Last weekend Klout, Chevrolet and DrivingtheMidwest.com invited me to be one of the first consumers to get behind the wheel of the all-electric Chevrolet Volt. Who am I to refuse the chance to leave the minivan in the garage for the weekend? Instead, I went about my weekend Chicago-land plans in a shiny red Chevy without even burning an ounce of gas the entire time.
I plugged it in upon arrival into an ordinary outlet in our garage. It was as easy as plugging in my flat iron. If I remember correctly, it took about 7 hours to fully charge plugged into my standard 120 outlet, but if I was to buy the car I'd install a 240 dedicated outlet (like we have for our hottub.) The dedicated 240 outlet would allow the Volt to fully charge in about half the time. I should note that even without any charge the Chevy Volt can still be driven, as it also has a refillable gas tank like other cars. Unlike other cars though, if I remember correctly it averages something like 35-40 miles per gallon when running on gas and can go a good 35 miles or so on just the electric when fully charged.
I'm no car guru though, so I'll stick to what I do know. The Chevy Volt had a really nice look and feel to it. It looked sporty and it drove sporty too. I was truly surprised by the pickup it had and hubby was too. The layout of the car is really well thought out. I normally drive an 8 person minivan and the Volt still felt a lot bigger inside to me than your average 4 person vehicle. The trunk was awesome! I loved how when open it up you could see and reach every inch of it so easily. I did a huge Target run and still had more space left over. Parents and Grandparents might note that the two back seats do have the LATCH system which made my twins' car seats a breeze to install.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the complete lack of noise. Backing out of the garage, on the highway, it is so quiet. It's true that you can hardly tell it is really on. The quiet nature of the Volt was by far the thing that really seemed to stun everyone the most, well that and the fact I didn't touch the gas tank the entire time it was here. Ok and the whole look of everything under the hood was rather cool too. Seriously, it looked like my kids little electric car under there only with a bigger battery.
How much does it cost in electricity per day? My kids were really interested to know what it was costing me to charge this thing up and drive it around so I checked the Chevorlet volt website and found that the "Volt offers an EPA-estimated 35 miles of initial EV range offering a gas-free and tailpipe emissions-free commute for about $1.50 of electricity per day". Check their site for all details on how they calculated that, but I'd have personally been quite impressed at double that rate.
Would I buy one? The question was posed to me by nearly everyone I encountered and trust me, I was stopped in parking lots for questions several times. My answer is yes, I'd buy one if they made a Volt cross over or mini van version down the line. Four seats isn't enough for this Mommy of 5, but add another row and I'm getting in line. I'd LOVE the ability to run all my errands and carpool on a charged battery instead of burning gas at my van's rate of about 16 MPG. Too bad I can't afford an extra car to drive while the kids are in school or when I'm just with my husband on weekends.
* Please note I was loaned the use of the all-electric Chevrolet Volt for a few days and received a $50 gift card because I'm a Klout influencer. I was under no obligation to receive the sample or talk about this company. I get no additional benefits for talking about the product or company. http://klout.com/perks/disclosure With that said, much thanks to all the companies involved for allowing me to this fun opportunity.