Recently I started driving for Doordash. Over the past few months, I’ve been dashing in the Honda Civic. The Civic gets amazing fuel mileage, but given the number of miles I drive on any given day, I still need to fill the tank every two to three days. The cost of these fill-ups adds up pretty quickly. So I started thinking about alternatives.
The first alternative that I considered was the Chevrolet Volt. It is an older, no longer supported hybrid, that can run on electricity from the battery until the battery dies, then run the engine to charge the battery when required. I started searching for one and found a nice one in Melbourne. Unfortunately, it was sold before I had a chance to look at it. I found another at the Toyota dealership in Melbourne, but it was abused to the point that I wouldn’t have taken it if they offered to give it to me.
I soon started considering other hybrid cars. But then Susan suggested that I look at a pure electric car. The first ones that came to mind were the Chevrolet Bolt and the Tesla Model 3. I’ve been in the Tesla as an Uber rider and wasn’t impressed. Also, I don’t have any desire to support Elon Musk, given all of his hollow promises and his hype that drives up stock prices, but rarely delivers.
That left the Bolt as my primary choice. I started searching and to my amazement, one showed up at the Ford dealership in Melbourne. The price was right, so I took it for a test drive. I was thoroughly impressed, so I arranged another test drive the next day for Susan. She drove it and was also impressed.
Today, we traded in the Audi A4 for the Chevrolet Bolt. As much as I wanted the Audi, it cost far too much time and money to maintain. It was with great pleasure that I let it go.
| David and Susan with our 2023 Chevrolet Bolt |
But how are we going to charge it? The Bolt comes with a dual 120/240 volt charger, so we will charge it on 120 volts at first, then have an electrician install a 240 volt outlet later.
And how does it make me feel, owning an electric car? Right now, I’m excited about the idea of never stopping at a gas station. Charging at home will cost a couple dollars a day, compared to $30+ every couple of days for gas. To be honest, I don’t know why more people haven’t considered going electric for their around-town vehicle.
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