Chevy Volt

spinazzola

I just purchased a 2012 Volt. I am 54, have owned 15 cars, and this is the best bar none. Got the car for invoice, 0% financing, $7,500 Fed tax credit, $2,000 state tax credit. My round trip to work is 52 miles, and I make it every time on battery. The car drives like a dream.

I feel like every time I drive it, I'm flipping the bird to big oil.

hihostevo

I am considering the currently offered lease on the Volt for one of my daughters...

Does anyone have any information on the best place to purchase the portable 240v charger for the Volt?

Thank you

sspinazzola

You need to buy the 240 volt charging cord from Chevy. Then you need to hire an electrician to run a 240 volt line to your garage, it's the same type of connector as an ecectric dryer. Most important, you need breaker space n your panelboard.

gagrice

In San Diego people are getting a permanent charging station with separate meter. The cost is a lot less for charging at night that way. Here are the charging options for the Volt. Or you can just charge with 110 volt from a standard outlet.

https://homecharging.spx.com/volt/Display.aspx?id=6&menu=2

igh

I just use the 110V charger for 10 hr overnight charging (9pm to 7am). I even installed one more for the Focus Electric that I am getting. For the FFE it will take 20hrs for the full charge but I will mostly drive 25 miles everyday and as long as overnight charge gives me 40 miles I am good to go. You can get one from shopchevyparts.com for $380 shipped. This is currently the cheapest home charging option. Each 110V charger should be on a separate breaker with minimum 15A rating.

gagrice

The problem with that is getting your EV electric rate in some places. SDG&E offers a very low overnight charging rate from midnite to 5 AM, for EVs. You have to have a separate meter installed and tied into a charging device. So it would need to be a 220 volt charger to fully charge in 5 hours or less.

igh

That is true. In my case I have Solar. So it is all free now. I do not worry about electric rates and times at home anymore. This year since I was late in buying the EVs, and the solar was already sized to support them, I have a massive surplus. PG&E should give me 100s back in October.

gagrice

We are not so lucky with SDG&E. We lose whatever extra is stored each year. So building a solar system to just fill your need is the key to success. Do you think you will like the Focus EV as well as the Leaf. I talked to a very happy camper with a Leaf. Not to mention the $7500 federal and $5000 state. Very tempting. I read the Focus used up too much trunk for batteries. The Leaf is quite roomy. Though I don't really need a commuter type car being retired. Good luck, it sounds like you are set to beat the oil companies out of any of your cash.

igh

Actually what you said was true till 2010. After that under state law they have to pay for excess power generated. However, they will pay wholesale rates which is usually 4-5c/Kwh and much lower than what they charge their customers.

http://sdge.com/clean-energy/excess-generation-credit/annual-compensation-excess- -generation-payment-faq

Actually I was considering the Leaf until the FFE came to the market. The Leaf is now 4K cheaper (market price) and is a better deal, however I am repulsed by the styling of the Leaf - Ugh those headlights are hideous.
. The FFE looks great.

The FFE is in real short supply - Ford still does not seem as serious as Nissan in selling EVs. I may yet get the Leaf if I cannot get the FFE - who knows. The trunk is not an issue as this will be a commuting car. I will keep my Highlander Hybrid for the 1 or 2 vacations/long drives each year. Those 100 odd gallons will be all the business that the gas companies can get from me

gagrice

I guess 4 cents is better than a poke in the eye.

I agree the Nissan Leaf is butt ugly. The FFE is much better looking and hopefully most of the tax credit stays in the USA. So how many $7500 tax credits can you get? Say if I wanted to start a local taxi service. :shades:

busiris

Wow! 52 miles round-trip, all on battery without any assist from the on-board engine?

Isn't that almost double what GM says the car will do on battery?

My wife is looking at the possibility of a Volt in the next 12-18 months, and since the Chevy dealership is only about 1-2 miles out of he way, we plan to do a test drive from the dealership to her work, then home and back to the dealership, which is about 28 miles total round-trip.

If it will do that all on battery, Chevy probably will have a sale.

sspinazzola

My previous post said 52 miles, just rechecked and its a 46 mile round trip. I make it about a third of the time, and the rest, the engine starts about 2 miles from home. And thats in the heat with the A/C on, and I drive fairly aggressively. I am a mechanical engineer, and did a lot of research. This car is an engineering marvel. Go to the Volt web site, and depending on what state you are in there are additional incentives. I live in MD and get a state tax credit of $2,000 on top of the $7,500 fed tax credit.

cody1943

New owner just one week, 293 miles and used .01 gal of gas. Fun to drive. Used $7.70 in electricy so far. That will go in half after Offpeak elect is installed this week. Drive mostly under 50 miles a day, but can plug in during day if needed.

