~Me and Volt~
Why yes, that was moi you saw behind the wheel of the new Chevy Volt this morning. And yes, that was my big geeky grin that blinded you as we drove by!
I actually drove the Volt. I can’t believe I’m typing it, but I drove the Chevy Volt this morning! I drove it down Colorado Boulevard, through my neighborhood, and on I-70!
I was tooling around on twitter last night and my bud Christopher Barger dm’d me on twitter. If you don’t follow @cbarger you are missing out; this guy is real peeps that “gets it”, and you know how I love my folk that keep it real!
Here’s what he wrote:
Hi there! Late notice, but are you doing anything tomorrow morning? Might have head of GM mktg in Denver tmrw AM, if so he should meet you.
Well, of course he should me! Right? If you are driving through Denver in a Chevy #Volt2LA you should meet me! Especially if you are the head of marketing for one of the worlds largest automobile manufacturers… just sayin’. I was flattered and really excited, not just to see Volt again, but to meet with the people making it happen. When you look at what automobile manufacturers have weathered in the current economy, you can’t help but cheer for the people moving things forward at a company like GM. So, the geeky marketing stalker in me got a kick out of the whole thang.
You might remember how excited I was this summer after riding in the back seat of the Chevy Volt at an event GM hosted at Blue Hill at Stone Farms in Pocantico Hills, NY. The Volt crew was an impressive team and they were really excited about their product. My whole view of GM flipped big time that day… but I digress…
The #Volt2la Guys
Have I mentioned how much I love the GM marketing/pr people? I love their energy, I love how much they believe in what they are doing. Forget that their newest product has world changing implications, these people are fun! My new friend Joel let me drive his personal Volt and, apart from an unfortunate parking incident that may have included a run in with the curb and a near miss with a lovely light pole, the Marriott is still standing. And yes, his car is still in tact!
The Volt is an incredibly nice ride. Obviously an electric engine runs much quieter and more smooth than a traditional gas engine but I didn’t expect to get a “luxury” feel while driving it. Back in the day, before 3 kidlets sucked my wallet dry and I didn’t need a car to haul a soccer team around, I owned a Lexus RX300. It was a smooth ride and had that “luxury” feel; driving that car was dreamy. Calm and dreamy – of course, the fact that I didn’t have three kids chucking half eaten Chipotle burritos across the car probably had something to do with that.
The Volt even has that calm and dreamy feel on the highway. It doesn’t rev and strain before acceleration, it just goes. There are three different drive modes: normal (which is the most energy efficient), sport, and mountain. The Volt guys were heading up “the hill” into the mountains today so we had it in mountain mode, but even then I perceived the acceleration to be very smooth and quiet. The Volt doesn’t need that revving sound to prove it is man enough to handle the road, it just does it.
Joel explaining center stack touch screen
I’ve been following renewable energy and vehicle electrification for years. Electric vehicles have been around for a long time but GM is the first to deliver a palatable solution to the general public. Some might say that Nissan’s LEAF really got there first with a 100% electric vehicle, but it only travels 100 miles on a charge and has that “look at me I’m driving the quirky looking car because I’m green” look. The Volt is unassuming and looks just like any other car on the road today, except that it happens to run on electricity. Technically the Volt is a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) or as GM calls it, an “extended range electric vehicle”. You’ll be able to drive 40 emission-free miles before a small gasoline engine kicks in to power a generator that delivers electricity to the car’s motor. So, not only does the Volt have a nice cushy feel and look good, it will go 340 miles on a charge.
In my opinion, some of us tend to trip over ourselves to be as “green” as possible and in the process we miss opportunities to just be better. I think it is great that “Eco Joe” wants to live in an underground solar paneled home made of recycled Pop-Tarts, but it isn’t practical, nor is it necessary for our society to live that way. Today’s Volt is a step in the right direction and I have no doubt that this is only the beginning.
I love this! What a cool car. I actually love the name! LOL… so cute. This is something my husband would absolutely love… sending this link to him!
xo
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I’ve been dying to drive one! So glad you love it!!! You looked super cute behind the wheel too!
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OOOOOH I would be so excited too! Just for the chance to test drive it and try it out. It’s not like driving a different kind of car. It’s like driving a new space machine. Okay so not really but it is totally awesome!!!
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Fiona Reply:
November 15th, 2010 at 12:00 am
It actually is just like any other car — only much smoother and quieter!
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I actually went to the #voltunplugged event in Raleigh recently. I got to test drive the Volt around the block but sat with one of the engineers. He let me do what I could in one time around the block but I thought it was a totally cool car (coming from a non-GM fan, I must admit). The style, the quality, the engineering – all very impressive! Made me reconsider some of my thoughts on electric cars.
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Fiona Reply:
November 14th, 2010 at 11:48 pm
Fadra – I have been a non-gm fan for a long time but my experience with the GM people over the past few months has really changed my mind a bit. I was an auto industry brat and rebelled as soon as I could buy my own cars… I’m in the market for a new car right now and I am actually going to look into the GM line of cars. I don’t love the way things have gone down from a government standpoint but I think the leadership in the company is quite competent and seems to have a great deal of heart involved in turning things around. Just my opinion, of course…
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“…it will go 340 miles on a charge.”
That is not correct and contradicts what you said in the previous sentence. The Volt will only go around 40 miles on a charge and around 300 miles on gasoline.
The Volt is a very nice car though, but at $41k for the base model it is hard to expect any less.
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Fiona Reply:
November 14th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
Actually, it does drive 340 miles before you’ll need to recharge. It goes 40 miles on battery and then 300 on gasoline. But yes, the “all electric range” is only 40 miles. I believe that will also vary though, because my understanding is that the battery gains charge from breaking and coasting. I am no engineer so I can’t speak knowledgeably on that but Joel mentioned it yesterday and the engineer I spoke with this summer also spoke about it – I believe it is called regenerative braking – the tiny little bit of physics I remember tells me it has to do with the conversion of kinetic energy… but I think I’ll stop here since I’m way out of my comfort zone!!
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J in MN Reply:
November 15th, 2010 at 12:20 am
Ok, I see now what you meant by “340 miles on a charge”. The only problem with that reasoning is that a Prius gets infinite miles on a charge, because you never have to plug it in.
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Hmmm…I’ve been contemplating buying a little car (little meaning less than 15 passenger) to drive out to LA when I have to. This would be a good option, no? I drive a Chevy Van now and my husband drives a Chevy Hybrid Silverado. We are a Chevy loving family so this seems like a good edition! Thanks for the info, Fiona!
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