[Woodmann67]

One quick question - Does the running engine charge the battery when the hood is open? - I have never tested this but would think if one was burning gas for the sake of burning gas, that the traction battery would charge as a byproduct? Be nice to fully charge off engine if one ever ran into a free gas situation, which can happen...!!!


Cheers,

 

[Upper5Percent]

http://gm-volt.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-19997.html

 

[firehawk618]

Just tried it on my brand new 17'. When I started it with the hood open the power flow showed the engine charging the battery.

My dealer "lost" the charging cable for my car so to date I have been driving 100% on engine power.

Cable is supposed to be here tomorrow.

 

[Sheldon]

One quick question - Does the running engine charge the battery when the hood is open? - I have never tested this but would think if one was burning gas for the sake of burning gas, that the traction battery would charge as a byproduct? Be nice to fully charge off engine if one ever ran into a free gas situation, which can happen...!!!

A few weeks ago I recently had my 2017 Volt vehicle inspection and they popped the hood for what seemed like for a good 20 minutes. Yeah, the engine definitely added kwh to the battery even though the charge was mostly charged and well above the 18% "mountain mode" threshold. My Volt registered the next 2.8 miles as "gas miles" so I figure the gas engine added 0.7 kwh of charge to the battery while idling about 0.1 gallons of gas. This was before the cold spell and it was very mild that day in Austin, so 4 miles/kwh is pretty conservative; so probably less than 0.7kwh.

 

[mikem132]

As someone with a lot of experience with included accessories missing, it is 99% likely some other Volt owner got your cable. Once a part is missing (floor mats, cable--anything in the trunk from the factory) it is a cycle of robbing Peter to pay Paul until the dealer finally buys a new part. I once bought the fanciest Chrysler mini van available and was told floor mats, cargo net, etc. were optional and not included (despite being listed on the window sticker). The sales guy said he'd have to order them when I showed him the sticker. I told him, go ahead and order, but right now get one out of THAT car.

 

[Andy00778]

Does this that you could put in a switch to “fool” the car into thinking the hood was up and charge the battery while on hold mode? On a long trip with many city stops ( using battery),it may be useful to be able to charge battery to 100% while on highway sections of the drive ( ready for next city stops)

 

[Loboc]

Yes it does charge the battery. When I went to a Volt meet-and-drive sponsored by GM, they had all the hoods open to charge the batteries.

 

[Pinche]

Does this that you could put in a switch to “fool” the car into thinking the hood was up and charge the battery while on hold mode? On a long trip with many city stops ( using battery),it may be useful to be able to charge battery to 100% while on highway sections of the drive ( ready for next city stops)

have you done this? i would like to give it a go, but i don't know if the car will running if it thinks the hood is open? does it run with the hood open light on?

 

[Pinche]

please bring the volt back with the dual electric and gas generator. PLEASE, i know it cost alot to make but many of us will pay more to have both full electric and the generator like the 2017 -2019 did. i would pay over $50k if you did a few modifications.
1. allow it to charge fully while the gas generator is on, not just 18%.
2. give it a 20 gallon tank to increase the range.
3. not really necessary but nice, double the battery size and give us 100 miles of pure electric.
4. add a trickle charger to charge the 12v battery from the plug in, so we don't have to get an additional trickle charger when it is stored.

i know the feds will disqualify it from all incentives.. its OK, price it higher! make your profit from us the buyers,DON'T be a slave to the FEDS please!

 

[microVOLT]

I too am a newly converted lover of the Volt PHEV. Unfortunately it's not efficient to fully charge a battery using gasoline especially at $3 a gallon. It's a whole lot cheaper using power from the grid at 7 cents to 14 cents/kWh. The MOUNTAIN mode just allows you to have more useful electric propulsion because the Atkinson cycle engine is pretty wimpy.

However, I am a big fan of the 100 miles battery range but reduce the fuel tank (if needed) to make up room for the larger battery. I understand GM's research showed that most American drive less than 50 miles per day but many people like myself drive well above that. I'm 10 miles away from a decent car wash and a nice restaurant is nearly 20 miles away from my house. I will gladly charge my car at 240V LEVEL 2 for 8 hours so I can drive 100 miles but be able to drive as far as I want without needing to charge again until I feel like it.

For giggles, if they want to add a DC fast charger so I can drive 80 miles in 5 minutes that would be great. 😁
Too bad Charge Point estimated that it will take 30 minutes to get 80 miles of driving.

