Disclaimer: I am biased!

Posted on 14 June, 2013 by Buzz

I want to be above board with everyone about any financial ties that may make my blog have the appearance of a conflict of interest. I have mentioned my electric company many times in My Electric Vehicle Journey in the past. It’s Green Mountain Energy and they sell 100% wind-generated electricity. I’ve been their customer since December of 2001. When I first became their customer, I paid a premium for their service. Their slogan at the time went something like, “For the price of one sandwich per month, you can use pollution-free electricity.” Back then, the premium was for a damn nice sandwich, not a Quarter Pounder with Cheese!

Nowadays, they have rates competitive with other electric providers and still provide 100% pollution-free, renewable energy. I am proud that my Volt doesn’t have a “long tailpipe” that ends at the smokestack of a coal-burning factory.

Guess what? Now, I’ve gone to work for Green Mountain Energy!

I’ve had jobs where I made tons of money, doing things of which I was ashamed (or at least, not proud). I have had other jobs that felt more like a mission, in which I believed (computer aided design and manufacturing software, Apple). I may (or may not) have earned a little less, but the sense of pride and accomplishment I felt made the job much more enjoyable.

I’m in one of those positions again. I will be a salesperson for Green Mountain Energy, working at retail locations and special events. If you’re at a festival in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and you see a Green Mountain tent, come on by and see if I’m there. I’d love to see you. You never know, I might even talk you into saving the planet with me!

Honestly, that’s what it feels like. I’m being paid to save the Earth and I’m proud of that fact.

May 2013 sales numbers: Volt, Leaf, i MiEV, Plug-In Prius and Corvette UPDATED

Posted on 3 June, 2013 by Buzz

Sales figures are in for May 2013. Here’s how it shakes out:

The Leaf is continuing its dominance of the models I’m tracking and posted a 10% increase over the previous month (2,138 vs. 1,937).

The Volt is still in 2nd place and showed a 23% increase over the previous month (1,607 vs. 1,306).

The Corvette was trounced by the Volt and Leaf, selling 905 units in May.

The Plug-in Prius saw a 13% increase over the previous month (678 vs. 599).

Finally, the i MiEV dropped 28% from the previous month (91 vs. 127). Surely it’s dying a sloooooow death. (and stop calling me Shirley)

Gasoline prices were up over the previous month by about 18 cents per gallon.

Compared to the original Prius, the Volt is starting to lose ground. By the 30th month of availability, the original Prius had sold a total of 40,286 versus the Volt’s 38,615 units sold, for a difference of 1,671 cars. Back in December of 2012, the Volt had closed to within 548 units of the original Prius and I was predicting the Volt would overtake the Prius shortly.This begs the question, Why isn’t the Volt doing better than this? After a dismal January and February, the Leaf has come charging back (sorry), but the Volt has been in the doldrums since its all-time high sales mark in October 2012. The only exception to this was an the end-of-year spike in sales in December. Now, when I say, “in the doldrums,” take it with a grain of salt. Even with the current low sales numbers, it has been handily beating the Corvette for a year and a half.

But consider the news. The Tesla Model S has been roundly praised in the media, even grabbing Motor Trend’s Car of the Year. Tesla stock has been soaring. Confidence in EVs seems to be on an upswing. Heck, the Volt has been number one for the last two years in Consumer Report’s annual driver satisfaction survey.

I’d like some feedback on this. What do you think is holding the Volt back (if anything)? Why do you think the Nissan Leaf is doing so well now? Last Spring and Summer were very difficult times for the Leaf, but this year it’s another story.

Thanks for stopping by!

Here comes the sun, and I say it’s all right…

Posted on 30 May, 2013 by Buzz

panels

As I’ve mentioned before, we’re building a new home. Although we currently buy wind-generated electricity, I’ve been very interested in solar panels. However, I’m about where I was when I started considering buying an electric vehicle. My knowledge is limited although my desire is great.

frame sweet frame

Fortunately, through my blog, I have met several people who have solar panels at their homes. They’ve walked me around their house, shown me their arrays, talked about amount of energy generated.

house direction

Now I need to get down to the nitty gritty:

The new house’s front faces South and no roof slants in that direction. I know that’s the preferred location, but I have sizable roof surface area facing both East and West. Can that be used? If so, how badly does it affect the financial cost and payback?

