Life Happens

I've been absent for a while. I know and if it's appropriate, I apologize. Life happened.

Life prevented me from being able to sit down and write a blog, but fortunately, it did not prevent me from reaching the pinnacle of my hypermiling on October 15 and posting a 60 mile estimated charge.

It also didn't stop me from taking a breather with my beloved Volt Zippy and getting us both a full detail, including a nice hot wax.

Technically, I suppose I can say that life didn't stop me from improving all my stats in VoltStats, but I must also say that my standings were held pretty much steady, mainly due to the many 2016 Volts coming onto the scene (although none in Florida), with their increased 53+ mile per charge range and all.

Why won't there be 2016 Volts in Florida, you ask? Chevrolet has decided to make 2016 a short model year for the Volt and only release it in the 11 states that uphold CARB 2 standards. 

Obviously, the Sunshine State does not make the cut.

We will see the Gen 2 Volt in late 2016, when the 2017 Volt (beginning production in March 2016) arrives on the scene with its (rumored) DC fast charging port.  This, we all want to see.

I'll try to bring more Volt news, more often... but life happens.

Four Weeks of Volt Driving Bliss

The love affair continues.

My Volt is so fun to drive and it just doesn't get old. Yesterday marks the four month anniversary of the Voltaissance. I've been told by some other Volt drivers that at some point I will let go of the hypermiling, the obsession with maximizing battery efficiency, the commitment to use no gasoline except in the most extreme emergency circumstances.

So far, no dice.

This past Tuesday, I had to drive about 200 miles to go to Stetson University, Valencia's East Campus, and the Osceola County Stadium complex for a variety of meetings. So I did what any dedicated hypermiler obsessed with her Voltstats would do, and swapped cars with my husband for the day. Yes folks, you read that correctly. Rather than run around kingdom come in my extremely efficient range-extended electric vehicle, I chose to guzzle gas in the hulking Dodge Journey that serves as our seven-seater family car. 

Ridiculous. I know.

As I was driving around town, trying to remember how to drive without regenerative braking, Brian and Sheridan were living it up running my Volt's air system on Comfort. Comfort! In case it's been a while since I discussed the Volt's air system, here's a recap: There are three modes for climate control: Fan Only, Eco, and Comfort. Those are clearly in order of most efficient (uses the least amount of battery) to least efficient (sucks the electrons like they are a melting Slurpee on a hot Florida day). What do I do? Usually I turn the system off all together and open both front windows. That's as efficient as it gets. If it's hot and rainy out, eliminating the windows-open possibility, I put the system on Eco at 78 degrees. This is good enough for me.

Not so much for my spouse and offspring.

I wasn't aware of the situation until this late afternoon text.

Blame the kid - it's the oldest trick in the book. So what did I do? i stalked them on OnStar's RemoteLink app for the rest of the day to make sure they still had enough charge to complete their remaining trips to the allergist and voice lessons.

Luckily, they made it home without using any gas - after all, that was my goal when I cooked up this car-swapping scheme - and the damage done to my stats wasn't too bad. Zippy started the day with 57 miles on the guessometer, and this morning showed 54 - not an unreasonable effect of riding around on COMFORT. 

In fact, I've cracked the top 60 on VoltStats.

And in the end, Brian and Sheridan are worth a little comfort air.

The fun continues. Charge on!

Much Ado about Volkswagen

Unless you live under a rock - and look, no judgements here as many days I find myself brushing the distinctive under-rock mossiness from my needs-to-be-washed hair - you know that when it comes to "clean diesel", an oxymoron if ever there was one, Volkswagen has been far-from-truthin.

If you somehow missed the full story, there is a great up-to-the-minute summary available here on CNN Money. Essentially, the bottom line in this: If you drive a VW TDI vehicle (2009-15 Passat or Jetta or Audi A3), you have been cranking 10-40 times as much nitrous oxide into the air than VW led you to believe.

And the rest of us have been breathing it.

We know it's not your fault. You thought that diesel, which is known to burn very dirty, could burn at acceptable emission levels because Volkswagen told you that they'd unlocked the secret to clean burning diesel and were happy to sell you a car that could do it. You're not a mechanical engineer, and you're not a scientist. Why would you ever question a big, international conglomerate like Volkswagen? There's just no way that a company that's been around since 1937 could have survived for 78 years if it was engaging in dishonest practices.

And besides, half a million VW TDI units had passed emissions tests in the US alone. So obviously, VW cracked the code. Right? Right?

