Back in December, General Motors loaded up hundreds of Chevy Volts and started shipping them to select areas of California, metropolitan New York City, Texas and Washington, D.C. The first batch of Volts aren’t scheduled to arrive at Michigan dealerships until February, but Mark Lee, a Lansing, MI native, claims to be the state’s first retail Volt customer.
Lee decided to bypass GM’s rollout schedule by flying to New York and ordering his Volt from Atlantic Chevrolet-Cadillac. Lee is quick to admit that the Volt’s price tag of $41,000 is a bit steep. However, in addition to qualifying for the $7,500 federal tax credit, Lee managed to snag a $7,500 cash rebate from the Lansing Board of Water & Light, arriving at a final price of $26,000.
Soon after arriving home in Lansing, Lee decided that his Volt was in desperate need of a vanity plate. The Lansing native choose BATTPWR (battery power) and Lee’s “Batt-Mobile,” as he calls it, averaged 34 miles per gallon during the 12-hour, 730-mile drive from New York to Lansing.