Karen_S

A journalist would like to speak to someone who owns a Nissan Leaf or a Chevy Volt. If you own a Nissan Leaf or a Chevy Volt and would like to share your story, please send your daytime contact information including telephone number to pr@edmunds.com no later than Monday, July 9, 2012 at 10 a.m. Pacific/1 p.m. Eastern.

cody1943

975 miles and 2/10ths a gallon of gas in 5 weeks. No problems, runs great and fun to drive. Used $23 of elect to date compared to $206 in gas I would have spent in my Bravada. I just can't see any downside to this car if your daily drive is 50 miles or less. Price of gas went up 20cents to $3.50 here in past week. I just smile as I go by.

gagrice

Something for you to think about would be some sort of gasoline additive. Our lousy ethanol laced gas goes bad and will gum things up in just a few months. You are not using what is in your tank very fast. Either that or take a long trip every couple months to use up what is in your tank. Good luck with your Volt.

gagrice

With All The Volts Counted, Taxpayers Lose Again

While delaying the Keystone XL pipeline, the administration plans to increase the subsidy for the Chevy Volt and other "new technology" vehicles to $10,000 per car.

http://news.investors.com/article/601207/201202141851/obama-administration-raise- s-chevy-volt-subsidy-.htm?p=full

cody1943

The Volt burns off old gas at the rate of about .3 gals every month or two so no need to add additives. Also, as far as the tax rebates, EVERYBODY or just about everybody gets them. If you own a farm, house, oil company, GE they are all given tax incentives. Dont blame the buyer of a EV car, blame Congress for allowing these plus MANY other tax breaks to a lot of people who dont need. Pres Bush started the tax incentives for ALL EV cars and it continues today. Plus think about all the oil money we are not sending to the Saudi who hate us. I didn't qualify for the $7500 rebate and still think the car is great. Many people lease and dont get the rebate. For me it is all about driving a nice car and saving money. Very little gas, time saved not filling up and no oil changes for 30 mos. 1300 miles and still at .2 gallons of gas. Fast, fun and very comfortable.

vfanrj

I have an idea. Let's drop the current $4.5B in subsidies the oil companies get each year use a small portion of it to move off of oil.

vfanrj

So far I've been getting 50 miles per charge driving in Utah on my Volt;
however, I expect it to go down during the winter.

cody1943

2175 miles and 1.1 gal of gas in 11 weeks. $68.19 in extra electric costs. What is not to like about the Volt.

gagrice

Nearly two years after the introduction of the path-breaking plug-in hybrid, GM is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds, according to estimates provided to Reuters by industry analysts and manufacturing experts.

Cheap Volt lease offers meant to drive more customers to Chevy showrooms this summer may have pushed that loss even higher. There are some Americans paying just $5,050 to drive around for two years in a vehicle that cost as much as $89,000 to produce.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/10/us-generalmotors-autos-volt-idUSBRE889- 04J20120910

icemanbryan

I have only had my volt since Sept 05th.
I only have 229 miles on it.
(I have a diesel work truck)
I have not used a drop of gas yet.
I just love the car!

spinazzola

I have 6500 miles on my Volt, best car I ever owned. Averaging 46 miles per charge, 38 MPH on gas, 103 MPG on the computer. Evertime I blow by a d-wad in an F-1,2,350 obviously compesating for something God forgot to give them, I laugh till I cry.

robkoontz

We have nine solar PV arrays on roof and so we can send watts directly to Volt during day; the fit and finish of the Volt is beautiful. I've used 1.2 gals of gas and gone almost 200 miles. A great value; a great car.

henrygiii

Well, I hate to be a party pooper but if you went 5 weeks and used no gas, you probably could have gone with an EV rather than a hybrid. I've gone 3 months now and more than 1500 miles in my Mitsubishi iMiEV and bought NO GAS. It's the best.

gagrice

If you live where it rarely gets hot or real cold you should be fine with your EV. The Leaf is showing premature loss of battery capacity in hot places like AZ and CA. Without solar panels here in CA our electricity is too expensive. How many miles are you getting on a full charge?

hihostevo

Not being a "party pooper" but you do point out why they make more than one flavor of Ice Cream. :-)

The Mits is a great little car, but every car is really just a "tool" (think of them as a hammer my kids hate that). What type of construction work you are doing determines which hammer you buy.

