My car for the past 3 years has been a super fun, super reliable, and sturdy 2005 Toyota Tacoma. You know how some folks get really attached to their cars? My Taco was a member of the family. I loved driving it and I loved doing the work to keep her in working order. We went on many adventures together ... driving on the beach, up steep mountain dirt roads, long open stretches of freeway ... tying a flag pole to the bed for the 4th of July and letting Old Glory fly, laying in the bed by the ocean while the sun went down, getting stuck in the middle of nowhere and digging a trench with my bare hands so the wheel could get traction .. and oh she was beautiful. I remember driving her around the mountains because I was having a bad day and my friends were being douchenozzles. Even spilling transmission fluid was an adventure.
So how on Earth could I give up something I love that much? To quote - times change and so must I. Times are very much changing indeed. Without getting into too much detail, lets say that my beloved Tacoma could no longer fit the role I needed her to. I spent 150 - 200 bucks a month on gas even with prices being a lot lower. If gas gets close to $4 a gallon again (which I think it will eventually) that cost can go to $300 a month or more. Even worse, the truck becomes a commuter, I couldn't use it for what I got it for, and would still have to make payments on it even if it wasn't being driven.
So, I made the extremely painful decision to sell the truck. Seriously ... I cried. I had some pretty bad anxiety issues for a couple of days afterwards and was acting pretty snippy. Getting my new car was a sad, sad experience. I am still hesitant to put pictures up.
Now that a couple of weeks have gone by, I can more objectively evaluate the change that I made:
The car I got is very, VERY different from the Tacoma. I leased a 2015 Chevrolet Volt. My last serious entry was about electric vehicles and whether I thought they were worth the expense. I have constantly wondered if EVs were practical for average middle class consumers. I spent several occasions talking with Tesla employees for an hour or more at a time. Turns out, some EVs are reasonably affordable via a lease after which you can return the car or purchase it outright.
The Volt in particular fit my needs better than any other car I could find. Why did I make this decision? In a nutshell, it is based in my dad's Four Rules of Economics (which is ironic since my dad despises GM and EVs in general):
1) Everything is a cost/benefit situation - I spent the better part of 2 weeks trying to evaluate what the pros and cons were of getting a different car. I started with a problem statement that the truck could not meet my requirements. I could have kept the truck and bought a 2nd beater car, but we reasoned that a 2nd car wasn't necessary right now and would incur more cost than we could afford. So, exchanging the truck for a car that would meet our needs, not make costs any higher at worst, and being something I enjoy driving was the best option.
What were the costs and benefits of the Volt in particular? The biggest cost is the loss of cargo capacity. I also won't be off-roading again any time soon. The benefits were many: just enough space, marginal increase in my monthly payment, and a dramatic decrease in my fuel costs. It is also a lot of fun to drive - which I will get to later! It also fit the profile of what currently meets my needs. I rarely drive more than 30 miles a day so the battery is plenty big enough to get me to and from work and around town with charge to spare. It also helps that there are charging stations nearby (some free ones too) and that power is dirt cheap. For the few long drives I plan to take, I don't have to worry about range anxiety as the gas engine adds 320-350 miles to the limit of the vehicle.
The benefit of a lease is that part of this experience is experimental. If I find that a plug-in hybrid is too much hassle or the car is a lemon I can give the keys back with no consequence. The trade-off of course is if I decide to keep it, I will be making payments for a while. If I give it back, I get nothing in return. I went with the former because in 3 years, my requirements will probably change and I can adjust as needed.
2) Nothing is Free - The Volt is not a cheap car, but neither is a gas guzzling van, truck, or SUV. Oil and gas are obviously not free and neither is electricity. It isn't free for 'big oil' to extract, refine, and ship oil to market and neither is it free for utility companies to generate electricity.
At base electrical prices, the cost to go 400 miles is cut by more than half for fuel against my previous vehicle (25-30% overall). Other advantages near me may save even more (such as my landlord generously letting me charge in our complex's underground parking garage at no extra charge; I did offer to pay for the extra electricity). I understand that the electricity used to power my car has to come from somewhere and someone has to pay for it. The point for me is the cost of a lease and fuel was better than the cost for payments and fuel for my former vehicle vehicle which would have taken just as long as the new lease to pay off anyway.
3) Everything is Finite - I am not an environmental junkie. If you talk to me about fossil fuels and climate change I will probably brush you off. I do believe in environmental stewardship however - responsible use of resources. That doesn't mean not using a resource entirely. Oil is reason for a lot of the progress we have made in todays world.
