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Any GTAM'ers own an electric vehicle?
- Thread starter PrivatePilot
- Start date
slowbird
Well-known member
In my experiences most people have an everyday vehicle that they don't really need. Lots of people at work commuting in Huge extended cab/bed pickup trucks and never have anyone else in the truck with them.
Couples with a tiny dog and no kids in a huge SUV. Hell, for a year after I separated from my Fiance, my G37x Sedan was waaay more car then I needed.
We are a wasteful people
That's true. In our case, we use the truck for truck stuff often enough to justify it over something smaller, and it's a small-ish truck anyway. The CTS-V was a pure toy until we moved out of the city, then it became the wrong choice for us so hence the Bolt.
Like a motorcycle?
Update....I'm at 4,000km since I took ownership and have burned 21L of gas 
Went to the cottage and Newmarket so basically drove on ICE most of the way on the 400 series highway and turned battery back on the side roads.
Overall fairly happy with the car, not looking forward to winter tires / cold weather as I can see my range dropping each day.
Went to the cottage and Newmarket so basically drove on ICE most of the way on the 400 series highway and turned battery back on the side roads. Overall fairly happy with the car, not looking forward to winter tires / cold weather as I can see my range dropping each day.
slowbird
Well-known member
slowbird
Well-known member
Yeah that makes two of us.
Got it.
Awesome. Huge savings...and some out there still believe that EV's cost as much as an ICE to operate.
We are seeing drops now for sure but my wife is still getting close to 40-45KM/day which isn't bad for a gen1. We do religiously precondition in the AM on L2 though so that helps.
Same here. Precondition #1 when I wake up around 5:20am....Precondition #2 around 5:40am and then I go to a nice and toasty car in the morning. Typically get to work with about 15km left on the charge, then full charge by 10am. I'm typically driving 120-130kph from 403/Hurtontario to 401/Yonge though. If I slowed down I'm sure it'd be much better but the L2 doesn't really require an 'efficient' commute 1 way.
Honestly I'm thinking of going back to GO bus because the 401 is just killing me after work. Such a horrid commute...
Incredible.
I'm still hoping to be able to get a Volt come spring when I return to work. It's a bit of a long story but once I return to work there's a possibility I can massage a few things financially to free up about $3000/month. Inside 3-4 months alone in that scenario I could pay off a huge portion of the cost of one.
Reality is my Magnum is going to either need about $2000 worth of work come the spring (it needs a front CV shaft, control arms, ball joints, etc etc) which is hard to justify for a car not worth a whole lot of money. Add to the fact I'm not exactly excited about it's average 15-18L/100KM consumption anymore in the reality of our Volt, as much as I will miss the power, I wont miss the fuel costs.
The Volt's fuel system keeps the tank under a moderate vacuum (There's actually a special button you have to press before gassing up to get rid of the vacuum) that helps reduce issues. It's also recommended to use non ethanol gas IIRC.
The Volts fuel system will force the owner to consume a good portion of the gas roughly every 12 months to ensure that it stays fresh, however. Like it or not the car enters FMM (Fuel Maintenace Mode) and will run on the engine alone until it has decided it's used enough to keep things fresh, assuming the owner will then go and replace that amount of fuel.
Whatever they're doing, it works though - fuel system problems are not heard of on the Volt.
Nope, none whatsoever but the Gen 1 Volt does require premium which I believe is better at longevity. Having said that, the Gen 2 runs on regular so maybe the standards on fuel are such these days that no stabilizer is required. I know I didn't use any on my bike last winter and it started come spring. No Stabil this season either. I use 93 Esso in the bike.
I've never heard of the button that PP mentions before gassing up?? The only button is the fuel door release on the driver door inside (perhaps it's part of that process?)
I should point out too that the fuel economy reading on the Volt is damn near perfect. It shows 0.88 l/100 kms life-to-date while my actual usage tracking via an Android app is 0.89. I may have indicated otherwise on a previous post but realized yesterday that I had the app's parameter as litres/100 miles instead of litres/ 100 km.
Look at your Dashboard next time you hit it – it's specifically displays "please wait to Fuel" or something along that lines when you press the button – this is the system bleeding off the vacuum. That's all it does actually, the fuel door itself is a manual release.
Anyhow, given the temperatures this morning, we experienced our first "engine running due to temperature" event. For those not familiar with it, below a certain temperature of the engineers decided that it was more energy efficient to run the engine For short periods of time to generate cabin heat versus relying on electrical heat alone. When I get the remote start to warm up the car for my wife this morning the engine immediately started which I will admit was incredibly weird – not since we purchased the car in April have I ever heard the engine running with the car at a standstill. The theory behind it all makes a lot of sense when you think about it Given the much smaller capacity of the battery on the Volt versus something like a Bolt or Tesla.
I have also started to see the expected drop in electric range as the temperatures get colder. For my wife's one hour commute it has taken between 10-20 km off VS her summer range. Again, on a smaller battery capacity vehicle like the Volt This is a notable drop, albeit expected, but on a larger capacity BEV like a Bolt/Tesla it would be much lower impact, even given the signifigant amp draw of the electric heat.
To our resident Bolt owner, I look forward to hearing your experiences with regards to temperature related range reduction, cabin heat, and the effect of cabin heat on your range as well. With 380KM of range in ideal situations I'm sure it still leaves plenty to spare, however.
I pre-condition the Bolt while it's still connected to the EVSE so I don't see too much drain, and I park in a heated parking garage at work. Pretty much the best case scenario for EV usage. I don't track things in detail but I did notice the battery was drained a little more this morning than over the last two weeks.
Thanks – yes you are indeed in a near ideal situation for helping reduce battery losses despite the conditions. I am very interested to hear your experiences as the winter goes on however, especially during the few extreme cold snaps that we get where you are going to be dealing with not only frigid external temperatures cold soaking the battery, but also high cabin heat demands.
Speaking of cabin heat how did you find the HVAC vent temperatures this morning? I know with the Volt people often complain about the vent temperatures when it comes to heating because the car is programmed to lean heavily towards efficiency vs scalding hot air. It WILL crank out hot air even on electric heat but you really need to jack up the HVAC settings to get it. I’m going to guess that the Bolt is probably a little more generous in this regard given the drastically higher battery reserve available.
Speaking of cabin heat how did you find the HVAC vent temperatures this morning? I know with the Volt people often complain about the vent temperatures when it comes to heating because the car is programmed to lean heavily towards efficiency vs scalding hot air. It WILL crank out hot air even on electric heat but you really need to jack up the HVAC settings to get it. I’m going to guess that the Bolt is probably a little more generous in this regard given the drastically higher battery reserve available.
Look at your Dashboard next time you hit it – it's specifically displays "please wait to Fuel" or something along that lines when you press the button – this is the system bleeding off the vacuum. That's all it does actually, the fuel door itself is a manual release.
You've intrigued me such that I just went out to the car here at work and checked ... the fuel door did not manually open with the car off but the car may need to be on (didn't test that) but indeed it did say the message you refer to (I never noticed it before).
I too experienced the ERDTT today at -10. It can be set to -2 or -3 (can't recall exactly) but I've set it to -10. Once the engine fires up and idles away you can switch the climate to "Fan" only and see your Climate energy use drop to a few % points only (much better than Eco or Comfort).
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