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Lyle Dennis logs 5,100 miles in Chevy Volt, burns 46 gallons of gas, averages 110 mpg



Posted by Lyle Dennis in: Test Drive

Earlier this week I and 14 other members from around the country had to turn in our Chevy Volt consumer advisory board test cars, having completed our 90 – day assignments

I possessed and exclusively drove that car from November 11, 2010 until February 9, 2011.

In those 90 days I put on 5100 miles of primarily intensive high speed highway driving through some particularly harsh Northeast winter conditions including several snowstorms, icy roads and uniformly sub freezing temperatures.

As many new owners can attest, the car handled like a champ. It was a rock-solid dependable vehicle that was a pleasure to drive.

For the 5100 miles I achieved a lifetime average of 110 miles per gallon. This reflected driving 60 miles per day round trip with a typical EV range of between 25 and 30 miles. I burned 46 gallons of gas.

My gas usage was higher and EV range lower than most drivers due to the nature of my long daily commute of 60 miles, high speed 90% highway driving, and robust use of the cabin temperature controls, keeping the car set to 74 degrees of comfort mode at all times.

I used the iPhone app only sparingly often not remembering to pre-heat the cabin, which if I had done so would have increased my EV range by about 5%.

I never experienced any mechanical or electrical problems with the car at all. It behaved flawlessly. I always found it comfortable an inviting.

Acceleration was sufficiently energetic and the car always outperformed the basic sedans of the road passing and entering highways with ease. I used sport mode about half of the time, and drove in the L position nearly all of the time.

The center stack remained a little bit tricky for me. I enjoyed its high tech qualities and modern implications but always tended to hunt for my key of choice a bit much and didn’t always find hitting it that easy. It did not work with a gloved hand. I truly enjoyed the center stack touch screen, though wished the music wouldn’t come on every time the screen turned on. A separate radio on/off switch is needed. More scientific energy usage data, and a more refined eco-coach ball would also be helpful.

Plugging in and charging using the 240-v Voltec charger was simple and satisfying, and the iPhone app helped remind me to a couple of times when I forgot. I opportunity-charged at my office during the day for a few hours here and there using the 120-v portable charger which also worked flawlessly.

Overall I spent roughly 70% of my time driving in EV mode. During the 3 months I covered over 100 miles in day (the max range of a pure EV) at least 6 to 8 times.

It has been my dream for many years to be able to drive without gasoline and to see our country wean itself from oil addiction. From 2009 to 2010 I drove a MINI E 100 mile electric car. That vehicle allowed me to achieve about 90 percent of my daily driving but in cold weather came close to or at zero after covering 60 miles. I did have range anxiety and required increased trip planning forethought.

The Volt allowed me to enjoy the pleasure of electric driving for the vast majority of the time and yet I never had to give a thought to range.

This was the goal of the concept from 2007 and GM has achieved it perfectly.

I have been driving my own purchased Volt for the past 2 days and I am struck by a much more refined level of driving and detail quality. Clearly there are subtle improvements over the capture test fleet car.

I fully expect in the years ahead the Volt to become a highly popular car and finally the roads of this country will growingly be populated with cars that can drive without gas. The dream is now a reality. We are starting to wean off of oil.

http://gm-volt.com/

ramairetransam

iTrader: (18)

I want to drive one for a month or two and test it out . I do 35 miles each way with most of it being thruway doing 80 mph and i cant charge it at work . Id like to see more real world .

Gm if you read this let me test it out , please.

Latch

iTrader: (8)

Even though that was almost entirely highway miles and I'm not a fan of hybrids, that's still an impressive feat.

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

My iphone app helped me remember to charge it.....Pansy.

LS1LT1

iTrader: (16)

Very impressive.

wabmorgan

yep... I've got to admit.... it's very tempting. Most days I wouldn't even burn gas.

Maybe when they get a sporty looking model. Supposedly it will be released as a Cadillac.

Cole Train

iTrader: (30)

kinda cool. People really don't want to give this car much credit it seems. That Caddy version is nice

Bob@BruteSpeed

iTrader: (16)

MSRP starting at: $40,280

No thanks! Bob

ULTIMATEORANGESS

iTrader: (4)

while it doesnt look bad and its getting great mileage i agree thats too much.

wabmorgan

I agree, it is a lot. But you get a $7500 tax credit when you buy. And think about the $$$$ you would save long term.

Of course, the other side the coin is, I would hate to own one of these, or any hybrid and pull into the service shop, tell them the car is has became a gas hog and they call me back a few hours later telling me the battery pack needs to be replaced at $5K-7K. Ugh. And of course it would happen after the warranty ran out.

wabmorgan

I agree, it is a lot. But you get a $7500 tax credit when you buy. And think about the $$$$ you would save long term.

Of course, the other side the coin is, I would hate to own one of these, or any hybrid and pull into the service shop, tell them the car is has became a gas hog and they call me back a few hours later telling me the battery pack needs to be replaced at $5K-7K. Ugh. And of course it would happen after the warranty ran out.

Bob@BruteSpeed

iTrader: (16)

That to me is one of the biggest hurdles. Unless you have the extra coin to have one of these cars just for the awesome gas mileage, I just don't ever seeing it recouping the extra cost. Not yet anyways, not until our battery technology improves and cost go down. I don't agree with our broke *** government subsidizing anything until (if ever) we are in the black. Bob

Cole Train

iTrader: (30)

it is pretty spendy. But like said that has alot to do with the battery plus all the other technology in it. The Prius isn't cheap either.

Phil99vette

iTrader: (11)

@ 40K, How long do you need to have one before you see the break even point for the techology purchased? A comparable Focus is 13-15k with plenty of equipment. Its going to take a long time to save 20,000 in fuel. Supposedly it costs about 2 bucks a day to fully charge one.

X-ray

iTrader: (6)

It's expensive, but it's a pretty good start. Hopefully the costs will come down. We need to finally build some nuclear reactors if more electric cars are in our future.

I hope VW releases their 1-liter concept car as planned. Supposedly will get 200mpg using a 1 or 2 cylinder diesel engine in an extremely light and aerodynamic car.

speedracer2536

iTrader: (15)

THIS!! You don't write a check when you don't have the money..

X-ray

iTrader: (6)

Nonsense! Just borrow it from the Chinese! Spending money you don't have makes for a strong and healthy economy!

Jon5212

iTrader: (2)

Thats not the real mileage it got. That's not factoring in how much power he used to charge the thing along with the fuel it used.

wabmorgan

We understand that but the electric charge is cheaper than the ga$. Well... maybe not after you factor in the cost of the technology.

Plus, if everyone started driving these, it would no doubt drive up the cost of electricity.

Personally, I've always felt our solution lies in biofuels.

WSsick

iTrader: (13)

I think the Volt is great, but it won't catch on bigtime until it comes down in price. The VW Polo needs to come over here. 3 cylinder diesel getting 75mpg...no fancy hybrid system needed. I'd buy that in a heartbeat if it came here.