Chevy stops Volt production (temporarily ...)

Why are we resisting your silly calls for new targets.. First because you are talking to consumers, not GM upper management. You can cajole you want, but only GM can set GM targets. And they have been very clear. they will match supply with demand. Resetting goals for such a new technology/product is a fools errand. And all the PHEV/BEV companies are sticking with old estimates or being quiet. No amount of polling or focus groups really matches watching the market's reaction, especially when one is playing with 25-30K prices and lots of alternative choices.

 

Wow, you use less that a 165 watts a day.. how can you be surfing the internet to reply to these posts? No fridge, virtually no lights?

That add soooo much to my belief in your other posts where you compute GHG of different cars. You don't even get order of magnitude right when dealing with energy.

 

It seems like the Japanese government gave Toyota, and other domestic exporters to the US, a 30% subsidy by holding the YEN at 110 versus 80.

 

Like it or not, this is what vehicles are ultimately compared to. Since the Volt still uses gasoline, the figure becomes a comparison point to other similar vehicles.

I work in the power industry. I know plenty about how it is produced and distributed about the country.

Congratulations. Not everyone is willing to read by candlelight (I'm calling B.S. on your claim). Maybe you would rather buy oil purchased from the middle east, and subsidized by the government in the form of wars propagandized to hide the fact that they are all really about securing "cheap" energy. I would rather buy my energy from a local source. If that means a larger electric bill, so be it. As I've already said, I've found little to no difference in the overall size of my power bill.

 

GM is on target to meet the 20k target that they had originally set for the first model year. I'm fine with that. I'm also fine with the fact that the Volt is outselling all other EV's and PHV's.

 

How many examples of that not working would you like?

 

No examples needed -- I have no problem believing you can cajole many people without it working.

 

Our typical monthly usage is about 4 kWh. I pay about 32 cents per kWh after all the taxes and fees. I can't imagine my car consuming 12.9 kWh in one charge.

I am glad to see the deal you got and hope it'll last. Did you get a Renewable Energy Certificate when you sign up for the subscription? You'll need it to cancel the carbon footprint caused by average TX grid electricity that your Volt runs on.

Using EPA 12.9kWh per charge, you'll need one REC (1,000 kWh) for every 78 recharges.

 

Here are the details for my EV charging subscription.

Getting Ready for Plug-In Electric Vehicles

The utility keeps the SRECs and RECs

 

Offset by PV ? Certainly your consumption is more than 4 kwh/month.

 

After seeing your post, I rechecked my utility bill. 4kWh usage is per day, not per month, duh.

We use only CCFL or LED bulbs and have a fridge, 55" Plasma TV, 27" LCD TV, two subwoofers, one HTPC, 3 laptops, dual 21" LCDs with a docking station and about 6 console game systems.

We also have a vacuum-electric hybrid water boiler and an aquarium with air pump. That's all I can think of for now.

 

Do you mean you use 4kWh a day? Or 400 kWh/month?
Is total your bill $1.28 (what 4Kwh a month would total at 32cents per kWh?) or more?

Edit: thanks for the clarification.. that makes more sense. For comparison last month I used 11kWh/day including driving my volt 982 EV miles. In contrast last July (prevolt) I used 6kWh/day.

 

That 55" plasma probably draws as much current as the Volt on 110V. not sure though. check it and you might want to swap it out for an LED TV next chance you get.

 

I don't see the $25 for unlimited 6 months of recharges. FAQ said the GreenChoice Batch 6 charge is 5.7 cents extra per kWh.

Your signature is also doing a direct claim of 100% renewable electricity usage. You can't do that. The actual electricity you used is a mixture of renewable and fossil fuel. Below is from the FAQ:

If I sign up, will my home or business receive electricity generated from renewable energy?
Yes, but not directly.​

When you subscribe to GreenChoice, Austin Energy purchases green energy to meet your needs. This means less electricity is needed from natural gas or coal-fired power plants.​

​

Austin Energy’s electric system receives green energy daily over our statewide transmission system. Once green energy enters our system, it mixes with energy produced from power generating plants.​

​

This means the electricity generated from green sources is not directed to a specific home or business. But as more customers subscribe to GreenChoice, the amount of green power in the mix increases. This reduces the amount of energy coming from fossil-fuel based power plants.​

 

The 55" plasma draws about 320 Watts. The 27" LCD draws 112 Watts. I love the deep black and picture quality of the plasma. I am not sure if I'll swap it out for an LED.

I can watch an hour with 55" plasma (320Wh) for less than a mile of your Volt (360Wh/mile). Ok, enough with the off-topic.

 

You are comparing a vehicle that uses two fuels to another that uses only one. You can't ignore the usage of the second fuel (electricity).

The MPG on the screenshot includes the miles driven by electricity. Traditionally, MPG includes miles driven only by gasoline. If you want to compare, you need to compare gas miles per gas consumption or electric miles per kWh.

If you are comparing to another dual fuel PHV, you'll need both gallons and kWh. In either cases, the fact that the Volt doesn't track on board is simply to confuse or misguide so it is difficult to compare.

 

4 kwh a day is within the realm of possible, but I bet that puts you in the 99.9% percentile for low electricity use for homes on the grid. Kudos

Just the fridge is likely 1 - 1.5 kwh a day.

 

MPG is a measure of gas used per mile --Period. There is no other way to report MPG. People can (I believe should) report other terms as well, such a MPGe or MPFD (mile per fuel dollar), but it depends on what matters to them, energy, money or gas.



The volt does track both EV miles and Gas miles on board for the current charge. The 2012 foward show kWh used per charge (excluding regen). The 2013's show instant power flow as well. The car does not save long term kWh/gas, but then but Onstar does track long term and send montly reports.

 

To me, that figure went from impossibly low, to quite high. I'll have to look up my power consumption records when I get back home, but I'm nowhere near 4kw a day, even with the car being plugged in. Figures like the picture shown in my center stack shot only occur when I'm travelling. My daily driving distance which includes going home for lunch is typically 15 miles.

 

if you do 5miles/kWh that is 50miles/charge, hen
15miles, even at 5miles/kWh in the car, is 3.5kWh (from the wall). If at 42 miles a charge, then 15miles is over 4kWh