All the electricity I generate will probably go to the grid. If it does, does it offset kilowatt hours I use or am I selling it wholesale but buying it retail? If I generate more electricity in a month than I use, does someone send me money?

What are the incentives for adding solar power. I know Texas’ population is growing and we’ve already experienced some minor rolling brownouts in the heat of the Summer. Does the state offer incentives? The federal government? The electric utility companies? Anyone else?

I’ve seen solar dishes that track the sun. I am not yet certain, but I think I could set one of those up near the back of the back yard. How do they compare in cost? Power generation? Do they violate my new deed restrictions?

I’ve also seen instructions for building your own solar panels. I am under the impression that these arrays cannot be connected to the grid, due to home made arrays not having a certification of some sort. In order to do that, I’d have to store the energy in a batter of some type. How does this compare in cost?

I’ve seen companies that install the panels at no cost, but you sign a contract to purchase electricity from them (at a rate lower than any electric utility sells it) for 20 years. If you sell your home before then, you pay for the system as part of the sale, making it a permanent part of the home and the property of the next owner. How do their rates compare to the utilities? What happens if there’s a hail storm or a tornado and the array is damaged or destroyed? Will their rates for electricity be a guaranteed percentage less than the utility companies in 5 years? 10? 15? If I sell my home after 5 years, have I paid for any of the system or am I purchasing it as if it is new? At what price? I spoke to a company that does this, but they won’t meet with you until you have two months of electric bills in the new home so they can intelligently size the system.

We’ll take this journey together as I gather information. Stay tuned!

Solar Impulse visits the DFW area!

Posted on 25 May, 2013 by Buzz

If you’ve been tracking the Solar Impulse Across America tour, I’m probably going to make you a bit jealous. The Solar Impulse landed at the DFW International Airport on May 23rd and made the plane available for public viewing. Here’s a great shot they took of the landing. When I heard about the public viewing, I went to their website for details. Unfortunately, all viewing times were sold out. It’s an odd use of the term “sold out,” since the passes were free. I placed my name on a reserve list, in case any more showings were scheduled and sent an email asking if they had any showings for the media or bloggers. Unfortunately they did not.

A couple days later I received an email from the team saying they had scheduled another day of viewing, so I immediately reserved a slot at the first showing of the day.

On the bus

They had set up free parking in a remote lot and had shuttle buses to take attendees to the plane’s location. I was surprised that the lot looked pretty crowded even though this was the earliest viewing. As I walked to the bus, I saw all ages of people looking excited to see the Solar Impulse. There were so many buses in service that there was virtually no waiting.

As I rode over to the plane, I envisioned a gossamer-thin, light aircraft and wondered how it could handle the rough weather we’d had lately. In fact, it was only three days after the Moore, Oklahoma tornado that the Solar Impulse landed at DFW. Not only that, but what about turbulence from the jets flying in and out? I had questions.

Tent hangar

The morning was overcast and felt like rain would be coming soon when we spotted the hanger. The hanger was a huge tent and there were barricades as if they were expecting unruly throngs pushing to get in. The crowd was smaller than that by far. There were police everywhere and in some ways going through security felt like I was leaving on a jet plane myself. (Sorry. I had to. Big John Denver fan)

Anyway, there were all sorts of posters in the first building we entered, touting renewable energy and the flight’s sponsors, so I felt right at home. We passed through the first building and walked across the tarmac to the hangar.

We entered the tent and there it was.

Holy cow, that things HUGE! And there were tons of people of all ages checking her out.

I had expected the wings to be oriented parallel to the side of the tent with “Solar Impulse” written across it. The wingspan was far too long to do that. The tips of the wings were not very far from each end of the tent. My first impression was that the plane is much sturdier than I had anticipated the fuselage, at the center of the plane’s wings, had a pretty packed-looking cockpit which didn’t look very comfortable at all. (but I would have loved to sit in it nonetheless…)

Here’s a wide angle view.

