... Now I know... But I still find myself worrying ...

OK, let's breathe in . . .








. . . and breathe out . . .







. . . good!

 

It feels like there is something wrong with the car if I have to use the gas engine.

Your goals have been adulterated. Fairly normal under the circumstances.

Start to worry when you believe you're driving a full-on EV. You're not, but you'd be surprised how many people pretend.

 

This is sometimes termed "gas anxiety." Yes, a very common affliction.

 

I also drive a LEAF with a degraded battery but don't suffer from range anxiety. I sometimes suffer from charge anxiety when I can't use a public L2 or QC because it is ICEd, broken, or occupied by an EV that is overstaying its time.

 

look at it this way - if you burn a little gas on the way home no BIG deal

you will at least have something to tell the priest on Sunday

 

With the Volt I will sometimes have gas anxiety, but only of it is close, like I am 7 miles frome home and range says 7 miles remaining, I will lighten up on acceleration, etc. Once only to be annoyed by the engine starting as I pulled onto my street.

I won't go out of my way to avoid burning gas, but I might plug in at work to avoid it if I can (with permission of course).

If I do have the engine start I drive it until it is warm (winter). Usually I know this will happen and put it in mountain mode with a few miles range remaining and get it nice and toasty before finishing the trip on electric.

 

I play the game.

 

The Volt is the first car I’ve owned whose principal fuel tank contains so little fuel - the functional equivalent of "one gallon of gas" - but the presence of a back-up gas-fueled generator gives me the confidence to use my Volt for those "can I or can’t I make it there and back with the charge I have?" trips that I wouldn’t have in a BEV with a "two or three gallon equivalent" sized fuel tank.

...Kind of takes me back to those days in the middle of the last century when I was young and the VW Beetle (the Super Beetle hadn’t yet come along) had no gas gauge, just an emergency gas tank holding a spare gallon or so, and if you actually ran out of gas from the main tank, you could flip a lever and access the emergency stash that would enable you to reach the next gas station.

 

I sort of plan and play the game a little to avoid burning gas, but if I need to it's no big deal. Heck I've only used a gallon in the last 3k miles. During the cold weather ERDTT uses more and sometimes a trip isn't even close to being within battery range. That's why I got the car.

 

Right! Exactly the reason the volt exists in the first place.


Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

lol, well after about 350 miles of driving I look for a gas station. I drove my Volt from NY to Illinois the day I picked it up. No, no range anxiety here, haha.

I think you bought the wrong car if you are looking to experience range anxiety.

 

I experience anxiety on every trip longer than my commute to work. I expend a lot of mental energy trying to avoid the use of gasoline. From a 4,000-mile trip to Canada this summer, my lifetime fuel economy went from 160 MPG to 80 MPG. However, I must remind myself that my colleagues at work average around 17 MPG in their vehicles on EVERY trip they make. I am the ONLY one among 70 employees who get higher than 40 MPG. I suffer some teasing, especially when I commute 16 miles by bicycle most of the summer rather than waste energy.

 

I experience anxiety on every trip longer than my commute to work. I expend a lot of mental energy trying to avoid the use of gasoline. From a 4,000


The car doesn't seem to be the issue...

 

Ya gas range anxiety sometimes.

I feel embarrassed when the gas generator is on. So loud and noisy.

 

All you gas anxiety folks will probably be Bolt candidates. I drive too many long trips to be a pure EV candidate yet. I don't care when the gas engine fires up since it's designed that way.

If I only needed Volt/ELR battery size, I'd be in an EV now.

 

We used .3 gallons of gas the other day. I told my wife, well at least we don't worry about the car force starting on you now that you have used some!

 

Don't understand any range anxiety when you have 9 gallons of gas on tap and you get 42+ mpg easy.

I commute 70+ miles a day for work (round trip) I think I use about .5 gallons of gas every day, no big deal. I still do 75% of my commute all electric

Actually went to the gas station for the first time in almost a month. 1200 miles on my Trip A meter before I had to fill up. Can't complain!

 

No. Zero. None.
It's more of a game sometimes than anything else.

 

No reason for range anxiety. I have owned BEV's with as little as 30 miles of range and it was more of "trip planning anxiety", not range anxiety. My last short range BEV was a Mitsubishi I-MiEV which on a good day would get about 62 miles of total range---never a problem, always planning if not taking a normal trip. My new Volt will get about the same range as the I-MiEV driving it on the same routes. However, I can always run the Volt to it's full battery range without worry as the ICE is always there if I miscalculated. If there is any question or concern that the ICE might not run, just put the car in "hold" mode until the engine starts and confirms there is no problem. Then back to normal mode and continue on.

