[hellsop]

What level of "engagement" or experience are you expecting and lacking?

 

[Kato659]

Volt 2018 LT w/34K miles

The regen braking system (column paddle) does not seem to fully engage until after driving for several miles. Is this normal? I don't see any mention of this in the owners manual. Comments appreciated, thanks.

Assuming you are starting with a full battery, yes this is normal. Until there is "headroom" in the battery, regen is very limited to protect the battery.

 

[Occult Scientist]

If the battery is at a high state of charge, regenerative braking will not work in that there is no place for regenerated energy to go. It should start working once some battery space opens up.

 

[leppard3]

Also, your term "fully engaged" really doesn't apply. Regen with the paddle is either on or off, there is no modulation.

 

[Steverino]

it sound like a problem, no? Moved to Problems forum...

 

[sringlee]

My regen braking varies according to ICE use... when the engine is on thanks to low temperatures, ICE conditioning or the like, the regen paddle barely works when activated. When I am on all-electric battery power, I have full regen and good braking.

 

[obermd]

My regen braking varies according to ICE use... when the engine is on thanks to low temperatures, ICE conditioning or the like, the regen paddle barely works when activated. When I am on all-electric battery power, I have full regen and good braking.

Cold temperatures can also reduce regenerative braking.

 

[EVolt2019]

Assuming you are starting with a full battery, yes this is normal. Until there is "headroom" in the battery, regen is very limited to protect the battery.

Thanks. This is the likely cause, as the "paddle" braking does return to "normal" stopping effectiveness as I continue to drive.

 

[begreen]

Not a problem. If the car is fully charged, then there is no headroom for the regen charge to go through. We live on a hill so every trip off is downhill. On a full charge we have no regen until we get off the hill and start using the battery for a mile or two. The regen paddle seemed broken but it's fine. This was disquieting the first time I noticed it. It wasn't as obvious with our gen 1 Volt because it had no regen paddle.

 

[Gray17LT]

I'm just not sure I believe all this. My 2017 regen paddle work every time I used it until about a year ago. And then it would not work until I drove it for a few miles. But it had never exhibited that behavior before until that point. Then after my car sat for 2 months getting the EGR fixed, I don't know if they flashed something else or it was just a product of the battery being dead and they had to recharge it, the paddle magically started working after that as it had before. Now, for about the past 6 months mine has been working again only after a few miles and sometimes it takes quite a bit longer than that. I told the volt tech about it as my car is sitting there for a battery control module as we speak. He didn't have a clear answer

 

[dvb]

I guess there's some corellation with the weather, or rather the outside temperature: colder -> less effective braking. Does it seem plausible to you?