(click on image for larger pic)

There were four propellers spaced along the wings and atop the wings, the entire surface as covered with solar panels. There were large television screens scattered along the length of the plane, all playing videos about it. In the rear of the hangar, there was a theater set up with additional video presentations running. But the best part, by far, was that every 30 feet or so, there was a Solar Impulse team member available to answer questions. And answer they did! Everyone seemed to have tons of questions for them. Some of them would complain that their English wasn’t very good, but I thought they communicated very well and could understand them over the noise of others talking, video programs running and the general hubbub.

Buzz impulse The first person I talked to was a tall young man named Peter. I asked about the turbulence and landing. He said the reason they landed around 1:00 in the morning was that the airport traffic was shut down then, eliminating the worry of jet-induced turbulence. He said they normally have a limit of 5 MPH crosswinds for landing but that the DFW landing occurred in around 15 MPH crosswinds. Believe it or not, the Solar Impulse flies as high as 30,000 feet. Silly me. I had envisioned it at about 500 feet…

Obviously, if they can fly at night, when the sun is not up, they must have battery packs. Peter told me that, much like my Volt, the panels charge the batteries and the batteries run the motors. The solar arrays do not power the motors directly. He said each or the four motor housings also hold a 24 kW battery pack, for a total of 96 kilowatts! They try to keep flight time to 8 hours or less, not due to battery limitations, but for the sake of the pilot.

Next up, I spoke with another team member named Lorraine. I’m spelling that phonetically as I forgot to ask him about the spelling. He and I spoke on video, so as soon as I have it edited, I’ll link it to this post. One of the questions I had for him was, since the plane was in a tent now and not soaking up the sun’s rays, if they had a way to plug the battery packs in to recharge the batteries. Surprisingly, they don’t. If I understood him correctly (it was noisy and he had a pronounced accent) the packs can charge in only an hour when exposed to sunlight.

Their next stop is St. Louis. If you’re within driving distance, it’s well worth your time to check this wonderful plane out!

This slideshow will take you from one end of the plane to the other…almost.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Need some focus…on the right things

Posted on 16 May, 2013 by Buzz

A few days ago, it was reported that carbon dioxide levels were measured in excess of 400 parts per million, an all-time high (or at least for the last 800,000 years. If you go back 3-5 million years it was about as high…). The measurement was taken at a location on Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano, where the oldest station recording the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is located.

Another happy note (not) in the news was that, due to advances in oil extraction technology, we have not actually passed the peak of oil production. In other words, we aren’t running out of oil as fast as we once thought. Yes, the new oil reserves in North America are even creating a mini glut in the market, meaning the price of oil may come down a bit.

Guess which of these is good news?

It’s a trick question. In my opinion, both of these stories are bad news.

Many people considering the purchase of an electric vehicle are doing so to save money. As I’ve documented for months now, my experience with our two Volts is that they are MUCH more affordable to operate than even a paid off car running on gasoline. So much so, in fact, that it makes the monthly payment seem like that of a much less expensive car.

I’ve been focusing on the wrong thing (at least some of the time).

Our world is approaching a tipping point. I don’t know if anyone knows exactly where that point is, but the news from Hawaii is definitely disconcerting. The world 3-5 million years ago was much different. Much warmer. Higher sea level. No ice on Greenland. Not where we want to be heading if we own ocean-front property (like Manhattan, San Francisco or name your favorite Caribbean island).

cracked

If the price of oil comes down a bit, it could have an impact on EV sales, possibly dooming them for years to come. This happened to solar energy back in the 80′s when oil prices plummeted. I started my career in oil field manufacturing. I vividly remember oil’s crash in the early 80′s. After the OPEC embargoes of the late 70′s, easy to locate and inexpensive gas seemed like good times. Efficient cars became unmarketable and the behemoth American auto was again king of the road.

One difference was that we didn’t see where the Earth was heading as clearly as we see it today. We are better informed on the environmental changes occurring. Yes, there are climate change deniers. They say that this is just a normal change in global temperature that is not affected by the activities of us humans. The politicians who adhere to this, despite the mounting evidence are probably just representing their constituents, or at least their paying constituents. We all know money can change a politician’s opinion overnight. The only thing that seems to work as quickly is losing an election. However, that just seems to cause a lot of activity made to look like progress, while their real constituency continues to make sure nothing concrete is done.

choices

In discussing your EV with friends considering getting one, definitely talk about how inexpensive they are to run. Most people are influenced by saving money. Just realize that the cost differential between EVs and ICEs may not stay as marked as it is today. Also tell them about the other reasons you have an EV. About the acceleration, the quietness, about getting out from under the thumb of despotic regimes that hate us, and of course, the environment.

