An electrifying weekend with the Chevy Volt

Last Friday, I finally got my chance. At 9:30 in the morning, a representative from GM handed over the keys to a Chevy Volt, and parked it in my driveway. Unfortunately, a mix up with another journalist who forgot to put the charging cord back in the trunk meant that I only had 14 miles of EV (pure battery power) mode left on the vehicle, and GM’s delivery guy had to go run out get me one so I could charge the car later.

So Friday afternoon I drove it sparingly, because I didn’t want to go to gasoline-assisted “ER” (Extended Range) mode too quickly. I wanted to see how far the car could go on a full charge before hitting the 1.4L gasoline generator which powers the electrical drive system for longer distance driving.