800 miles and counting

Good news!  The Volt survived Hurricane Sandy!

It was charging at the house for most of the day yesterday when the power went out, prompting the car alarm to go off.  Why does this happen?  Luckily, the power outage did not harm the charge or the car.

Someone stopped to ask me some questions as I was unplugging my car from my favorite ChargePoint station this afternoon.  I think I need to start understanding exactly how this car works so I can better answer questions.

Here are some of the questions:
- How long does it take to charge?  Depending upon the power source, it could take 4-12 hours.

- How many miles does each charge last?  Around 36 miles, depending on weather and driving      
   conditions.

-When you are at a stop sign is the battery being used?  Umm, I guess?  I am assuming that some battery power has to be used because the car is still on, but I am not really clear on that answer.

-Do you just leave your car on the street charging by itself?  This question was asked as I was unplugging my car and the alarm started to go off.  My answer was a little smart "Well, the alarm goes off when you unplug it in a public station, so I guess that deters people."


I found this last question very amusing because I was worried about leaving it the first time too!  I think the car looks so venerable when charging, but it really is no different that just parking your car on the street.

Does anyone reading this blog drive a Volt?  If so, does your car alarm go off when you unplug in public?  What happens to the battery when you are at a stop sign?

Here are my recent stats according to my recorded ChargePoint charges:
Number of charges: 3
Gallons of Gas saved: 4.8
GHG gasses saved: 40.602
28.573 kWh energy

P.S. It was raining pretty hard on my drive home and the car handled the slick roads very well.

Frankenstorm!

New England is gearing up for Frankenstorm Sandy, which means I had to break down and do the inevitable.  Fill up the Volt's gas tank.

Booooooo

Let me explain:

It is not a necessity, the tank was half full (optimism) with over 700 miles, but if we lose power because of Frankenstorm Sandy I would like to be prepared.   I keep seeing the Volt commercial where the woman says that she forgets how to put gas in her car.  I think that commercial is dumb.  Except I forgot to unscrew the gas cap . . . oops and yay!

Company on the Block

There has been a Leaf spotting!  

P.S. I want credit on my photo skills.  It was hard to take this picture without license plate numbers.

Update

Just unplugged my car because ChargePoint told me it was ready.  Here are the stats it gave me:

My Stats

• 8.152 (kWh) Energy
• 11.583 (kg) GHG gases saved
• 1.4 (gallons) Gasoline saved
• 1 Total charge-ups

Cool.

My solution for the car alarm did not work.  I might still be hitting the panic button with my hand when I wind up the cord.  I will try again tomorrow.

ChargePoint card has arrived

YA!  My ChargePoint card has arrived.  What does this mean?  It means that I can track my charge online.  Right now my car is charging in a public charging station, when I signed into my ChargePoint account I can see how much it has charged and the exact location of my car.  Reason for location?  Maybe people forget where they charge their car?  I am not sure. 

ChargePoint also tracks how much electricity each charge is using, the power of the charge and the fee.  At this point it is free, but that may change in the future.

I am now able to answer the question that they young men asked yesterday: What happens if someone unplugs your car?  The alarm goes off.  I realized that you are suppose to swipe your ChargePoint card and/or credit card at the beginning and end of a charge.  Which means it wasn't me who triggered the alarm the other day - it was my car. 

580 miles so far, around 4 gallons of gas used.  Horray! 

A Cool Conversation

I parked my car at my favorite public charging station this morning while two young men were walking by.  They stopped and asked me some questions about the car - and I am so glad they did!  They seemed generally interested in how it works and were wondering about the charging station.  They also asked me if anyone has ever unplugged my car while it was charging.  I never thought about that!  I told them to please not do that, and they laughed and said they wouldn't.

What was so interesting about this conversation is that these two young men would never normally say anything to me (nor I to them).  Yay for the Volt for bringing people together.

Also, yay to my husband who backed my car in the driveway last night.  That sounds like a small thing to anyone who doesn't live in my house, so let me explain.  My driveway is pretty narrow and includes a bridge.  There isn't an easy way to turn a car around in the driveway so most people usually back out.  So leaving the house without backing down the driveway was a wonderful treat!

Alarm is working

Quick update and warning for other Volt owners.

When unplugging my Volt from the city's charging station I accidentally hit the key's alarm button. I am happy to report that the alarm works!

Happy charging, everyone.

More Parking Fun

I did not have any luck finding the parking garage with the charging station in Worcester last night.  But, I was able to track my gas milage on my drive home and noticed that I get over 50 MPG.

Another bonus of owning a Volt - the extras!  I have never had a car that had power windows, blue tooth, remote start and cruise control.  I decided to try cruise control on my drive to Worcester last night and it was great!  Of course, New England traffic at 5 PM is not exactly cruise control friendly.

A workout weekend for the Volt

I managed to pack on the miles this weekend!  On Saturday I drove to Boston and back.  I left the house with a full charge and drove about 30 miles into Boston.  I was very excited to utilize Boston's public charging stations at the State Street Garage, but had trouble finding it.  I drive around Boston regularly, and am a former Boston resident, so I was bewildered that I could not find the garage. 

(now, looking at the directions online, I can see that the entrance is on Broad Street, not State Street.  Oh Boston!).