There’s a saying that the difference between ignorance and stupidity is that ignorance can be fixed. Let’s hope mankind is just a tad ignorant…

**UPDATE**

The measurement of CO2 from Hawaii was overstated!!! Instead of going over 400 parts per million, it was only 399.89!!! Whew! That was close. We dodged a bullet that time! (Not)

Remember customer service? Does Blink?? UPDATED

Posted on 16 May, 2013 by Buzz

I’m wondering how reliable Level 2 Chargers are, particularly Blink. We had one go out within 24 hours of installation. We’ve had another outage after that, of the other one. Yesterday evening, my daughter said, “Your charger’s screen is black.” I checked, and sure enough, it was dead and would not reboot. I cycled power by unplugging it and then again by tripping the breaker. Finally, I tripped the breaker between the main panel and the sub panel used by both chargers. Not only did mine remain dead, but my wife’s charger seemed to have died as well. It would get to the calibration screen and allow me to calibrate the touch screen, but never boot after that point.

I then tripped the breakers to leave them shut down all night, hoping that the problem was heat related and letting them cool down overnight would help. I called Blink at 5:52PM and asked for a tech to come out. They said they’d have someone call me to set up a time. No call back.

The next morning, I called Blink at 9:18AM and asked for a tech to come out, emphasizing that BOTH chargers were not working. They said they would “escalate” the call to their corporate support group. Again, I was told a tech would call or email to set up a time. An hour and a half later, still no call.

Imaging my frustration if I owned a pure EV! I could potentially be stranded with no call back.

Once again, around 1:50PM, I called them. I was told the issue was again being “escalated.”

I may have discovered part of the problem. On the phone calls, they asked me for a phone number where I could be reached. I gave them my iPhone number, since I was not going to be at home waiting for their call. When I got back home, around 2:00PM, I found a technician had left a voicemail message on my home phone, rather than my mobile. He left a call back number, so I called him and… got voicemail.

Tag. You’re it.

Later in the evening, I called the technician’s phone number again. Got voicemail again. Left a message again. Grrrrrrr.

It’s 10:41 at night. Both Volts are being recharged using the 110 volt chargers. Just 10 more hours to go…

**UPDATE**

I just called Blink support again (4th call) to ask why I have not been contacted yet. I explained again that I needed the technician to call my mobile number and not our home number. The support person noted this and said she would contact the “project manager” who is over the technician to “see if they could get him to reach out to me.”

I guess that worked! The tech just called and will be at my house at 1:00PM today.

**FINAL UPDATE**

The problem was that the plastic housing was squeezing the display too tightly. The units were installed last november and now that Summertime temperatures have risen, the expansion of the housing causes the display to get squeezed, preventing calibration and therefore won’t finish the boot cycle.

Questions:

What has your experience been with your Level 2 charger? What brand? How long have you had it? How many times have they gone out on you? How quickly was the issue resolved?

Dayna Needham Love our GE Charge Station. We’ve had for about 3 weeks. No problems so far.

Wen Vaughan I am all ears as I am in the market to buy one.

Brandi Larson I think irate wouldn’t cover how upset I would be. That is exactly why I wouldn’t want to be driving a Leaf. My house is all electric and occasionally Edison shuts us off to make repairs.

Judy Huff-Lee We had an L2 Clipper Creek brand installed about 3 weeks ago and so far it has been working great.

John Koeller 19 Months with my SPX/Voltec with no problems at all.

Donald Deming Are you sure you don’t have a loose wire connection somewhere? Check with voltmeter? Considering both aren’t working, maybe it’s in the wiring to them

Donald Deming Spx Voltec here too, 16 months no issues, installed it myself

Andrew Rogers 24 months with the SPX/Voltec with no problems. It has even been moved once.

Don Moore My Blink was DOA at installation in August of last year but has been working fine since initial repairs. Since there is a ChaDemo (sp) nearby the Leaf visits there frequently and the Blink is usually charging the Volt with no issues so far. As I recall there was a real lack of response and a question of where to call for support on the dead unit. The installing electrical company was the one who came out to do repairs and that took a couple of days to get parts. I just hope that I do not have further problems.