Wrong. And now you know - big corporations cannot necessarily be trusted to do as they say and say what they do. Shocker.

Okay, okay, enough sarcasm and negativity. I tried not to go there, I really did... but this travesty makes VW such an easy target right now.

Instead of taking a longer stroll down Negativity Lane, let's look on the bright side. And make no mistakes - for electric car advocates, this situation has a lot of bright sides.

Not only did VW lie... they lied about the feasibility of accomplishing something that would slow the immediate urgency of moving towards electric cars for the masses. If you're a big oil advocate, then you gotta love diesel. What could be more thrilling than using every single grade of the crude oil that is extracted from the earth? It just doesn't get any better.

But now we find it's all a lie. Diesel is a nasty fuel and it burns in such a way that you don't need to be a Californian to despise. No folks, this won't save us from running out of gasoline in the next 70? 100? whatever! years. It's time to move on and one of the directions we clearly need to move is cleaning up the grid, speeding up the electric car charging process... and putting battery power at the steering wheels of the masses.

Volkswagen has been ordered to clean up the problem and fix every one of the over 1 million cars worldwide that are belching their filth into our atmosphere. But the company may not survive. In addition to the cost of the recall, which hasn't even begun but is estimated to total about 7.3 billion dollars, there will be the fines - and the lawsuits. A lot of people will get rich over this but it's unlikely that these people will work for Volkswagen. What I'd really like to see (and I'm certainly not alone in this) is the investment of the fines paid by VW into cleaning up the damage that has been done to the environment or, better yet, beefing up the charging infrastructure around the globe. Can you think of anything more poetic? 

Well, maybe this...a 1970 VW Bug that's been converted to be an electric car.

You Might Be a Hypermiler

Set in the tone of Jeff Foxworthy's "You MIGHT be a redneck" schtick, I offer up the following ways you know that you might be a hypermiler.

(Disclosure: I made most of these up but did hack a few from a recent discussion on the Chevy Volt Owners Facebook group).

If you look forward to cloudy days because you know cooler air temps will lead to better battery efficiency...

You might be a hypermiler

If you curse when it starts to downpour while you're driving because you must now roll up your windows and turn on the climate system, if only to blow around some barely-cool air...

You might be a hypermiler.

If you choose restaurants based solely on proximity to a free public charging station...

You might be a hypermiler.

If you are constantly performing miles per kilowatt hour computations in your head while you drive...

You might be a hypermiler.

If a person you might typically find attractive smiles at you from the car next to you, and you don't notice at all because you're too busy staring at the dash mentally updating your efficiency stats...

You might be a hypermiler.

If you change into socks and shoes and put on a blazer when you get to work because it was 95 degrees when you left your house and you'd rather drive in flip-flops and a tank top than turn on your climate system....

You might be a hypermiler.

If you're always happy to be behind the truck going 20 miles below the speed limit in the right lane...

You might be a hypermiler.

If you can't remember the last time you used your climate control system...

You might be a hypermiler.

If you won't let your spouse drive your car for fear he or she will mess up your driving statistics...

You might be a hypermiler.

If, when your spouse inevitably DOES drive your car, you stalk him or her via your map service to make sure they are following your firmly set hypermiling rules...

You might be a hypermiler.

If your coworkers absolutely won't get in the car with you to go to lunch because you drive too slow and won't turn on the air or heat...

You might be a hypermiler.

If you laugh maniacally every time the price of gas goes up...

You might be a hypermiler.

If you inflate your tires every few days to get that extra mile or two per charge...

You might be a hypermiler.

If the people next to you think your Volt is a stick shift because the amount of shifting you do...

You might be a hypermiler.

Getting a Charge out of Charged Magazine

How do you know that your favorite technology is here to stay?

One great clue evidences itself when there are magazines devoted to the topic.

I'm not entirely sure how I signed up for this magazine. It could have happened when I joined the Electric Vehicle Association. Maybe I signed up on chargedevs.com. But the fact that my work address and title are on the table tells me that I was the lucky winner of the let's-send-the-engineering-dean-free-magazines lottery. This lottery also accounts for the reason I receive free subscriptions to Architectural Digest and Wired magazine. 

It's all good.

In any case, I recently received this and read it cover to cover. The magazine is divided into three sections: The Tech, The Vehicles, and The Infrastructure. Self explanatory really. Each section includes both short (half-page) snippets and feature articles. To give you a feel for the types of stories, I'll list the titles for all three sections for this one issues. All stories are short unless otherwise stated.

