I have to say, before those green-painted spots appeared, I never had a thought about electric vehicles. They were just not on my radar. Even though I have a 25 mile commute to work (each way), and gasoline is not cheap, my Toyota Camry was getting great gas mileage on my mostly highway trip to work, about 31 mpg. But when parking spots like that are open so close to the building where you work... and ANYONE can park there... you start to think.
It was many months before I saw even one vehicle parked in one of these spots. That's not to say that it never happened during that time period - just that I never saw one. But eventually, there was a Nissan Leaf (blue) that started to appear regularly, plugged in and charging. I still see it almost every day. I have never seen the person who drives it and plugs it in, but judging solely on frequency and longevity, I'm going to guess that person works here too.
About 8 months before my Camry lease was up, I started thinking about what car I'd want next. That's the beautiful thing about leasing - if you're fickle (ahem, like me), you get a new car every few years, and you're barely bored with it before you're moving on to something else. Right about this time, I saw this beauty parked in one of the green spots.
I texted this photo to my husband Brian, who loves me and just wants me to be happy, but is also used to my changing my mind more often than most people change their clothes. With 8 months to go, there was about as much chance of me wanting a Volt as there was of me wanting, say, a Vespa. Actually, I want one of those as well, but I digress.
As we got closer, however, we started doing our research and talking to people. One of our friends at Valencia who works on another campus (both hubster and I work at Valencia) also has a Volt and is nearing the end of her 3 year lease. She loves it and is planning to get a new one when her lease is up. High praise indeed. Another friend of ours warned that the car is expensive and we would not save enough money in gas costs to pay the difference. Our own guesstimates were that this might be true... but we wouldn't end up in the red either. We are both technology progressives and are usually among the first to venture into any new technological frontiers as long as they are a) affordable and b) make sense. Given my commute and the charging stations, this totally made sense.
What makes a Volt a good choice for just about anyone is the extended range capability. For those of you who know a lot about progressive automotive technology (hybrids, electrics, plug-in electrics, and such), I apologize for the over-simplification to follow.
Progressive automobiles (I made up that categorization, feel free to use it) come in three basic configurations:
- Standard Hybrid. The car has an electric motor and a fuel motor and switches back and forth between the two based on which one is most efficient to use at the moment. The gas motor charges the battery. This class includes the Toyota Prius, Ford C-Max, Ford Fusion Hybrid, and a dozen other cars that are also sold in a hybrid format.
- Full Electric. The car has an electric motor only and runs purely on rechargeable battery. If you run out of charge, you run out of luck until you can be towed to the nearest charging station. This class includes the Nissan Leaf (about 80 mile range), BMW i3 (80 mile range), and Tesla Model S (265 mile range).
- Plug-In Hybrid. The car has an electric motor and fuel motor. The electric motor runs until the battery is depleted, at which point the gas motor takes over. This class includes many cars like the Prius, Escape, BMW i8, and others that are also sold in standard hybrid formats.
The Volt (and its fancier sister, the Cadillac ELR, shown below, which is essentially a Volt powertrain dressed up more or less like a 2 door CTS) is often grouped in the Plug-in Hybrid family, but many Volt owners argue that they do not belong and should have a class all to themselves. The reason for this is that even though the Volt has the same functionality as, say, a plug-in Prius, the under-the-hood stuff is quite different. In most plug-in vehicles, the gas engine is just that - an engine. In a Volt, the gas motor powers an electric generator that powers the electric engine. So the car is never REALLY running on a gasoline engine, even when gas is powering the generator.
A Volt driver typically prefers his or her vehicle to be classified as an "extended range electric vehicle" implying that the vehicle IS electric... with a range-extending capability. Semantics? Perhaps. But it sure sounds better than any designation including the word "plug", you have to admit.
For me, the "how it works" details sounded great but were not the top-tier selling point. What was most important was the way the car looks and how functional it is for me and my family. With two school-age kids who need to be carted all over the place, four doors was important. There may be an ELR, which is currently sold only as a coupe, in my future, but not in my present. Can I fit the karate bags and assorted martial arts weapons in the hatch? Yes. Do I feel like a sporty hipster mom while driving it. Why, yes!
So there you have it - once the decision was made, it was just a matter of making the deal. That will be another post for another time.
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