[obermd]

So I see that the car will notify me when it wants to do an EMM gas burn. My question is can I delay this burn until I know I'll be driving downhill for the 10-15 minutes it will take to run this cycle or should I just put the car in Hold mode for this stretch of my commute after I see this warning?

I figure if the car is going to do this then I want to get the most use of the gas during this burn.

 

[TSquare]

So I see that the car will notify me when it wants to do an EMM gas burn. My question is can I delay this burn until I know I'll be driving downhill for the 10-15 minutes it will take to run this cycle or should I just put the car in Hold mode for this stretch of my commute after I see this warning?

I figure if the car is going to do this then I want to get the most use of the gas during this burn.

You can delay it 1 day. The second warning will not give you an option.
Hold mode will reset the clock if used before the first warning. But I believe, after the warning appears, you must let it run to completion.

 

[telveer]

You can delay EMM for up to a day. And EMM does not burn much gas .. about 0.03 gallons or so ...

 

[wordptom]

When the EMM notice appears, you can postpone it for 1 day. If you just want to postpone it until later that day, you can choose the postpone option. Each time you turn the car off and back on again that day, the notice (and postponement option) will reappear. You could, for example, choose No and drive on battery until you’re stopped at that traffic light just before you get to the downhill portion of the drive, then turn the car off and back on again, and start the EMM there.

The EMM process uses only ~0.03 gallons of gas, so there’s really not a lot of optimizing to be gained by plotting how and when to run it. It doesn’t take long, and if you run it while parked you shouldn’t accumulate any Gas Miles or break a streak of days driven on electric only. At least, that’s how it is with the Gen 1 Volt... the EMM starts as soon as you push the Yes choice on the display. The Gen 2 EMM doesn’t start until after a short delay once the car is shifted into D. I suspect you could choose Yes, then shift into D with the foot on the brake, then shift back into N once the ICE starts running.

 

[Cord]

you will use less gas if you do not move ( set in park) but life time MPG will go up.

If the trip is going to use gas later then don't sit it out.

and If you are almost 100 electric others have said better to move and get higher RPM and a real run of the engine.

 

[CurrentEvent]

It seems like this has been discussed before. During EMM the car will use the battery. The ICE doesn't contribute to the propulsion of the car. At least that's the way I experienced it.

 

[BAZINGA]

The Gen II performs EMM slightly different than the Gen I. On a Gen II when you accept EMM you MUST start driving, after about a mile the ICE will start. And as others have said the entire process takes about 10 minutes and will consume exactly .03 gallons of gas.

 

[saghost]

The Gen II performs EMM slightly different than the Gen I. On a Gen II when you accept EMM you MUST start driving, after about a mile the ICE will start. And as others have said the entire process takes about 10 minutes and will consume exactly .03 gallons of gas.

I don't know about the new cars, but on first generation Volts .03 gallons is the smallest unit the car displays - it can't measure .01, .02, or .04 gallons.

 

[telveer]

The Gen II performs EMM slightly different than the Gen I. On a Gen II when you accept EMM you MUST start driving, after about a mile the ICE will start. And as others have said the entire process takes about 10 minutes and will consume exactly .03 gallons of gas.

This is actually a good improvement in Gen 2. I once deferred EMM in my Gen 1. The next day, I remote started the car (it was hot) but when I entered the garage, it was full of gasoline exhaust fume (yuck). Because it was over 24 hrs later, the engine had started even though I was just trying to precondition the car! This should not happen in a Gen 2 because car has to be in Drive for EMM to start. Pretty good solution.

 

[srmarti]

Why driving downhill? It's running to keep everything lubed, etc. Any charge generated will go into propulsion or battery charge regardless of grade. Only inefficient thing I can think of doing is sit in the driveway just running EMM.

 

[alfon]

My wife and I never had to use the EMM on both our 2014 Volt and our 2016 Volt which we traded in our 2014 Volt for. Most of our trips, shopping in Portland Oregon, and fishing on the beautiful coastal rivers via Oregon Coast Highway 101, well exceed our electric range which is currently 65 miles or so. Personally I think its wise to at least every month drive just on gas for 10 miles or so or until the engine temp. is 200 F or so. Even from a cold start the 2016-17 Volt will consume only a quart of gas or even less, with current prices thats easily less the a buck.

 

[Loboc]

Personally I think its wise to at least every month drive just on gas for 10 miles or so or until the engine temp. is 200 F or so. Even from a cold start the 2016-17 Volt will consume only a quart of gas or even less, with current prices thats easily less the a buck.

