Not quite , at the time Chevrolet and Vauxhall were both owned by GM , but totally different entities. Vauxhall shared a lot of mechanicals (theoretically at least) with GMs other European acquisition SAAB , where Chevrolet were originally used to re badge Daewoo , whose saloon at the time was essentially a reworked mk2 Cavalier , later cars like the pt cruiser and voyager were actual American designed and built vehicles converted to right hand drive.
The first generation Chevrolet Volt was sold in the UK as the Vauxhall Ampera. It doesn't look like the second generation Volt, the one I'm looking at, was sold in the UK at all.
Vauxhall are now owned by Renault , and Chevrolet haven’t sold anything under their own brand name for a while now so they probably didn’t bother with the expense of producing what would potentially be quite a low volume car in right hand drive.
Ah , so close , I thought Chrysler were part of GM , and they had about the same amount of success over here as Chevrolet,
The multitude of American brands are a bit of a maze. They're divided into the big three as follows: Ford: Ford, Lincoln, Mercury (also used to own Volvo, Land Rover, and Jaguar) GM: Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, GMC, Hummer (also used to own Saab, Opel, Vauxhall, and Holden) Chrysler: Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram, Plymouth, Eagle (has also been corporately intertwined first with Daimler-Benz and then with Fiat)
Yeah it can get complicated. , Ford also owned Mazda for a while as well , the only Chrysler brand that seems to have foothold over here are Jeep.
To try and drag this back on track , a couple of questions for Mitlov Do you intend to get a “proper” wall mounted charging point or will you use the wall outlet device I assume will be supplied with the vehicle ? Do you have charging facilities at your workplace ? What’s the general charging infrastructure like where you live ? And finally , a bit of a follow on to my first question , are there any kinds of grants available for a wall mounted charge point where you are ? You’re under absolutely no obligation to give any more info than you’re comfortable with , I’m just interested in how big a change you anticipate this will make to your current lifestyle as these are questions I suspect we’ll all have to ask ourselves in the the next 5 -10 years.
If I was getting a long range EV, I would have gotten a level 2 wall charger, which costs about $1000 including installation. No credits available locally for installation unfortunately; some other jurisdictions do this but not mine. However, Chevy is including a free level 2 wall charger and installation with the purchase of every 2022 Bolt, a really smart move for the most middle-class-friendly EV on the American market. The Volt PHEV, on the other hand, can fully charge in 12 hours with a basic wall plug (level 1 charging), so I don't see any need for a level 2 charger with it. It can use one (full charge in 2.5 hours), but it's not at all necessary if you're charging overnight in your driveway or garage like I will. I have no charging at work, and the fast charge network in rural Oregon is nearly non-existent, which is why the Volt is such a better option than a pure EV for me right now. The 53-mile electric range covers my daily commuting with ease, and on longer trips the gas generator kicks in and I can drive across the state using regular gas if I need to.
Cheers for the answers. It seems like the infrastructure and wall charging options are pretty similar both sides of the Atlantic , I wondered about workplace options as you’d implied you worked within government in another thread.
Yep, I work in municipal government (City Attorney's Office). The only parking with charging at the moment are police and fire vehicles to power their onboard systems. Nothing yet in the employee lot. By the way, I test drove the Prius Prime and I'm definitely going to go with the Chevy Volt. The Prius Prime has a much roomier back seat than the Volt, and driving-wise was far better than I expected (nimble for a Toyota, objectively not fast but reasonably responsive and torquey when you tap the accelerator). But the Chevy drove better in every way. And the Prius' infotainment system was the worst I've ever experienced, in any car, ever. I fiddled with it for several minutes and I couldn't even figure out how to turn on the FM radio! The Volt is a great car overall and I'm gonna get it next weekend. It's a shame GM didn't keep selling this, and make a crossover version for people who need more space. It's such a great option for people who want the EV driving experience without worrying about range and regional fast-charging networks.
There does seem to be be a bit of a power struggle between HEV and PHEV at the minute (think Betamax and vhs in the 80s) I’m personally undecided at the minute , I think I’d need to live with both for a while to form an objective opinion , though my gut tells me that PHEV would appeal to the EV purists for the reasons you’ve already stated , and HEV would appeal to people who want an EV but don’t want to have to actually charge it.
Plot twist! On Monday, I made an appointment to do the paperwork on the Chevy Volt for this Saturday. On Wednesday, the dealership texted me and told me that they'd sold it to someone else despite my appointment. No other Volts on sale in the area, so I had to go to Plan B. I negotiated an absolute insane deal on a new Prius Prime, and so I bought it today. Mine is black-and-white with roof racks, but this is the model I ended up buying: Spoiler It's not a true sport sedan, but it drives FAR better than I ever thought a Prius would. Very agile and composed in turns, and very responsive with instant torque to accelerator pedal input, even though it's not objectively fast.
you can buy a Tesla, just not from the salon, as far as I know, so far from normal electric cars only Tesla and Chevrolet Volt
Thought I’d resurrect this as I picked up a hybrid Mondeo (Ford Fusion) on Friday really pleased so far , how are you getting on with yours @Mitlov ?
With about 2,000 miles on the odometer, it got smashed up by a driver who ran a red light. After a couple months in the shop, they were able to put it all back together again, which is good because the chip shortage has REALLY hit new car inventories over here. It's now back up and running. In terms of fuel efficiency, it's amazing. I charge every night in my driveway and most of my driving is electric, but I can drive across the state if need be. I'm averaging 240 miles per gallon in warm weather, and 170 miles per gallon in cold weather (turning on the defroster will turn on the gas engine regardless of battery charge). Obviously that's not counting the electricity consumed, but electricity is a lot cheaper than gas, and this is extremely efficient in EV mode because it's not some 1000 hp beast of an EV. It fits four adults quite comfortably; it looks like a compact car (by US terms...Civic or Corolla) on the outside, but has midsize sedan (Mondeo/Fusion) headroom and legroom. Toyota's infotainment is probably the worst in the industry, but I knew that going in. Thank goodness for Apple Carplay. It's not sporty, but handling is composed and confident even on a backroad; it's a lot more athletic than the stereotypical Toyota couch going down the road from a decade or two ago.
The inventory issue is no better over here , even in the second hand market where I buy. I could only dream of the kind of consumption figures you’re getting , I’m low to mid 40s , but I was only getting 36 out of my previous diesel car and petrol’s up to 5p a litre cheaper , so there is some saving there. Spec wise , I dropped onto the top spec vignale model so it has all of the bells and whistles , and performance wise , like yours , it’ll never set the world on fire but I could do with slowing down a bit so it’ll probably end up doing me a favour.
I had been on the fence about a pure EV versus a plug-in hybrid, and two things have proved to me that I made the right choice (for me and my region, not for everyone worldwide) by going with a PHEV: (1) I've used it for a roadtrip to a small Oregon coastal town that I couldn't comfortably make on a single charge, with no fast-chargers partway along the way and very limited destination charging options when I got there. Just doing that trip on gas took a lot of stress off and was a lot faster than charging partway through (even if I'd found a fast-charger). (2) Even where fast-charging options exist, the US electrical grid isn't up to snuff. I'm 30 miles from the California border and California told EV owners to not charge their cars over the Memorial Day weekend because the electrical grid was overwhelmed. Autoblog is part of the Yahoo family of brands A PHEV may be a "compromise vehicle" as Tesla owners are quick to say, but sometimes compromise is a good thing.
