![]() For my 40ish mile commute and daily driving I hardly ever use gas. Other than that this car has been perfect and I love driving it. They are taking steps to warn owners so they don't get stuck with the 12V battery dying before it is replaced. I actually dropped my 2017 Premier off today for the software recall on the "Shift to Park" issue. Had a public charge point blow up while connected causing a charger lock-up on the 2014 that was immediately fixed for free by the local dealer (the problem was the charge point, not the car) Had the shift to park issue on the 2018 that was fixed within a few days under warranty. TL DR: Go for BEV if you are absolutely certain to have access to charging at work everyday or sufficient autonomy from home, else the Volt will serve you well.ĮDIT: We have 2 Volts in the family. 70 miles is a bit over the sweet spot for the Volt, but it should still be overall more fuel efficient than a normal hybrid if you charge at work, though at this point the calculation should be done.Īlso, the Volt is by far the funniest to drive than every other hybrid I've tried, so add that to the equation. If you have access at least MOST of the time to a charger at work, then a PHEV like the Volt may be the right thing for you. Remember that your car has to work every single day to get your ass to work and back, so resilience should definitely be on your mind. There was at least a few weeks during this winter where I couldn't charge at all, which made me thankful I could run on gas. And that's during COVID when most people are at home. In 2 years, it went from being always alone at the charging stations at school to having to come early to be sure to get a place. Am now living temporarily entirely dependent on public charging. I have been commuting with Volts for a few years, charging everywhere I could. Public charging should only be RELIED upon for travel, or for catching up on your charge if you have a deficit. Also consider that charge points can and will be out of service. My experience so far is that public charging is getting seriously crowded as charge points availability inevitably grows much slower than EV adoption. If you cannot make ALL of your usual daily commute on a single charge from your home ALL YEAR, then I wouldn't consider a BEV. Add to that the unbelievable warranty.ĭepending on the climate and actual availability of charge points at work, it might make more sense to get a PHEV or even a normal hybrid rather than a BEV. Chevy set out to make a name for themselves with EVs and knew that if there were any problems, they'd get killed in the media and public opinion and they'd never recover, so they over-engineered and overbuilt the heck out of them to ensure that nothing would go wrong. ![]() Very well engineered, overbuilt in the critical areas. Makes a ton of sense to get a Bolt if that range (and tiny seat and cabin size) work for you, makes far less sense to get a Volt.Īs for reliability, they're reliable, full stop. When those Bolt leases expire in 3 years I'll bet that they'll be willing to make some serious deals on lease buyouts. They're trying to get rid of them so they can focus on the EUV. My local dealer is leasing Bolts for $89 per month for a standard one, $135 per month for a Premier with about $3000 down. I really wanted a Bolt, but Bolts at the time were just coming out and there were no deals to be had on them. Went from spending $250 per month on gas to spending zero for anything. My Volt made a lot of sense to me when I got it and continues to, I had a ~50 mile per day commute and I charged level 2 for free at work. Made sense back in the day, when batteries were far more expensive, less available and perhaps less reliable, but now that batteries are less and less all of those things, it makes far more sense to spend the money and weight on more batteries and no silly Rube Goldberg gas powered generator scheme. ![]() Put a relatively low range battery in it, then add a gas powered engine (with all of the weight, complication, maintenance, heat & pollution generation, etc, that it brings) to add the range that the small battery pack lacks and to address "range anxiety". That's MHO.Īs cool as Volts are, the reason they discontinued them is that it's a very complicated, kludgy solution. If you're at all leaning towards a Bolt, get the Bolt.
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