Life's a Beach

And so my summer vacation comes to an end. My husband, two younger kids, and I just spent three nights in Pompano Beach. I did not see a single EV or charging station here but I was only looking half-heartedly. One of the reasons we vacation often in south Florida is because my aunt lives down this way in Delray Beach and my mom, recently widowed after over 45 years of marriage to my dad, enjoys spending a few days with her. Because we have to make the trip with five people and a lot of beach pariphenalia, we take Brian's Dodge Journey which is barely big enough to hold us/it all. 

I hadn't reallly realized until we pulled out of town just how accustomed my dear husband is to driving my Volt. Even though he takes his car to his work every day, that trip is only a few miles in each direction. When we go out as a family now, we take the Volt. It's an absolute thrill for both of us, as math people, to calculate how much money we did NOT spend on gas every time we go out in the Volt. While it's nice to have a seven seater vehicle for the occasions that warrant such a thing, the truth is, there are not all that many occasions that do so.

So it should not have been so funny to me, but it was, that Brian drives the Journey a little like he would be driving the Volt - slower than normal, with slow speed-ups and gradual slow-downs. It was pretty comical for the first 40 miles or so and then I think he got used to the gas guzzler again with all it's glory, and before long we were speeding at 85 degrees, cranking air conditioning and screeching to a halt when necessary.

Even though I have been on a pair two-night trips very recentlyl, one a weekend getaway with our family-of-four, one for work, the Volt was the trip vehicle both those times. In other words, this trip that we are currently heading home from now - have iPad with Blogger app, will blog and travel - is the first I've taken where the Volt has been left behind. I left Zippy with 55 miles of estimated EV range and decided after some deliberation to unplug him, as the changes of a lightning storm event are always high in Orlando. I'm glad I did, as it rained and stormed almost the whole time we were gone, at least according to my Facebook news posted by friends. Even though by all reports my EVSE and my Volt should both protect themselves from a lightning strike, I've read a big enough handful of posts on the Chevy Volt Owners Facebook group that would have one believe otherwise. 

I assume that Zippy needs to run the internal combustion engine occasionally to cool the battery. I noted that I had 3.0 gallons of gas left in my 9.3 gallon tank. Just  now, I viewed my Vehicle Status through my OnStar RemoteLink App. Here is what I see.

So certainly the engine has run as expected and a tenth of a gallon of gas has been burned on the quest to keeping my engine cool while Zippy is not plugged in. I am calling this experiment a success.  

Of course when we get home in a few hours after having lunch with my mom and aunt, I will plug Zippy back in for his long awaited electron snack. And all will be well in the universe again. Luckily my kids have karate tonight we the feel of electric propulsion will not be missed for much longer.