Geoff Gommerman No problems with my SPX charge point unit.

Brant Walsh I have 2 Blinks, one started failing its self test so I called it in and Blink contacted the local electrician and they were out within 3 days. They “fixed” both of them while they were here. Swapped some parts and the SD card out. No other problems!

Dr-Raza Khan Hi Buzz -sorry to hear abuot your trouble. We have no garage so we wanted one that would over for the outdoor. We installed what was the cheapest at that time – no $$ in pocket to afford a good one – and it has been working wonderfully well for both our Leaf and Volt with no hiccups…. Keep in mind we installed this in October 11…. the price at that time was $800… we got a competitor coupon for 10% so it wsa ver nice with free shipping…. Even though it is crude, NO issues as welll….

Dr-Raza Khan I must add we did get the federal 30% and MD’s $400 credit as well on the charger….. I am extremely happy with its performance so far…. the less bells and whistles… the better they seem to be!

Jeff U’Ren 2.5 years with my SPX/ Voltec with no problems at all. Best value at $499.

Mark Polakoff I’ve got a Chargepoint CT500, no issues love the network features.

John DeMillion My Blink has been fine, knock on wood! I’ve had it for about a year now.

Matt Goodman We have an Aerovironment (AV), which is produced in the US by a CA based company. We’ve had it since February ’13 and it works great.

Jon Hutch I’ve noticed that Blink chargers are great for their reports and other information, however, they seem more finicky when compared to the less “fancy” ones. I’ve experienced problems with the touchpad and one time my Volt did not charge and I didn’t realize it until I was about to leave (4 hours later). I charge at 110 at home right now due to other issues, but nearby I have Coulomb and Clipper Creek units that I use and they never seem to have problems.

Cathy Eschenbrenner Steinbeigle 14 months with Voltec – no issues other than taking spikes in electric from ComEd every so often, but hasn’t effected the Voltec unit. Knock on wood!

Seth Totten I have the Ge charger it is the only one I know that you can turn off completely when done charging. I 1st had the voltec charge but had to have it replaced 3 times through Spx. I recommend not using SPX or the Voltec.

Brad Medcalf GE Watt Station for almost a year with no problems.

Bob Prochaska Had the VersiCharge put in a couple months ago with no problems. Comes with a three year warranty too.

Bill Wright My Blink charger has been humming for 6 mos with no issues.

G. Michael Murphy Buzz, there’s a REASON that they choose the name “Blink” and that is because that is what they are often on: “the blink” https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1RNKB_enUS491US491&ion=1&ie=UTF-8#hl=en&rlz=1C1RNKB_enUS491US491&sclient=psy-ab&q=problems%20with%20blink%20chargers&oq=&gs_l=&pbx=1&fp=1e8c6f387dd6af43&ion=1&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.46471029,d.dmQ&biw=1745&bih=868

Conrad Encarnacion Buzz Smith my chargepoint ct500 its been 10 months with no problem yet!

Conrad Encarnacion Sorry Buzz I have to agree with Michael, “Blink”.

Clayton Baker Been using a Clipper Creek lcs-25 for a few months with no problems. Install was easy, put in a switch box right next to it so i can power down the unit when not in use.

Eric Cote My 240V Voltec has been trouble free for close to 2.5 years now.

Edward Ellyatt I have two SPX Voltec units. One is on a plug for at work and portable use and the other has been installed in my garage for over 2 years with no issues. Both are used every day.

G. Michael Murphy Voltec chargers are built pretty lightly: the cords don’t like being stretched. While the coil looks cute it tends to cause the strain relief to break. I didn’t keep mine long enough to know how well the electronics hold up but I can say that it freaked out a couple of times when I used an electric drill in the garage. The electronic noise thrown into the electrical panel caused it to flash red and had to be reset by throwing the breakers. happened every time I used a Bosch 3/8″ VSR drill (brush type motor). Not a single problem with this using my GE Durastation.

Seth Totten My voltecs that I had would not work. I would plug it in & the car would honk & the green light on & when I wake up in the morning my car was not charged at all.

Craig Hydrick I have a tech coming tomorrow to install an update with a SIM card. It won’t update via net. It always works but as G. Michael advised, it’s on the Blink a lot!