The Tech

BorgWarner to buy Remy International for $950 million in cash 

24M introduces semisolid lithium-ion cell 

Lux Research: China's energy storage market to quadruple by 2025 

DOE report examines opportunities for US battery manufactures 

Chinese and US agencies work together on standards 

French chemical giant and utility join to create energy storage R&D lab 

BRUSA's new DTSP1 motor/gearbox combo

Skeleton Technologies' new ultra capacitors target heavy transportation market 

DOE offers funding for medium- and heavy-duty powertrain electrification projects

MobileBattery can boost EV range and provide home back-up power 

Continental develops integrated powertrain for the Chinese market

New device dynamically reduces offset error in DC measurement

Voltabox inaugurates battery pack assembly line in Austin, Texas

A Closer Look at Torque Ripple (feature)

Tesla Tweaks its Battery Chemistry: A Closer Look at Silicon Anode Development (feature)

The Vehicles

Tesla trims projected production

New independent EV builder makes the scene (this is about Faraday Future)

Chevy Bolt EV on its way to the masses - not the elite

Two more California cities order Proterra electric buses

Volkswagen brings new plug-in Passat to Europe

BYD sells 50 e6 EVs to San Diego ride-sharing fleet

Kandi makes $89-million deal as Chinese auto market moves online 

New report from Germany assesses over 500 EV models

California Air Resources Board chief: Automakers need to end production of ICEs around 2030

Survey: Automotive engineers don't expect CAFE standards to be lowered

Tesla to raise about $650 million with new stock offering

New report: Marine hybrid propulsion market to reach $4.46 billion by 2022

2016 Chevrolet Volt (feature)

An Upgraded Operating System (feature about Motiv Power Systems)

Chinese auto parts giant invests $1.6 million in wireless charging pioneer Evatran

Tesla reveals prototype of snakelike automatic charger (kind of old news)

The Infrastructure

California DOT orders 11 portable solar EV charging stations from Envision Solar

Electric Highway links Western Australia with fast charging stations

ClipperCreek launches HCS-50 EV charging station

BRUSA licenses Qualcomm Halo wireless charging tech

EV charging and distributed energy sources meet in the cloud

South Korean plan turns ordinary 220V outlets into charging stations

France moves to unify charging networks

Oregon state employees must pay for workplace charging

Volkswagen working on automated DC charging

BMW pilot pays drivers to delay charging, helping to stabilize the grid

Manhattan parking garages installing Tesla chargers

Workplace Charging with Smart Grid Response (feature)

Connecting to the Best Rates (feature about Seimens VersiCharge SG)

In addition to all this EV reading goodness, the ads themselves are eye candy. Frankly, I'm sick of newspapers and magazines devoted to gas guzzling 8 cylinder monsters. It's quite refreshing to see something like this taking up space on the bottom half of the page:

I truly look forward to the day I see ads like this in Car & Driver and in general, any magazine.

Some key observations about this issue of Charged Electric Vehicle Magazine:

• As you can see from the article titles, there really is something for everyone. This is a comprehensive publication.
• Some of the articles are extremely technical. There is not a whole lot of fluff, although some oft he articles in the vehicles and infrastructure sections are a little more accessible. You practically have to be an electrical engineer to understand half of the stuff in the tech section. Fortunately, I am one.
• If you appreciate magazines with an international flavor, this is a great publication for you. I really enjoyed learning about what was going on in other countries with EVvehicles and infrastructure. I know quite a bit about what goes on in areas where the Volt is sold due to my social media Volt owner connections, but there are many countries in which the Volt is not available, so it was cool to learn what the state of EV affairs was in, say, South Korea.
• This is a high quality magazine. Very nice, glossy photos. I want to frame the entire Volt article. It's gorgeous and great reading with lots of technical details for the true Volt fan.
• If there is a cover price for this magazine, I can't find it. But I know I want to keep on receiving it.
• The magazine comes out every two months. This was the July/August issue. It's number 20, so the mag has been around for almost two years. 
• I cannot overstate my love for the magazine's motto on the spine: EVs are Here, Try to Keep Up. So much love for that.

The verdict: run, don't walk, to the newstand (do those still exist? maybe you should try Barnes and Noble) and get yourself a copy.

