That was my impetus for installing a kWh meter inline with my Level 2 charger,  a project that you can read about here.

I’m going to periodically update this post with fresh data as it becomes available, and the numbers below cover the period 6/13/2011 through 6/27/2011.

The electric rate used is based upon my last bill (our rates don’t fluctuate much anyhow), it takes into account all per-kWh taxes and fees, and we do not pay different rates based upon time of day.  Electrical service is provided by the Long Island Power Authority.

Those figures come from a spreadsheet that you can download here (Microsoft Excel 2007 format).  Please feel free to plug in your own electric rate if you want to get an idea of a Volt’s charging cost in your area.

Because the Volt’s computer tracks EV Miles (miles traveled on battery), the calculations are fairly simple:  I subtract the first EV Miles reading taken from the last EV Miles reading, and subtract the first kWh reading from the last.  Dividing those two figures yields the Miles / kWh, and the rest is pretty self-explanatory.

One minor caveat:  Some battery (the “buffer zone“) can be consumed while running on gas.  Recharging that portion of the battery is reflected in my kWh numbers, but is not reflected in the EV Miles.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing because it will make the cost per EV mile slightly higher than it should be, and we’re still saving quite a bit of money on a per-EV Mile basis regardless.

Over her lifetime, Sparky has traveled 82% of her miles in electric mode, and 18% in gas mode.

As you can see, the bottom line is that it costs about $1.85 to travel 35 miles in Sparky.  In my area gas prices are about $4.13/gal. (as of last time I filled up my Jeep), and that is what it would cost to travel the same distance in a car that gets a real-world 35 MPG.

My Jeep Wrangler gets around 13 MPG, and so it costs me a whopping $11.12 to travel 35 miles.  (Geez, this is the first time I’ve actually done that calculation and it’s kinda scary).  You can see why my wife and I take Sparky whenever we go anywhere together — it saves us about $9.27 on a 35 mile trip!

To go even further, let’s look at the cost/mile of a few cars*:

Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited (13 MPG):  $0.30

Saab 9-3 SE Convertible (27 MPG): $0.15

Toyota Prius 11 (51 MPG): $0.08

Chevrolet Volt (Electric only):  $0.05

Nissan Leaf:  $0.05

*The figures for the Saab, Jeep, and Volt are based upon my own readings with my and/or my wife’s driving habits.  The figure for the Prius is based upon a non-PHEV-converted vehicle, using Toyota’s highest MPG figure.   The Leaf’s cost is estimated based upon the 3.4 miles/kWh supplied by the EPA.  And I’ll even use a lower gas cost of $4/gal. to prevent octane-related arguments.

In case you’re wondering why I’m using 35 miles for most of my comparisons:  The Volt gets about 35 miles per charge (usually more), on gas 35 MPG is between our real-world usage and the window sticker rating, and it seems to be that other comparably-equipped 4-door cars land near the 35 MPG mark (according to their window stickers, anyhow).

I’m looking for feedback on my calculations or reasoning, so please email me or let me know what you think in the comments.   The numbers should be more accurate as I accumulate more sample time.

I can’t answer those questions.

But I do love our Volt.  My wife and I bought it not because it was an electric vehicle, but because it fell into the criteria we set for price range (with rebates), performance, and features.  Gas costs were a concern for us — as they are with most people — but that concern alone was not enough to drive us to buy a PHEV.

In researching the Volt, we came across a lot of arguments, both on forums and in the mass media, many against the Volt for a variety of reasons.  For my own catharsis more than anything, I’d like to present some counterarguments to the three things I’ve seen debated most often:  Price, government subsidies, and operating cost.

Price

“Chevy’s $40,200 puts this car outside the budget of most consumers.”

That’s an oft-heard argument.  But it’s both not true, and completely irrelevant.

Let’s ignore the federal tax credit for a moment.  I test drove the Acura TSX and TL before purchasing a Volt.  I drove a leased TL for three years, up until 2008.  In my most humble of opinions, if Acura took the Volt, slapped their emblem on it and tweaked the grille and tail lights just a little bit they could sell it at their dealerships.

A V6 TSX with technology package has an MSRP of $39,135.  I find it very easy to believe that consumers would pay an extra $4,000 for a fully-loaded electric version of the TSX (the fully-loaded Volt goes for about $43,000).

I think that people are surprised at the price because the Volt is made by Chevrolet, not because it’s an absurd price for an automobile.

Maybe you think I’m way off base comparing a TSX to the Volt.  If so, how about this:

Like it or not, there is a federal tax credit for Volt buyers (plus other state and utility incentives), and that credit will be applied to a whole lot of Volts.  With the tax credit, the base price of the Volt drops to $32,780.  Maybe that’s still high for a lot of consumers, but look at how many Nissans, Toyotas, Chevrolets, and Fords are prices over $32,000 once you add all of the features of a base-model Volt.

