My Volt

Since I purchased my Volt, I have been asked lots of questions from dozens of people. Most of the questions have generally stemmed from honest curiosity; however there are those that have made a prior judgment on the Volt. The post is to answer some of the curiosity questions and clear up what I see as politically motivated disinformation.

The environment was not in the top 5 of reasons why I bought a Volt, but a concern over $5 or $7 gas was. As were “must have” criteria for acceleration and handling characteristics of a V-6 (or at least a 4 cylinder turbo). I also demanded most of the bells and whistles that I had on my Maxima. I did give up a heated steering wheel and a moonroof though but I did get some other stuff that my Maxima didn’t have.

Yes the Volt is expensive … when compared to a Ford Festiva, Nissa Versa or similar cars, but I have no interest in driving any of them. The Chevy Cruze (the starting point for the Volt) and others in its class are about 10K less but do not come anywhere close to meeting my acceleration and handling criteria or features. When compared to a Fusion Hybrid or VW TDI then the Volt is about 3-5K more. Even if gas goes back to $3 I’ll make that up in 6-8 years (at $5 gas it’s 4-5 years). I also won’t have nearly as many maintenance and repair costs as I likely will put less than 20K miles on the ICE in a decade. This should help to defray battery replacement costs at 8-12 years. I’m not bad mouthing any of these cars they just didn’t fit my needs.

Yes, coal is used to generate a the vast amount of electricity in this country, but the Volt running on electric power can go over 90 miles on the same amount of energy generated by one gallon of gas. Plus the mix of energy sources used to generate electricity has and will continue to shift to less polluting sources. Additionally pollution generated by electricity can be mitigated at power plants which are relatively small in number compared to the millions of individuals gas powered cars. But again even if the environmental impact was equal, I still would have bought my Volt.

There a lot of people that shouldn’t buy a Volt, but there are a lot of people that shouldn’t buy a pickup truck either because it doesn’t fit their needs

• If you’re looking to spend less than 30K or more than 50K (there aren’t many cars in the lower price range that have features similar to the Volt) then the Volt’s not for you.
• If you need more than 4 passenger seating then the Volt’s not for you.
• If you live somewhere where plugging in is not an option then the Volt’s not for you.
• If your daily commute is 50 miles or more (unless you can plug in at work in which case you can almost double it) then the Volt’s not for you.

If however, you are looking for a car with

• Plenty of acceleration and great handling
• Comparable features to any 30K-40K car on the market
• Can plug in at night
• Don’t need a huge back seat but still need more than a 2 seater
• Have concerns about range anxiety in a pure EV
• Are worried that $3 gas is a thing of the past

Then maybe the Volt is for you.

As far as the government subsidizing the Volt, the Prius was subsidized too. Now there is a Japanese company that is selling about 170K a year (as a reference Toyota sold just over 330K Camry’s last year), the subsidies have been dropped. There are a whole range of hybrid-related industries that have also been fueled by those investments in which Japanese companies are now reaping the rewards and equate to greater economic output. I bet Japanese are just kicking themselves over it. In the first 18 months Toyota sold about 13K Prius (Priui?), Chevy has sold about 11K Volts in the first 15 months, so I can see why people are calling it a failure (sarcastic smiley emoticon).