2012 Chevrolet Volt Racks Up 250,000 Miles, One-Third Electric, Rest At 39 MPG

Not mentioned in the article:

1. He had a front wheel bearing failure and decided to get both front wheels done at the same time at around 100,000 miles or so.

2. He's a GM factory employee. His local factory was closed a few years ago and he was reassigned to another factory ~120 miles away. He decided to commute instead of moving his wife and kids to the new location.

This is from memory from reading past articles about him on GM-Volt.com.

This GreenCarReports article seems to be based on stories from other websites rather than interviewing Eric directly. It's possible that he's had other issues or noticed some battery capacity loss after all those miles.

I'm up to about 114,000 miles total
with 70,000 driven on battery charges. I drive conservatively so have averaged about 43 mpg in hybrid mode. I'm still driving 45 miles into work on the battery in the morning with at least a mile or two of remaining range left in my 2011 Volt. I have probably noticed a 5-8% reduction in battery capacity based on driving range and electricity used for a full recharge but it's hard to be sure about slight reductions without better measurement tools. Also, I'm using replacement tires that are probably not quite as good at low rolling resistance as the original Goodyear Fuel Max model.

My car has been free of any significant problems for the last 4 years until just 2 months ago when a battery interface controller board failed and had to be replaced outside of warranty (my early Volt only has a 100,000 mile battery warranty). I know of only one other owner with a similar issue. I ended up with a new interface board for $300 and $750 in labor costs.

Overall all I'm still a happy owner and greatly missed my car while it was in the shop being fixed.

 

He drove 247,585 miles and got 59.4 MPG (consumption), so 4,168 gallons were used.

With a 50 MPG Prius, he could have driven 208,405 miles without using any electricity (and associated emission). He may beat EPA figure and get 53 MPG (as he got 39 instead of 37) and drive 220,904 miles.

 

He could, but he is GM employee

 

And as also pointed out, his job site was closed, and the next one was farther away.
So the Volt was bought for a shorter commute, and he decided to keep the car for any number of reasons; didn't want to take the depreciation hit so soon, is a GM employee, or just really liked the car.

As I pointed out elsewhere, saving fuel isn't the sole criteria of many people.

 

that's for dang sure!

 

Yep,

He should be driving a Prius!

DBCassidy

 

gas cost-wise 2/3 of 250K @39MPG would be equivalent to 250K @58.5MPG in Prius. If you have paid for electricity, this would be equal to 50.1MPG, just what the EPA rating of Prius is.

 

of course, local electricity and gas prices will make these calculations different for every region.

 

Yes they will. The 50.1MPG based on $3.65/gal and $1.14/eGal

 

Volt to the Moon a Real Feat? | PriusChat

Hat's off to Volt drivers, but his % EV driving needs to be higher to make the 250k miles something impressive. Mostly dirty coal sourced electricity in Ohio too...

Money might have been better spent on a regular Prius and a down payment on PV solar with the left over cash. Understandably, this guy didn't initially have this commute in mind and maybe got some sweet incentives from GM.

 

Don't stop there. He drove 86,763 EV miles, that's 2,478 full charges at 35 EV miles per charge.

Translate that to a PiP:
2,478 x 11 EV miles per charge is 27,259 EV miles. If he can get 53 mpg on the PiP then the remaining 220,326 miles would have consumed 4,157 gallons of gasoline.

He would have used the same amount of gasoline in a PiP for those 247k miles but use vastly less electricity and cause less pollution.

 

IIRC, premium fuel in the Volt

Yep

It was exactly that calculation that prompted me to buy a Honda Fit rather than another Prius.
If the Volt cost $30k, $15k would be left over if a Fit was bought instead. That is about a 5 kW array, good for about 7.5 MWh a year of electricity in OH for the next 30 years. Translated into Volt MILESe at 3 miles per kWh, the PV is displacing 22,500 miles a year for 30 years, or about 675000 miles. Compare that to the ~ 80k EV miles his high mileage Volt has accumulated.

 

Perfect example of charging for the sake of charging, losing focus on the goal.

Many people overlook the flexibility of PiP. Designed to make best of both fuels. It doesn't matter if you change your commute, you'll still get the most. The fuel ratio would change but not efficiency.

That's 30,368 kWh of electricity. It can power my home for about 5 years and his Volt used it up in 3 years.

 

Their stated goal is "to use less oil." Laudable but unrealistic.

 

Instead of $15k Fit you could have gotten $16.5k Prius C. Using default EPA numbers Prius C would have saved you $300/year, just enough to pay off difference in 5 years.

Funny that in similar situation (need a commute vehicle, 30K annual 1/3 in traffic) I ran the numbers for Prius C and Mitsu Mirage with stick. The difference in price was ~$4k, and the savings on fuel were $400/year, so it would take 11 years to break even. I think actual comparo used higher gas price and included brakes, so it was down to 8 years.

While from financial point of view Mitsu was a better choice, Prius C was a better car and better place to be spending in ~16.5hr a week for next 8-10 years. It handled better, looked better, had better ergonomics, etc.

 

Not when I was shopping. Prices for the base were 18k+

 

what were the intensives for Volt in OH? wouldn't they've made Volt cheaper and closer to Prius?

 

What pollution are we talking about; GHG, emissions from burning it for the car, the total pollution going back to digging the stuff out of the ground?

You won't get an argument out of me in support of coal, but tar sands oil in just as nasty on multiple fronts. And it appears that gasoline refined from it will be heading to the North East.
NRDC: Press Release - Dirty Tar Sands Fuel is Headed for the East Coast Tar sand gas has a large carbon footprint, "a Honda Accord burning tar sands gasoline has the same climate impact as a Chevy Suburban using conventional gasoline." Tar Sands Facts

That means a Prius burning that gunk has a 31mpg equivalent. For those using the average GHG from the fueleconomy.gov beyond tailpipe site, just has that data doesn't reflect the currrent, cleaner grid, it doesn't reflect the current dirtier gasoline. Then mining, yes mining, the tar sands involves digging up vast swathes of forest, some of which may be virgin, and the refining needed to get it pumpable into tankers and pipelines leaves behind lakes of poisoned water. If we take in to account the mercury and radioactive isotopes, coal comes out worse, but it is close.

Yes, but Cyclopathic used $3.65/gal. Premium fuel here is $3.09/gal. GasBuddy average for Ohio at the moment is $2.70/gal, with the premium low to high of $2.44 to $3.89. The Volt really doesn't need premium though. With that many gasoline miles for the newer commute, I'd switch to regular when out of warranty and if the price per mile was the same or better.
Using 53mpg for the Prius calculations maybe high. Yes, he gets higher than EPA with the Volt, but that maybe due to using EV and hybrid modes at the optimum times for efficiency.

It seems Ohio doesn't offer any past the federal tax credit.
He is a GM employee though. Right now, they get $2500 off of the price of the Volt, but that may not have been available, or perhaps higher, when this person got their Volt. GM Showroom | GM Family First

 

From the plug. A PiP and a Volt will use about the same amount of gasoline under his usage. The only difference is a Volt will use more electricity. More electricity = more pollution unless it comes from PV and even then, only if it doesn't displace normal use.

I do the same with the PiP and achieve 55 mpg in hybrid mode. That number likely will be lower if I drove a regular Prius.