Finally, if you argue about the pricing of the Volt, you’re missing a key lesson of capitalism:  The correct price for any good or service is that which the customer is willing to pay.  And GM has had no problem selling its first production runs of Volts at that price.

Will the price drop?  There has been a lot of speculation about that, but let’s consider the point of the government subsidies.

Government Subsidies

“The liberals are taking money out of the hands of hard-working Americans to help the upper-middle class buy cars”.

That’s a paraphrase of the general tone of discussions I’ve seen online.  And while I understand the sentiment, I think it’s a short-sighted and ultimately irrelevant point to make.

Most people seem to misunderstand the purpose of the tax credits and other incentives directed towards improving the sales of the Volt (and Leaf, etc).  They are not  part of some magical, hippie, liberal wish to make global warming go away.  In fact, I’m of the opinion that the environmental aspect of plug-in electric vehicles is a far second to more practical and immediate economic concerns.  The incentives are part of a calculated plan to reduce our dependence upon foreign oil.

Regardless of political persuasion, most people can agree that sending trillions of dollars to various Middle Eastern countries is a bad idea.  Whether because it’s helping to unbalance our economy towards imports, or because its funding and motivating hostility towards our nation; The reason doesn’t matter.  Our dependence upon foreign oil is not a good thing for us.

Oil prices are only going to rise ever higher.  Not because of terrorism, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, or because “they just don’t like us”.  But because as China and India become more industrialized they will need more oil.  A lot more oil.  As we compete with those countries over a limited resource, prices will inevitably rise.

The Volt’s place in all this is pretty obvious, and I’ll use our Volt as an example:  In the first month of owning it, it burned about 4 gallons of gasoline.  It was an above-average month of driving for us, too.  Usually when my wife and I would go somewhere together, I would drive us there in my Jeep Wrangler.  Now we take the Volt.  In an average month of driving, the Mrs. would use about 70 gallons of gas.  That’s 66 fewer gallons of gasoline that she’s using now.

So where does our electrical power come from?  We’ve driven about 1300 miles on electric power to date, and if that’s coming from foreign sources than it’s no better than the gasoline.  According to our power company the sources are:  35% natural gas, 34% economy purchases (purchased from the wholesale market), 12% nuclear, 10% oil, and 9% other.

The vast majority of our natural gas supply is domestic.  We get all of our nuclear fuels domestically. I can’t say exactly where our wholesale energy comes from, but let’s assume the breakdown is on-par with the national figures:  49% coal, 19% nuclear, 12% natural gas, 7% hydroelectric, 13% other.

In other words, the economic impact of electric vehicles is positive.  The majority of our electrical power is derived from domestic fuel sources and domestic power plants.  Electric vehicles help shift the energy balance towards domestic rather than overseas production.

Because electric vehicles are good for our economy as a whole, the government is giving their development and sales a kick-start through incentives.  In fact, I’ve used the term “capitalist” in relation to these seemingly “socialist” incentives.  That may seem counter-intuitive, but I’ll explain what I mean.

Socialism?

It’s all about economies of scale.  Take the original Model T, for example.  Henry Ford could have built one Model T in his garage by himself. It would have taken a couple of years of his time, and probably would have cost upwards of $3,000.  Built on an assembly line in bulk, in 1915 Ford produced about half a million Model Ts at a cost of $440 each.  (They originally retailed for $850 in 1909).  The point is that the more you can make of a standardized item, the more efficient the manufacturing process and supply lines become, and the cheaper it becomes for the consumer.

The only way to make a lot of something is to sell a lot of it in the first place.   The problem with electric vehicles is that they don’t make economic sense to the consumer unless the price of the vehicle is competitive with gas vehicles, or gas becomes so expensive that the reduced fueling cost would make up for a higher vehicle cost.

Although gas prices are very high right now, they’re not sufficiently high to meet the second criterion.  For example, I estimate the Volt will save our household about $1,100 per year in fuel costs (assuming current gas and electric prices).  If the Volt has a service life of 8 years, then we will save in total $8,800.  That’s actually pretty significant, but when adjusted for inflation it’s probably closer to $7,500.  And it’s not a one-time payout, it’s that sort of intangible long-term saving that doesn’t entice consumers.  It’s also not definitive as gas and electric costs will fluctuate.

Hence the only way to sell more electric vehicles is to drop the price.  But dropping the price has no advantage to Chevrolet, nor any other car manufacturer.  They would take a heavy loss, and the shareholders would riot.

And so we’re stuck in a world of gas engines, unless someone were to kick-start the process by either raising gas prices or offsetting the price of the car.  A tax credit is a fairly quick and audit-able way to reduce the price of the car, as are any incentives given to GM.

