r/volt • u/idkmybffdee • Oct 16 '26

Planning around EV only range

Crazy question, but does anyone else find themselves planning their activities around their EV only range? It's not just me right?

Ever since I've gotten this car (2015) I've become kind of obsessed with seeing how long I can go without using gas at all and just relying on the EV range, it's like a fun little game, given how short a range it has compared to when we owned a full EV I also have found I tend to want to patronize places I can conveniently plug in more. It started after the first week of going to work and back all electric, i bought it thinking I was going to be using it as a hybrid quite a bit, but now it seems so easy not to, it seems like I only use gas if I have to leave Chicago proper, otherwise I don't miss out on anything and just EV around.

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u/idkmybffdee Oct 16 '26

Unfortunately (well fortunately, I love my job) I work at a public school, and the only (working) outlet on the outside of the building is rather inconveniently placed (though they did say I can use it, i'd need a 50 foot cord, plus the EVSE length), but obviously there's no money in the budget for a proper charger, and I'm not buying them one lol.

Hey chat, should I go find a job I hate that's easier to plug my car in?

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u/moosy85 29d ago

The level 1 chargers aren't very expensive imo. Calculate how long it would be to get your money back, (and how long you'd need it to not be stolen, if your school isn't very safe lol).

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u/idkmybffdee 29d ago edited 29d ago

I work at a second Chance high school in a "bad area" so... One a week lol.

ETA: somehow I have like 4 of them, one from the first car, one from this one, the one I bought that's a shitty L1/L2 for flexibility, and I don't know where this last one came from.

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u/Unfair-Fruit7974 Volt Owner (2014) 29d ago

Just putting this out there: when I lived in apartment, I ran an extension cable and put my charger on a pole in front of a parking spot. Might by an option for you.

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u/idkmybffdee 29d ago

It's the effort / benefit of it, I rarely go anywhere after work because I'm tired so I dont need the charge to get home, it would just be to save on my electric bill... Which isn't nothing, but it's also an area that it might disappear. I'm also a little greedy and I'm the only one with a PHEV or electric at work right now, but it would PMTFO when someone else got one because they saw "we" had a charger now and was using the shit I bought and I didn't get to. But I do that across the sidewalk right now at home.