Jim Ervin I have used the voltec 240v charger and have had 1 go out after a year. I have 1 at the house and another at work which are working. Don’t know if I will get another one because there is no service for it after 1 year, unless you have their over priced installer come out and do it. All you need is a filter on the circuit to better protect it. The circuit protector is an Eaton SP1-240S. I posted a pic on the pics page. Cost is where you have to decide. For $500 I installed myself with an electricians advice.

April 2013 sales numbers: Volt, Leaf, i MiEV, Plug-In Prius and Corvette

Posted on 1 May, 2013 by Buzz

**Update** I have added the i MiEV to the monthly charts.

Well, the new sales figures have been released for April 2013 and as you can see in the chart below, sales dropped across al four models I’m tracking. Could it be that income tax had something to do with that?

I have also been asked if I can produce a graph correlating the price of gasoline to EV sales. I have contacted GasBuddy.com to see about getting the data, or a custom formatted graph, for this purpose. In the meantime, I have some rough gas price numbers and have used them to generate the gas plot. To put the price on a scale where it would appear usefully in the chart, the price graph is based on the price of 600 gallons of gas. (You can imagine, a graph line that varies between 2.8 and 4.7 would be a flat line at the bottom of the graph)
The Chevy Volt’s (1,306) sales declined for the 2nd month in a row, as did the Corvette (974). The Leaf (1,937) declined slightly, but still posted its 2nd best month ever, following last month’s blow out number. Nissan’s pricing strategy seems to be paying off. Even the Plug-in Prius joined the sales decline party.

GM, on the other hand, has a CEO (Dan Akerson) who states about Volts, that they’re “losing money on every one.” Perhaps GM is starting to feel pressure from the Leaf’s new pricing strategy, as Akerson goes on to say, “This next generation, we think we can decrease the price on the order of $7,000 to $10,000.”

Hmmm… Let’s put pencil to paper on this. My $41,000 Volt (list price), dropping to $32,500 (I averaged Dan’s estimated price drop figures). Apply the federal income tax credit of $7,500 and it’s down to $25,000. Then subtract Texas’ forward-looking tax credit of, uh, ZERO. (come on, Texas! I mean really. NASA’s here for gosh sakes!) Anyway, a $25,000, nicely equipped Volt for the price of a Ford Focus ST. At 5% interest, the monthly payment on a $25,000 loan is around $472. (I’m currently leasing mine for 3 years, 15,000 miles per year at $330 per month.) Subtract the energy cost savings (compared to a 22 MPG average, gas-powered car, I’m currently saving $230 per month) and you have an effective monthly payment of $242, to purchase a Volt, instead of leasing it like me.

Of course, I like the primer on automotive profitability offered by Bob Lutz. He states that, the Volt is “still under water” but not by much. In fact, he believes it is on the cusp of “a positive gross margin.”

Recently, I saw a news site debate about the high price of EVs where someone mentioned that the original VCRs were priced at over $1,000. This was said to illustrate how, once manufacturing kinks get worked out an economies of scale kick in, that items that were once high priced become affordable for the masses. This was disputed by a man saying, “VCRs never cost $1,000.” That was it for me. I had to register on the site and let the guy know that I had purchased the second Betamax model offered by Sony and the price tag WAS $1,300!

Did I feel ripped off, when later purchasers were able to acquire a Betamax for $500? $200? No, of course not! Part of my “thing” is that I’m an early adopter. When people bought their VCRs, years after my first purchase, I had amassed a large library of movies and home videos that were important to me.

I’ll admit that I too was as shortsighted as the gentleman deriding EVs. I can vividly remember telling a friend, back in the early 1980′s, that “VCRs will never cost less than $500. They’re just too complex.”

Recent achievements in materials science, including the development of 1 atom thick sheets of graphene, will have major impacts in battery and solar power technologies. Reduction of charging time and a major increase in energy storage capability will accelerate the adoption of EVs unbelievably. Can you imagine anyone being able to resist an EV when charging time is like filling up with gas? And they can do it at HOME?