That said, using less oil is not a bad thing! Whether oil lasts 10, 100, or 1000 years it is still a finite resource. Same goes for electricity and how it is generated. Electricity is cheap and plentiful where I am now, but it may not stay that way; it can't stay that way forever.
4) Profit is good - Oh this will rattle a few people's cages. Car companies can't continue to make or expand their enterprises if they don't have cash. So if you think that electric/hybrids are a good idea, buying them will help convince the manufacturer that they need to make and sell more of them and in more places. I think diversity in the energy sector is the single best way to drive costs down for everyone across the board and encourages innovation for the best solutions in terms of technology and cost in the hope of attracting new or recurring customers.
The "profit" I make in saving money also gives me the freedom to spend the savings where it really should be going. Which ... is really the point.
So how does the Volt work? It uses either a 17.1 kWh battery pack (12 kWh usable battery) or a gas engine to power a single gear motor system, called Voltec Electric Drive by GM/Chevrolet. In EV mode, it uses the battery to drive the motor. When the gas engine is engaged, it spins a generator which in turn supplies power to the battery system. Power is drawn the same way as in EV mode, except the battery is merely being replenished by the engine. Both of these systems can be used concurrently if demand requires it. In this case two clutches connecting the smaller generator to the engine and the motor close, a third braking clutch opens and power from either the battery, gas engine, or both can be supplied directly to the motor driving the wheels.
In EV only mode, the car gets an official 38 miles of battery range. Many people can easily get 40-50 miles of range, sometimes more. How? Regenerative braking is one way! When the vehicle is coasting or braking, the action of the drive shaft spinning turns the generator, which supplies more electricity to the battery pack. Using the gas engine, the vehicle can get an extra 320+ miles and with only a 9.3 gallon gas tank, it isn't terribly expensive to refuel, though you should use premium gasoline. Having "predictive driving" habits limits use of braking and can help limit the need to use hard acceleration.
What is it like driving a Volt? Here are some of my impressions:
1) it is extremely quiet, even if the gas engine is turned on. If it weren't for the noise the dashboard makes when you start the car, you can hardly tell it is turned on.
2) For such a heavy car, it has some giddy-up when you apply power from a stopped position. One of the benefits of a single gear transmission is you get all of your torque regardless of your engine speed. So, while the Volt won't win any prizes for its 0-60 rating (8-9 seconds), you have decent enough acceleration for everyday driving. Using Sport mode allows the driver to move in and out of traffic with a little more "zip," but doing so can affect range. It is the most responsive car I have ever driven. Though the truck had a lot of torque, there was a "rev up" period and you had to be at certain speeds to use it effectively.
3) Using regenerative braking makes the anxiety of having only 38 miles of battery range much easier to deal with. I live near a steep hill, so when I go to work, I spend my first 2 miles of driving accumulating a few extra EV miles and using almost zero battery power. So, when I get home, even though I have driven 15 - 20 miles, I still have ~27-29 miles on the battery. Here's to using simple physics.
4) there is more space in the back than it appears. I can load my heavy gear like bikes, camping equipment, rifle cases, etc. with no problem at all.
5) For most of my driving, recharging is fairly straightforward, I just plug it in when I get home and I have a full charge when I leave the next day. I use less than half of the battery on average so it takes only 6 hours or so to charge on a simple 110 V outlet. It takes very little time to plug and unplug - I just toss the charge plug in the back seat. For those occasions where the battery is mostly depleted, there are several 240 V chargers within easy driving distance, one of which is near a trail I frequent and is free (for me) and another charger for $2 a session is a 5 minute walk from work. The trick is finding ways to charge the car without wasting time. The hardest part about charging seems to be ensuring the charge door is closed when I am finished.
6) Extended range (ER) driving is not as complicated as it sounds. A benefit to having a dual power system is you are not dependent on one or the other to supply your fuel. The battery is most effective on city surface streets and the gas engine provides more efficiency over longer distances on the freeway. Transitioning to one system or the other is seamless; I could barely tell the engine was turned on. You use "Hold" mode to force the car to use the engine, which I did for the majority of my freeway miles. The system will then try to maintain the level of charge you have in the battery when hold mode was set. Transitioning back to the battery will make the car use any surplus regen battery power first (these are registered as gas miles though gas isn't actually being used). My first ER trip was 130+ miles ... 50 on the battery and 80 on gas. (The trip cost me $5.50 w/ the Volt, nearly $18 with the truck).
7) Engineering perspective - If you haven't noticed by now, I am an engineer by profession and I know a good design when I see one. The design of the Volt system is surprisingly simple. Battery, motor, generator, inverter, and gears (which turns the motion of the motor into kinetic energy for the drive shaft).
