Onstar Data Shows Volt Owners Drive On Gas 25% Of The Time

According to Voltstats.net the average Chevrolet Volt driver does about 75% of their driving on electric, and 25% on gasoline.  I have a Volt and for me it is more like 99% on electric and 1% on gas.

So the Volt has an EPA rating of 38 miles EV range.  Lets imagine that it had 60 miles EV range.  I bet the numbers would shift to where the average driver got 85% EV.  What about 80 miles EV range?  100 miles EV range?  I suspect at 100 miles range you would finally hit that average of 99% all EV driving and that 1% on gas.  The thing is, at this point you can continue to increase the battery range and you still have diminishing returns.  That’s because the 1% remaining usually ends up being road trips.  This is already the case with my Volt.  that 1% of gas usage is when I need to drive from Dallas to Houston, or Austin.
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TheSteve - 7/31/2013 4:09:56 PM

+2 Boost

Aside from the issues involved in gathering data without owner's knowledge, it's pretty cool that Voltsv are being used as EVs 75% of the time!

vdiv - 7/31/2013 4:29:48 PM

+1 Boost

That is not true. The customer has to consent to OnStar at the time of purchase and may refuse to do so. With three years of complimentary Connections and Directions plan and the ability to remotely monitor and manage the car most choose to keep it. The few paranoid ones can disable or remove the OnStar module. Some have.

In addition, one has to sign up to use voltstats.net cited in the article and can decide whether to share the telemetry data or have exclusive access to it.

TheSteve - 7/31/2013 4:56:25 PM

+1 Boost

@vdiv: Thanks for the clarification.

Agent009 - 8/1/2013 10:03:17 AM

+1 Boost

The 25% of the time was better than I thought it would be. Suggesting that either the volt gives better range than anticipated, or the average Volt buyer is very realistic about range.

vdiv - 8/1/2013 4:12:59 PM

+1 Boost

Or the 38-mile EPA range the Volt (47 currently on mine) offers is sufficient for the vast majority of the people who bought one. All three of these are largely accurate.