[edwardang]

I just completed a 2-day camping trip in the desert on my Gen 1. The camping was at an aircraft fly-in event (High Sierra Fly-In) North of Reno. Completely off the grid.

I was using my Volt as both an RV and a generator. Temperature drop to 25F at night in the desert. I set climate control to 68F and slept like a baby. The ICE started up every 10-15 minutes and ran for about 1 minute. Total fuel consumption was less than 1 gal a night! This included the initial warm up! I am used to the ICE start-up vibration by now. So, it doesn't really wake me up anymore.

And, every morning after waking up, I set it to Mountain Mode for 3 minutes to get some charge into the HV pack while the engine was still warm. Then, I ran on battery only for the day to boil water for coffee+breakfast, lunch+coffee, and dinner. I was using a 1500W pure sine inverter. I even powered an air-band-to-2m repeater for a few hours one day.

The ironic thing is that the next door RV people were complaining about how cold it was in the RV at night because they didn't want to turn on the generator for the noise it made. I was actually feeling a little warm and had to turn the temperature down to 65F the next night.

So, there you go. Go camping on your Volt. It works better than an RV. Bring and extension cord and set up a "kitchen" outside and enjoy the view.

 

[saltsman]

Looks like fun! The Volt is an awesome RV.

 

[Barry]

Sounds great. Thanks for sharing your success. Couple of questions:
Would it have worked to charge the battery in mountain mode so at night you could avoid the engine cycling on and off ?

Did you bring that powered parachute? Is that what the hitch rack is for?

 

[DZD]

Dude! That is awesome! Out of curiosity - did you happen to reset one of the Trip Meters prior to the camping? What did it show for avg MPG? Regardless - still very cool. LOL about the folks in the RV - maybe they should tow a Volt for their generator.

 

[edwardang]

Sounds great. Thanks for sharing your success. Couple of questions:
Would it have worked to charge the battery in mountain mode so at night you could avoid the engine cycling on and off ?

Did you bring that powered parachute? Is that what the hitch rack is for?

I did try to use battery only at night a few weeks ago at a different camping exactly as you mentioned. Battery only lasted til 3am before the engine started. The main problem is that resistive heating is a power hog. Using gasoline to generate electricity then turn around and use that electricity to generate heat just doesn't make a lot of sense. It is better to heat the cabin using engine heat which is a by-product anyway. And, the ICE generate a lot of that.

That is actually not a powered parachute (PPC). It is a powered paraglider (PPG). They look similar but are quite different in both operation and performance. Yes, the hitch rack is for carrying it with me.

 

[edwardang]

Dude! That is awesome! Out of curiosity - did you happen to reset one of the Trip Meters prior to the camping? What did it show for avg MPG? Regardless - still very cool. LOL about the folks in the RV - maybe they should tow a Volt for their generator.

It was a long trip and I had to refill because I did not start with a full tank. I was down to 32.7 mpg the second morning for the 331.4-mile trip. Not too shabby acting as a car, a hotel, a kitchen, and a radio station for 2 days!

 

[PilotAlan]

Using gasoline to generate electricity then turn around and use that electricity to generate heat just doesn't make a lot of sense. It is better to heat the cabin using engine heat which is a by-product anyway.

Makes sense. Make the heat from gas, store the byproduct electricity.
Rather than use electricity to heat, then run the engine to make electricity, and waste the excess heat because the cabin's already warm.

 

[ks7084]

where does one even go to add the hitch? (besides the dealer)

 

[edwardang]

where does one even go to add the hitch? (besides the dealer)

I installed it myself.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0072UHJ2I

 

[Stromfahrer]

Occasions like this are why I don't let them do the supposed safety update to limit how long it will run while stopped.

 

[edwardang]

Occasions like this are why I don't let them do the supposed safety update to limit how long it will run while stopped.

Same here. That is a stupid "safety" update.

 

[Hughes]

Same here. That is a stupid "safety" update.

Please explain for the ignorant among us (namely me)... did you put it in neutral and hold the trigger down somehow? Or it's in park yet left on?

Love your story by the way. Thanks for posting!

 

[edwardang]

Please explain for the ignorant among us (namely me)... did you put it in neutral and hold the trigger down somehow? Or it's in park yet left on?

Love your story by the way. Thanks for posting!

I did not let the dealer apply the safety software update. So, I just turned on the car and left it in park. The car would stay on until I turned it off. If you have the safety software update, you will have to hold the shifter trigger button with something or the car will turn itself off in 2 hours (I think).

Just in case you are interested about the paramotor. These are 2 videos I took there at the High Sierra Fly-In.

I put captions on this to show the details of my close call on a take off.
https://youtu.be/Yh9blGa4deY

This is the highlight of the flights.
https://youtu.be/xSMke4TzVLc

 

[2VoltFamily]

I did try to use battery only at night a few weeks ago at a different camping exactly as you mentioned. Battery only lasted til 3am before the engine started. The main problem is that resistive heating is a power hog. Using gasoline to generate electricity then turn around and use that electricity to generate heat just doesn't make a lot of sense. It is better to heat the cabin using engine heat which is a by-product anyway. And, the ICE generate a lot of that.

That is actually not a powered parachute (PPC). It is a powered paraglider (PPG). They look similar but are quite different in both operation and performance. Yes, the hitch rack is for carrying it with me.

Looks like that is a little more than 100lbs of tongue weight (TW) there. And you could mount the PPG the other way and make it look like the Volt is being pushed down the highway with the fan.

 

[flyingsherpa]

Very cool, thanks for sharing. I used to fly Cessnas and such in a past life... I kinda like the idea of having my own aircraft on my hitch, ha. But I'll wait until they are electric too

 

[edwardang]

Very cool, thanks for sharing. I used to fly Cessnas and such in a past life... I kinda like the idea of having my own aircraft on my hitch, ha. But I'll wait until they are electric too

There are electric versions. But, they suffer from the same problems electric cars suffer -- weight, cost, and range. Their flight time is about 40 minutes, and you land with the full weight of the battery pack. Gasoline versions have a flight time of 3-4 hours and you land with a near-empty tank. For foot launch PPGs, this is a real problem. And, they cost 2x the gasoline version. Electric flight is just not quite there yet.

 

[edwardang]

Oh, I forgot to add that I had to drive on about a mile of really bad dirt road. Bushes were scraping the under carriage and a few bumps were high enough to scrap the under carriage. It was nerve-racking hearing the scraping noise constantly. I almost turned back a few times thinking I might get stuck if I continued. But, the road was so narrow that I would not be able to turn back anyhow. Good thing though, the bumps were very soft dirt almost like sand. I checked under the car this past weekend. Everything looked fine. The under carriage panels (that Chevy removed on later models) did more than just improve aerodynamic in this case. Whew!

 

[saltsman]

Please explain for the ignorant among us (namely me)... did you put it in neutral and hold the trigger down somehow? Or it's in park yet left on?

Love your story by the way. Thanks for posting!

Put the volt in Park. Rubber band the gear shift lever. Done. http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?142313-Disabling-2014-auto-off-feature.-Can-it-be-done

Also see:
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread...rn-Honk-and-Auto-off-FAQ&highlight=death+grip
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?135018-The-Volt-ebago-Car-camping-made-easy