Reflections on National Drive Electric Week, Orlando Edition

Now that it's over, I can't believe it's done. In my wildest dreams, I didn't imagine that NDEW Orlando would be this great, but it truly was a very special EVent.

As of the evening before, we had 172 attendees registered and 42 cars including 4 Tesla Model Ss, 2 Cadillac ELRs, a large number of LEAFs and Volts, and a handful of one-offs. The weather looked a little scary - the forecast was for rain all day. I couldn't sleep much - excitement and anxiety about all the things that could go wrong kept me up a good bit of the night.

But September 12 dawned clear and pretty, and it looked like we might get lucky. Brian and I loaded the kids and our 2 large coolers into our fully charged Volt and headed over to Valencia's West Campus via highways. After a quick stop at Publix for ice, we arrived on campus a little after 9:30am to begin setting up for the 1pm EVent.

I ran a cart over the Dunkin' Donuts to pick up our 1000 donated munchkins while Brian and Bryce put out the road signs.

We set up the tables and started up the technology in the lecture hall where the presentations would take place starting at 1:15pm. By 11am, we were pretty ready. A few minutes later, our first attendee, Jim, arrived early from Ocala. That's a long trip to make in a Nissan LEAF, so he wanted to make sure he'd be able to get a full charge before running out for some lunch. We ended up pointing out Dunkin' Donuts to him (taking care of one of our two big sponsors) and he helped manage traffic in the parking lot, which was excellent and if he reads this, I thank him profusely.

Volunteers began to arrive in time for our 12pm meeting in the lecture hall. We had some latecomers, so I gave the speech twice. By 12:30, folks were streaming into the parking lot. I parked myself in the lecture hall around 1:00 to be ready for my 1:15 presentation, "Introduction to the Electric Car," and Brian handled the steady stream of incoming organization representatives and attendees, along with our very organized volunteers, Karen and Anna.

At one point, almost all 16 tables that we had put out were occupied by folks from First Green Bank, the Sierra Club, the Central Florida EV Association, Reed Nissan, and a host of other supporting organizations. The biggest excitement, however, was probably what was going on in the parking lot. Brian got some footage of the rows of vehicles and narrated it for us.

My presentation was very well attended and received. I had a little helper assisting with slide transitioning. 

Credit for that photo goes to my cousin Meryl, who came out to show support and hopefully learned something about electric cars that I had not already told her.

Following my talk was the indomitable Thron Crowe, one of the biggest EV advocates in central Florida and a former Valencia student who certainly helped to influence my decision to drive electric. I don't have a photo but he was on the front page of the local and state section of the paper on September 14, which is probably making him more famous than would an appearance in my blog.

Following Thron, we had a great presentation by City of Orlando Fleet and Facilities manager David Dunn, who talked about what the city is working on in terms of electric vehicle infrastructure and sustainability. 

Next, we got a wonderful overview of how and why Seminole State College utilizes electric car conversion to teach students about project life cycles in their engineering technology program. Jason Gaschel and one of his students were entertaining and informative.

Our wrap-up speaker was Daniel Gehking, who uses solar power in his home for charging his car and running his home electricity. His talk was educational and interesting, and we all learned about the competing solar choice amendments in Florida. I'm not sure how many petitions were signed following the talk, but I know Dan was very excited by the stack of signed documents he took with him at the end of the day.

The feedback has been so positive, I hardly know how to get my head in the door. In addition to the Sentinel coverage, we also had WESH 2 news cover the event, as well as WFTV Channel 9.  This was in addition to all of the pre-event coverage that we had, including an article in the Sentinel Saturday quoting me quite extensively.

Here I am talking at length to the WESH 2 reporter. Sadly, none of my super-pro-EV statements made it to the cut, but it's just as well. My hair was a sweaty mess.

I'm pleased to say that although it did rain, the bad weather never got really bad, and the rain didn't come in until about 45 minutes before the event ended. By that time, we were down to the 100 or so hard core attendees who were happy to pitch in and help move everything indoors. Everything was cleaned up shortly after 5 by the volunteers before I even left the lecture hall.

All told, we had over 170 folks show up and 50 cars - which was more than actually registered. So much for expecting a 60% turnout! This goes to show that if you hold something in Orlando four miles north of Universal Studios, people will come.

It was a true joy to meet some of the folks from the Chevy Volt Owners group in Facebook. These people have truly taught me everything I know and it was such a pleasure to share the day with them. I hope we can entice more of the CVO folks to Orlando next year.

