put 4 front bearings.
That's a bearing failure every 125k
that's not that far out of the reasonable lifespan for a front wheel bearing. I've seen some last far less than that.
definitely enjoy your car I wish I could own one but I simply must have three seats in the back. So for now I keep buying used Toyota Priuses. Not exactly an exciting car but they are practical and reliable and where I live quite inexpensive. I've got a 2008 with 242000 miles on it.
Love my VOLT, coming from luxury sedans the VOLT does not feel or drive like an economy car. I've been measuring charging power out of the wall for 15 months (13k miles), I get exactly 98.0MPGe on electricity (7kmiles). At an average of $.131/kwh, comparing to $2.747/gallon of regular over the same time period, on electricity I get equivalent of 61mpg. When using gasoline (premium) I get 39.2 mpg (6k miles). Converting total fuel cost to MPG I get 52MPG compared to the cost of premium and 44 compared to regular. Honestly I am a little disappointed at those numbers, then I remember that is every mile I drive in all 4 seasons. I drive a lot of long trips so my gasoline usage is high. I have converted that data to a Gen 2 and I would get cost equivalent to regular of 53MPG, a hard number to beat, again 12 month a year, every mile, not just that one time you got 60MPG on a road trip in your Corolla.
Creaking noise from the n/s/r
I have 2014 Ampera and love it apart from a creaking sound from the left side rear.
It’s been to Vauxhall while under warrantee over 5 times they had it weeks but could never get to the bottom of it.
They changed the shocks, breaks, bushes etc. but still there
It only does it when its dry (stops when it rains) when you move forward or backwards at very low speed quite loud, if you bounce the car up and down - nothing! Only when you take off and come to a stop. Any thoughts?
Bought an Ampera Earth with only 3k on the clock for £18k and mostly use it on pure electric around town. But it's great to have the ability to do the odd long range trip and get over 50mpg. It's a great car and introduction to EVs. There are plenty of examples out there with 30-40k on the clock for around £12k. Considering the equipment on the Electron and Positiv variants it's a steal
There's a guy on the forums with over 400,000 miles on his 2011 Volt.
Love my gen 2 Volt. Round trip 30 mile commute today w/ 40 miles left on the GOM when I got home. I was driving, um, carefully.
I just sold my 2012 Chevy volt. I would not get a used Chevy Volt unless I purchased an extended warranty. In the last year of ownership I had many issues with failed battery packs which caused the car to completely lose power while I was on the highway a number of times. The Volt actually has 3 different and separate battery packs. I replaced my Volt with a Chevy BOLT and a three-year lease. I would not recommend the Chevy BOLT as it has major aerodynamic issues.
They fixed it. It was a software issue
William Erazo do you mean the thing with the Volts?
Armor Guard - 200+ miles of range on
Armor Guard, I assume you meant aerodynamic
I own a Chevrolet volt and I love it ...no problems at all ....the car has 60.000 miles 😉👍 volt 2014 year
Great video! Doesn't the first generation require premium gasoline?
Jackson Bangs
Yes, the first Gen does recommend Premium. GM change engines with the Gen 2 Volt requiring only Regular.
Premium gasoline is formulated in a way it degrades slower than regular. Gasoline degradation over time is a problem when rarely used.
The engine uses an Atkinson Cycle, with a delayed closing of the admission valves that lower the effective admission displacement in relation to the combustion displacement. This setup converts a higher proportion of the chemical fuel energy into mechanical energy (thermal efficiency) at the cost of lowering power density of the engine (that behaves as a smaller displacement one). The engine is not run at extreme conditions, and probably does not require higher grade fuel for this, just to survive more time unused in the tank.
Celso Starec thanks for the explanation... maybe I will use a gas additive instead of premium ? Although wit avg 170 mpg of gas and -2 to plus 6 dollars of electricity a month compared to before since I bought my 2015 used Volt for $15,000/ 24000 m., it’s a revolution in auto technology.
Now, if the tire manufacturers could solve the tire noise problem since I can hear them...
Since in my situation I drive more gas vs electric daily 87 is fine ? I I use 40 miles gas a day avg
Since in my situation I drive more gas vs electric daily 87 is fine ? I I use 40 miles gas a day avg
I love my used volt. I don’t think my model year (2013) has a mechanical link between the generator and the wheels. I would recommend picking one up for anyone looking for something they can drive as a pure EV without paying out the nose or sacrificing range for road trips or errands. Bonus for the pack-in chargers being easily and safely modifiable to L2 functionality.
Cool I have 3 Chevy volts and one of my big selling points is getting off of Middle Eastern Oil and being able to produce my own electricity to drive the car I'm not going to be too happy if Tesla uses too much Saudi money to go private since I planned on buying a Tesla and this may affect my decision and other Americans decisions
I don't know if you read these .
