Chevrolet Volt

The first car that Tesla made was the Roadster, which started life as a Lotus model. That car is no longer available, so the folks from Speed Academy decided to make one for themselves. Though this one is a wee bit more powerful than the original.

When you think about automakers that make plug-in electric vehicles and hybrids, the name Chevrolet might not be the first to come to mind. You might first think about Tesla, Toyota, or even Nissan. But Chevrolet has been in the plug-in electric game since the start too, and has announced that the Volt has beaten all other makers of plug-in vehicles to a major milestone of selling 100,000 cars in the U.S.

In general, sales numbers drive the auto industry. But sometimes, there’s an exception to that rule. Enter my tester this week – the 2016 Chevy Volt. Sales of the Chevy Volt are less than brisk, although they did sell the 100,000th Volt this past October (but that’s over its first five years).

I’ve never thought that the Chevrolet Volt was a bad car. It looks pretty cool and the thought of having a car that combines the green capability of an EV with the long range capability of a normal car is great.