Although he was only driving to work for the last 5 weeks... does not mean that he might not need to drive his car to another state this week. The first two months my Volt was only used for local commuting where a pure EV would have worked fine... but then came the trip from Utah to Vegas, down to SoCal and then back to Utah. Now you could do that trip in an EV... but it would have taken a really long time waiting for all the re-charging...

Now that is a "silly" example, but just meant to illustrate a point. We all have slightly different needs so which tool is the "best," must be determined not by the choice someone else made, but rather by each individual. Personally I had planned on buying the Prius PHEV when it came out as I have owned 3 Prius vehicles and like each one. However, when I learned it only had 13 miles of EV range... I said "Ehh... what is that supposed to do." Did not make any sense for me... but it does qualify for the HOV lanes in California and elsewhere which probably makes it a great car for those folks. Then I moved on and was going to buy the Honda Fit EV. However, my disabled daughter who does not drive as much anymore needed a vehicle and I thought the Volt would be perfect for her. So I jumped the gun and ordered one (as it was going to take some time to get one from my local dealer). Then my daughter determined that she preferred the Malibu so Voila... I have a Volt :-)

henrygiii

My routine is to drive to and from work each day. I make side trips occasionally but nothing grand. My roundtrip commute is 36 miles. Each night when I come home I've used about half of the battery. I plug it into my standard 120V outlet and in the morning I'm ready to go. A full charge each morning leaves me with between 68 and 73 miles depending on how I drove it the day before.
I've noticed, maybe, a 10% impact when I turn on the heat or the AC. I'm in New England. Winter is coming so I'll keep reporting back how the car is responding. Mitsubishi has been selling this car for years in Norway so I'm not expecting any show stoppers.

Kirstie_H

EV owners in the areas affected by Hurricane Sandy, what's your experience been? Please email smar@edmunds.com with your daytime contact information and a few words about your experience. Please respond by Friday, November 9, 2012.

taymlis

Can you tell us more about connecting the Solar Arrays to the Volt during the day? Would love to have a Solar Canopy at home but I like the idea of utilizing Solar while at work as well. Thank you!

highender

hello....

we are thinking about a chevy volt. What do you guys think ?

We were offered a fully loaded Premium package, safety 1 & 2, Navigation, for $39,900.

Before dealer incentives .

This is my first time posting in 5 years...

gagrice

Welcome back after 5 years. What year Volt are you looking at. There are still a lot of 2011 & 2012s left for sale. If you are in CA there is a cutoff date for getting certain incentives. Chevy made some changes in the 2013 model to get CA to accept the Volt for HOV lane access. A loaded one with the features you show has a TMV of $37,248. That includes the current $5000 cash off that started August 1st. Looks like you should be able to get them down another $2700. Before the $7500 tax credit if you can use that this year.

hihostevo

Are you saying there are a lot of "brand new" 2011 and 2012 Volt's still out there?

I was not aware of that.

I have a 2012 leased, but would be interested in a "super" deal on another!

gagrice

Both Autotrader and Cars.com list several hundred new 2011 & 12s. have no idea what kind of deals. There is over 5000 2013 left out there. Should be dealing according to Edmunds TMV.

highender

Well, we were looking at 2013 new. the Newer model.

Best price we got was $ 39,700 with premiumpackage, safety 1 & 2, and Nav. Before the $5000 dealer incentive.

thanks

hihostevo

So $34,700 ... now did you include the 7,500 government rebate in that number?

I suppose there are probably still some state rebates also.... but none in Nevada that i know of.

gagrice

Looks like GM is slashing another $5000 off the MSRP of the Volt. Wait a while they may be in boxes of Cracker Jacks.

2013 Chevrolet Volt (GM)

General Motors Co. is slashing the price of its plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt by $5,000, making it the latest automaker to lower prices of electric vehicles in the face of lagging consumer demand.

The Detroit-based automaker said it will cut the base price 12.5 percent, from $39,995 to $34,995. The price cut comes just weeks after the automaker announced a $5,000 give-back on the 2012 Volt and $4,000 on the 2013 model.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130806/AUTO0103/308060026/1148/rss25

hihostevo

Thank you for that information and link......