I want to get a leaf and I'm thinking I will wait till the e + comes to market in California .
I know the dealers are pushing the 2018.
I hear that the e + is larger ,liquid cooled and is not made by Nissan .
It may have a range of around 225 miles.
I drove the current model and fell in love.
Can you give me any insight?
I believe that Ford still makes the Fusion Energi and has even announced the 2019 model with a longer battery range
I love my 2015 volt, just got it a few days ago.
I feel like the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV would be a better choice for ROW used markets. Used ones can be found in the low teens in Europe now. Kinda bummed the US didn't get them back in 2014 when they had originally planned on selling them in the States.
Andrew yep, but the battery degradation is a concern and you can't get full ev power without the engine starting up. But they have chademo and can to 1500kg
Excellent video! I was just looking into one to compliment the Leaf for longer trips.
Yeah, please don't call it a hybrid! call it what it is: an EREV. The ICE motor almost never actually couples to the wheels. It is an electric drive car even when the ICE motor is running. Also you said it shifts. It does not. It has one forward gear ratio. period. Also, driving in "low" is only an increase in regenerative braking (you can drive at any speed in low)
I love my 2013 Volt! 942 mpg average over last 4,000+ miles!!!
I’m going to stick my neck out here. It’s nomenclature that nobody agrees on. I could have called it an EREV, but then I’d have seen as many people protesting...
Transport Evolved fair enough. And yes, it is probably the best deal going here in the US anyways. About $15000US for 2014/2015 Premium model with +-35,000 miles.
Awesome video! What modle year did Chevy switch the Volt from using premium gas to regular gas?
The model year that the Chevy Volt switched to regular gasoline was 2016.
I have a 2012/12 Ampera and i love it!
This has just got me looking at Vauxhall Amperas on Autotrader. Nearest one is over 300 miles away. Oh well, never mind. 😄
Just add to the price the cost of a 600 mile round trip to check out the car plus a 300 mile follow-up trip if you then decide to buy and collect it.
I've never used it but BlaBlaCar can find you a rideshare if you and others want to save money on the journey.
I had one (before my divorce) and loved the drive. Hated the console and infotainment system. Also the air con / heater was annoying as you can't control it manually. Would def recommend tho for someone who has a commute that will fit into its EV range, wants to occasionally use it for longer journeys and can't yet afford a bigger battery full BEV.
I
Simply saying that the 40 km Vehicle from 2010 - 2014 and the 80 km 2015 - 2019 variants are their range is not truthfully their real world ranges. I happen to own a 2018 Chevrolet Volt Premier. ( Please note having a Premier does not make the range better as the LT model of the Volt is basically the same when it comes to battery sizes and capacity to charge ).
My Volt routinely achieves a real world range of 160 km in summer which is better than the rated range of 85 km that the vehicle is slated to get year round. I also have managed to get a nominal charge when I plug the car in overnight of 135 km from May until October. NOTE: The regenerative range of the car makes up the other 25 km easily to bring the car up to the 160 km previously stated. So basically, in Spring - Summer - Fall, I plug in the car overnight while I am sleeping from mid-night until 5:00 am to wake up then next day to a fully charged battery of 135 km. The ONLY time the Volt gets the rated range is during the winter months when the car charges to 85 km unless it is -40 degree's C. At which time the battery management system kicks in to keep the battery at optimal temperature, I get somewhat lower at -40 C, perhaps 75 km instead of the 85 km, but it still runs the ICE whenever I start the car anyways during the winter, as the engine automatically starts at +10 C.
Disclaimer, I live in Northern Ontario, Canada. The ideal temperature in the Spring - Summer - Fall is +20 to +30 degree's C, most of the time from the middle of April until the middle of November. After that period the Winter weather kicks in and the temps dip below 0 most days and colder at night.
Too bad you guys didn't get the 2016 ELR - fantastic upgraded version of gen 1 Voltec in a dead sexy Cadillac coupe body. (leased a 2013 Volt for 3 years...just upgraded from a Chevy Spark EV to the ELR and LOVE it)
Well, WE do because I live in the U.S. -- but I think you mean Europeans ;)
Yes my bad, the video was obviously UK based and assumed.
Question ? Do hybrids/range extender cars have two separate clocks for each engine mileage
ie . You drive the car for 50000 miles ,bet just use the engine for 10000 ,can you find this out in the on-board computer
I have a second generation Volt, and that information is accessible from the app (and probably elsewhere). The app shows you total miles, miles in EV mode, and percentage of miles in EV mode, both for the lifetime of the vehicle and since the last full charge.