The Volt had been plugged in to my house power for about seven hours, and the dashboard gauge indicated that the battery now had enough power to drive 17 miles - about half full. I grabbed a flashlight, went out to the fusebox and reset the circuit, then went to the detached garage and unplugged the Volt. My Standard Poodle, Truman, thought that the world had ended, and collapsed to the kitchen floor in a twitching heap. When I turned on the microwave to reheat some edamame with dinner, I was greeted by a loud jolt, and plunged into darkness. The Volt helped me find out that half of my kitchen, part of my home office and all of my garage are on the same circuit. Needless to say, we discover strange electrical issues every time we plug in a new appliance. We changed over from screw-in fuses in 2008 to a more modern fusebox, but that's about it. My house was built in 1928, and has not been rewired since then to my knowledge. The car horn beeped twice to let me know that the juice was flowing, and I went in to the house to do some work. I took the Volt's charger from its slot beneath the load floor in the cargo hold, connected to a plug in my garage and hooked up the connector on the Volt's fender. I decided to return home and try out the home charger to see how long it would take for household current to replenish the empty cells. My dashboard power meters didn't indicate that I had charged the battery enough to register, which was frustrating. I had been charged for a full hour of charging ($2.00) - apparently there are no partial first hours. When I returned to the Volt 45 minutes later, I unplugged. My grocery store's chargers were Blink, so I set up a guest account with my credit card and cell phone, and plugged in while I shopped. In my local area, I had a choice between Chargepoint or Blink. There are several charging networks in operation right now, with more charging stations and networks popping up all the time. My local grocery store has a few electric vehicle charging stations in the parking lot, so I drove my Volt over to check out the charging experience. I couldn't discern any change in rpm from the gas engine - it seemed to run at a constant rate once it started, and the Volt didn't operate any differently. I thought I noticed a little bit of engine noise from the gasoline unit, but it quickly disappeared from my consciousness. When I ran out of battery power, the Volt switched over to generator power. Just as long as you keep enough of your attention on the road while you play. Hopefully, winning the game will result in the greatest possible driving efficiency and range. The object of the game is to keep the floating ball in the center of the tube with judicious application of throttle and brake. On the right, a floating green energy ball spins in a vertical tube. A happy green color dominates the battery side, while sad dark colors represent gas. The top of the stack is battery power, and the bottom of the stack is gasoline power. On the left is a graphic representation of available power. There's plenty going on in the instrument panel, which is made up of a pair of LCD screens that flank a Driver Information Center to compete for your attention. I kept my eye on the dash, which is almost impossible not to do in the Volt. I was very eager to see what happens when you run the Volt out of battery power, so the very first thing I did when it showed up at my house was to take a long drive. With a 240-volt charge, a full charge cycle takes "about 4 hours." Volt features a standard J1772 socket behind a flap on its front driver's side fender, which is compatible with most of the public charging stations in my area, and probably in yours, too. The batteries can be charged from "empty" to "full" in about 10 - 16 hours on normal household current, according to GM. ![]() Volt's lithium-ion battery pack can power the vehicle for about 38 miles with absolutely no gasoline assistance. The Volt also has a regenerative braking system that recovers some of the energy of braking as a charge to the batteries. The 1.4-liter gasoline engine under the hood functions as a generator, creating juice for the electric motor. Simply put, all of the power that goes to the wheels of the Volt goes through its 111 kW (149 hp equivalent) electric motor. Volt is a different kind of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle. You've heard all the hoopla about the Volt - which is sold as the Vauxhall or Opel Ampera in Europe, and as the Holden Volt in Australia. Volt debuted to much acclaim as a 2011 model, and has undergone only minor changes in the two model years that followed.
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