Of mice and men (…who own Volts)

Posted on 17 April, 2013 by Buzz

My Volt started acting strangely one day. It seemed that, at highway speeds, if I crested an overpass, I would gat a warning of “Loss of traction.” Shortly after that, if I pressed on the brake, it seemed like I had no brakes at all, then a split-second later they would work.

For that split second, my heart would race.

Then, two new alerts would appear on the main dashboard display:

Service Stabilitrak, and
Service BrakeAssist

I had seen these two alerts before, when I drove to the Chicago Auto Show. I had drifted into the “rumble strip,” that serrated patch between the lane and shoulder on some highways, which causes a rumbling or buzzing sound (hence the name). During that drive, I was mortified, thinking I would not make it to Chicago with my Volt.

I contacted OnStar and the person I spoke with said he could verify the diagnostic, but if I would pull off the road, shut the car completely down for two minutes, the alerts might reset.

I did as instructed, and when I restarted my Volt, the same alerts were shown. That lasted about five seconds and they disappeared as promised.

Whew!

This time, it was different. The performance of the Volt was compromised. The first day this happened, I wrote it off as a freaky patch of pavement. I stopped, powered down and the alerts vanished.

Great!

The next day it happened several times and became quite worrisome. I called my wonderful Chevrolet dealer (Classic Chevrolet in Grapevine, Texas) and let them know I was coming in. I’ve mentioned before that my blogging has become less voluminous, due to preparing our home for sale. Well, now realtors are showing it, and when they do, I take Koko, our greyhound, away from the house.It was during one of these outings that I decided to take my Volt in for service. Koko was lying upon her doggy bed, which was over a blanket, in the back of my Volt. A showing was in progress, so I could not take her back home but I felt I had to get to the dealership before I had an accident or the problem grew worse.

I pulled in to the service bay and unload Koko and let their Volt specialist, Tim Foote, know what was going on with my car. They don’t allow pets in their loaner vehicles, so I sat at a picnic table near the front entrance to the showroom and awaited the verdict. My salesperson, Kevin Reese saw me sitting outside, so he cam by and chatted with me for a bit. After about an hour, Tim called my iPhone and said it was going to take a bit longer for them to locate the problem, so they would set me up with a loaner so I could be on my way. The service manager was kind enough to loan me a vehicle even though I had Koko with me. It was a Chevy Tahoe and it was HUMONGOUS! He mentioned he had seen what looked like mouse droppings somewhere under the hood, so he was concerned that a mouse may have partially eaten through a wire and that locating the damaged wire could take some time. Of course, my first thought was, “I bet that isn’t covered under the warranty!” I had never heard of such a thing before, so I went home and Googled mouse eating wires and found TONS of horror stories of damage to cars, aircraft and homes, caused by mice chewing through wiring. There were even pictures of houses on fire, presumably caused by this problem. Now, I really started to sweat. Would this be covered by my car insurance? Homeowner’s insurance? How extensive could this be and at what cost to repair?

The next day, I went to pick up the contracts on the house we decided to build (long story there). I drove the Tahoe. I had forgotten what driving an ICE-equipped car was like, especially one this big. There is a definite lag between the time you push down on the accelerator and when the vehicle responds. I was so used to the Volt’s instant torque that at first, I thought something might be wrong with the Tahoe. Then there was the shifting of the automatic transmission. Remember what that was like? That feeling of anticipation as the RPMs of the engine approached the speed requiring a shift. It sort of feels like cresting a hill, straining along, shift, relief. I drove through sections of highway currently under construction. As the lanes got narrower, I felt like I was holding my breath or sucking my stomach in, to squeeze through. And the engine noise! I was driving with the windows down at one point. I passed a car and the reflected sound of the engine rumbling was so LOUD!

I’ve only been driving a Volt for 7-1/2 months and I am already spoiled! This switch to electric propulsion is going to be faster and more enduring than most people realize. I doubt I will ever own a vehicle powered solely by gasoline ever again. Most EV owners I’ve spoken with feel the same way. It’s this “sticking power” that’s going to change things. I think we’re already experiencing the tipping point, where owners of EVs are telling their friends how great it is. Many of those friends will at least test drive an EV the next time they shop for a vehicle. Once you’ve experienced that, unless you need the deep throated rumble of a gas engine to feel fulfilled, you will feel a pull toward electric vehicles.

