Yesterday was quite an eventful day. My father and I went to Simpson Chevrolet in Irvine to purchase a Meta Solar company car. After a great amount of research into electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, I ultimately decided to move forward with purchasing a 2018 Chevy Volt Plug-in Hybrid. Although I'm extremely pleased with my decision, the entire span of our visit to this dealer took about 6 hours to complete. We were at the dealership until about 11pm, sounds fun right?
My main thoughts moving forward with a plug-in hybrid came down to a couple factors:
1. I want to practice what I preach. I believe electric vehicles are the way of our future. The more car and home batteries that we have, the more we can reduce the stress on the utility grid at our high peak usage times during the middle of the day. When we have more battery storage, we will be able to move more and more towards having 100% renewable energy electricity generation and not have to rely on fossil fuel generators that currently supply our energy needs.
2. By using an 'Electric Vehicle' myself, I'm going to be fully engaged with how the technology works. With 106 MPGe with battery and 42 MPG with gas power, I'm not only going to save a ton on gas money but use much less comparative gasoline than traditional cars and even regular hybrids. Understanding the current $7500 federal tax credit, state rebates, HOV lane stickers, special electric vehicle utility rates ,and 120V and 240V charging will help me go over in great detail whether or not my customers are a good fit in making the transition to electric vehicles.
3. The Chevy Volt is simply just a solid car. It has fantastic safety features, a great entertainment and Bose sound system, and enjoyable drivability. Maximizing the battery brake regeneration requires the use of a regenerative brake button located on the steering wheel or 'shifting' from drive to a regenerative setting when you need to brake. It is a fun and engaging feature.
I'm happy to answer any questions regarding electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, and their benefits. Feel free to reach out to me at kylebank@gometasolar.com or 949 226-7477.
You can find full details and specifications on the 2018 Chevy Volt here.