All in all, an amazingly successful event and I want to thank EVERYONE who made it possible. There are too many people to list individually without fear of missing someone important, so I will limit myself to my amazing husband, Brian, who really took on a huge job making sure everything got where it was supposed to go and everyone knew where they were supposed to be. Next year, he's my co-captain.

Speaking of next year, we will soon begin planning for the next event. Step One is to clear it by my boss to make sure we are okay with Valencia as a venue. After that, I'll be sending out a survey with a few ideas for extending the event to a full day or perhaps two half-days to make sure everyone in attendance has time to do everything fun that there was to do if we also have speakers and tables next year.

THANK YOU to everyone who came out and to those who helped. NDEW-O was a resounding success because of YOU and I can't wait for NDEW-O 2016.

22 Hours

In less than a day, my workplace, Valencia College (West Campus) in Orlando, Florida will be stormed with 170 participants at our very first National Drive Electric Week event, ever.

As you may recall, I volunteered to serve as Orlando City Captain for NDEW about 7 weeks ago, when I was scouring for an NDEW event to attend in Orlando and found none. In the weeks following, I have had incredible opportunities to connect with folks from various industry groups, government entities, and service organizations. It's been amazing. I cannot believe that in 25.5 hours, it will all be over.

Have there been difficulties? Yes, of course. We wanted to have test drives, but the restrictions on campus safety were prohibitive, and once the legal aspects were explained to me, with good reason.  Planning began too late in the game to expect food vendors to be able to scramble donations in time, but we did get waters and Munchkins donated (thank you Valencia and Dunkin' Donuts!) The last week has been insane because while working my "day" job, I've also been responding to many inquiries about the EVent, which I've loved... but I haven't gotten much sleep.

If there have been challenges, there have also been glorious moments as well. Connecting with fellow EV-lovers is so fulfilling. I've met so many people with the passion to expand electric vehicle ownership in our geographical area, even if it means sharing the charging stations around town... incredible folks and I wouldn't trade the sleepless nights for anything. In addition to the EV peeps, there are also the renewable energy folks, and they are just as awesome. I look forward to partnerships that last well beyond this EVent.

Expect a full report when I come up for air... Sunday or Monday. Maybe Monday, because I'll be a bit busy Sunday assisting the amazing Sheridan Macon with her "Plastic Alternatives" exhibit with the junior makers at Maker Faire Orlando.

Also in the near future, I received rather out of the blue a very welcome subscription to Charged - the magazine all about electric vehicles. I am reading the issue cover to cover and will provide a review sometime next week.

For now, I'm going to finish preparations to change this parking lot into an EV wonderland. Can't wait!

Charge on!

One Week Until NDEW-O!

It's hard to believe that after six weeks of intense planning, National Drive Electric Week - Orlando will be over just one week from now.

When I decided to volunteer as City Captain seven weeks out, desperate to attend an NDEW event in Central Florida even if it meant doing a lot of work to make it happen, I had no idea what kind of amazing journey this would be. The connections I have made to people in the electric car community, as well as the sustainability community, that I would probably not have met otherwise, are connections I am so grateful to have. This one event will lead to many other events in which I'll participate as an EVangelist, including Earth Day. I'm so very psyched for what the future holds, but of course I have to survive the event itself on September 12 first!

Recall that my original plan was to "keep it small". After all, seven weeks is not a very long time to plan, and with zero budget and little chance of finding sponsorships with such a short lead time, just getting a bunch of EV drivers together for a few hours was going to be a huge accomplishment. 

Well, the times have changed. We are now the second largest EVent in Florida, right behind Ft. Lauderdale, although if you consider that they are having TWO EVents, one on the 12th and one on the 19th, they are clearly the EV front-runners in the state.

The above list was sent out this morning by our state captain, Chris. It's already a little out of date, and we've picked up a few extra drivers and attendees over the course of the day.

To be honest, I wasn't sure we'd even get 50 people when this all began. There are many EVents around the country that have 50 registrants or fewer. With a full week to go before the big day, we will almost certainly pick up a few more folks between now and then.

We have had some press, with a short article appearing in the Bungalower and we've appeared in the Central Florida Top 5 calendar,  and both Thron Crow (one of our most excellent volunteers) and I have done interviews with the Orlando Sentinel, so I expect an article to appear very soon. 

