I got....another new car. Chevy Volt!
 

Might open my own dealership soon the way I'm going through them all.

... I moved back to Wisconsin a few months ago and my new commute is 34 miles round trip, 36 if my wife and I carpool. We had a Lexus IS350 and a Acura RSX (my old commuter / beater) after I sold my other IS350.

.... did some looking into an EV of some sort to cut out some gas. Gas prices dropped and so did the price of used EV's. I reaaaally wanted a Tesla, but my commute length (gas savings) couldn't justify the payment, so I ended up getting a 2011 Chevy Volt to replace the RSX. 2011 Volt with 40k miles OTD for $14,500.


I can charge at work if needed and its only been 3 days with it, but even with single digit temps I'm getting like 215 mpg. Would be zero gas used but the engine kicks on because of the cold. I seriously dig this little thing. Really hoping 7-8 months of the year I'll never need gas for my work commute.

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...cf&oe=5588BF6C

Dude thats a deal. is that the going rate for used volt's right now?

I think I got a pretty darn good deal, but yeah they've dropped pretty quickly. The biggest factor is the first owner gets a $7500 tax credit... everyone after than doesn't, if you buy new hack off $7500 + ??% for putting even 1 mile on it instantly

I had my eye open for about 6 weeks for a Volt with under 50k miles and around $15k.... This one popped up and after about a week of working the dealer pretty hard got them down about $1750, OTD w/ TTL I ended up at like $14,689 or something like that. This one has every option but the backup cam (which given the rear window would be nice) but I'll live.... Bose and Nav were all I really wanted though.

Standard 110v charger takes me from 0% charge to full at some point during the night.... and I'm only at $.10kw so charging shouldn't destroy my electric bill.

... you can find a lot of 2011-2013's for like $16-$17k

yeah this made me go look. I did the math and it wont save me enough on gas to justify the cost until 7 years are up vs my Ford escape hybrid.

How does running the heater impact battery charge and ultimately mileage?

A bit... but I really haven't noticed a substantial loss. There are 3 basic settings - FAN ONLY / COMFORT / ECO. If I'm on battery I generally run eco, but I also "preheat" the car with remote start while its still plugged in, so that helps too.

Fridays I teach a class at a local college, so my drive is further.... this morning, -5* (-19* with windchill), I got 32 miles on the battery before it switched to gas and I had the heat set at 80*.

It is supposed to be in the 50s next week, hoping to get closer to 40 miles on the battery then.