The Volt is really an EV with extended range generator.
When in EV mode it just uses the battery. I think it works very well for people with extra solar capacity.
We are just a couple gallons away from saving 500 gallons of gas just from mid Feb/13 at this rate we should save over 1,000 gallons of gas in the first year of owner ship. Those gallons will all be powered with the sun.

pinballlooking,

When the Volt drives 40 miles on ev and the traction battery is dead. It wont take long on a 200 mile trip before the Prius will over take the Volt in best mpg, if the Volt can't find an outlet. In town the Volt is the car to have.

I'm just saying each car has it's place. It depends on how it fits you your situation.

My lifetime MPG is 198 mpg for 12,972 miles OnStar keeps track of this for me.
So you think a Prius is going to overtake my mileage :)

But if you are a traveling sales man this is not the car for you.

I 100% agree with you on this.

Our Chevy Volt just went to lifetime 201 mpg and we have gone 11,029 EV electric miles powered by the sun. This saved us from buying 515 gallons gas so far this year.
We also just hit the 6 month with Solar power we have made 9.05 MWh so far. I look at the sun different now. I don't care for cloudy days very much now either.

Very nice!

PB,
I make enough power on cloudy days to surpass my usage.

I've been doing a lot of observing and reading so this statement isn't just my foolish thinking:

Any industrialized nation hoping to compete in the 21st Century world market must adopt an aggressive alternate energy policy.

France, with 75% Nuclear, is now buying power from Germany because it's cheaper than their Nuclear.

"Every hour, the sun radiates more energy onto the earth than the entire human population uses in one whole year."

Solar Energy and Energy Independence


"Renewable energy in Portugal was the source for 52%[1] of the country's electricity generation in 2010 - an increase of 28% in 5 years.[2]"

Source: Wikipedia

Rob

This is such a great statement.

I have to make more than I use on sunny days to cover the really cloudy days.

On a week day we fully charge the car at least twice a day. 12 kwh X 2 = 24 KWh then overnight we use 5-6 kwh. We start the day off with 30 kwh used without use using any power in the house for the day.
So if it is very cloudy we will not make enough power to cover the day.



Mark

South .........