[Dutch]

Okay, fess up, you clicked the post just because of the title <grin>.

Seriously though, my commute has a 600 foot elevation change so in the nice weather like today I get to work with about 2-5 miles of battery left, however going home I nearly always run out of battery right at the top of the flipping hill that goes down to my house.

I can't tell you how many times I approach the crest of the hill chanting "come on baby...just a little more" only to be disappointed when the REX kicks on...for about 20 yards... and then I coast downhill into my driveway.

I swear that -almost- making it is worse than running 5 miles on the REX!

(the above post was firmly tongue-in-cheek from the guy who used to burn 36-40 gallons of gas a week and has NO problem with going 3,000+ miles between fills)

 

[SharkVolt]

Sounds like you need to trade up to a 2016-2017 gen 2.

 

[Coppersnowboarder]

Drive slower.

 

[PIYIRIO]

The same thing regularly happens to me... I could have coasted the rest of the way but noooooo, start the REX.

Oh well... the 0.0 gallons burned is a lot less than the 4-5 gallon days I used to have. I just gassed up for the first time in 4 months (2,7xx miles) and could have went 4k miles easily but I got "wife'd".... seriously, spouses stright up KILL your stats.

 

[z80]

I've been looking at houses and keep wondering, do I want one at the top of a hill or the bottom? I'm thinking bottom because of this situation. Several times, my car has switched to "gas mode" on my street but if I slow down and coast enough, I have kept the range extender from turning on.

And, gee, I thought that Volts weren't supposed to give their drivers range anxiety!

 

[Froggmann]

42 mile (one way) commute with several 150-400 ft elevation changes. Yea, I'm never gonna make it on one charge. In the meantime I am able to get into work with ~7mi of charge remaining if I use hold/mountain for the steep grades. Regardless, If I can't charge at work I get 50-60 MPG round trip, If I can 100-130 MPG. I can't say that is bad at all.

 

[Mr.Woolery]

I feel like I've got the perfect commute for my Volt. Getting ~6miles per kWh with a 35 mile round trip commute that's mostly level and under 50mph. It feels like I can *ALMOST* do two roundtrips on a single charge. The range estimator keeps ticking upwards over time, currently averaging 57 miles.

 

[Steverino]

Start the trip higher up the hill.

 

[Sean-a-Tron]

I bet a 2015 Volt would have just enough extra battery capacity to get you home on full electric. The Gen 2 for sure would. You could also try eating breakfast at work instead of at home. Oh! And also make sure to use the restroom before you leave. Gotta get rid of that extra weight. Maybe that might make the difference.

 

[Dutch]

LOL.

I knew y'all would get into the spirit of the thread.

 

[ClarksonCote]

This is the one area where Ford shines and GM doesn't get it. Ford Energi models have an "EV plus" mode. Basically, when you're close to your house, it knows this, and goes into this mode to dip just a little bit more into the battery than normal to avoid the engine coming on.

Why GM doesn't do this is beyond me. It's not so much the small amount of gas, but having the engine run for such a small amount of time really isn't a great thing. This kind of mode that prevents 20 second engine runs results in less stress on the engine and prevents the annoyance described by the OP.

It's perhaps the one thing Ford is doing better with their plug ins, with all the other points going to GM.

 

[Qinsp]

I have a similar problem when visiting a client. There's a 6% mountain grade in my way. It's 1298' ASL at the peak. On the way over, it's a 900' climb, on the way back, it's a 1250' climb.

At first, the only way for me make it, was to slow down to 55 mph going up AND DOWN the hill in each direction. I can drive 65mph the rest of the way. The downhill low speed gets the same regen, but for more duration, so I pick up an extra 0.2 kWh.
It's 58 miles round trip.

But then I found that I could drive around the mountain, which is 64 miles, and make it without the 55 mph stuff.

 

[Rickoshay]

I have a 27 mile one way commute. The first half is up hill out of the valley and the second half is "level" freeway. I get to work with 12/14 miles on the GOM. On the way home I almost get to the downhill, back into the valley, part before the ICE starts up. Always end up using 2/10's of a gallon of gas and getting 225 mpg or so. (I was told not to use company outlets at work to charge my car a couple of weeks ago, grrrrrr).

2014 Volt Premium - "Gas? We don't need no stinkin' gas"

 

[caskConditionedAle]

ClarksonCote makes a good point about the problem of the engine not running long enough to warm up. The last leg of my commute is 4.5 miles of stop and go with many traffic lights. When I had my 2014 and the weather was cool, I'd switch to hold mode when I saw my range was down to 7 miles. After a few miles in hold, I'd switch back to normal when I hit the stop and go. This would cause me to arrive at home with about 2 miles left.

 

[TripleTrucker]

My 2012 just got me yesterday like that. I'm less than a mile from home, engine kicks on. When I turn it off in garage I see i only used 10.4kwh when the norm is 10.6 or so.
Could've made it if it would have used those last few bits of electricity!