It seems to be human nature for people to be worried about seeing a fuel gauge going down to zero. We have been conditioned all of our driving lives to do something if the gauge gets low. I drove several bi-fuel natural gas cars in my life. They had one fuel gauge which only indicated the level of fuel in the tank that was being used and then would switch to the other fuel when it ran out. It would surprise me that passengers might notice the low fuel gauge and then the red warning screen "check gauges" that would come up. Most were nervous and one even demanded I stop for fuel so we didn't get stranded on the Interstate! Fear changed to amazement when the fuel transfer occurred and the gauge started to rise from empty to full as we continued on our trip.

 

I feel your pain.. But let's face it. The car was designed to run on gas as well as on electrons. So with that said, I would rather burn some gas and get to where I need to otherwise eventually the car will burn it for you as a maintenance function.

 

Yesterday, we were coming back from a round trip of 58.5 miles. We were one mile from home and the Volt said 1 mile left of electric range.

So I said to my wife, well it's better that the engine comes on than being towed. However, the car did make it into the garage without gas.

We are going back again today, and the Volt should make it again without using gas IF I don't speed. I almost blew it yesterday because I speeded up several miles per hour over the speed limit when being followed by several Harleys right on my tail.

So I also play the game .

 

But I hate when the ICE comes on about a mile or so from my destination and then I shut it off without it getting up to proper operating temperature. That can't be good for all the ICE components. It would be nice under those circumstances to get a pop up granting you a mile or two from the buffer.

What's better for the car, completing your journey on battery or running the ICE for a mile or two, especially if it's COLD outside?

 

No.

Best,
Rick

 

I drive a fair amount of longer distances and so I have a lot of ICE miles on the car. As such, I really don't mind at all when it kicks on. I just drive the car and enjoy feeling like it's practically free to drive.

 

You should have no worries about the wear on the ice for a brief run. The ice engines in these cars are typically used so little, they will outlast the car and still have most of their useful lives left. Someday there is going to be a salvage industry of pulling practically new engines out of junkyard volts.

 

You should have no worries about the wear on the ice for a brief run. The ice engines in these cars are typically used so little, they will outlast the car and still have most of their useful lives left. Someday there is going to be a salvage industry of pulling practically new engines out of junkyard volts.

Haha, that's so true!

 

So how much would any of you pay to avoid burning gas?
Let's say your trip has run long and you're nearing the end of your EV range..
You have the option to stop at a subscription L2 EVSE for a few hours or burn the gas that's been sitting in your tank for weeks.

?

I'm guessing for some the answer is zero.. i.e. it's not worth the time sitting around even if the electricity were free...
But I'm curious how many would actually spend the time AND money even if the cost per mile was more than burning gas!

Personally I'd just burn the gas UNLESS the L2 station was free ($0) and I had something productive to do during that time.
If the electricity cost per mile at a public L2 station was MORE than gas there's no way I would..

 

Its kind of nice to have a little range anxiety with our 2016 Volt. Our last fishing trip my wife and I took with our 2016 Volt we went 65 miles on electric and about 60 miles on gas. Still got 50.8 mpg just on gas. I have noticed when you are down to 1 mile of range you can go well more than a mile at 30-35 mph in the city when heading home. If the gas engine does kick in it uses very little gas for a minute or two...

 

I have noticed when you are down to 1 mile of range you can go well more than a mile at 30-35 mph in the city when heading home. If the gas engine does kick in it uses very little gas for a minute or two...

I found it interesting the other day as I was driving in town, speed limits at 30 with frequent stop signs. Now I admit I allow the car to coast a lot for the regen. I won't say it is a fetish but I catch myself doing it automatically now, a carry over from my attempts with my 98 Cadillac Eldo to get the best mileage average ( usually around 24 mpg ).
By the time I arrived across town, I had INCREASED the amount of mileage available by 3 miles.

I have not burnt a drop of gasoline during travel yet, but I have come close, being on the last mile when arriving at home. Even so, I don't think I Have anxiety about running out of Battery miles. If I have any anxiety at all, it's the thought of having to buy that expensive gasoline to fill the tank. But seeing this is unavoidable because of maintenance modes, it is a null point anyway.

 

I don't really have range anxiety with it. If I have to put some gas in the tank once every 3-4 months I will.

I've taken to putting the car in hold mode if I'm going to be on an cruising 60-70 for more than 15 minutes. I'd rather let the ICE run a steady RPM for a while than do the whole start/stop thing 50 times while I'm in town.

 

I guess maybe I do right now... I've only had it for about a month, but I haven't used a drop of gas in that time yet. Meaning since I've owned the car it's been totally an EV... I keep meaning to take a weekend day trip to Spokane, WA (about 150 miles away) and obviously I would be taking the Volt. Twice now I've kinda just "put off" the trip until next weekend, and I'm not going to lie, part of it was because I didn't want my 100% EV driving to be "ruined" by the gas engine...