The Energy Consumer's Bulletin- a New England energy news blog

Our new car is a Chevy Volt!

This past Friday, the Chretien family traded in our fabulous 2002 Toyota Prius and bought a 2015 Chevrolet Volt.  After three months of research and test drives, we decided to go with the Volt if we could find a Chevy dealer we could tolerate.  It was a difficult choice because we also liked the Prius Plug-In Hybrid and the all-electric Nissan Leaf.  We would have been happy with either of those, especially given that we loved our 2002 Prius and still love our 2008 Prius.  In fact, we even thought about holding off on buying a plug-in for a year or two because the 2002 Prius has been running great.  On recent highway drives, it was getting 55 miles per gallon (mpg). 

After a lot of deliberation, my family has decided to pursue buying a 2015 Chevy Volt rather than the Nissan Leaf or Toyota Prius Plug-In.  We are not done yet, but here’s why we have settled on the Volt for our electric vehicle:

Larry Chretien is the Executive Director for Mass Energy Consumers Alliance and People’s Power & Light. This blog is the third in a series about the Chretien family’s experience purchasing an electric car. Download our e-book and read the series up until now! 

Larry Chretien is the Executive Director for Mass Energy Consumers Alliance and People’s Power & Light. This blog is the second in a series about the Chretien family’s experience purchasing an electric car. You can read the entire series in our e-book, available for free download. 

Drive Green, Live Green

At greenercars.org, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released its 17th annual comprehensive environmental ratings for vehicles.  Choosing “green” cars is one of the most important of many steps that an individual can take to reduce climate change and our dependence upon foreign oil.  About 33% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions come from the burning of gasoline in internal-combustion engines of cars and light trucks.