The government intervention won’t last forever.  As soon as production ramps up to a sufficient level to support efficient economies of scale, the government can “take off the training wheels”, and let sales of electric vehicles become self-supportive as the price drops and technologies improve.

That’s the plan, anyway.  Will it work?  Time will tell.  I’m of the opinion that it’s better to have tried and failed than to never have tried at all, especially when the damn plan actually makes sense.

(Tesla is somewhat of an exception, but without the participation of major auto manufacturers they’d probably be forever relegated to producing small volumes of niche products for the wealthy.)

Operating Cost

“Sure you’ll be spending less on gas, but your electric bill will be astronomic!”

Operating cost is a tricky number to determine.  Over its lifetime the Volt will of course consume a fair amount of gasoline.  It will also use a whole heck of a lot of electricity.  Gas prices vary throughout the nation, and even from gas station to gas station.  Electric rates vary even more.  Hawaii has the highest average electrical rate in the nation (as of 2007) at 20.7 cents/kWh, with New York in second place at 15.7 cents.  Idaho has the honor of having the lowest average rate of 6.3 cents.

Not only do rates vary from state-to-state, but within my state (New York) rates range from as low as 5.2 to as high as 26.8 cents/kWh.  Then you have to factor in delivery costs, additional fees, and taxes.

All that being said, the most-cited number for energy required to fully charge a Volt is 12kWh.  Even at the highest electric rates in New York, the cost to fully charge a Volt would be $3.22.  That’s without taxes and fees, and so the total could be more like $4.50, about the cost of a gallon of gas in my area.  For that money, the Volt will go 35-45 miles (depending upon conditions), which is much better than most real-world MPG numbers for fuel efficient cars.

Again, I was giving a worst-case example, and that example probably doesn’t reflect enough of a savings to motivate someone to buy an electric car.

It’s because of all those variables (gas and electric costs, miles-per-charge, charging efficiency, etc) that I aim to collect firm numbers specific to my Volt in my area.  If the numbers work out for me, then they will work out for a lot of people with similar or lower electric rates.

I recently completed a project wherein I installed a 240V charging station with a dedicated kWh meter.  This way, by taking note of the kWh reading and the “EV Miles” (the number of miles the Volt has traveled on electricity alone), I can determine the average kWh/mile that our Volt is using in the real world.  Then, knowing my electric rates I can figure out the cost/mile.  Only then can I effectively compare the cost of driving a mile on electric power with the cost of driving a mile using gasoline (referencing my local gas prices).

I pay 17.4 cents/kWh, including taxes and fees.  I estimate that charging the Volt from empty to full will cost $2.08, less than half the cost of a gallon of gas.  This will save us about $1,200 per year, compared to what we were previously spending on gasoline.  Of course those are just estimates.  After I can collect about 3 months worth of data, I’ll have a much more accurate picture of the real-world operating cost of the Volt.

Conclusion

The Volt is a regular car with a lot of technological innovations, including electric drive.  It’s fun to drive, not just because of its electric drive, but because it accelerates rapidly, takes turns tightly, and has a great set of entertainment and informational features.  It’s priced only a little above other top-selling cars with comparable performance and features, and that extra cost can easily be offset by gas savings let alone government and utility tax credits and rebates.

The goal of the federal tax credits (and other incentives) is often discussed in the context of environmentalism.  Its contribution to building the economy is usually diminished or dismissed completely.  I think that the economic impact of electric cars (the Volt just being a catalyzer) will ultimately be tremendous.  Our nation can use its own natural resources to power more cars and trucks.  That  means more domestic jobs in the mining, power generation and power distribution industries, and in all of their supporting industries (legal, chemical, equipment manufacturing, etc.)

It also means less money being sent overseas to the detriment of our national economy and the improvement of others’.  Most importantly, it will stem the tide of ever-rising oil prices resulting from the increased demand of countries like China and India.  Finally it will reduce our need for involvement in an area of the world wherein our involvement has been tumultuous at best and bloody at its worst.

Electric cars alone are not the solution to all of our economic woes, neither nationally nor globally.  They are a source of economic improvement for the future, and well worth our investment today.

*Electrical consumption data is now available here.

What I mean is that the car itself, and the related OnStar apps will tell you that the vehicle has traveled (for example) “211 Miles Per Gallon“, which is such a misleading statement that I find it offensive.  While the car may have indeed traveled 211 miles for each gallon of gas burned, that has nothing to do at all with the total operating cost of the vehicle.  My Jeep’s computer will tell me that I’ve used, on average, 13 MPG.  That’s a very useful number, because I can easily figure out, for example, the cost of my round-trip commute using current gas prices.

To make things yet more perplexing for the Volt, even when operating with the gas engine, the “buffer zone” of the battery is being consumed at times.  That means that the Volt at that point is using a little bit of battery for every mile, at least until the battery is drained to the minimum of the buffer zone.  Only then could a “true” MPG for the vehicle be obtained.

