(In contrast, it makes sense to say that the car reports "empty" even when it's at 10%, because you can keep driving it .)

I am very happy with my second generation Volt, averaging 66 miles per charge since I got it in March (Georgia weather) and it should squeak out a few more as summer progresses. I am really curious what my range will be in Winter seeing as a friend with an i3 loses twenty miles per charge in our coldest and the Tesla 80 at work goes under 200 range max by a good number.

still not sold all battery is the way to go, range is always there, but recharge times and sheer weight of so much battery is contrary to where manufacturers want to take cars (lighter weight is better regardless of propulsion method)

This is true for efficiency reasons, but lighter cars also save lives. Here's a recent discussion:

The Effect of Fuel Economy Standards on Vehicle Weight Dispersion and Accident Fatalities

Antonio Bento, Kenneth Gillingham, Kevin Roth

http://papers.nber.org/tmp/22190-w23340.pdf http://www.nber.org/papers/w23340

> we find that CAFE has been providing safety cobenefits because it encourages down-weighting. Using the Department of Transportation’s value of a statistical life, at $9.4 million, the welfare benefits of reduced fatalities, found in our simulations to range between 393 and 439 lives nationally, are more than $3.5 billion annually. ... our findings suggest that CAFE would pass a cost-benefit test based on benefits from reduced fatalities alone. This is particularly notable because the current EPA analysis does not include benefits or costs from fatalities, but relies heavily on myopic consumers realizing large future fuel savings to pass a cost-benefit test, which recent economic evidence brings into question (Busse, Knittel, and Zettelmeyer, 2013; Allcott and Wozny, 2014; Sallee, West, and Fan, 2016). Our results suggest CAFE standards may have positive net benefits even without any undervaluation of fuel economy.

This is nice but anectdotal evidence is useless when looking at failure rates. Does GM put out any actual data on the Volt/Bolt? Im really curious how they stack up against Toyota for reliability.

I have a 2013 Volt with 67K (50K ev) miles and there is, so far, no change in ev range.

I assume at least 2/3 of those miles were on gas?

edit: https://www.voltstats.net/Stats/Details/1579

There may be longevity tale unfolding with PHEVs, but we can only guess.

That's probably enough for a lot of us commuters, especially if you've got charging options at work but that'd make it a non viable winter getaway car (which you'd probably already know if you're researching hybrids).

There's a setting on the center console screen to adjust how aggressively the Volt uses the engine for heating.

I know nothing about these cars beyond the Winter complaint I heard.

For the record, total range for the Volt is officially 420 miles. Chop the electric range in half and it would be about 400 miles. Chop both in half (range on gas won't be nearly as badly affected in the cold) and it's still 210 miles.