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!
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