Volt

Note: this post originally appeared on the blog Beyond Now
Each morning, millions of people face the day with a cup of steaming hot coffee to help them get through those rough early morning hours. Then they dispose of their cup into the nearest garbage can and move on to the next task at hand.

But if you’re one of those people, think about this the next time you throw away your morning coffee cup: 102 global General Motors facilities contribute less waste to landfills from their daily operations than your single cup.

Getting to landfill-free is a challenging task. Over the years, however, we’ve developed best practices and are happy to share what’s worked for us.  After all, it’s in everyone’s best interest to reduce the impact we have on the environment.

You can download our blueprint with all the details. In it, you’ll find tips like these to help get you on the right track.

 

 “Wow, this thing has some pep!” The Volt team heard exclamations like this while traveling around the San Francisco Bay Area this past week.

Drives at Xerox, Intel and Electronic Arts brought out many curious employees to see what the Volt was all about. Many members of our team agree that the most enjoyable part of a drive is having someone put the Volt into “Sport Mode” and experience the real thrill of driving an electric vehicle.

One driver on Xerox’s campus got out, thanked us for our time and told us he would be seeing us that evening for our drive at Fremont Chevrolet to purchase a Volt. We were excited to see him arrive that evening with a big smile on his face! In fact, we ended up seeing a few repeat drivers that evening.

The reaction to the Volt on Electronic Art’s campus was in over drive as well. We were constantly on the go and cycling drivers in and out of the vehicles. It’s a great feeling to watch someone get out of the car and be at a loss for words. A developer named Ted powered the Volt down and just stared at the dashboard.

I asked him if everything was okay and he just replied with “I am just blown away by this car. It handles so much better than I thought it could, it has a ton of power and, best yet, we didn’t use a DROP of gas. Wow.” Ted explained he would need to get his girlfriend into a Volt, as they are looking for a new car. I was told they both drive less than 30 miles a day, nearly eliminating the need for gas, but enjoying the option of having it readily available.

After four solid days of traveling around the Bay Area and letting folks experience the Volt we headed home to prepare for the final leg of our tour for 2012: Phoenix.

Note: The 2013 Chevy Volt has an EPA-estimated 38 miles on a single charge; EPA-est. 98 MPGe [electric]; 35 city, 40 MPG hwy [gas]. Actual range varies with conditions.

Seldom has symmetry had a more perfect definition than the Volt and Island life.  I live on the island of Oahu and it is only 50 miles across. This fits perfectly with the Volt’s electric range, and that range is enhanced dramatically with the mild climate Hawaii enjoys throughout the year.

I average around 55 miles per charge. Also, Hawaii is making a great effort to provide a welcoming embrace for electric vehicles. The state legislature has passed laws for free parking at all municipal lots and meters, including the airport and open access to HOV lanes and more laws mandating charging stations at lots with greater than 100 spaces.

I commute 64 miles round trip everyday and, thanks to charging stations everywhere, I do it all on electricity. I've owned the car for 11 months now, and I've driven it for over12, 500 miles. I still have the gas the dealer put in when I picked it up. Currently, my lifetime MPG is over 1,500 MPG and MyVolt.com shows me with 145 MPGE.

I traded in my beautiful C6 Corvette for this car. Corvette owners are some of the pickiest owners around. If the Volt had any defects believe me I would have groused about it plenty, but perfection is hard to beat. The Corvette does what it does extremely well, but I feel the Volt does what it does much better. Electricity rates and gas prices here are the highest in the nation and the Volt just makes sense for life in Hawaii.

The Volt comes with a special option that no other car on the planet has right now, the option to decide how much gas you want to buy or even to not use gas if you want to. If you’re like me and your commute is less than 45 miles one way, then a charge at home and at work is all you need to forget about the high cost of fuel. With my truck I was filling up every five days at 80 dollars each time. I don’t do that anymore.  Instead, I learned how to squeeze the most mileage at of every kilowatt instead of every gallon. 

 

Chevrolet Volt fans can drive a  Volt and meet members of the Volt team at Fremont Chevrolet in Fremont, Cali. Wednesday evening from 5 p.m through 7 p.m. Light snacks will be provided. Drivers must be at least 21 years old and present a valid drivers license.