Well, back to my Volt…

It turns out there was a connector that was not fully connected during assembly. Over time, through road vibration, it must have worked itself apart enough to have intermittent connection, causing the computer to think the tracking sensor was faulty. Once this connection was found, cleaned and reconnected more securely, all was well. I stood in the service bay with Tim, while a valet went to retrieve my Volt from the dealership’s charger. It was so nice to see it (and not hear it) pull up to us. It had been washed (it needed it) and was a sight for sore eyes. The bill came to zero dollars.

I got in, patted the side of the battery pack like you’d pet the side of a beloved dog, started her up and felt exhilaration as the pressing of my foot against the accelerator was instantly translated into motion. Ahhhhhhhh…..

I’m being transformed…

Posted on 2 April, 2013 by Buzz

I’m finding that my Volt has changed me in many ways. For instance, I’m not always pushing the accelerator to the floor. Sometimes I take pleasure in keeping the spinning green ball in the center. I actually enjoy “filling up.” Plugging my Volt into my Level 2 charger always gives me a feeling of satisfaction. My Volt has also changed the way I evaluate real estate.

Say what?

It’s true. We have gone through a major renovation of our house, in preparation for its sale. I have been so busy with that project that I haven’t posted to my blog in a month! I used to post multiple times a day.

Another factor in selling your home is locating your next one. We are downsizing, in order to travel more with our daughter, Zoe. She is a competitive fencer and we need to free up income to travel to regional and (hopefully) national tournaments. As we visit potential future homes, we have our usual check list: three bedrooms minimum, two but preferably two and a half bathrooms, a room suitable for a home theater, granite countertops, no wood shingles, pooper in the master bath must be in its own enclosed room (Bon’s rule #1), nice neighborhood, electrical panel near or in the garage.

Huh?

Yep, we’ve actually dropped homes from consideration, if the addition of the two 40 amp, 240 volt circuits in the garage for our chargers, would be too difficult/costly. We’ve also checked the panels to see if there’s enough capacity for the required breakers (4 slots).

We have evaluated the steepness of driveways and their compatibility with our Volt’s air dams. Too much scraping on the air dam gets your house dropped from consideration.

We love trees, but we’re starting to consider solar panels. An unblocked southern exposure is a plus as well as a neighborhood association that doesn’t frown on solar panels. I’ve given up on windmills. I just can’t afford enough land to make a windmill acceptable to the neighbors.

It’s odd not only how the Volt grows on you, but how it changes you. Your needs. Your expectations. I find I’m wanting to be “greener” every day.

Pretty neat effect, eh?

March 2013 sales numbers: Volt, Leaf, Plug-In Prius and Corvette

Posted on 2 April, 2013 by Buzz

I haven’t posted in a month! That’s what happens when you’re renovating your home in preparation for moving. The renovations are now complete (I think!) and it’s time to look for the next home. I have found that, being an EV owner, I look at potential homes differently.

But that’s the subject of another post. On to the sales numbers!

Unfortunately, Toyota has not announced the Plug-in Prius numbers yet. I waited an additional day before posting this to give them a chance to provide the information (yesterday being April Fool’s Day and all…).

When Toyota announces the numbers, I’ll update this post.

The Nissan Leaf had its biggest month ever! (drum roll please) March sales were 2,236 units! That beat its previous high water mark of 1,708 (June 2011) by 528 Leafs (or Leaves?). That’s a 31% increase over their best month ever!

The Volt saw a slight decline of 9% from the previous month. March sales were 1,478 units, which is less than half of the Volt’s best month, October of 2012, when 2,961 Volts were sold. However, when compared to the original Prius’ historical sales numbers, it closed the gap between their respective 27th month of 949 units to a 28th month gap of 853 units. The original Prius is still ahead, however, slowly but surely, the Volt is gaining, compared to where the Prius was, at this point in its availability.

**UPDATE** The Plug-in Prius numbers have been released. March sales totaled 786. That’s an increase of about 13% over the previous month, but that is still over 1,000 units down, or 42% of its best month, October of 2012, when it posted 1,889 units sold.

What was up in October 2012??? Both the Volt and Plug-in Prius had their best month’s sales that month.

Now that the three “green” cars I track have released their numbers, we can see that once again, they have beaten the crap out of Corvette sales! (786 units)

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