My Experience with the 2016 Chevy Volt So Far

When my 2000 VW Golf starting costing me more than $1,800 a year in repairs, I started looking into getting a new car. My requirements were pretty simple. I wanted a new car (never had one before), and I wanted at least 36 miles to the gallon.

I was originally eyeing the VW 2016 Golf TDI (as it would get over 40 miles to the gallon), but I knew there were electric cars out there. I did a bit of research and math, and the 2016 Chevy Volt won the war. I drive about 42 miles a day, round-trip for work. I got the car towards the end of October, so I've had a mild New England winter to give everyone here my experience.

Things to Think About

Most notably is how much the temperature can affect the range on the car. I typically like a nice 65 degree car, nothing crazy. This would easily get me 48 miles of range. When I cranked it to 75, I would get 40 to 43 miles, requiring the generator to kick in for the last mile. I give a range because depending on how long I let the remote start run, I'd get less range.

When it's extremely cold out, the car would take over 13 hours to fully charge. Coupled with the 70 degree settings, I'd drive a whole week without fully charging and needing gasoline. I don't have a 240v outlet anywhere outside, so this is with just your standard 110v outlet. With a 240v outlet, the charge should be a few hours (estimated to be 4 hours).

Speaking of extreme cold, I noticed that once the outside temp is below 20 degrees (or about there), the engine would kick in to keep the system cool. This was when I had it set to 65. This would extend the electric range, but would mean gasoline would be used. This winter, it only got below 20 only in the mornings.

Costs

To give you a good idea of how much you save with electric, I did some basic math to get a good break even point. The car gets EPA estimated 42 miles a gallon using gasoline end 53 miles range on electric (about 11 kwh). What does that actually mean? My commute to work costs the price per gallon of gas. Using electric, it would cost $1.886 for my commute ($0.17 per kwh). The break even point for gas is when gas hit 1.886 per gallon.

But that's all EPA estimated. Let's talk winter costs. The Volt got about 36 mpg in the winter and got about 48 miles on a charge (about 12.5 kwh). It costs $2.083 to use electric a day. The break even point for gas is $1.866 (1.166 gallons are needed to drive 42 miles). So in the winter, the EPA estimation is pretty accurate.

Gas prices in the winter actually went below $1.869 for about two weeks. So there were times where gas was a better option. I personally still didn't use gas, but you can make a call at that point.

That was all winter math. Let's discuss spring. I get about 42 mpg on gas and use about 9 kwh to drive 42 miles (estimated 65 miles of range). The cost to commute to work is $1.53, and as a result that's the break even point with gas per gallon.

Gas prices so far have been over $2.10 for quite some time. And as summer comes, they're just going to get higher.

Summary

I hope this helps you estimate how much you'll save by using electric. In the winter, if gas goes below $1.866 you have the option to run on gas for a cheaper commute. In the spring, the break even is $1.53, which is probably not going to happen any time soon. This is all assuming electric prices are $0.17 per kwh. Prices will vary from state to state, but hopefully I've given you some things to look out for.