OMG! 490 MPG! Employee Saves Fuel with Chevy Volt, Workplace Charging Station

Jan 28, 2013 1:00 PM ET

GM BeyondNow

Much like Jeff Kaffee, the first U.S. customer of the Chevy Volt, Bob Rowe loves his EV.

“I will absolutely buy another one and can’t believe more people aren’t buying these vehicles,” said Rowe, senior labor relations manager for General Motors.

He’s owned his Volt since July and still has half a tank of gas, most of which was used by the dealer in Rochester delivering the car to Buffalo. Bob travels about 40 miles per day and is able to plug into the pole charging unit in the employee parking lot at GM’s Tonawanda Engine Plant. If he goes beyond 40 miles, he just uses the gas engine during the week.

“I’m so grateful to my colleagues Steve Finch, Paul Emond and Tom Mayer for having the foresight to get these charging stations installed at work. I only have to charge the car at home on the weekends and the cost is insignificant.

Rowe has a total of 3,675 miles on the car and has put in 7.5 gallons of gas, which equates to 490 mpg!

“Driving the car has gotten to be like a game – to see if I can get the most electric optimization, using the gages on the dash.”

If designing, building and selling a new generation of greener cars is like a game, too, mark Bob Rowe’s satisfaction as a win on the electric scoreboard.