Just about a year ago, our home in Westwood began a march towards zero Carbon consumption, with heating, hot water heating, and even lawn mowing all converted to high efficiency electricity. As indicated at the time, our main automobile, a Toyota Prius, remained the major obstacle. We also have an old 2005 Toyota Corolla which is used, basically, to drive me 5 miles (tops) to the train station (and back 5 miles) for the 2-3 days I go into the office for work. (I work from home the other 2-3 days.)

Today, Claire took delivery of a leased 2017 Chevrolet Volt LT Hatchback, from Muzi Chevrolet in Needham Heights, with Rob Roderick providing the excellent introduction and service. Seth Fletcher of Scientific American calls the Volt “impressively unremarkable.”

The Volt is a circuit board with electrical motors mounted atop, having a gasoline-powered electrical generator under its hood. It has all the pep you’d expect of electrical drive, and the generator helps navigate a region which is yet sparse in charging stations and a limited 60-80 mile range. The Chevy Bolt promises to be better, if a bit more expensive.

Ours is a 39 month lease. We’ll see what time brings.

Thanks to Paul Lauenstein for the tip.

Owners manual for the curious.