Confessions of a Gas User Part II

OK, have to confess big time today, we not only used a couple of gallons, but we actually had to put gas in the volt today, it's been a little more than 2 1/2 months since we last put gas in, we've driven 2915 miles on the one tank of gas, that's not too bad considering the tank is only 9 gallons.

It cost me just shy of $26 to fill it up, 8.1 gallons, I ran it today until it starting yelling at me about being low on fuel.

So here are a couple of pictures of the volt sitting at a gas station, I call this a "rare photo op" since it's not often you see a volt at the gas station.   LOL!  :-)

Also while not really related to the car, notice the temp in the next picture, and no we didn't just get in the car, this was after driving for 20 minutes coming from southern wake county and watching it climb from about 105 in holly springs to the 112 you see below going up Glenwood, on the way home we saw 113 while going down 40 east....way too hot.

Personal Stats

We still haven't put gas in the car since we got back from Hilton Head (2 months ago), I've been tracking how much we're spending on gas for the volt separately from what I spend on my truck, not really anything to track with the volt when you don't have to put anything in it!  We spent $75 on gas when we went to Hilton Head which was about 18 gallons of gas, that's the only gas we've put in the car and we still have about 3 of those gallons in the tank.

I'm sure everyone's getting tired of hearing how little gas we use, it's a no brainer that we use far less gas, so here are some stats that I've run on my own based on the stuff I've been tracking:

To be as energy/cost efficient as our Volt:
A Car that gets 30 mpg the gas prices will need to be $1.49 per gallon
A Car that gets 50 mpg the gas prices will need to be $2.48 per gallon
At current Gas prices ($3.22) a car would need to get 65 MPG

Anyway, just wanted to throw some of these stats out, obviously these are stats that I've calculated based on our driving conditions and everything else, just like the disclaimers that everyone puts, your results may vary  ;-)

OH NO SAY IT AIN'T SO!!!

Another check engine light!  This time the diagnostics said something about battery coolant issue (i think), so it's back in the shop again today to have that looked at and finally the brake popping noise and trunk latch to be fixed as well.  I know Dawn's getting frustrated with it being in the shop but the way I see it is we can deal with some shop time for cutting edge technology and major reduction in gas consumption, the technology will only be getting better so we're still happy with our Volt.

UPDATE:  On-Start and John Heister quickly diagnosed that the mass air flow sensor (gas engine) needed replacing and ordered a part for it.  So it initially sounded worse that it did.

Updates....

Haven't posted in a while, here are some updates on various items that I've posted about before and some new ones that might be of interest:

Breakfast with Volt reps and owners:
I met with some Volt reps and other Volt owners for breakfast.  Very interesting hearing from the owners and Volt reps.  Lots of discussion about why some people are reluctant to accept EVs and why those of us who have volts love them.  Had a great time chatting with everyone and comparing notes about electric range, charging habits, home charging systems, gas used, etc., the biscuits were pretty good too!

Tax Credit/Rebate:
I previously posted some info to watch out for dealing with the tax credit/rebate, end result is "Talk to your tax person"!!!  Looks like the way the tax incentives work that most anyone can take advantage of the tax incentives, so check it out with your tax person first, first meaning BEFORE you commit to the car, it also helps to understand it early in the year in case you need to make adjustments with your tax with holdings, instead of waiting for a refund the following year you might want to adjust your tax with holdings so you have more in your pocket now rather than refund in the spring....everyone will have their own situation with taxes so just make sure you understand everything ahead of time.

Home Charging Station:
Right after we got the volt in March I applied for the Progress Energy sponsored home charging station and got accepted, we've now had an assessment done and waiting for the installation in a couple of weeks, can't wait!!!  Wow what a great program Progress put together for providing the charging stations for those lucky enough to get on the list, significant savings!  I think out of pocket we'll be about $100 mainly for taxes, not bad considering it would cost me out of pocket 10 times that just to buy a charger much less have an electrician come out to run a new 240v outlet in the garage.  Very cool, very excited!  maybe we'll be able to get a level 4 for electric miles in 24 hours (110 miles)...rapid charge > deplete > repeat!

As for stats, we're still doing good, we're about 2300 miles on our current tank of gas with about 3 gallons left, been over 2 months now since we last put gas in the car....that feels great!  Be sure to check out our latest stats at voltstats.net

That's about it for now.