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tl;dr very long, owned a Volt, because of it bought a TM3 Owned a 2017 Chevrolet Volt, I made this choice because I wanted to "dip my toes" into the EV experie
by Shivetya 8y ago
tl;dr very long, owned a Volt, because of it bought a TM3
Owned a 2017 Chevrolet Volt, I made this choice because I wanted to "dip my toes" into the EV experience and only needing one car I needed one that could go anywhere. I make two trips per year by car one of which is thirteen hundred miles round trip.
The fit and finish was very good for any car, it drove very well, and EV mode was an eye opener. Being in Georgia meant that from spring to fall I could easily exceed the fifty three mile EV range, at times I approached seventy miles and this with AC on; disclaimer is that I had very little true highway speeds on my fifty four mile round trip to work. Cooler weather, as in forties or below drop the range below EPA and freezing opened up other opportunities. Mainly I would leave home with the car conditioned and turn the gasoline motor on for part of the commute to more readily heat the cabin and buffer my range for return trip home in EV mode. Cabin noise from the gas engine was incredibly hushed.
Now I own a TM3, I credit GM for that. The Volt sold me on EV driving. The effortless power that is present all the time and the quietness of the drive train. Why not the Bolt? Well GM was typical GM. They made a ZEV car and only went as far as they had to beat Tesla to the PR punch and soak ZEV credits to continue their sales of petrol burning cars, a fleet that ranks near the bottom.
The Bolt lost out for many reasons, the first being lack of range. No trip planner could get me through either of my two yearly trips; as in it was impossible on some legs. The TM3 blows through it because of range and charging options. The second reason was the same reason I did not buy a first generation Volt, the interior, namely the dash, looked Fisher Price. Throw in horrid front seats and yes they were bad, and it was a no go. I do like the packaging otherwise.
The Volt is gone because ZEV credits for PHEVs took a dive after 2018. As in nearly nothing compared to what they were. GM gamed the ZEV system in 2017 and 2018 so that they have banked enough credits till near 2021 which is when their EV focus will switch to Cadillac.
Now not to knock GM only, Tesla leaves a lot to be desired. Most of the features in my TM3 are very shallow implementations of other cars. My Volt had complete blue tooth audio integration, my Tesla requires me to use my phone to switch play lists, by artist, and such. Which is not fun because my state is a hands free state. The Volt had superior energy monitoring breaking out HVAC from the EV motor and even showing impact of the drive on efficiency. Tesla never delivered on voice commands, my car knows about six commands - a toyota corolla has more than three times as many. Instead Tesla gave me fart humor and a fireplace
- bluedino 8y ago>> I make two trips per year by car one of which is thirteen hundred miles round trip. Why not rent a car or fly?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- pinko 8y agoThe friction, risk, and uncertainty of rental cars sucks. Friction: pricing is unpredictable between and within vendors so you have to waste time comparison shopping on ad-laden sites to avoid getting screwed, taxes and fees and insurance costs and benefits are often opaque, and you have to somehow get to and from the rental office which can be far away (Enterprise's pickups sort of kind of help with this but need to be much more Uber-like), and you have to wait an indeterminate length of time in line (from 0 to 60+ minutes if you're unlucky during a rush) and then you sometimes have to trek a ways from the office to the actual car. Risk/uncertainty: your car may not exist (has happened to me often) or may stink, or be dirty, or somehow not what you were expecting, and the alternatives, when they exist, usually involve an argument and an upsell; and if you have an accident, the insurance paperwork is a nightmare even when you're 100% covered, unless you've paid for the expensive rental agency max coverage. Having your own car is predictable and low-risk, if expensive in other ways. But if your time has value, and you add the probability-weighted costs of not being able to leave for your trip on time, or go at all, or do it in a sub-standard car, renting can be pretty expensive too.
- bluedino 8y agoI own a a car and use it every day, but if I’m traveling more than ~600 miles (or at all? for work), I just rent one. It’s fairly cheap and it keeps the miles off mine, plus if I break down or get in a wreck I just call Budget back up and get another car instead of dealing with my broken car being two states away.
- tankerdude 8y agoAll that about Tesla is true. The one hope I have is the updating software. Their usb stick audio is miserable. Favorites break. Better phone integration would be great. Either way, the electric car experience is so much better than anything else. Maintenance on my Leaf is near nothing.