8) If there are any complaints about the Volt, they are: no spare tire, the tires were under inflated, (owners on social media complain about tire wear more than anything else.) The other is the Volt has huge blind spots at the 5 and 7 o'clock positions.
9) Now that I don't use gas to power most of my transportation, there is a little anxiety in keeping it that way. You can't help but smirk when you pull into a gas station only to get a snack or drink while everyone else is in that "line" waiting for their next batch of gasoline.
10) Technology everywhere! My phone seamlessly syncs with the Volt's bluetooth, music plays clearly, hands free, a fuel/power status dashboard, remote access via Onstar's app, usage metrics via myvolt.com ,.. this is only the basic model.
Now that I've addressed what I think about my new ride - time to address some common questions and myths.
1) You've said you save a lot of money on fuel. Just how much?
Electricity where I live is around 9 cents per kWh. My average commute is about 15 miles w/ 4 kWh used. (That hill I talked about earlier .. I have to go up it on the way home).
4 kWh * .09 dollars = 36 cents per day.
With the truck, I got around 19 miles per gallon with city driving, so:
15 miles / 19 mpg * $2.60 dollars per gallon = $2.05 per day.
$0.36 >> $2.05 PER DAY
$1.89 >> $10.26 PER WEEK (work commute only)
$27 >> $137 PER 1000 MILES DRIVEN (1000 miles / 40 miles per trip * 12 kWh per trip * .09 cents per kWh) (~2.7 cents per mile)
I'd likely use the $2 per session charger for a complete charge so if I drive 40 miles on a charge, I get:
$50 per 1000 miles driven > 5 cents per mile
Convinced yet? Think I am underestimating? OK - here is 11 cents per kWh (15 miles / 4 kWh)
$0.44 per day
$2.20 per week
$33 per 1000 miles driven
The Prius gets 50 MPG and it still costs $0.82 cents to drive those 15 miles.
It would take an electricity price of 51 cents per kWh to break even with gas costs on the truck.
$30 bucks a month vs. $150 or more ... nuff said!
2) OK, so it costs less to drive on the battery, but the electricity still has to be generated from somewhere, so aren't you still using fossil fuels?
This statement is partially true, but only partially. In many parts of the country, natural gas or coal is still used to generate electricity. Nothing is free and you can't create or destroy matter or energy, therefore, yes you are still using physical matter to generate electricity and consequently move the Volt or any electric car.
But before you smirk at me, my state uses hydroelectric or nuclear power to generate electricity, both of which are much cleaner means of providing power. So the above point is moot.
I'll humor you though; the car is designed to only let you use 12 kWh to protect the battery back so you only use 43.2 MJ (Mega Joules) of energy. Lets say it takes 40 miles to use those 12 kWh. The Volt is in a similar weight class as cars and trucks that range from 25-30 mpg. One gallon of gas contains 121 MJ of energy and 33.7 kWh of power. You burn 1.25 gallons of gas to go the same distance @ 30 MPG. (121 * 1.25 = 151 MJ of energy).
kWh x 3.6 = E(MJ)
Even the Prius with its 50 MPG uses .8 gallons of gas to go 40 miles and still uses 97 MJ of energy. Bear in mind the Prius is lighter than the Volt too.
The Volt loses its efficiency advantage when the gas engine engages. It gets 40 MPG on the freeway at best, so it is an easy 121 MJ of energy used over 40 miles. Your real efficiency rating depends on how many EV/gas miles you drive overall. If your commute is more than 50 miles per trip, using a diesel or other hybrid would probably give you better efficiency, cost, and give you less wasted time.
So if you lived in a state that still uses coal fired power plants, you are still using 65% less energy than you would on a similar class combustion engine vehicle using the battery alone.
Note: this is a comparison of the use of physical material to power cars of a similar class, not the relative MPG/MPGe between them or the cost incurred to supply the physical material being used.
3) Fine, but Government Motors and Obama ... .
If you going to hate Obama, hate him for the right reasons. Yes, the government bailed out General Motors, yes the government helped restructure the company, but the government tried to KILL the Volt program under Obama's administration. Let that sink in for a minute....................
GM had to fight tooth and nail to keep the Volt in Chevrolet's lineup. Also, Uncle Sam no longer holds any of GM's stock shares and GM paid back its loans .... with interest. You have a case whether the government should use taxpayer dollars to bail out a large company, but the fact still remains that the government no longer has any stake in GM.