The question it brings up in my mind is... does this replace the "give-back" price-cuts or is it in addition to?

In other words if the base car MSRP is now $34,995 is there another $4k give back that brings the price for a 2013 model down to $30,995 before the $7,500 government rebate?

Or did they just replace the $4k give back with the across the board $5k drop in MSRP?

Thanks for your time and info,

hihostevo

Well Chevy is really confusing me now... at a time when there are apparently still Brand New 2012 Volts available (unsure how many but there are a bunch of 2013's still on the lots) they have dropped the MSRP on 2014 Volts by $5k and are also offering a $5k discount on 2013 models.

Now as the new 2014 Volt's are supposedly hitting the dealers lots starting this week... that means the price of either a 2013 Volt or 2014 Volt is the same (except for any year to year price changes).

Which begs the question WHY would GM do that. If you are presented with a 2013 and 2014 model for essentially the same price... who would buy the 2013?

Unless they have all gone off their collective "rockers" I cannot understand why there is not an additional incentive to move the 2013 models?

gagrice

If you are serious about the Volt and plan on keeping it a while, I would get the newest one you can. Those batteries are not holding full charge as long as they had hoped for. Better yet just lease for 3 years and give it back or trade for a new one. I have no clue why they are not heavily discounting the 12s and 13s. Maybe they think people are just stupid.

hihostevo

I definitely agree with the Lease concept at this time. There is going to be too many price changes as manufacturing ramps up on the various parts of EV automobiles. For that reason I think the lease option is currently the one that makes me the most comfortable. I currently lease a 2012 Volt [which my youngest son has taken control of :-) ], but I am always looking around for a "good deal" on a worthwhile product. My Prius has over 80k on it and doing wonderfully, however if a "deal" popped up I am ready.

Now GM/Chevy have been selling cars longer than I have been around... but their current pricing is completely baffling to me. I keep hoping someone will explain that there is something I am "missing."

There certainly is not enough dealer markup in the Volt to allow them to give a lot of preference to the 2013 models to move them... but that is what it looks like Chevy is doing to me... they are expecting the dealer network to just suck it up and whore out the remaining 2013's and try and hold firm on the pricing of the '14 models until they can empty their lots. That is quite a bit to ask of a dealer network that has been getting squeezed on both ends for the last few years.

edmundswc

Hi, can some one help to calculate the deal for buying a 2013 or 2014 Volt? Checked a local dealer in Riverside, CA. The dealer is cutting $4000 from the MSRP and there is another $5000 discount from GM. It is however it is not qualified for any further finance incentive. The dealer said, it is either that $3000 plus 4 years no interest car loan, or that $5000 discount. I found from a different dealer that it will give $2000 discount on 2014 model which can have free interest for 4 years. For a loan at $30K+, the interest will be more than $2000. So at the end, it is the same price for 2013 and 2014 model. Did I miscalculate it? I am wondering it this is case why bother to go with 2013 model. It is not cheaper than 2014. The 2014 model is already $5000 less than the 2013 model. It is appreciated if any one can help with the details.

carowner5

Costco offers special deals on GM products, including Volt. Is anyone familiar with it? After reading several posts, it appears that some dealers give discounts anyway. So, maybe this Costco deal is not as good as it sounds. Thank you.

tonbob

2013 are at blow out prices now. Indiana chevy dealer with just 4 13's left selling at $11,000 off msrp. When combined with $7,500 tax credit, that puts the car at cost including sales tax and OTD at just $24,500. Seems that puts the gas savings of $700-1,200/year firmly into play and better cost than any other reasonably equipped mid to compact size car available. Now... hope there are no issues as reported early with Volt and I'll be happy!

PF_Flyer

@tonbob said:
2013 are at blow out prices now. Indiana chevy dealer with just 4 13's left selling at $11,000 off msrp. When combined with $7,500 tax credit, that puts the car at cost including sales tax and OTD at just $24,500. Seems that puts the gas savings of $700-1,200/year firmly into play and better cost than any other reasonably equipped mid to compact size car available. Now... hope there are no issues as reported early with Volt and I'll be happy!

Are you purchasing? I don't know anyone who owns a Volt yet, so it would be interesting to hear your firsthand, real-world experiences!