I’m going to do my best here, however.  The source data for the numbers below comes from the Volt itself which is about 15 miles away from me right now, via the OnStar app for the Droid (awesome):

Lifetime

1545 Total Miles

– 1336 EV Miles

= 209 Gas (“Hybrid” maybe a better term) Miles

Current Gas Status

29% Tank Level

* 9.3 Gallon Tank Size

= 2.7 Gallons Remaining

or, 6.6 Gallons Consumed

Hence, the “actual” MPG is:  31.7

That figure is a little off from my estimate of 40.7 MPG in the original post.  I think that’s due to excessive rounding (I had used the “Fuel Left” figure, which is only accurate to the nearest whole number), and perhaps a different driving style (we did a lot of gas highway miles when Sparky was brand new — less so more recently).

As for this latest figure of 31.7 MPG, I have to add a couple of disclaimers about its accuracy:

• I don’t know that the 9.3 gallon tank was topped off to exactly 9.3 gallons when originally filled.
• I don’t know the accuracy of the “tank level” number (does it include a safety margin like most fuel systems where you have some cushion to run “below the E“?).
• I  don’t know how much “buffer” battery was used.

Finally, I can’t really say what the mix of highway vs. city driving might have been up until now (I’m going to guess around 60% and 40% respectively).  So please take this number as a reasonable approximation of what you can expect for your Volt’s gas consumption.

Incidentally, I just checked our window sticker, and it promises 37 MPG (combined city/hwy) “when electricity is used up“.

I just completed my two metered charging projects, and so I should have some electrical consumption data shortly:

Chevy Volt Metered Charging (Phase I)

Installing Our New 240V/Level 2 Voltec Charge Station (Phase II)

In the first phase, I ran a new dedicated circuit from the subpanel in my garage to the opposite wall to connect a 120V charging station.  In this phase, I removed the existing receptacle, rewired for 240V, installed the Voltec Level 2 charging station, and wired the kWh meter inline.

It’s not my intent to write a full set of instructions for installation here.  The purpose of this post is to illustrate some of the installation steps with real-world pictures, which are somewhat hard to come by online (the pictures are rather small, but you can click on any of them for a larger version).

As with all electrical installations, follow all manufacturer directions, specifications, and applicable local/national codes when installing your equipment.

The first step was ordering the Voltec Charge Station from SPX.  Information can be found here:

https://www.homecharging.spx.com/volt/Display.aspx?id=7&menu=14

The charging station is listed at $499 on the site.  For some reason, my invoice showed the price as $490 (obviously not a problem).  Shipping was free, and with tax my total was $532.26.

Ordering from SPX was easy;  Their sales rep was very helpful, and because I’d previously applied for their “free” charging station they already had my info on file.  I had placed my order in the afternoon on 5/31, and had delivery the morning of 6/6, putting it under a quite respectable 4 business days (hooray for UPS).

The contents of the Voltec Charge Station package: Instructions, warranty information, and the charging station itself.

The charging station comes fully assembled, and the instructions are very straight-forward.  One caveat with the warranty:  If you do a self-installation, the warranty period is one year, versus three years when you have the unit professionally installed.  In my opinion, self-install is still the way to go, because a professional installation can easily cost more than buying a second charger should the first one fail.

To start the installation, you will need a Torx driver.  I had bought a set a few months ago (which I needed just to replace the air filter in Amanda’s old Saab — a rant for another day), which attach to a standard 3/8″ drive head.  That makes taking out the six screws a breeze:

Opening the back with a Torx driver. It's just a coincidence that my Ridgid driver matches the charge station, I swear.

I put the unit face down on cardboard to avoid scratching it.  Next step is separating the two halves, minding the ribbon cable that connects them.

The cover removed from the charging station

The connector on the ribbon cable simply pulls out of its mate on the circuit board.  Don’t worry about how the pins line up — it’s keyed to only reattach one way.

The circuity in the charging station is surprisingly simple.   The Volt has the bulk of the charging logic on-board.  If I’m not mistaken, the charging station just has some thermal and ground-fault protection, and logic to analyze the building wiring so that it knows it’s safe to pass the power on to the car.

A close-up of the charging station's PCB and wiring connections.

I couldn’t resist taking apart the charging station first, but had to get back to the business of prepping the wiring for 240 Volts.

This started with removing the 120V receptacle.  I was careful to cut the hole for the receptacle where I thought the wiring connector for the Voltec would land, and also so that the charging station would cover it completely.  (That turned out pretty well, which was partially dumb luck on my part).

The existing receptacle unit and box came out easily.

I disconnected the receptacle unit and left as much wire as possible in tact.  I also stripped the sheath off the armored cable by a bit more — you’ll see later that I just barely had enough wiring left inside the unit to make up the connections.