We hope you can join us!

 

 

Note: this post originally appeared on the blog The Future Is Electric.

If you know any thrill-seekers, you may have heard about Tough Mudder, a 10+ mile grueling endurance obstacle course designed by British Special Forces and meant to challenge even the toughest athletes.  We partnered with CrossFit 101 gym in San Jose to put the Chevrolet Volt through its paces on the journey to the race.  We also equipped Coach Trac Nguyen with the Volt Tough Mudder cam to capture what it’s like on the course.  See  for yourself…

Look fun??  Thinking of signing up?  …you must be crazy… but read on for tips from Trac about training and competing!

 

A gentleman casually walks up to the Chevrolet Volt on a cool morning in Portland. He’s seemingly uninterested in anything around him – including the biting wind. I inch my way up next to him as he peeks into the Crystal Red vehicle on display. “What do you know about the Volt?” He turns and looks me up and down, almost unsure of what I’ve just asked him. “I hear they’re fuel efficient. Yeah, I’ve heard that a lot. How do these things actually drive though?” Smiling, I pull the keys from my coat pocket, “let’s go for a drive.”
 
This past week the Volt team spent five days in Portland, introducing Oregonians to the Chevrolet Volt.  It was a visit aimed at education and experience with the vehicle. As mentioned above, many people know the Volt is efficient, but have no idea how it drives. What better way to demonstrate the power and handling of the Volt than through test drives? We spent time performing drives at Intel, the World Trade Center, Carr Chevrolet and Portland State University (on what is referred to as “Electric Lane,” no less). These events provided us the opportunity to get people inside a Volt to see what it’s really like. Our busy week also involved meeting local social media influencers and members of the local electric vehicles association.
 
While drives are great and we love letting people take a Volt for a spin, the conversations we have with people just passing by are just as important. Many of the employees around the World Trade Center were unable to drive, but spent about 3-4 minutes asking questions. It runs on gas too? What is the range? How do you charge it? We explained how the Volt seamlessly transitions from battery power to the Volt’s gasoline range extender and the 120V charge cord that comes with every Volt. While these chats may not involve a drive, they lead to one more person walking away with an understanding of a Volt when asked by a friend.

 

Chevrolet Volt is exploring an innovative approach to engaging our community that goes beyond car sales. Volt is the first automaker to partner with Recyclebank.com, an online platform that engages its nearly 4 million eco-conscious members to earn rewards, like discounts and deals, for taking everyday green actions.

Starting today, you can get in on the action by joining Recyclebank and earning points while learning more about the Volt. In addition to a team of specially selected Recyclebank Ambassadors who will help spread the word, the Recyclebank partnership will include a ‘Learn + Earn’ game that will tell the story of Volt through math.

Click here to get started earning points and spreading the word about Chevy Volt!

 

Note: The 2013 Chevy Volt has an EPA-estimated 38 miles on a single charge; EPA-est. 98 MPGe [electric]; 35 city, 40 MPG hwy [gas]. Actual range varies with conditions.

Maurice Rosenbaum recently installed a charging station at the garage near his company, HealthSystems, office. He answered a few of our questions about the process.

I have a small company in a large corporate building, 8 floors and many other companies.  Our building is LEED Certified so, fortunately, they were very open and willing to install a charger. I still keep the charger that came with the Volt in my garage, so now I have the ability to charge both at home and at work.

At this time there is not much competition for the charger in our parking garage, but I think the new charger will help encourage adoption (build it and they will come).  I have seen other Volts park and charge. That being said, I do get a good deal of questions when I get in and out of my Volt. A lot of people stop and look at the car so I think more people are becoming aware. People seem way too concerned about the Volt’s electric range and I think don’t realize it has the gasoline range extender.  It seems that even then, most of them are concerned about still using gas. I tell them that with the charger at work, a person doubles their total electric driving range in a single day.

Ironically, I probably don’t need the charger at work because I live so close (about 3 miles), but I do use it to top off my car. I still mainly charge at home.  I just went over 6,000 miles and the last time I put gas in the car was about 11 months ago, Nov 4th, 2011. So far, I have used 19.5 total gallons of gas that was on two road trips, one tank each for about 350 miles.