Road trip - San Francisco to Scottsdale (39mpg)

[RickW]

I know there have been lots of other road trip reports, but figured it didn't hurt to add to the data...

Over the past week, we've driven from San Francisco to Scottsdale AZ via Palm Springs. We had a full charge when we left home, but we haven't been able to charge since then due to LACK OF PLUGS anywhere we stay. What's up with that?

So far, we've driven 1,000 miles on this roadtrip and the MPG for the trip is 39. We've been driving between 75 and 80 MPH most of the time. We have not used mountain mode on this trip. The temperature has been in the low and mid 60s. The car performs flawlessly.

We have had the car for 8 months now and, before this trip, we had only used about 9 gallons of gas (the ones the dealer gave us!). I have to tell you that while I love the freedom the Volt gives us to drive anywhere we want without fear of running out of power, I REALLY HATE USING GAS NOW. I never thought this feeling would be so strong, but there it is. And I guess that's a good thing. I just wish the lifetime stats compiled by the car would let us edit out the road trips as I'll never get my 250+ back now.

B1943

[frankie joe]

I totally know what you are saying so I negated the .7 gals used by chevy before I got the volt. The only important stat is what you know the car can accomplish on a daily basis- the road trip is icing on the cake- if you had a leaf, you would need another car!

[DonC]

I fully understand your position Rick but if you want to go on long trips the only viable alternative is gas. That's just the reality. At least you don't have to use it on an everyday basis.

[Top_Speed1]

So far I've done 2 'gas' road trips using 2 methods.
-Straight run divided super highway 75+mph with your same reported mileage.
-2nd trip I had time to burn and not mainly super highway, ~55-60mph (w mix of hwys) and mileage was 43.5

Both were in mostly daytime w/ radio and no comfort (maybe fan only sometimes). I'm totally happier than a pig in poo with the gas mileage.

[marlow]

I do not think that there is another car with the ride, hanlding, performance and comfort on long trips of the Volt, that gets the gas millage on the highway that the Volt does. This is where the Volt clearly best.

So don't be wary of seing the USA in your Chevy Volt.

[tboult]

As someone that hopes to maybe hopefully one day get to 250+ lifetime I can relate to the felling. I bought my volt in TX and drove it almost 900 miles and when I finally got it home I was at 90% CS (I did get to plug in at my hotel on the way) with a lifetime 52mpg. I've slowly been bringing it up, at lifetime 103mpg now and maybe by spring I'll break 200, if I don't take another big road trip. I've also had some ~150m road trips as well.

While it hurts my Volt stats, its good for my life stat. I will not hesitate to take it as its road trip ability is part of why we bought a EREV. What other car do you have that does better than 39mpg on road trips? Is it as comfortable as the Volt? What would mpg have been in your other car? So look at the hit in lifetime MPG as really showing why you own an EREV like the veritable versatile Volt and not a BEV.

[RickW]

We finished the trip with a total mileage of 1,850 miles and an average MPG of 42.0 (it increased) Some of the improvement was due to a couple of charges we were able to score in Palm Springs. But I kept careful track of the mileage after the charge was depleted when we drove from Palm Springs back to San Francisco and it was definitely around 42. The temperature was the same, the wind was the same, the speed was the same. I think the difference may be related to the fact we had on the fan rather than comfort on the return trip. We also had a radar detector turned on on the trip down (I know, bad), but unplugged it going back to SF.

And here's another great thing about the Volt - I have a bad back and have struggled taking road trips over the years due to uncomfortable seats. This trip was an experiment to see if the Volt seats would be comfortable for long distances. And the final report is that I didn't have a twinge of pain in the 1850 miles. It's been about 30 years since I could say this. Being able to take road trips again is a huge, unexpected benefit.

Bottom line - best road trip of my life and am looking forward to the next one.

[AZ-Volt]

Voltstats can really make one obsessive! Yesterday my Life time MPG got me to the top 25. Today I'm back to 26 grrr!
Oh well, the drive home may put me back up there!

[tboult]

RickW, Glad it was a great trip for you.. and yep its comfortable for the long haul. And even in CS mode, electrons matter and the fan definitely better on economy than Comfort.

AZ-Volt.. don't fret being top 25 or not-- enjoy the drive. Some of us having taken long road trips are happy to finally break out of the bottom 50 and break 100mpg lifetime.

[AZ-Volt]

I was attempting humor. No worries. I actually have a road trip coming up and am really looking forward to the comfy cozy drive!