Yes, I am a proud Chevrolet owner. My last three cars were Chevrolets, and the five cars I’ve owned in my life all were General Motors products (starting with the Pontiac 6000 and the Saturn Ion).
I also have a serious disdain for anything connected to Elon Musk. I’m not enamored with his anti-trans, anti-Semitic demagoguery.
But a news report yesterday almost brought both of these entities together.
And it almost affected me. And thankfully, it didn’t.
Yesterday, General Motors announced that they would use new technology that would allow their older electric vehicles to use Tesla’s line of Supercharger charging stations. With the addition of a $225 NACS DC adapter, Chevrolet’s Bolt and Bolt EUV cars could now park at a Supercharger station and juice up instantly, instead of being limited to the standard J1772 charging ports.
Hmm. For me to get a full charge of go-go spark in my Chevrolet Volt, I must leave the car at the charging station for approximately (checks watch) three and a half hours. And there’s situations where I can pull this off and make it work. Crossgates Mall has several J1772 chargers, and I can park there, go see a movie, come back, and the car’s fully juiced. The Price Chopper “Market Bistro” in Latham has two J1772 chargers, so I can shop there, go to a couple of the other stores in the plaza, come back, and Lightning’s Girl is fully powered and ready to go.
I mean … the drawback is that I would now have the option to use a Tesla Supercharger dock. And those Supercharger docks have very short connector cables (apparently the charging port for a Tesla is in its rear, rather than on the front left quarterpanel like a NORMAL car should have). Which means I would have to park in Spot #3 and use the charger for Spot #4 to make it work for me. I’d have to hog two spots to get my car charged. Yeah, I’m sure all those Tesla drivers who see that would be REALLY happy when I park there. Pfft.
Also … I would have to use Tesla’s app on my phone and pay Tesla for any energy used. That’s money that goes to Elon Musk. Screw that. Yes, I’m a cheap bastard – why should I pay $8/month so I can have a blue checkmark on his social media platform, when I can still use the platform for free? You know … things like that.
But … a 30-minute charge versus three and a half hours … I mean … I have to look into it.
So I went to General Motors’ website to find out more information.
And in doing so … I noticed that the press release only mentioned the Chevrolet Bolt. Bolt with a B. The fully electric vehicle, not the fuel-and-electric hybrid that I own.
Oh, there’s a phone number on the bottom of the press release. One quick phone call, and I discovered that –
Yep. The NACS DC adapter would only work for Chevrolet Bolts. Bolt with a B. The technology would not work for Chevrolet Volts with a V (or the even rarer Cadillac ELR, which is a luxury Volt).
Oh, you mean I won’t be able to access those Tesla Supercharger stations? I won’t be able to block off two Teslas while I park Lightning’s Girl hap-hazardly to connect their eeny-weeny charging stations to my chariot?
Oh, whatever shall I do? Oh, dear me. Oh, despair and agony…
I’ll have to find something to ease my mind. Something to compensate me for this terrible injustice.
Maybe there’s something on TV that can soothe my mind … hey, wait, Tubi has all three seasons of The Flying Nun?
Yeah, this is better than moaning over dealing with Elon Musk. Ha.
Chuck The Writer 
LOL. This week, I’ve been watching the Flying Nun on Amazon. I like the background and incidental music. It’s soothing.
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Your Volt is one of the best electric hybrid vehicle designs ever made. They should have continued it. These all-electric models have serious limitations in the charging department, and Muskrat’s fast charge tech isn’t that great a solution. Up here even my hybrid Highlander has issues in the cold, and there’s no getting around the physics of it.
Just the other day someone told me what a genius Elongated is. In my opinion he belongs in a padded cell next to his pal Demented Donny.
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