How old is the 12 volt battery? It sounds like it could be shorting out internally. If you can jump start your Volt with the battery disconnected it should stay on using the DC to DC converter. If the car then shuts down when the battery is connected, the 12 volt battery is bad.

 

No car model year, no miles, no location...

 

Until you resolve the 12V issue you should be prepared to use the emergency key to unlock the driver's door (see Owner's Manual) or else leave the Volt unlocked. You won't be able to open the hatch, access the 12V battery if the 12V battery is completely discharged.

If you have a multimeter you can test the following:

When the Volt is powered off, preferably for 8 hours or longer, test the voltage of the 12V battery at the battery terminals or at the jump start terminals under the hood (see Owner's Manual.) A healthy 12V AGM battery (the Volt uses a Group 47 (also known as type H5) sealed AGM battery. Typically, the battery should read ~12.4V when sitting. If the battery reads less than 12.0V you have a problem either with the battery or the charging system. Less than 11.5V indicates a completely discharged battery; less than 11.0 volts and you probably have a shorted out cell in the 12V battery.

Power on the Volt, if the hood is open the gas engine will start running. When the Volt is powered on the accessory power module (APM) provides power for the 12V systems and maintains the 12V AGM battery; typical voltage reading would be 12.4V - 15.4V when the Volt is running (depending on load and outside temperature.)

If you 12V battery is more than 4 years old then you should stop wondering and just replace it.

 

Until you resolve the 12V issue you should be prepared to use the emergency key to unlock the driver's door (see Owner's Manual) or else leave the Volt unlocked. You won't be able to open the hatch, access the 12V battery if the 12V battery is completely discharged.

If you have a multimeter you can test the following:

When the Volt is powered off, preferably for 8 hours or longer, test the voltage of the 12V battery at the battery terminals or at the jump start terminals under the hood (see Owner's Manual.) A healthy 12V AGM battery (the Volt uses a Group 47 (also known as type H5) sealed AGM battery. Typically, the battery should read ~12.4V when sitting. If the battery reads less than 12.0V you have a problem either with the battery or the charging system. Less than 11.5V indicates a completely discharged battery; less than 11.0 volts and you probably have a shorted out cell in the 12V battery.

You sure about those figures? I'm pretty sure we've had this discussion before. AGM wants higher. 12.4V is half-way to dead.

 

Until you resolve the 12V issue you should be prepared to use the emergency key to unlock the driver's door (see Owner's Manual) or else leave the Volt unlocked. You won't be able to open the hatch, access the 12V battery if the 12V battery is completely discharged.

If you have a multimeter you can test the following:

When the Volt is powered off, preferably for 8 hours or longer, test the voltage of the 12V battery at the battery terminals or at the jump start terminals under the hood (see Owner's Manual.) A healthy 12V AGM battery (the Volt uses a Group 47 (also known as type H5) sealed AGM battery. Typically, the battery should read ~12.4V when sitting. If the battery reads less than 12.0V you have a problem either with the battery or the charging system. Less than 11.5V indicates a completely discharged battery; less than 11.0 volts and you probably have a shorted out cell in the 12V battery.

Power on the Volt, if the hood is open the gas engine will start running. When the Volt is powered on the accessory power module (APM) provides power for the 12V systems and maintains the 12V AGM battery; typical voltage reading would be 12.4V - 15.4V when the Volt is running (depending on load and outside temperature.)

If you 12V battery is more than 4 years old then you should stop wondering and just replace it.

 

Are there any aftermarket electronics on the car. In addition to the usual culprits of radios and amplifiers, this includes replacement headlights (non-stock bulbs), taillights, etc. I'd even look at interior lighting that was a "dealer install" option.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone! Sorry for not providing this information: it's a gen2, 2017, around 45000 miles, Michigan.

Nothing aftermarket on the car, everything OEM. I've had Autozone test the battery and the dealership as well and they don't think it's the battery. I asked the guys at Autozone if they've ever seen a bad/faulty battery that passed their tests and they said no... but I am also skeptical of this that there could be something wrong with the battery still.

"Power on the Volt, if the hood is open the gas engine will start running." - I did not know this, having the hood open will trigger the ICE to run? When roadside was jumping it, it appeared as if the car "started" from an electric perspective, but the ICE did not turn on (and the hood was open).

After it was towed to the dealership and sat overnight, the dealership said they successfully jump started it to drive it into the shop, so they didn't reproduce the issue where it was dying ~30 seconds after a jump start.

Good news the dealership agrees now that there must be something wrong beyond me simply leaving something on, and that even the intermittent power draw they detected wouldn't cause a dead car after sitting for only ~10 minutes, I suggested to them that it may be the system that is responsible for keeping the 12V battery charged, if the battery is discharging overtime while driving it, this could explain how it could be dead after parking it for only 10 minutes.

