“Going Green” was something I knew only a little about and thought even less about until my wife decided to replace her gas guzzling SUV with a hybrid car.
Obviously, it was a thought she’s had. To be perfectly honest, she’s been getting more and more into what I call the “Green Life” as she’s maintained a home garden for years planting tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, strawberries, zucchini, collard greens, lettuce, and other produce. She’s planted banana trees (which are now producing bananas), a nectarine tree, (also producing), and recently an orange tree. My part in all this is preparing the growing area by weeding and clearing each season. My only cultivation is limited to California seedless and seeded grape vines.
When she informed me she wanted to look at a hybrid car, the “Chevy Volt” I had no idea we’d be driving one home the same day, but that’s what happened.
Just days after purchasing the Volt, we drove it to San Francisco from Inglewood. I drove the car the entire time. I must admit; I was very impressed! On a full charge, we get 42 miles (electric only), after the car automatically switched to gasoline we averaged 40 miles per gallon for the whole trip as we didn’t charge again until returning home. There were no charging stations near the hotel where we stayed.
The Chevy Volt is truly 21st Century technology. The owners manual is about the size of a small novel, and you almost have to read it cover to cover to figure out how things work. The digital gauges, alerts and the like informs you of everything the car does or thinks about doing. There are 3 different driving modes, normal, sport and mountain. It makes a noise when you change lanes without signaling, (it can be turned off) there’s anti-collision warnings, it makes a noise to inform pedestrians of its presence since there’s hardly any noise from the electric motor, it has a graphic read out to inform you of tire pressure, oil change, maintenance, there’s a rear camera, navigation, the ability to set charging times and modes via phone app or website, and a whole host of other information.
Gas prices in southern California are not going to come down and since most people are not going to stay home hybrid and electric cars provide much-needed relief to the wallet by keeping owners away from the gas pumps for longer durations.
Now when I get home from work I ask my wife, “Did you use any gas today?” Her answer is usually, “NO” since most days she can do all her Real Estate Business driving on a single charge or she can charge the car while at home between trips or at various charging stations around Southern California.
Hybrid technology is something I could see myself owning when regular and small-sized trucks are built as hybrids.