Food donations have been a little disappointing, with only Dunkin' Donuts (one of our on-campus vendors) and Valencia's food services stepping up to donate snacks and bottles of water.  However, the attendees do not seem to be deterred by this and we have not promised them anything that we cannot deliver.

One of the most exciting developments is our educational sessions. This has all come together at the last minute to produce a marvelous series of speakers in our air-conditioned lecture hall. This is also a great backup plan in case of inclement weather. Here's what we will have going on.

Schedule of Educational Sessions

All Sessions Take Place in Building 7, Room 114

1:15                “Introduction to Electric Cars” – Lisa Macon

                        If you have never driven an electric car and don’t really know why you’d want to, this is the presentation for you! The highlights of electric car ownership will be presented, from the different types of propulsion systems to the basics of charging your electric vehicle.

2:00                “Alternative Fuels and Energies: Subject Matter Expert” - Thron Crowe

This presentation will focus on how EVs effect our environment and the EV’s role in the future of energy for the home, business, disaster relief, etc.

2:45                “Why EV’s? I’m Glad You Asked!” - David Dunn

                        Orlando’s Division Manager will talk about the city’s electric fleet, philosophy changes, disruptive technologies, sustainability, connectivity, and the role of electric vehicles in Orlando’s future.

3:30                “Seminole State College – Sustainable Energy/EV Project” – Jason Gaschel

Seminole State College Dean of Engineering programs will discuss SSC’s related programs and the EV project.

4:15                “Driving on Sunshine” – Daniel Wehking

                          Electric Vehicle owner Daniel Wehking recently started powering his cars with a 10,000w photovoltaic solar system on the roof of his home.  Come hear him speak about the process of adding solar power to your home including a cost benefit analysis, ways to pay for it, and an update on solar related state constitutional amendments.

There is something for everyone, and I think the biggest problem our participants will have is deciding whether to spend their time talking to the drivers about their vehicles, or watching the sessions. I expect most folks will choose to do a combination of the two.

We also have 15 different groups and vendors tabling at the event.

For the volunteers, I managed to procure these excellent shirts.

(Yes, the model is me.) In hindsight, I wish I'd ordered 100 or so of these out of my pocket, because after posting a few photos in my various Facebook haunts, they appear to be in high demand. Live and learn, I suppose.

I have received this excellent city captain's kit and t-shirt. There's stuff in here you cannot even see, like signs and a large banner.

The Nissan Leaf sunglasses are kind of cool, but I find myself longing for Volt glasses. I'll think about how to make that happen when the dust settles from this endeavor. 

We do have two car dealers attending - Reed Nissan, which is very appropriate as Nissan is the exclusive auto sponsor of NDEW - and Autonation Chevrolet West Colonial. I wish we had more but hopefully next year we can get out in front of the 8 ball a little bit better and have a more complete slate of salespeople available to show off their vehicles and answer questions.

I'll reflect on this whole experience after the fact - of that you can be sure. I am exhausted and overwhelmed but I think it's going to be awesome. The volunteers have been extremely helpful and everyone has been so incredibly supportive.  I do hope that next year I will have a "partner in crime" or two who can shoulder a lot of the decisions. I'm not allergic to hard work as you know, but this is rough time of year for me to be running such a large show, what with the semester just starting out.

However, all in all, I'm thrilled that I took this on and I cannot wait to share some spectacular photos and stories of our day with you all on September 13!

Happy Anniversary, Zippy!

Today is August 30, 2015, which marks the three month anniversary for my Volt, Zippy, and I.

Rarely has a three month relationship been so incredible, filled with moments of pure euphoria and absolutely no negative drama whatsoever between woman and vehicle. To those of you who have been reading along during this ride, thank you for bearing witness to our love. We are still so very happy together. Not a single day, nor a single blog post, has gone by where I have not been totally enamored of my darling and delightful 2015 Chevy Volt Extended Range Electric Vehicle.

All emotions aside, this has been a very successful three months, and I'm not just saying that out of sentimentality. All Volt owners have access to the http://myvolt.com website. Upon registration and connection with your OnStar account, you can access a variety of vehicle statistics through this website. In addition, OnStar emails the owner monthly reports to communicate data regarding the month's performance.

Logging into the site, I am able to view Efficiency data for the last week, month and year.

Focusing on the graph, it's clear that the days I use my car on electric only (most weekdays except when we were at the beach), the MPG stat is super high. Remember that I made a long trip at the beginning of the month, which forced me to drive 112 miles on gasoline. That is an anomaly that I do not expect to repeat in future months, at least not often. 