They said they will now be contacting Chevrolet for technical assistance, so I'm feeling a little more optimistic now that they can get to the bottom of this.

I have purchased a jumpstart battery pack so hopefully I won't get stranded again... so perhaps I will just try replacing the 12V battery unless they find a solid lead when they talk to Chevy.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone! Sorry for not providing this information: it's a gen2, 2017, around 45000 miles, Michigan.

Nothing aftermarket on the car, everything OEM. I've had Autozone test the battery and the dealership as well and they don't think it's the battery. I asked the guys at Autozone if they've ever seen a bad/faulty battery that passed their tests and they said no... but I am also skeptical of this that there could be something wrong with the battery still.

The Volt will power the 12V accessory bus for a couple minutes after you shut off the car, but even this is disabled when you open the door. The DC-DC inverter in the Volt is capable of outputting 100-200 Amps at 12V by itself. This would make it appear the battery was passing the load test. Make sure the car is not running when you perform the load test. (Can you turn on the radio? The car is running.) If unsure, disconnect one side of the battery and repeat the load test.

"Power on the Volt, if the hood is open the gas engine will start running." - I did not know this, having the hood open will trigger the ICE to run? When roadside was jumping it, it appeared as if the car "started" from an electric perspective, but the ICE did not turn on (and the hood was open).

The car already has to be running for the engine to start when raising the hood. This doesn't make any difference in your case.

 

If there is fuel in the Volt's fuel tank, after turning on the Volt, if you open the hood the gas engine should automatically start running. This is a maintenance/safety protocol so that it is evident that the Volt is powered on. If the Volt is powered on and Volt's gas engine does not start running when you release the hood latch there may be an issue to with the hood latch sensor.

 

A failed/failing AGM battery could definitely produce your results. If both Autozone and the dealer tested the battery and say it's good, I'd probably be looking elsewhere. A failing battery would probably also provide you with some other errors.

The DC-DC converter would be my target. How far apart were these instances of needing to be jumped? The car should be charging the 12V battery any time the car is either running, or plugged in and charging.
If you have a multimeter, check the voltage at the 12V battery with the car on. If it's less than 14V, then it isn't being charged.

 

When the Volt is running the APM puts out 12.4 - 15.4V DC depending on load, temperature, etc. Sometimes the voltage output is 14.0 but other times it will drop to 12.9V and this is perfectly normal.

 

There HAVE been reports here of people with bad 12v batteries that tested "good" at Autozone and other places.

I honestly would just try another 12v battery. Keep in mind the Volt uses a AGM type battery, not a traditional flooded/wet cell battery. These tend to be a bit ore expensive than traditional batteries. Though they are becoming common enough in the automotive industry some places are starting to stock them (in my area, a local farm/automotive store chain called Rural King actually carries AGM automotive batteries now).

 

I'm glad to hear that such failure modes are not unheard of, the dealer was previously fairly sure that the 12V battery wasn't bad because he thought I'd be seeing a lot more problems than just this, but now that they have seen it die themselves, they are also leaning towards bad battery, and are proceeding to replace it, so fingers crossed that my story ends here.

One thing that still isn't quite adding up for me, could a bad battery cause the car to shut off ~30-60 seconds after jumping and disconnecting jumper cables? My knowledge is limited on this subject, but I thought that a bad battery wouldn't prevent a car from staying running, only from starting, but I can imagine that is an oversimplification and perhaps there are some more unique failure modes...

 

That battery could be 4 years old. Just replace it, especially if you’re in the cold north. Even if it doesn’t fix the problem, it’s preventative maintenance, like servicing brakes or oil changes.

 

Agreed. It could fix the problem relatively cheaply without the need for ongoing diagnostic tests. And with the vehicle's age, if it does not need a new battery now, it will need one very soon anyway. Make sure to get an appropriate AGM battery and not a basic lead-acid unit.

 

The Volt battery is charged with a DC-DC converter. This alone seems to produce very different failure modes with a bad/failing 12v battery than a ICE car with a typical alternator setup.

Nearly all EVs (and some hybrids) on the market today are known to suffer a rash of weird issues when the 12v is going. The Volt has proven to be no exception.

I have seen reports of people with vehicles that wouldn't start, , computers crashing, the car throwing random errors, etc.. And it ended up being the 12v battery.

 

Get Chevrolet involved. Call your local regional office. They should help. The dealer should have done this on your behalf.

 

In other vehicles:
I've had 12v test good at auto zone with one tester, and bad with a different type of tester at the same autozone at the same visit...