Next step was changing the temporary 120V connections in the breaker panel over to 240V.

The Voltec circuit is attached to the breaker in the upper-left.

This was probably the least complicated step of the installation and involved moving the red wire in the upper-left from its very temporary connection at the neutral buss over to the second pole of the breaker.

The next step was wiring the meter.  I thought the meter was a must-have, because it will allow me to get very accurate numbers as far as KWh/mile, and therefore $/mile.  There are a lot of numbers floating around online, but this will let me make calculations based upon my Volt (well, Amanda’s Volt), with my electric rates.

Installing a meter is neither expensive nor difficult.  I got the head on eBay (used/reconditioned) for $36 all-in, and the socket from Home Depot for $25.  And it’s just a few extra electrical connections:

Meter wiring with #6 pigtails.

Connecting the meter socket’s terminals were not as straightforward as I’d hoped, but not all that complicated once you realize what’s going on in that picture.

The label on the pan specifies that the terminal lugs for the line/load (“hot”) connections can accept a minimum of #8 AWG wiring, with a maximum of #2/0.  Since the circuit is only 20A and therefore wired with #12 AWG, a problem arises.

Label showing details of the meter pan. As with all pictures in this post, click to enlarge.

Fortunately the solution was simple:  I pigtailed some #6 wire onto the #12, then made the connections.  I used #6 both because I had it laying around, and because I had wire nuts that permitted the connection of #12 and #6 wire.

The “neutral” terminals (which I’m using to bond the box to ground as there is no neutral conductor in this installation) can accept my #12 wire.

With those connections made, the meter head plugged in, and the cover in place, I fired it up for a test (I capped the wires hanging out of the wall first).

Zero kWh!

That lead to some good feedback for the eBay seller.  Of course, I have no idea of the degree of accuracy of this meter.  I’m willing to assume that it’s accurate enough for my purposes.

Now back to the Voltec Charge Station.  That’s probably why you’re reading this post to begin with, but this part of the installation can’t be easier.  You just need two screws to attach this thing to the wall (I’d recommend hitting a stud if you have a framed garage — the unit is light, but the charging cable is quite heavy and I wouldn’t trust drywall anchors to hold it).  Then it’s 3 screw terminals for the wiring and you’re done!  Well, almost done.  As you’ll see, attaching the cover can be a problem if you’re not prepared.

Charging station mounted and wired.

I used ceramic-coated 3″ deck screws and a couple of washers for mounting.  They’re a little beefier than drywall screws (plus I had them laying around).  I don’t think a thick lag screw is really necessary for the weight of the unit/cable.

Three electrical connections is all it takes:

Close-up of the wiring connections.

I didn’t trim the leads for the supply wires at all.  The length just happened to work out very well, which saved me some extra time re-running the cable up to the meter.  (It’s hard to tell in the picture, but there’s about a half-inch clearance between the PCB and the supply wires, and they’re laid in there quite comfortably).

The final step is applying the cover, and turning on the power.  Applying the cover was one of those things that annoys me about engineers.  The screws attach from the back, and are flared out at maybe 30 degrees from the wall.

It was really just dumb luck that I had this drive head sitting around in my garage.

This makes reattaching the cover a minor pain in the neck.  If you don’t have a little Torx driver (or driver head), go out and get one before starting this project.  I forgot what size I needed, but get a set of them.  Torx screws seem to always pop up when you least expect/want them to.

Why the engineers that designed this thing couldn’t use hex-head screws is beyond me.  Pretty much everyone has Allen keys around from old Ikea projects or whatnot, and they’re ideal for this sort of tight space.

It wasn’t all bad, though.  I was able to get the screws seated just by hand tightening.

And here’s the result:

The finished installation!

The installation as described above took just a little over an hour.  Of course, I did the bulk of the prep work in Phase I, and that project took more than a few hours.

If you have any questions or want any additional details, please post in the comments below.

Postscript

I wanted to comment on the build quality of the Voltec Charge Station.  I was neither impressed nor disappointed with the unit itself.

As I wrote earlier, the charging station is not heavy at all.  I can’t say that it feels flimsy, but the edges around the cover are rather thin plastic, and it’s almost hard to believe that it’s a weather-tight enclosure suitable for outdoor use.  Let’s just say that it definitely has the feel of a residential appliance.

The charge cord is quite heavy. The ship weight of the charging station is 18 lbs., and the cord could easily account for 12 lbs. of that weight.  I only bring that up because I’ve seen lighter cords attached to heavier-built units that eventually worked their way loose from their mounting points.

But wait, the charge cord also isn’t heavy enough! The conductors in the charge cord that carry the full charge current, approximately 15A, are 14 gauge.   While I’m sure that’s technically sufficient to satisfy any safety requirements, the cord still becomes quite warm while the Volt is connected and charging.  12 gauge wire would have been a better choice (IMHO), but of course would have made the cord heavier still.

