Note: For more from Alexandra, visit the "Ask Alexandra" tab on the Chevrolet Volt Facebook page.

When it comes to getting the most range out of my electric cars, I have learned from the best: Paul Scott (seen here with me in the photo on the left) and William Korthof.

I drove 20 miles with Paul on LA freeways during rush hour, and he didn’t touch the brakes once. He says accelerating after braking is a major energy-eater, so he kept a good distance between him and the car ahead and an eye far in front to assess the clearest line so he didn’t have to brake. He only slowed down using the RAV “regen” button (which approximates “low” in a gas car but sends the energy wasted from slowing back into the battery). I was riveted. Even though it was 5pm, traffic was going a respectable 50 miles an hour, but there were a lot of cars on the road; not touching the brakes was no easy feat.

William has driven over 150 miles in his 2002 RAV 4 EV, while the farthest Ian and I have gone is 109 miles.

William’s hypermiling tips on surface streets include braking as little as possible when approaching a stoplight. This means keeping an eye far up front and using Regen to slow down, like Paul does. William accelerates as gently as possible when the light turns green. He likes a constant light foot on the accelerator (or “go pedal” as my friend Darell D at www.evnut.com calls it, since EVs don’t have a gas pedal). Here, I stray: I like to get the car up to speed  (as slowly as my impatient self can handle) and then just tape the accelerator to keep it there. There are differing schools of thought here – is it better to keep the car at a steady pace or let it coast a bit and then nudge it back up to speed?

In the Volt, the Low gear also sends energy back into the batteries, and I use it to slow me down  instead of braking like Paul and William use the Regen button in their RAVs. But because I like the forward momentum of electric drive, and Low doesn’t allow that, I remain in D for most of my driving.

There is, however, an interesting thread about the range benefits of driving in Low on this site.

One Volt driver believes driving in L gets better range, but he only gets 33 miles per charge and I get over 40 mpc unless I have to go up our 2.5 mile hill too many times in a day.

I will have to ask my mentors, Paul and William, what they think about these Volt philosophies. Along with more experimentation in my Volt, I know I can become an even more efficient driver.

For now, I remain a diehard D driver.

Alexandra Paul is a longtime electric vehicle advocate, actress and former EV1 driver. She is working with Chevrolet to educate consumers about EVs and the Volt. Full disclosure, Chevrolet is paying her for her time, but her opinions will always be hers.

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