Oh yes, those tax incentives you get for buying a new electric car ... those were BUSH's idea and came into force under his administration.
And before you tell me about subsidies ... in an ideal Libertarian world, the government shouldn't subsidize any industry. Food is heavily subsidized today, oil companies get tax breaks rather than straight kick backs, seriously ... what isn't subsidized?
At worst, if the government is indeed heavily subsidizing the EV industry and American taxpayers got stuck with some of the bailout bill, the Volt is an American design, built with American workers and American dollars on American soil (Detroit).
4) Those assembly lines are going to be empty then. Didn't GM just kill the Volt program?
Erm ... no. They stopped production of the 2015 Volt so they could start production of the 2016 model - which is going to increase EV range to 50 miles with fewer battery cells and provide slightly better gas mileage. There is enough supply to provide 2015's to the public until the 2016 is released. This isn't unusual.
5) But, the Volt isn't well received by the public. Weren't there a bunch of recalls, bugs, no-sell orders, and a host of reliability problems?
Reception by the public is more a fault of poor marketing by GM and dealerships rather than the car itself. Maybe they have a bigger game plan for the Volt and its technology ... like incorporating the Voltec into the 2016 Malibu Hybrid, the Gen2 Volt, or future plans GM hasn't made public yet.
As an engineer, I am very privy to the fact that 1) new technology has enemies and 2) new technology is prone to bugs; I have written about that fact in my other posts. The combustion engine and airplane were thought to be crazy when they were new so the thought of the Volt having a few issues doesn't really phase me. That said, I am not an authority to speak on reliability since I haven't had the Volt for that long, but Volt owners continually give excellent customer satisfaction reviews as have the Volt owners I have talked to on social media.
Even so, the only major issues I am aware of were the first year the Volt was released and they were few and far between at that. My Tacoma had more serious recalls than the Volt has. (Steering column, seat belts, and a couple of others). The Volt had an issue with not having an automatic shutoff if the engine was left on (more like an idiot switch rather than a car flaw), an issue with the hatch struts, and false positives from the EVAP emissions regulator canister.
6) I give up ... don't let the car catch fire on you.
A few electric cars have caught fire when the battery pack was insufficiently protected during an impact. Those companies went overboard in providing better protection. In the case of the Volt, there was maybe ... MAYBE one instance of a battery fire, but upon further investigation, arson is the more likely culprit. The battery is also in the middle of the car so you really have to do a lot of damage to incur any risk to the battery system ... at which point the vehicle's occupants would already be dead.
GM has installed liquid cooling to keep the battery within normal operating temperatures. The battery only heats when power is being drawn, so if you shut the engine off, it won't get any hotter than it was the moment the car was shut down. There is still coolant in the battery system and there are external vents to remove any excess heat after shutoff as well.
Lithium as a standalone substance is dangerous and needs special instructions and permission to ship and use. Overcharging or overdrawing Lithium batteries could lead to excess heat, which is why the Volt is designed the way it is. There are buffers on the high and low end of the battery's capacity to protect against overcharging, provide more consistent charge/discharge cycles to extend battery life, and prevent the car from going dead if you happen to run out of gas.
Oh, before you get all uppity about battery life, GM has a warranty on the drive system for 8 years including the battery pack.
Conclusions:
The Volt is quickly growing on me. With my current arrangement, keeping the car charged isn't hard, I rarely need to go beyond the vehicle's battery range, and even if I did, the gas engine has more than enough range to get me where I need to go. Though admittedly I get a little anxious trying to make sure I stay within the battery's limits.
If I didn't have a charging setup at home, the Volt wouldn't be a good fit, though spending $2 a day at most for charging near work still isn't as expensive as gas.
I miss my truck something fierce ... Though I got more than a little giddy about Via Motor's intentions for a Volt-like Silverado:
http://www.viamotors.com/vehicles/electric-truck/
This car will serve me well though it is a different dynamic which I hope to blog or vlog about regularly. Hopefully it will encourage other average joes like myself to see if electric driving would actually be a good fit for them.
A final thought: EVs aren't for everyone. If you spend a lot of time on the road and need quick turnaround times, a straight EV isn't a good idea, even a Tesla. Plug in hybrids maybe, though you still need a few hours to charge the battery (and relying on the gas engine defeats the purpose IMO). The trick is to not waste your time while the car is being charged and if you can't do that, then it would be wiser to use something else for your transportation needs.
I would like to give a special shout out to the following:
1) The Chevy Volt Owners group on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/chevyvoltowners/
2) The Sales and Maintenance teams at Burien Chevrolet, Burien, WA - www.burienchevrolet.com
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