Finally, I don’t like the fact that the cord is coiled.  I vaguely remember from childhood something called a “corded phone” (well, we called it a “phone”).   The sound clarity was great, but do you remember what eventually happened to all of those curly cords?  Have you ever had to untangle one?  Sure you have.  And it sucks.

Despite all of these complaints, the Voltec Charge Station is your best bet for the money.  I don’t see a need for a heavier-duty unit in my garage, and though $500 isn’t cheap, I could buy 4 of these things for what a low-end commercial grade charging station might cost.   The heat emitted by the cable is a concern, but it’s due to the #14 wire and not a defective unit.  I will be keeping a close eye on it, however.

The coiled cord?  Replacing that might be a project for another day.  Maybe in a year when the warranty is up anyhow, I’ll see if I can find a suitable replacement with #12 conductors.

What could possibly be inside of it?  Was it a mistake and we got an extra charger?  The keys to yet another Volt?  Well, there’s not all that much to say about it, so here are some unboxing pics..

Ah!  Some… thing.  Well, it’s very nice cardboard with quality printing (the picture doesn’t do it justice).

It looks like a book.

Oh, it is a book!  And some other literature.  Wait, what?  Is that a Flip digital video recorder?  Yes, in fact it is a Flip DVR.  How odd.  In the enclosed letter is says something like “[..] record all the great places you’ll visit in your Volt”.

A little weirdly unnecessary, but hell, we’ll take any free piece of tech.  (They did allude to our love of technology because of our purchase of a Volt in the first place.  No shit, asslock.  These guys should talk to the people over at Pandora and Netflix).

The Flip camera also has the Chevy and Volt logos, in case you thought for a second you could forget who was really generous to you after you spent $50,000.  But I digress.

And there it is, the whole shebang.  I have to give it to Chevrolet for the quality on this thing.  The packaging and finely-bound hardcover book about the making of the Volt smack of the care and attention that (hold on whilst I vomit) Apple puts into its packaging.

You can see some other people’s input here, on this archived forum thread (I was not involved in the thread, but it came up first in a related Google search):

http://gm-volt.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-6581.html

This is my charging setup (still waiting on the 240V Voltec Charging Station):

Volt 120V Charger

To connect to the Volt, about half the length of the charge cord has to be unwound.

I noticed yesterday that the plug (the NEMA 5-15R) was very warm.  The plug lead was warmer still.  I went on to feel the charge cord, and that was just a little warmer than ambient air where it was hanging between the charger and the floor.

However, where the charge cord was coiled around the charger, it was extremely hot.  Hot enough that I couldn’t touch it for more than a few seconds.  I pulled the plug out of the wall receptacle, and the prongs were also extremely hot.  (I wish I had a way of measuring these temperatures, but I don’t have so much as an oral thermometer around the house).

I plugged my trusty Kill-A-Watt load meter inline with the charger and let the Volt settle into its charge for a few minutes.  It was drawing a load that varied between 12.1 and 12.5 Amps.  Ambient temperature in the garage was 81F degrees at the time (according to my undoubtedly-cheap garage door opener controller).

Chevrolet, for some godforsaken reason, used 16 AWG wiring for the 120V charger.   For enclosed applications (winding the charge cord insulates it really well), the ampacity rating of 16 gauge wire is 13.

Regardless of the theoretical current-carrying capacity of any wire, one thing is universally true:  If it’s going to be installed indoors, and will be hot under load, USE A THICKER GAUGE.

It boggles my mind.  I can understand wanting to save a few bucks, but why on electrical safety?  How hot is this thing going to get this summer when it’s 100 degrees outside, and 115 degrees in my un-ventilated garage?

Needless to say, I’m keeping my charge cord uncoiled for the time being, and keeping an eye on the temperatures.

Edit: As a related postscript, the NEC defines a continuous load as one that will be operating for 3 hours or more.   Branch circuits that will be serving a continuous load are required to be connected to a circuit that has an ampacity rating of 125% of the continuous load, plus 100% of any non-continuous load.

This means that for a 120V charger that will be drawing 12.5A for more than 3 hours (which of course it regularly will), the circuit needs to be rated for 15.625A (12.5A * 1.25).  That means that a circuit rated for 15A is insufficient for Volt charging according to the NEC, which is law in most areas.

(I do not have the book in front of me — please let me know in the comments if I’ve gotten this wrong).

That also doesn’t take into account any non-continuous loads.  I’d wager that most people aren’t plugging their Volt chargers into dedicated receptacles.  At my parent’s house, wired in 1976, the garage receptacle is on the same circuit as the garage lighting and the entire living room.

The safest and most code-compliant practice (IMHO) is to plug the 120V charger into a dedicated 20A circuit.

