I visited a place called a “gas station…”

August 10th Fill UpWhen I picked up my 2017 Chevy Volt, it had a full tank of gas (Thanks, Classic Chevrolet!). I had meetings to attend, in Austin, Texas the next day, (approx. 3 hour drive) and had to fill the gas tank, on my way back to DFW.

That last gas station visit was on March 4th.

Today, I had errands to run, all over town, and was almost home, with 15 miles of electric range to spare. Bonnie needed to take my car to the Texas Rangers game, because there were 5 passengers, in all. Although she may have had enough range to cover that drive, I (prematurely) filled the gas tank, to make sure they wouldn’t worry about it. I only had one gallon of gas left, in the tank. Filling the tank, took just under 8 gallons of gas.

Today is August 10th.

from the Volt Website
This is from Chevrolet’s Volt web page (my emphasis in red).

That’s 5 months and 6 days between fill ups, and I could have gone even longer! 5,801 miles. 17 gallons of gasoline (about $34, at today’s prices). 341 miles per gallon., not counting the cost of electricity.

Well, how about adding in the cost of electricity, you say? I charge at work (for free – Thanks again, Classic Chevrolet!) and at home, at a cost of about 50ยข per day. That’s 159 days, costing about $79.50 in electricity.

That’s a cost of $103.50 to go 5,801 miles. Think about that for a moment. Even at today’s low price of $2/gallon, that’s roughly equivalent to 57 gallons of gas ($103.50/$2.00), for a total MPG dollar equivalent of 102 MPG!

But what if I could not charge at work for free, you say? Then the cost of my charging would roughly double to $159. Add in the cost of the gasoline I used ($34) and you have $193 to go 5,801 miles. So even if I paid for all the electricity my Volt used, I would be getting the dollar equivalent of 60 MPG. I’m looking forward to gas getting back to $4 per gallon…

Just one of the many reasons I love our Volts!1st Day

About the author

An accidental EVangelist: On my way to work at Apple one morning, my car was rear-ended (and totaled) by an SUV, driven by a guy playing with his smartphone.
This led me to get my first plug-in vehicle.
I started blogging about my experiences immediately.
A year later, in 2013, I was hired by the dealership as their "EVangelist."
I became a board member with the Texas Electric Transportation Resources Alliance (www.TxETRA.org) and perform public speaking in the DFW area regarding electric vehicles and environmental issues.
I also teach others how to sell plug-in vehicles or manage EV sales.
I'm on a mission.

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