I've had an ICE car die on the highway with total electrical loss due to a bad battery terminal vibrating off (rotted from inside the battery) - the car briefly required more load than the alternator could handle, which powered down the body control module, losing engine power.

I'm in michigan as well ... my dealership in Warren sucks for Volts. Car has been in the shop since the last week if October 2019, getting my final warranty work completed. Unfortunately, other dealerships won't work on my car for warranty because of the long list - only the purchase-dealer.

My 2017 volt premier with 38k hasn't had 12v issues, yet.

I have had the radio stay on playing music after the car is confirmed off, I'm outside the car, and lock it with the fob. Have also had the center counsel screen stay illuminated black with the car otherwise totally off. Even after several minutes.
The car has some weird electrical glitches like that.

Most cars will cut power to nearly everything after 10 minutes of key off & no activity, to protect the 12v.

 

My Michigan 2017 Volt wouldn't start after sitting for 8 hours. I had it jumped and drove it home. I put a new AGM battery. A month later and the car is still fine. GM will only warranty their OEM batteries for two years.

 

I agree with emartin00 and jcanoe that you should test the DC-DC converter aka "APM" by checking the battery voltage with the Power switch on. If that is not the problem, and assuming that the dealer and Autozone did *load checks* on the battery, then I would check the overhead reading lamps - especially the ones in the rear headliner - to make sure that someone did not accidentally leave a light on by pressing the light button to turn it on and forgetting to press it again to turn it off. Also check the lighted vanity mirrors on the sun visors (if equipped) to make sure that somebody did not leave a flap open, which might activate the lights, even when the Power switch is off.

Regards, Goldie

Owner of two 2017 Volt Premiers, one with ACC and one w/o.

 

On three occasions now, I've been stranded with a car that wont start in the cold Michigan winter.

1. After the car sat in a parking lot for 18 days. A jump start got me back on the road.
2. After I drove the car for 20+ miles, then parked it and shut it off, run into a store, came back out, and it was dead. A jump start got me back on the road.
3. Same again, after I drove the car for 20+ miles. This time, roadside assistance attempted to jump start me 4 times. The electrical system would power up, the car would "start" (without the ICE running). They'd disconnect the jumper cables, it would stay on for about ~30 seconds, and then everything shuts off. Had to get it towed.

So, after the 2nd time I took it into the shop. They investigated and could not reproduce the problem, and sent me on my way with a nice big bill for the diagnosis labor, said maybe I left something on (doesn't explain why it would die after being parked for only 10 minutes...)

Now, it's back in the shop after the 3rd time, and they said they found an intermittent power draw while the car is off of 200 milliamps. Then he proceeded to tell me that is almost 2 amps! I asked him if he meant 2000 milli-amps, or if he meant 0.2 amps, and he was confused by my question, so that didn't fill me with confidence, whatever, to err is human.

It sounds like the battery has failed open-circuit. One of the cells has opened (opposite of shorted), so the battery will no longer pass current (for charging or discharging). This is a normal failure mode for batteries.

A car with such a battery would have to keep running once started, or would need another jump to start again. This is a good case for going to Harbor Freight and getting one of their jump-start batteries. (Which you've done.)

Any technician should be able to identify the issue by doing a load test on the battery. (A load of 10-100Amps is applied to the battery, and the voltage checked after a few seconds - it should still be in the 10-12V range. Less than that indicates an open cell.) If your tech/mechanic hasn't done a load test of the battery yet, find another shop.

The fact that they told you both 200mA and 2000mA suggests they don't know what they're doing. Also, the Volt disables the 12V accessory power after a couple minutes. There isn't any way you could have "left something on". These are all strong indicators that you should find another shop.

The Volt requires an AGM (Acid Glass Mat) battery - these require a slightly higher charge voltage than your common FLA (Flooded Lead Acid) battery, even though both are technically lead acid. An FLA will have a short life in the Volt as it will be constantly overcharged.

 

I keep a accessory plug voltmeter on my gen1. I can monitor the voltage of the apu in real time. The Volt uses a complex algorithm for charging voltage, it increases as OAT falls. In summer it can be as low as mid-13's, then be 15.5 in winter. BUT, if you're watching right when you start the car you'll see battery voltage momentarily, then a jump when the apu starts. Just now I saw 13.1(plugged in)then 14.5 after a couple seconds.

 

Replacing a four-year old 12-volt batery is preventative maintenance for avoiding getting stuck with a bad battery and nothing on the Volt will work.

