If Honda or Toyota were to offer a 300-mile BEV for sale in a similar price range, before my Model 3 becomes available, I'd certainly consider it. But not General Motors. I don't like their corporate policies and I don't trust them for service after the sale. And neither Toyota nor Honda is bringing out such a car any time soon. So I'm left with Tesla. That's okay because I've had excellent service from them and my car is amazing. I actually have very vague memories of the wonderful electric trolly car system in Los Angeles when I was a child, that GM bought and dismantled, to replace it with stinking diesel busses and abysmal service. I will never patronize that company. They're like an intestinal worm in the guts of the nation, sucking the life out of it.
Go ahead, tell us how you really feel. FWIW I didn't think I'd ever buy a GM product (well, I might have fantasized about a Corvette Z06) until the 2nd gen Volt came out and I was impressed enough to get one as a commuter until the Model 3 came out. I've been very happy with it, and if the tax credits get axxed will be really happy I got it when I did!
I loved my Volt. I got the Volt before Model S started shipping. And if I didn't have the means to buy a Model S, I would have stayed with the Volt. But, I feel for me, if you can buy a Tesla, then you buy a Tesla.
Pretty much my thinking, too. I had a Volt for five years, it never gave me any trouble and it was my favorite car up to that point. My X is better in pretty much every way, faster and more comfortable, and still gets about the same efficiency despite being 15% bigger in every direction and 30% heavier (and a little over twice the price I paid for my early Volt.) The Volt is a great car for what it is, and a wonderful gateway drug to a real EV.
The fact that I (and I think many others) would get a Model 3 but not a Bolt- even having owned a Volt- really shows the importance of a good charging network to an EV.
I prefer the styling of the Volt over the Bolt and the Bolt's are still pretty hard to come by here in MN.
Extensive googling fails to turn up what ERDTT is, or what the hack is. Something to do with temperature is all I can figure out. Anybody?
Engine running due to temperature. GM programmed the Volt so the engine comes on when the outside temperature reading gets cold enough, regardless of state of charge. In early Volts, it was 25F. Later cars could choose between 35F and 15F. The engine runs until the coolant is warm, then the car goes back to normal operation until the coolant cools off to ~105F, and it cycles again. There's a lot of discussion about what GM's thinking was, since the car has a 6 kW electric cabin heater that's quite capable of putting out ample heat without the engine - I think it was to make the defrost times faster for federal testing. ERDTT annoys a lot of Volt owners - especially if you're going on a short trip, where the engine doesn't have time to warm up anyway and you have plenty of charge left. Some owners developed solutions to defeat the mode, usually by spoofing the OAT signal (it's a thermistor - replacing it with a resistor or putting one in line with it will keep the car reading a higher temperature than it is and prevent the mode from engaging.) There do not appear to be any adverse affects from this spoofing, though of course it could put warranties in question if something did happen that's somehow related. These days you can buy kits on EBay with the correct plug to replace the temperature sensor. There's no way that an owner in Minnesota could have driven 94% electric without bypassing ERDTT (assuming they drive in winter, of course.)
OK cool. Was wondering as it sounded like your typical driving regimen was easily within it's range, and the Model 3 reservation implied that BEV was something you were interested in.
My Volt was a good car. The only thing negative I would say about it is I didn't like the sound or efficiency of the gas motor and some of the scenarios where it would run when not needed, but that was the original motor, and the new one is supposedly better. However, Tesla is doing a lot of important work as a company that other auto companies are not doing, so from here forward I will support Tesla whenever I can. Plus my odd driving needs resulted in my only getting about 30% electric use out of the Volt, one of the absolute worst on Volt stats, so getting a long range EV was definitely the right move for me.
My Chevy Spark EV has been very reliable. Only been back to the dealer once for an airbag ECU software recall. I have about 25K miles on it. Also, the GM of today with Barra as CEO is a very different company to the GM you are referring to. They make great products. Wouldn't hesitate to buy a GM EV again. Just waiting for a full electric SUV.
80k miles on my 2nd gen Volt= 0 problems (gas engine included, which I've used about 1/3 of the miles).
I must say that I have been very pleasantly surprised at our Volt. A good reliable car. In fact since my wife and son were away for the last 9 days the Volt has been cold soaking and it has only lost almost no electric range despite our cold weather. I had been driving only our Tesla while they were away.
We just picked up a low-mile 2014 Cadillac ELR with all of the options. It has the gen 1 Volt drivedrain but with a bit more power (187 EV HP and 207 system HP). We drove it home from Kentucky on Saturday and really enjoyed the drive. Here’s looking forward to many trouble-free miles in this pretty rare car. We’re still waiting for our Model 3, but for now, we can commute on all-electric between the ELR and the 500e.