I ended up parking in another garaged that did not have a charging station. 

Saturday travels:
Total Miles: 60 (give or take)
Miles with battery power: 38
Miles with gas power: 22

On Sunday I took the Volt to Salem and back. 
Total Miles: 50
Miles with battery power: 38
Miles with gas power: 12

My husband was driving the car on Sunday and didn't even notice when the gar switched from batter to gas power. 

I was able to use the on-street charging station at work today.  There was a truck parked in one of the electric car spots so I might send a note to the city parking department.

I am going to drive to Worcester for work later this evening.  According the Chargepoint.com, there is number of different charging stations in the city.  I hope I have better luck finding the parking spot today!

Overall, I have driven just over 300 miles and have used 2 gallons of gasoline.

Thank you, Government!

The city that I work in was lucky enough to receive a grant from the government for the purposes of installing electric car plug-in stations.  I am lucky that they decided to install this down the street from my office.

I am still waiting for my ChargePoint card, but realized that my credit card has a PayPass option (meaning, you tap the credit card onto a pad instead of swiping).  I tried using the PayPass to activate the charging station and it worked!  I have read that his charging station will not require payment for use until 2014 - so my credit card should not be charged. . . we will see.

But here are some pictures of my car utilizing this amazing government grant.  

I feel a little nervous leaving the car like that.  It looks venerable, but I checked 3 times to make sure it was locked.  Keep those fingers crossed!

ChargePoint

Day 4

I can't believe it has only been four days!  Tire pressure light is still on - but I haven't filled the tire with air so that is to be expected.  I am anxiously waiting the arrival of my ChargePoint card.  This card will allow me to charge my car at work.  Until then, I am limited to charging at home.

I didn't get home until around 8:30 last night, and had to leave my house before 8AM, so I was not able to get a full battery charge. Luckily, the gas power automatically starts without a problem.

Some stats
Yesterday: 42 miles
    Battery Power: 38 miles
    Gas Power:        4 miles

Today: 21 miles to work
    Battery Power: 14 miles
    Gas Power:         6 miles

I have yet to use a full gallon of gas in four days.  Yippee!

It is back!

Each car I own seems to have an issue with tire pressure.  I know that you should check and fix regularly, but my cars seem to squash air out of a tire every day!  One of the reasons why I was so happy to get a new car is that the tire air pressure shouldn't be a problem.  At least not for a little while.


And then it happened.

Day three!

I blame the earthquake.

What Coast Am I On?

Between the earthquake tonight and the plug-in car, I am slightly confused about what coast I live on.  This side of the continent might have been a little slow to adopt the plug-in, but we are slowly turning around!

As I mentioned before, I wasn't able to plug-in at work today, so I had to use some gasoline.  I was worried about what it would feel like when I switched from battery to gas power, but it was seamless.  I did notice that the car was slightly louder, but it didn't buck or make a funny noise or slow down.  Go Volt!

Here is the over-sized golf cart charging at home:

Driving stats
Miles: 21
Battery Use: 15
Gas Use: 6

Driving Stats - Day one and two

Volt was plugged into my house last night.  I plugged in the car around 8 PM and it was fully charged at 5 AM.  It was very easy to charge and designed to be similar to filling your car with gasoline. 

This morning's driving stats:
Miles: 21
Temp: 54 degrees (they say the Volt does not like anything colder than 70 F - and I agree with the
            Volt)
Time: around 40 minutes
Remaining miles on charge: 17

The car is advertised as getting 38 miles per charge.  Yay for accurate advertising!

There is a free electric car charging station across the street from my work, so I was looking forward to trying it this morning.  Unfortunately, a truck was parked blocking both charging ports. 

I tried to plug-in this afternoon and discovered that I need a special card to use that machine.  It was easy to find online and should have it soon. 

Intro to my Volt

First, let me say that I am not a "car person."  My knowledge of cars starts and ends with me knowing how to drive.  Please do not expect tech-talk from me.  You can expect some driving stats, electric charging and gas mileage stats and (hopefully) some funny stories about my learning adventures.

I picked up my Volt yesterday.  First, I noticed that the car is quiet!  You do not start the car with a key, you push a button.  As a pleasant surprise, the car makes a happy computer-turning-on sound that is silent outside of the car.  It is so quiet, that they had to create a warning chirp you can use to warn pedestrians, bikers and animals of your approach.  I am not going to lie, I like to think of myself as Wonder Woman in her invisible plane. 

The green ball on the right measures the driving efficiency.  When in the middle - as pictured - you are driving most efficient.  If you drive too fast or erratically the ball turns yellow and moves up.  Higher up the scale and redder the ball means you are not being a good electric car driver.  I want to look at this green ball all the time!  But I don't, because I am watching the road.  Of course.

The gauge on the left measures the battery power.  In this picture I have 16 miles left to drive with electric power.  Once those 16 miles are up the car automatically uses the gas (292 miles available). 

The air temperature, radio, and 1 million other things I haven't discovered is all touch screen.  There are corresponding "buttons" below the screen that are not really buttons.  They are another type of touch-screen button thing.  (I warned you, no tech talk).

Please note, photos were taken while in a parking lot.  I was not driving and taking pictures.