 

The 12V battery in my 2012 Volt died a couple times on me. OnStar didn't have any error codes to tell me, BUT I did eventually notice OnStar was not going into sleep mode intermittently. No error codes, but right when I noticed this, I just happened to look in the car after it was sitting in the driveway for 30-45 minutes. I did not touch anything, the door was closed and I was looking through the drivers window. The OnStar LED was still illuminated. I tried turning the car on then off. No help. I started it again and drove it around, this time driving it into the garage. After 2+ hours, the same LED was still lit. Also in the garage where it was darker, even though the screen was black and not displaying anything, where the speed is displayed, I could tell the backlight on it was lit. I ended up removing the fuse for the OnStar module, waiting a minute, then reinserting. the LED stayed off. I had it at the dealer several times with nothing found. The car was fine for another couple years, until last year when I started noticing some strange things going on. I replaced the 12V battery then and am keeping my fingers crossed. For you to drive your volt somewhere and have it not start in a relatively short period would make me question the condition of the 12V battery. it is like it has no or little reserve capacity.

 

There was a bad batch of 2017 12v batteries. We got stranded a couple of times, before the dealer replaced that battery, for free. Took 4 days!

 

I had my first experience with a dead 12v battery yesterday on my 2017 Volt Premier it had been unused and unplugged with a full charge for 2 days in decent weather with no accessories left on...

(related/unrelated... when the Volt is jumpstarted, is it normal for the "vehicle theft attempted" warning to display on the DIC?)

Given our current Covid predicament, I don't have the luxury of performing numerous tests and other troubleshooting techniques.

It started multiple times after the jump yesterday and again today after being plugged in overnight.

Just want opinions on whether I should just go ahead and replace the 12v now (or at least purchase a battery now so I'm prepared to replace it when this one eventually gives out) or is that too extreme a response for a first time dead battery.

If a replacement is warranted, any suggestions on a preferred brand? Anyone used the Antigravity built in jump start lithium ion group H5 battery? Granted it is 3X the price of the standard AGM replacement, but thought it worth asking... (I like the remote jump start capability).

 

How many months have you owned the 2017 Volt? Remember that the 2017 Volt was first delivered starting in the spring of 2016 so your battery could be more than 4 years old.

The Antigravity battery is for racing where every extra pound of weight matters. No need to spend that kind of $ just to save a few pounds on the weight of the Volt.

If you want to be prepared just carry a small jump starter pack, available online for ~$50, so you can jump start your Volt if needed. If the original battery discharges in just 2 days, well then it is time to replace the battery.

There is a whole sticky thread on the forum on replacing the 12V battery. The replacement battery needs to be a Group 47 / H5 AGM type battery. You can shop around, locally I like Batteries and Bulbs. There is also Costco, Sam's Club and Advanced Auto Parts.

I replaced my original 12V battery in my 2017 Volt at 3 years; the battery probably would have lasted another year but I did not want to have to deal with a failing/failed battery in the middle of winter.

 

I read through the entire thread, and just had a quick question on best practices. I just returned from a one month trip to Italy and upon my return, I find that my Volt is completely dead. I had disconnected the charging cable because I wasn't sure leaving it plugged in for an entire month would be a good thing. I had not expected a slow drain to completely wipe it out.

So moving forward, what is the best practice for long term parking of a Volt? Also, what is the best way to restore it to full power? I've plugged it in, but I do not believe it is actually charging because the 12V battery is dead. OR will it actually trickle charge that system as well over time?

Luckily, I still have a rental vehicle from my return from my trip abroad, so I can go get a trickle charger or emergency start kit, but I wanted to check here before I go and make a bunch of purchases.

 

If the 12v is dead it will not charge the system at all. The 12v is needed to power the control electronics and open the contactors for main battery charging. You can jump the 12v system like any other vehicle. There are jump points under the hood for this purpose. Once it's jumped, plug it into the charger and leave the car powered on for a while. The Volt only charges the 12v if left powered on.

 

Thank you.
Where are the jump points under the hood? I didn't immediately see them.

I accessed the battery in the trunk....even though the rear hatch won't open without electricity. I'm going to the auto parts store to get a trickle charger/startup kit to get her running. Hopefully, it's a one time thing.

 

The first priority is to replace the 12V with the correct Group 47 AGM replacement battery. The Volt Owner's Manual details the jump start terminal locations under the hood. The jump start terminals are on the driver's side of the engine bay close to the firewall. The positive terminal is located under a black plastic protective cover, the negative terminal is a lug bolt attached to the firewall.

If you intend to leave the Volt parked for more than 4 weeks then you should charge the traction battery pack to 30% state of charge but not leave the Volt plugged in while you are away. You can either disconnect the negative terminal connection from the 12V battery or connect the 12V battery to a battery minder that is designed to maintain a 12V AGM battery at the correct float voltage, typically 13.5 to 13.8V. Too high a float voltage such as 14.4V will damage an AGM battery so always use a battery minder that is designed to properly maintain an AGM battery.