On top of that, Chevy must know that people are going to be bringing their very portable 120V charger over to other peoples’ houses to mooch some electricity.  Houses that may have some very questionable wiring.

And if I had to guess they’ll be using a nice 100 ft. 16 AWG el-cheapo extension cord from Big Lots to get to that hard-to-reach receptacle in the kids bedroom, which is “the only one that won’t trip the dang circuit”.

Of course, the whole point point behind a PHEV is the actual plugging in.  The Volt comes with a 120V charger that plugs into your average 15A receptacle, and can fully charge the car in about 10 hours.

Chevrolet’s charging station partner, SPX, sells a variety of Level 2 charging stations compatible with the Volt (and most plug-in electric vehicles, including the Nissan Leaf).  The Level 2 charging stations use 240V, and can charge the Volt in about 4 hours.  We’re going to be getting the least expensive charger, the Voltec, for installation in our garage.  That’s going to be “Phase II” of this project.

Phase I consists of getting wiring in place that will eventually be used by the Level 2 charger, temporarily configured for Level 1 (120V) charging using a standard receptacle.

I’m fortunate to have an electrical sub-panel in my garage, so wiring the new charging station is going to be relatively easy.  The twist is that I put an electric meter in-line so that I can monitor Sparky’s energy usage.

Here’s a pictorial overview of the project:

My sub-panel was almost full, and I had to move a breaker down to the bottom-right to make room for a double pole breaker.  The feeder is protected by a 50A breaker on the main panel — the 100A main breaker pictured is just used as a disconnect.

I ran some EMT from the panel up into the garage attic.  The charging station is going to be positioned on the opposite wall, and I wanted to run the wiring hidden on that side of the garage.

In the garage attic, the EMT terminates at a junction box so I can transition to MC for an easier run across the attic and down the garage wall.  I needed about a 5″ offset because the finished wall in the garage is proud of the wall pictured (which is actually the side of my house).

THWN waiting to be connected to the MC wiring.  All wires are #12.

The main reason I didn’t use EMT in the attic is because there are a lot of turns in tight places.  This cable is fed from the upper-right of this picture after it passes overhead between the roof rafters.  It’s fed through the top plate of the wall below in the lower-left.  The next picture shows where it terminates.

Cable from the attic, along with a jumper that will go between the meter and the charging station.

Here’s the meter pan and the box for a temporary 120V receptacle.  (More on that to come).  The wires are coming out of the bottom of the box because I left some extra slack in the wall for the eventual mounting of the Level 2 charging station (which doesn’t require a box).

VERY IMPORTANT: In the next few pictures there are things shown that you should not imitate.  They show temporary wiring that will only be serviced by me, and it will be gone within the week.

New circuit wired to a new double-pole breaker.  Note that I have used a red wire as a neutral.  That is an incorrect practice according to the NEC, and general logic.  In about a week, this circuit will be converted to 240V by moving the red wire to the other pole of the breaker in the upper-left.

This is the junction box in the garage attic.  I’ve re-labeled the white conductor in the MC red, which is incorrect when it’s used as a grounded conductor (neutral).  It is acceptable practice for the future use as a 240V circuit.

The meter I purchased requires a 240V circuit, so for now the meter socket connections are bypassed, and there is plenty of extra slack left on the wires.  Again, what’s pictured is not the correct practice for wiring a 120V circuit, as the white neutral wire has been re-labeled red, indicating it is “hot”.  Also, without the meter in place this box can’t be adequately covered, which is also incorrect.  The neutral terminals have here been used both to connect the two grounding wires, and to bond the box to the grounding wire from the panel.  I believe this is acceptable practice, and though the terminals look large, the plate on the meter pan does permit a minimum of #14 wire under those terminals.

The receptacle unit is wired and ready to go into the box.  Note that this is not a “back stab” connection.  The wires are attached by compression terminals.  It’s also a duplex receptacle, which should not be used on a dedicated circuit, but again, this is temporary.

The meter socket and Level 1 charger.  I forgot the exact meaning of the lights on the charger, but I do know that the top two lights would indicate a wiring fault if they were anything but both green.  So it appears I have success!  One last note on safety:  The meter socket looks incredibly dangerous in this picture, as the contacts are, shall we say, overly accessible.  I just want to point out again that those contacts are not connected to the circuit.  This box is still unsafe because it’s improperly covered without the meter in place, but there are no exposed live conductors.  Again, this is very temporary.

Here’s Sparky, enjoying her first meal in the garage.

Stay tuned for Phase II of the project, when all will be made right with the electrical wiring, and our new 240V Level 2 charging station will be installed!

Update (2011-06-07): The new Voltec Charge Station is installed!  Check out the new post:

Installing Our New 240V/Level 2 Voltec Charge Station (Phase II)

It’s a brand-spankin’-new Chevrolet Volt, purchased from Arnold Chevrolet in West Babylon, NY.  They had the last black Volt in all of Long Island.

