2014 Gas Range

6459 Views 17 Replies 9 Participants Last post by BrodyWhite, Dec 27, 2016

BrodyWhite

Discussion Starter · Dec 20, 2016

I recently purchased a 2014 Volt. The battery seems to work fine however I don't think I have seen its full potential being that here in KC, MO we are in the dead of winter. When fully charged it estimates 31 miles. I am hoping that estimation it higher with warmer weather however the battery could have degraded some too. A bigger concern I have is the gas range. When researching I always saw 38 miles for battery and ~345 miles for gas with premium fuel. Unfortunately even with premium fuel my estimated gas range is 200-215 miles. That is a serious loss of miles. I was expecting a range comparable to my previous traditional ICE Hyundai Sonata but I am losing about 100 miles. Has anyone else experienced this? Could something be wrong? Does the ICE lose range in the winter too? Does the range estimation provided not factor in mpg well enough to calculate a 345 mile range?

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BrodyWhite

Discussion Starter · #4 · Dec 20, 2016

I appreciate the replies. I was extra concerned because I am driving it to Oklahoma to visit family for Christmas and usually I don't stop for gas with a normal ICE car (270ish mile trip). Hopefully the long drive will fix the estimations as you both have suggested.

Basically it is running in ERDTT 80% of the time lately and all I take is short trips living in the city so I am making the estimate drop pretty drastically with those driving habits. It probably also didn't help that when loaning/test driving the car for a few days I ignorantly filled it up with regular fuel which probably threw off the estimates.

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BrodyWhite

Discussion Starter · #7 · Dec 20, 2016

I have only been driving the car for a week so most of the stats would be from the previous driver or others who test drove the car. I am far from a cautious or fuel efficient driver but the green ball thing has helped my acceleration and breaking. I think I am over thinking it with the battery and range as my family was appalled at the idea of an electric car (battery going out/furutre maintenance/reliability etc) but from all my research and everything on these forums I have found little to nothing negative.

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BrodyWhite

Discussion Starter · #14 · Dec 21, 2016

Well I am certainly no longer concerned about the range and I can't wait to share the results of my trip!

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BrodyWhite

Discussion Starter · #18 · Dec 27, 2016

For future reference and others who might be shopping for Volts and are worried about range here are the stats from my trip:

To Oklahoma:
250 miles driven
Started with full battery
~35 miles driven with only the battery
~43-45mpg
Cruise set to 70mph 95% of the trip
Climate: No heat used. Air conditioning for 20-30min on low temp with low fan. (had a warm front and the sun directly on us)
115 miles left

Return to Missouri:
250 miles driven
Started with no battery (no place to charge in Claremore and grandma's house would've been struggling even at 8amps)
0 miles with battery
~35mpg (my brother drove back and did not try his best to be fuel efficient)
Cruise set to 70mph 50% of trip 75mph 25% and 80mph 25%
Climate: Little to no use. A little AC
65 miles left

Let it be known that the speed killed my mpg on the return trip. I tried explaining to my brother but it wasn't until half way through the trip when more than half of our estimated range was gone that he finally went down to 70. The speed change from 75-80 down to 70 only adds about 20-30 min to the trip but greatly improves gas mileage. We could've made it going 75 or 80 but the more gas I can save the better.

The estimated range with a full tank of gas now is about 315 miles and I am getting a full charge to see if the electric range estimate improved too.

I think the lesson I learned is to just trust that the car knows what it is doing and to just enjoy driving it. However this is all new to me and it is somewhat exciting to monitor and attempt to improve my range and mpg stats. Unfortunately this trip dropped my lifetime mpg from 75mpg to 69mpg but I mostly blame that on my brother. After this trip I know I will enjoy this car for a long time.

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