Let's look at the Lifetime box stats. 145 gallons of gas saved in three months. That is a pretty big deal. Assuming that on average those 145 gallons would have cost me $2.50 each, that is $362.50 I have not spent on gasoline. "But wait, Lisa!" you say. Yes, I know, I've paid for electricity. Assuming that I charge my car every single day - which I have not - from empty - which I never do - I would have spent 2 dollars per day on each of the 92 days I've had my car.  At most, that would be $184 spent on electricity. It's most certainly less. 

Pretty good deal - wouldn't you say?

So as far as our family economy is concerned, this Volt has worked out very nicely for us. 

Let's move beyond the Macon family savings plan and take a look at the amount of CO2 I have not pumped into the air you are all breathing -> 2,815 pounds. That's a lot of CO2 in 3 months. How much CO2 was generated in the process of grid-charging my Volt? I don't really know. I'll bet it's not 2,815 pounds, given the humongous solar field attached to our grid.

Delving a little deeper into the efficiency stats, we can get to this screen:

95% of my driving has been on electricity. That's awesome, but I'd like it to be closer to 98%. It will get there over time. My lifetime fuel economy is almost 600 MPG. Before my trip to Palm Coast, it was over 700 MPG. I'll be back there again soon.

This is how I know - let's look at one more screen:

When I can avoid using gasoline, just driving the way I normally do, with a little hyper-miling action and moderate use of the air system, I routinely get 1000+ MPG. This is how driving needs to be for all of us. This is the future of automobile technology.

Are there challenges and limitations? Of course there are. Will we, the smartest animals who have walked the earth thus far, overcome them? Of course we will. It is only a matter of time.

As an anniversary gift to me, my Volt has put me back in the top 100 on VoltStats - a position I've been trying to get back to since my trip back from Palm Coast on August 4.

Thank you Zippy! 

A New Record

As I approach the 3 month mark on my Volt ownership, I have to pause and reflect on all that has changed in my life - and the lives of those I love and live with.

Once you purchase a device that is intended to reduce your carbon footprint, you cannot help but start thinking of all the other nooks and crannies of your life where changes can be made... positive changes that will help and benefit you, your family, and your environment. The Volt is such a device. In fact, it's a very large device so the change is significant.

I've been enjoying my Netflix subscription to the maximum and in particular the documentaries that are available for streaming. I wake up in the morning 30-60 minutes before the rest of my family and this is, for me, prime docu-viewing time. One of the films I recently watched is Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a 57 minute 2013 film that took me to a midway Atoll and the horrors of over 50 years of plastic proliferation. Midway is the canary in the coal mine. We can only hope that society makes changes before it's too late but presently, few changes seem to be in sight.

In the days ahead, I am going to initiate a blog addressing our family's plastic reduction journey. And in the near distant future, we may be making a move to solar power for our home. Big changes lay ahead for your favorite Macons.

Back to the world of EVs...

I hit my all-time high yesterday in terms of miles per kWh. My screen showed 18.6 miles on 3.2 kWh, which is a high for me of 5.81 m/kWh. However, the light turned green as I was pulling out my phone to take a photo and I was compelled to move slightly, so this shot shows a lower m/Kwh of 5.67. You will all just have to trust that I would not have pulled out my phone for an average (for me) effficiency of 5.67. I also would only brag about an achievement I reached genuinely. 

I think I can beat this, however. I have heard tales of people topping 6.0 miles/kWh and I'm so close I can taste it. I'm not sure what else I can do in the dead of summer. I get my best efficiency in the mornings before the air temp tops 90 degrees. As you can see in the photo above, it was already 88 degrees outside and it was not yet 9am. Even thought I drive with the windows open (often minimally clothed - and more than one person has born witness to the sight of me struggling into a pair of leggings under my dress, because even though my Volt may be 88 degrees inside, my office is probably 65 degrees inside. So the dichotomy is severe, but I have adapted to the best of my abilities by dressing in layers and performing fits of an acrobatic nature in the front seat of a compact electric sedan.

I honestly don't think I look overly sweaty whilst driving in extreme temps. Here I am, yesterday, driving home from work in true 100 degree heat (not in the sun, not a heat index, and note that I'm wearing a short sleeve chunky-neck sweater).

Okay, my sleeves were rolled up as high as I could get them. But still.

Our faculty reported back to work yesterday, and already the charging stations are packed.

It's going to be a fun year!