The Environmental Protection Agency has determined that the Chevrolet Volt can go about 38 miles with a full electrical charge and no gasoline. But don’t tell that to Volt owners, several of whom are experiencing 60 miles running only on electricity.
InsideEVs.com posted a video of one enterprising Volt owner who’s done exactly that, although achieving that landmark mileage requires dextrous driving akin to hypermiling or the mild cheating that some manufacturers used to do with the Mobilgas Economy Runs back in another era.
That’s not to say 60 miles is not honest, because it is, but with the right conditions of weather, traffic, and gas pedal manipulation, it is true that you too can achieve 60 mpg without filling up the tank of your Volt.
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2012 Volt – rated 35mpc. I usually have 38mpc in Detroit winter and 56mpc in summer. Also, though it will take you probably 1-2 years to burn out your fuel, you really should only have 1 gallon of gas in the tank (8 pounds to lug around, versus 80) unless you know you will travel over 100 miles. Here is another question to ask – “WHEN” you burn fuel what is your mpg (and no, not what it says as your lifetime or “this charge”). Based on when I burn actual gallons and driven miles in the blue: I achieve roughly 47miles per gallon in summer, 40mpg in winter (matches our Prius). So much for 36mpg! http://www.voltstats.net/Stats/Details/745
FYI: gasoline is less dense than water and only weighs about 6 pounds per gallon
Fascinating: reducing the 9.3 gal. capacity down to a single gal. saves 8.3 gals. or @ 52 lbs. of fuel. In that case, don’t carry passengers in your Volt or put groceries in it either.
I’m very skeptical of this video. What the owner fails to show is the center console display showing the number of miles traveled since the last charge. The most range I have seen is 43 miles for a full charge here in so. California and I know I can add more than 10 miles to the range display just rolling down a 1-1/2 mile hill.
60 miles is not the maximum. Someone at GM-Volt posted an 83 mile range while driving in Washington, D.C.
I’m skeptical of getting 60 mile range charging, not maximum range based on driving conditions.
this is not difficult in a 2013 or 2014. There are several people who have done it on the Chevy Volt Owners Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/chevyvoltowners
2011-12 showed a max of 50 miles while 2013-14 show up to 60 miles. In order to get to that level you have to exceed the 60 range or equivalent (half charge over 30 miles) several drives in quick succession. It requires a light foot and anticipating lights, etc, but it is doable. My 2012 has shown 50 miles predicted many times, and I have driven as much as 54.1 on a single charge without “cheating.”
I had a Cadillac ELR on loan for the three day Memorial Day weekend, and EPA rates it at 37 miles range. I drove it 55.1 one night and 56.5 another night before the ICE kicked in.
my understanding is the ELR allows more draw down from the battery system than the Volts…
correct. ELR had about 75% DOD while gen 1 Volt only 65%
Just bought my 2014 Volt this past week (only 10k miles on the odometer). I brought it home and charged it up. I took it out for errands today (with three passengers and a load of groceries). I drove a total of 39 miles and when I pulled into the garage still had 18 miles left on the battery range. There seems to be a misconception that you can only go “38 miles” before you’re “out of juice”. After reading up on the ‘regen options’ and thus keeping the car in low gear most of the day and added at least 10-12 miles to my range. So far I’m thrilled with the car! I ran around town all day and never once used any gas.
I drove my 2012 Volt 54.1 miles on a single charge before kicking over to gas. the 2011-12 had the smallest battery capacity. My 2017, (EPA rated 53 miles) I drove from Edwardsville, IL to Springfield IL and still had 2 miles showing anticipated range after driving 79.4 miles.
I am not surprised as my last 4 GM cars all met or beat the EPA listing and I do not drive for MPG.
I suspect GM has been conservative with their numbers like their HP ratings as it is better to be conservative than short. Hyundai and other have gotten into trouble for posting better numbers than real world EPA listing and Ford has gotten into trouble in the past with higher HP listings than could be backed up.
Scott, then I take it you don’t own a Volt?
I achieved 49.5 miles on one trip. I was driving alone, warm temps, no AC or heat, windows open averaging about 45 mph. My display has never shown more than 43 miles range though. I wasn’t making any particular effort to extend my range either. I have a very early Volt, from what I understand, the newer ones have a couple of miles better range.
… and PLUGIN in D.C got 82 miles on a single charge but really? 3-1/2 hours at 23 miles per hours? Silly ….
“At 6:25pm I started my run. I turned off my daytime running lights and made sure Bluetooth was off on my phone. I did not want any precious electrons wasted on a Bluetooth connection. I had both front windows cracked about 1.5 inches due to the heat. There are a few small little hills on the ring road around FedEx Field. When going down these hills, I use neutral to coast as much as possible. My speed varied from 19 MPH up to as high as 25 MPH. Average speed for the entire run was 23 MPH. I really could not go slower since it was an active road. By the time I finished and my range had dropped to 0 miles, I had driven 81.8 miles using 9.8 kWh for a measurement of 8.35 miles / kWh.”
http://insideevs.com/far-can-chevrolet-volt-really-go-ev-mode-81-8-miles/
silly, yes. Insane even, but it is fun to do something silly occasionally just to push the envelope. I remember when I was a kid that the high school Vocational Tech classes had a competition to see who could make a gasoline car go the farthest on a quart of gasoline. It was a really exciting race to watch…not really (as they practically idled around the dirt track at the fairgrounds at 10-15 mph!)
No but I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night!
Easily done. Just drive down big bear mountain with a full charge, and record a youtube video at the bottom of the mountain!
Ok I am confused…. I have had my 2014 Volt now for 8 months, and mostly I get between 37-42 miles on a charge. Every now and then it spikes at 45. HOWEVER for the past two weeks it says it’s fully charged at 29-32 Miles without any change in my location or driving habits! How the heck can these people be getting 60-80+ Miles? A Battery has a fixed amount of Capacity that it can hold. A computer has set numbers it knows to allow the charge to flow to. Although I have no doubts Careful driving and pedal manipulation can make that charge go further, (I have seen it) I do not understand how the Maximum Charge can be Subjective. Please help me understand, and if possible get at least my old Charge level back up to where it should be. I’m hoping I don’t need to take the car in to have the battery serviced.