Sparky. This is the only picture I have right now, and doesn't really do her justice.

First Impression

I didn’t really have any pre-conceived notions about Chevys, and have never owned one.  But we did have a 2005 Acura TL for a few years, and that’s the closest vehicle to which I can compare the Volt in overall build quality, fit, finish and features.  The Volt is comparable in price to a TL (discounting the $7,500 tax credit), and in my opinion is in the same class.  Hell, the front end of the Volt even looks similar to the last production TL design.  The rear end looks quite sexy, especially in black because the small rear glass panel blends in seamlessly.

Before settling on the Volt, we test-drove a bunch of vehicles in the $35,000ish price range:  The 2010 and 2011 Acura TSX (V4 and V6 versions), 2011 Acura TL, 2011 Volkwagon CC, 2011 Nissan Maxima, 2011 Volvo S60, and, of course, the 2011 Chevy Volt.

Amanda had been driving a 2003 Saab 9-3 SE convertible, and for all its foibles (that’s a post for another day), that thing was fast.  I mean really fast.  Only the Volvo S60 came close to the Saab’s pick-up.  The Volt is difficult to compare, due to its smooth electric drive.  However…

In “sport” mode, the Volt will push you back in your seat. That was a big concern for us when we were considering an electric car.  It’s really not tree-huggingly-sluggish as you might think.  I doubt it could keep up with the ol’ Saab, but in my opinion it blew the Acuras, CC, and Maxima out of the water.

The Volt’s “infotainment” (I hate that “word”) center is pretty well put together.  The interface could use some polish, but for a first-generation product it’s quite nice.  It does just about anything you’d want it to do (Bluetooth phone connection, HDD and USB MP3 playback, CD, XM, AM/FM, traffic, nav, climate control, power monitoring, and then some).  The console is laid out far differently than what we’ve seen in any other car, but it definitely has a more futuristic and, more importantly, integrated look than most.  (For example, in the CC and the Volvo it looks like they stuck an off-the-shelf radio into the dash and made the “dusting off the hands” motion).

The Gas Engine

Another one of our concerns was the transition from battery power to gas-generated power.  We didn’t get a chance to test drive a Volt with a depleted battery, and my supposition was that the car would lose a lot of it’s “oomph” on the gas engine alone.

We were quite pleasantly surprised with the performance on gas. There’s a slightly noticeable difference in acceleration, but nothing earth shattering.  It’s not like going from a V6 to a V4.  More like just losing a few horsepower.  (Very scientific, I know.  But that’s the best I can do with the measuring tools at hand:  My butt in a seat).

Though as I gather from an official Chevy video about the Voltec propulsion system, when the car switches over to the gas engine, it still accesses a “buffer zone” in the battery for rapid acceleration using battery + generator power.  I have no idea what happens to performance when that buffer zone is depleted.

Sparky’s Gas Usage

We took delivery of the Volt on 4/28/2011 with a full tank (9 gallons).  Sparky still has over half a tank left 20 days later.

In total it has racked up:

502 miles total, 380 EV miles (electric only), and 122 miles on gas.

Sparky has 6 gallons of gas left, meaning she’s used about 3 gallons.

That works out to approximately 40.7 MPG when solely on the gas engine.  A very impressive real-world number.  I can’t say exactly how that hashes out as far as highway vs. city driving, but Amanda does a decent amount of both.

Oh, the coolest part?  I got the above numbers on my phone, using the OnStar app for Android.  While Sparky is parked about 15 miles away.

Sparky’s Electric Usage

Fortunately, Amanda’s round-trip work commute is about 29 miles, which comes in under Sparky’s battery capability of 35-42 miles (the number varies from day-to-day).

Detailed figures on this are coming soon.  I just finished “Phase I” of our garage charging project, which consisted of wiring up a dedicated 120V receptacle for the standard charger.  The wiring goes through, but doesn’t connect to, an electric meter (just like you have on the side of your house).  “Phase II” is going to consist of installing a 240V charging station, which will be monitored by the electric meter.  That will get me some good, solid figures on cost-per-electric-mile.

Though I don’t have any real figures, based upon numbers from my local power company (LIPA), we estimate that charging our Volt will cost approximately $2/day. If this is even near true, that’s great:  Amanda was previously spending an average of $5.83/day on gas for the Saab (based upon spending tracked on Mint.com).  She’s also averaged ~$0.68/day worth of gas for the Volt to date, but that still leaves us under the 50% mark for operating cost.

At those numbers, Sparky should save us (and this is a very rough estimate right now) $1,150/year.

Sparky charging in her new home

More to come on Sparky in future posts!

Update (2011-06-08): I have some revised MPG numbers and some further discussion on the topic in a new post:

Sparky: MPG Update