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San Francisco Volt Drivers

4K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  ClovisVOLT 
#1 · (Edited)
I haven't seen any post or thread specifically mentioning San Francisco Volt Drivers.

- For those who do any amount of driving in the city, what kind of electric range are you obtaining from your vehicle? For comparison, my 2nd Generation Toyota Prius averages 35 mpg with most driving done in the city and about 50 total miles per day.

- What option did you select for the charging? Did you take advantage of the Chargepoint America free charger? Did you spring for the $490 Voltec unit? Did you stick with PG&E E-1 rate or switch to E-9a or E-9b? For those on E-9a or E-9b, what kind of out of pocket costs were there and what do you estimate the Volt charging adds to the monthly bill? For those who took advantage of the SPX Chargepoint America charger and installation, what kind of out of pocket costs were there?

- Where did you obtain your cars? With whom did you work? Any recommendations?
 
#2 · (Edited)
I haven't seen any post or thread specifically mentioning San Francisco....
There is a Volt site run by a guy in Berkeley who has written in detail from a SF Bay Area perspective about most of the topics you raised including charger installation and PG&E billing. His site is called mychevroletvolt.

I get a battery range of 40-46 miles driving in the South Bay. I switched to the E-9a rates and am paying only $10-15 more per month for the entire house in return for driving 500-700 EV miles or effectively about $.02 per mile. That's because I'm staying close to 200% of the baseline (tier 1) kWhs and I use most of my power during off-peak and partial-peak hours. I'm just charging with the 120v cord since my commute is around 25-30 miles per day which charges almost entirely during the cheapest weekday rate period (12am-7am).
 
#3 · (Edited)
I've only had the Volt for a little more than 3 weeks now. I commute from Daly City to the Marina district for a round-trip of about 24.6 miles, so I've only used about 1/10 gallon so far. I usually have about 20 miles left in the battery, if you can believe that number, so my range would be slightly over 40 miles.

I elected to go with the free ChargePoint charger installed by an SPX qualified electrician. He did a great job and the charger works great. The fact that ChargePoint is collecting data from me is an advantage because PG&E won't be able to supply me with data until August (maybe...). Once you switch to the E-9A rate, which is what I chose, their system is, ironically, not set up to supply you with the data they are using to actually bill you with. They are aware of this and are working to solve the problem. I did up a (very complicated) spreadsheet and determined that the extra electricity should cost somewhere between $20 - $30 per month extra - much less that the $200 - $250 per month that gasoline was costing me!

I had no out-of-pocket expense for charger or installation. In the Bay Area you get the charger free and a $1200 installation allotment and that easily covered the cost. I did install the charger right next to my breaker panel in my garage and had space in the panel for the 2 additional breakers, so this may have been extraordinarily simple.

I worked with Stewart Chevrolet in Serramonte. Contact Mike Keylin. They sell at MSRP and are honest guys. I had no problems.

Ron - VIN #1873
 
#4 ·
Oakland

I have had my Volt for about 3 weeks as well. I like in Oakland (Piedmont Ave.) and commute to Emeryville (about 10 minutes RT). I'm getting around 42-48mpc. I use 120 at home and am considering the 240 station but really don't need it based on usage. Once a week I travel to Palo Alto. I can get their on EV only. Once I get there I park in the city garage where there is a free level I outlet. I generally arrived with around 5 miles of charge left. By the time I leave my meetings, I am at around 80% charge. I then drive to a free ChargePoint station and top off (and grab a drink). I then have enough charge to get me back to Oakland. I bought my Volt from Shellworth in Vacaville. They were great and did not mark up the price at all. Decided on the weekend to buy one, drove out there and bought it. Simple.
 
#5 ·
Ok, so currently living in Clovis, but still own a nice pad in Danville - close enough to be 'SF'.....Got my VOLT a day after Leno #282 and currently cost of charge per mile is $0 due to my solar system. Not going to go into all the lucid details of the E9A change to E9B due to the doubling of the PG&E baseline, but needless to say average cost per mile has never exceeded 2 cents. Cost post tax of the 240V and E9B panel a whopping $500.

Also, check out last Friday's Auto Section (we're front page with the VOLT GM plate and silver volt with leather package).

We also have CALVOLT (GO BEARS), LA VOLT, and yes......SF VOLT.

If any of you want the SF VOLT license plate let me know, reimburse my $49 fee to the DMV, and it's yours. I just don't have enough vechicles to have all of these plate. GO GM, GO SOLAR, GOBYE OPEC, GO USA, GO BEARS!
 
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