I agree with this assessment. I own the car, so, I want it to last a good long while. The engine needs to run regularly to keep everything up to snuff. GM's solution is the bare minimum. Since I rarely am all-electric on most days, it runs every day I drive, so, no worries.

 

[BAZINGA]

My wife and I never had to use the EMM on both our 2014 Volt and our 2016 Volt which we traded in our 2014 Volt for. Most of our trips, shopping in Portland Oregon, and fishing on the beautiful coastal rivers via Oregon Coast Highway 101, well exceed our electric range which is currently 65 miles or so. Personally I think its wise to at least every month drive just on gas for 10 miles or so or until the engine temp. is 200 F or so. Even from a cold start the 2016-17 Volt will consume only a quart of gas or even less, with current prices thats easily less the a buck.

Rut Roh I'm in trouble after 10 months of ownership and 7200 miles I only have 50 miles on my ICE.

 

[MP81]

I asked this about a month ago and a similar consensus was reached - EMM will use far less gas than driving while using the engine would for the same amount of time. I think mine used 0.07 gallons.

 

[NeuroPsyche]

So I see that the car will notify me when it wants to do an EMM gas burn. My question is can I delay this burn until I know I'll be driving downhill for the 10-15 minutes it will take to run this cycle or should I just put the car in Hold mode for this stretch of my commute after I see this warning?

I figure if the car is going to do this then I want to get the most use of the gas during this burn.

I have a question regarding the engine maintenance mode. I have a 2017 which I run almost totally on battery. I hardly ever use the engine. Last week it said it needed to do Engine Maintenance. I thought well that'll be okay and well, I didn't have any option to delay... that I know of. So, long story short, it's been doing engine maintenance from full take to using all the gas, now it's out of gas and wants me to fill up. The electric says 'Running low no propulsion' and the car is just super super slow. No get-up and go. I'm going to fill it up again but I think it's just going to continue the 'engine maintenance'. Does anyone know if this is normal? It's been running 'engine maintenance' for over a week using a full tank of gas, and it wants more. Thanks!

 

[llninja]

I have a question regarding the engine maintenance mode. I have a 2017 which I run almost totally on battery. I hardly ever use the engine. Last week it said it needed to do Engine Maintenance. I thought well that'll be okay and well, I didn't have any option to delay... that I know of. So, long story short, it's been doing engine maintenance from full take to using all the gas, now it's out of gas and wants me to fill up. The electric says 'Running low no propulsion' and the car is just super super slow. No get-up and go. I'm going to fill it up again but I think it's just going to continue the 'engine maintenance'. Does anyone know if this is normal? It's been running 'engine maintenance' for over a week using a full tank of gas, and it wants more. Thanks!

Are your trips really really short where you don’t let the engine get hot before shutting off? And are you sure this is engine maintenance mode and not fuel maintenance mode? FMM will burn all the old fuel off and could have been lengthened by just adding some fresh fuel.

 

[obermd]

I have a question regarding the engine maintenance mode. I have a 2017 which I run almost totally on battery. I hardly ever use the engine. Last week it said it needed to do Engine Maintenance. I thought well that'll be okay and well, I didn't have any option to delay... that I know of. So, long story short, it's been doing engine maintenance from full take to using all the gas, now it's out of gas and wants me to fill up. The electric says 'Running low no propulsion' and the car is just super super slow. No get-up and go. I'm going to fill it up again but I think it's just going to continue the 'engine maintenance'. Does anyone know if this is normal? It's been running 'engine maintenance' for over a week using a full tank of gas, and it wants more. Thanks!

This sounds more like Fuel Maintenance Mode. Once the average age of the gas in the tank reaches one year the car will switch to being a hybrid and burn all the gas in the tank. There are two ways to resolve this:

1) Keep your battery full and let the car run the tank dry. If you do this you'll enter reduced propulsion mode where the car won't generate more than 50KW of power to preserve the battery until you can get to a gas station. Put in three gallons (per the owners manual)

or (better way is #2)

2) Keep your battery full and run the tank to the "LOW" warning. This occurs when you have about 3/4 of a gallon left in the tank. Put three gallons of gas back into the tank. The reason you want a full battery here is just in case you don't get to a gas station before encountering scenario #1.

In either case it sounds like you don't use gas enough to justify carrying around a full tank of gas. So do what the owners manual says in this situation and put in three gallons to reset the fuel age calculator.