considering trading my PiP for a Volt

Fortywork, Congrats on your purchase!

I was looking into the Volt vs. PiP as well, but valued the cargo space and extended 50 mpg dino fuel range more. I do occasional drives from SF Bay Area to LA area yearly.

 

If you look at that screen again it will show an estimate of how many kWh you used during your 7 mile trip (or since the last full charge).

I think the 7 miles taking only 2 miles of estimated range is just an example of the baseline range estimation ratcheting upward while you were driving efficiently. The next time you do a full charge it will probably show 2-3 more miles of EV range than the 40 miles it showed the last time you charged.

There is no equivalent lifetime screen in the car unfortunately. You can get longer-term averages from OnStar by logging into the MyVolt.com website. OnStar will also send you an email once a month that tells you the gas and electric consumption and efficiency averages during that period along with other items like tire pressure, remaining oil lifetime and reminders about car related things.

If you have a smartphone you can also download the OnStar/GM app that let's you remotely control some aspects of the car. There is also a free app from OnStar/GM called VoltDC (Volt Driver's Challenge) that shows your daily EV and HV mileage in a calendar format and let's you compete against other owners in your region or the entire country for EV driving stats.

 

FWIW: I seriously considered the same move this past weekend. The market is reasonable here for my PiP (21 on trade) and the Volt could have been had for cheap and would have come with 72 months at 0%.

I declined for two reasons, or three if I'm being honest.

1.) The Volt was simply too small. Not even a week ago I had 18 2x6x8 studs in the back and my daughter could still use her car seat. Not happening in the Volt. The 4 passenger issue was also too large a hurdle to overcome.

2.) If I wind up staying with the dealership group I'm working with, I'll have access to a demo, or option to purchase an even cheaper Fusion Energi.

3.) Said dealership group doesn't have a GM store and, since my neighbor owns them and in no small way controls my fate, probably not a great career move to show up in a new Chevy.

 

Stop it.
42, 40, 44. You are making me cry.
Until, I put my garden cart in back, my lawn mower, weed wacker,shovel, rake, ax, and so forth.

 

Congrats on the Volt, fortytwok.

I've only had mine a few weeks, but can give you an idea of how long my range estimates took to become more realistic. I initially started out with a 35 mile range estimated when fully charged. After approximately 200 miles driving, my range estimates at full charge got to 45 plus. When I drive the car like I did my Gen 2 Prius in semi-hypermiled 50+MPG style, I pretty easily hit 52 miles of charge (with a few left) before recharging. During drives including downhill sections, I've been above 56 estimated miles remaining, although I haven't finished that high yet.

I've since settled back into driving a little more spiritedly and have been getting about 45 miles to a charge with no special driving techniques at all. These miles include doing more heavy throttle starts showing the smooth quick acceleration to friends and coworkers as opportunities have presented themselves. I still enjoy and recommend driving in L for the mostly one-pedal driving experience. It feels natural to hold the pedal slightly down for the 0 Net Kwh glides like the old Prius.

In addition to the sites mentioned by jeff N, I'd suggest reviewing/signing up at voltstats.net to compare your driving style to others by climate or region. I was surprised at the median %EV in this fairly large group being nearly 80%.

Like Rob but less impressive, I'm driving on dealer gas at 1400 miles, although I haven't used any since getting the car home from the dealer 100 miles away. This becomes much easier with L2 charging.

Enjoy the car!

 

I'm not considering anything other than my current Prius Plug In for the foreseeable future. If I was considering a Volt, I'd wait for the new generation version. There has to be some advancements that would warrant waiting if it's out within the next year. No dis r-e-s-p-e-c-t for those that have already made the switch.

 

Why did I get a link to lawn mowers in my post #47?
I don't know how that happened.

Fixed it I guess, still do not know why how ever.

 

Looks like the site may be using Skimlinks as a small revenue generator.

 

Thanks! I thought I was going nuts. Oh that's right I am already nuts! Oh well.

 

We have a 2010 Prius and a 2014 Volt. So far on trip B we have well over 1,000 miles and have used .3 gal's
of gas. My wife has a 32 mile round trip commute to her business, and when she come homes she charges
it for a couple of hours, 240 Volt, and I take it to work, when I work graveyard, 23 mile round trip. When I return
home I plug it in it in for 2-3 hours, and when she leaves for work later in the morning she has a full charge or nearly full charge for her day. We could not go that far on 3 tenths of a gallon of gas for well over 1,000 miles in a plug in
prius. It would be nice if the Volt did have room for 5 passengers, got 50 mpg in gas mode on regular gas. If that
was the case nobody would be buying a Prius.

 

I've found the Volt's EV range estimator to be quite accurate, much more so than the PIP's estimator. My trip to work is exactly 28mi. On a fair weather day it usually burn through exactly 28 EV miles to get me there. One day when it was indicating 48 EV mi range- I ran the battery dry- and got precisely 48 miles out of it. I'd say you can pretty much rely on it's estimate day in and out.

 

My daily commute is the definition of mild and efficient, with just a 5 mile freeway section on the way in and none on the way out.

The last week or so my morning range estimate's at 54 miles.

 

For those of you who have switched from the PiP to the Volt, did you also switch to TOU electricity rates, or stay on a tier structured plan?

 

Congrats on your Volt. For your commute and usage,it sounds like Volt is better for you. The incentives and discounted pretty much gave you a free trade-in.

Keep us posted with your composite MPGe. It'll be interesting.

I hope your driving pattern does not change. I went though a 5 months transition when I couldn't charge my PiP. Am I glad I had the 50 MPG gas engine that averaged 56 MPG.

 

I changed to TOU with my PiP. We moved all other heavy usages, such as laundry and dishwashing, to off peak (or at least the middle rate, "part-peak") to the extent practical, and our electric bill went DOWN significantly after getting the PiP. We are fortunate that where we live (south San Francisco Bay area), that air conditioning (inherently during peak rate) is only required a few days of the year. Having a smart thermostat programmed with the TOU schedule doesn't hurt, either.