Chevrolet Volt Owners Have Driven Over 100 Million Electric Miles (5 Million Gallons of Fuel Saved)

© GM

Equivalent to 2 Supertankers of Gasoline

Another update from GM about the real-world usage of the Chevrolet Volt. I like these because it's one thing to see how well a vehicle should do on paper, but it's another one to see how it's actually used out in the world and how well it does. The last milestone was when all the Chevy Volts had cumulatively reached 100 million miles driven. The notable fact then was that 2/3 of all miles driven were electric. But that was last July, now GM has a new Volt milestone with 100 million electric miles driven by the Volt fleet. What did they learn?

© GM

Still 2/3 of Miles Driven Electric

As you can see in the convenient infographic above, Volt owners still travel about 2/3 of the distance they drive in electric mode. This adds up to a total of 5 million gallons of gasoline saved. According to the EPA, burning one gallon of gasoline produces 8,887 grams of CO2, so 5 million gallons is (*whips out calculator*) 44,435 metric tons of CO2. Not bad for a vehicle that is still relatively recent and not out in huge numbers on the road. Of course, the electricity used to charge the Volt isn't always from CO2-free sources, but even taking that into account the savings are substantial and they should get even more so as we clean up the power grid.

GM also does the math in dollars:

For the typical driver, the average Volt savings equates to:

-Nine weeks of groceries at $151 per week
-228 car washes at $6 per car wash
-137 movie tickets at $10 per ticket

The 5 million gallons of gas saved is equivalent to $21 million in gasoline costs averted overall based on $4 per gallon of premium, or more than two supertankers of gas.

Which isn't bad! Of course you pay more for the Volt than for a same-sized sedan, but the money-saving attributes of vehicles are overrated, in my opinion. Otherwise everybody would be buying bare-bones econo-boxes and nobody would go for bigger engines, rooftops, funky wheels, etc. You can save on fuel with a hybrid or electric car, but that's not all there is to it.

© GM

Via GM

See also: Chevrolet Volt Tops Consumer Reports’ Owner-Satisfaction Survey with 92%

Tags: Electric Cars | Electric Vehicles

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