On December 6th of last year, I was contacted, through my blog, about a contest that would run from January through April 2013, called The EV Challenge. Participants would have their EVs equipped with data loggers from Fleetcarma to monitor the performance of their vehicle.
The contest will pit drivers against one another to see who can drive most ecologically (there goes my lead foot for a few months…). 70% of the score will be based on fuel NOT burned, 10% on “mini-challenges” and the remaining 20% on blogging done by the driver on the EV Challenge site. (wait…don’t I get extra credit for this blog?)
It sounded like fun and a chance to learn more about exactly how well my Volt is doing, so I applied to participate.
Holy cow, they picked me!
Today, a device called a “data logger” arrived. I am to connect it to two diagnostic ports on my Volt. It contains a microSD card reader. The drive data is written to the card and I upload that data to the monitoring site. (that tiny black rectangle is the microSD card)
I’m pretty jazzed about this.
I’ll be competing against drivers of EVs, including other than just the Volt, so I’ll really need to make sure I’m on electricity as much as possible. Obviously, I’ll keep you posted or you can monitor the EV Challenge website.
**Update**
I installed the data logger in my Volt. I found the instructional video here. 
The installation was easy, the only snag being one clip on each removable panel. The metal part of the clip came off and I had to remove it with a pair of pliers and remount it on the removable panel. No biggie at all. One knuckle scraped, but that’s par for the course for me. One reason I never became a mechanic, even though I’ve pulled and rebuilt engines in a Honda 750 motorcycle and Triumph TR6…