 

[Pinche]

I too am a newly converted lover of the Volt PHEV. Unfortunately it's not efficient to fully charge a battery using gasoline especially at $3 a gallon. It's a whole lot cheaper using power from the grid at 7 cents to 14 cents/kWh. The MOUNTAIN mode just allows you to have more useful electric propulsion because the Atkinson cycle engine is pretty wimpy.

However, I am a big fan of the 100 miles battery range but reduce the fuel tank (if needed) to make up room for the larger battery. I understand GM's research showed that most American drive less than 50 miles per day but many people like myself drive well above that. I'm 10 miles away from a decent car wash and a nice restaurant is nearly 20 miles away from my house. I will gladly charge my car at 240V LEVEL 2 for 8 hours so I can drive 100 miles but be able to drive as far as I want without needing to charge again until I feel like it.

For giggles, if they want to add a DC fast charger so I can drive 80 miles in 5 minutes that would be great. 😁
Too bad Charge Point estimated that it will take 30 minutes to get 80 miles of driving.

No please dont reduce the gas tank! if anything increase it to give us more range when on long trips! these ppl above only go a few miles, i do too but i do travel with it cross country a few times per year and 320 miles is not enough.double it and give us 640! that would be a selling point! I haul my mobility scooter in it so weight is not an issue.
Yes it is cheaper to charge it at home we all agree!But when on a long trip, when to electricity is gone, that generator produces extra electricity on level highway that goes to waste! Evidence is that in mountain mode it can charge the battery 18% in just a few miles. so why not let it charge all the way? why only 18%? I smell political BS for why.
So once the electricity has been used why not unplug the hood latch sensor, make sure the hood is closed well, and continue driving? letting you battery charge all the way. Your not wasting gas, because your using it to drive on your long trip! hell i am going to give it a try on my next long trip, i bet they have a restriction that will not let me go very far with that hood sensor unplugged. (political BS) if they would allow it to charge fully it would be the perfect car, thus the Petro industry will loose $, and the electrical Power Industry will loose $ too.... not good for business is the only reason they only allowed 18%, and probably the reason they stopped making them ppl would just switch to mountain mode every 12 miles and back and forth.

 

[microVOLT]

No please dont reduce the gas tank! if anything increase it to give us more range when on long trips! these ppl above only go a few miles, i do too but i do travel with it cross country a few times per year and 320 miles is not enough.double it and give us 640! that would be a selling point! I haul my mobility scooter in it so weight is not an issue.
Yes it is cheaper to charge it at home we all agree!But when on a long trip, when to electricity is gone, that generator produces extra electricity on level highway that goes to waste! Evidence is that in mountain mode it can charge the battery 18% in just a few miles. so why not let it charge all the way? why only 18%? I smell political BS for why.
So once the electricity has been used why not unplug the hood latch sensor, make sure the hood is closed well, and continue driving? letting you battery charge all the way. Your not wasting gas, because your using it to drive on your long trip! hell i am going to give it a try on my next long trip, i bet they have a restriction that will not let me go very far with that hood sensor unplugged. (political BS) if they would allow it to charge fully it would be the perfect car, thus the Petro industry will loose $, and the electrical Power Industry will loose $ too.... not good for business is the only reason they only allowed 18%, and probably the reason they stopped making them ppl would just switch to mountain mode every 12 miles and back and forth.

You can repeatedly charge and use in 10 miles increment. That's a long way for driving in the city. Once you're on the highway again, you can turn on mountain mode to recharge. The Volt is a rare vehicle that will let you charge that many miles, you will lose 1/3 or more of your gasoline MPG while driving and charging at the same time. I've owned 3 hybrid vehicles and the most they will let you drive on pure electric is about 2 to 3 miles before kicking on the gas engine. If you mash the throttle on those other hybrids and/or PHEV, the gas engine will come on. In the Volt, If you're only driving 35-40 MPH in the city you can get some serious range. Upwards of 60-70 miles on a full charge (Gen 2 of course) Right now I charge at home and at work so I'm driving 100 miles a day on pure electricity.

 

[Pinche]

You can repeatedly charge and use in 10 miles increment. That's a long way for driving in the city. Once you're on the highway again, you can turn on mountain mode to recharge. The Volt is a rare vehicle that will let you charge that many miles, you will lose 1/3 or more of your gasoline MPG while driving and charging at the same time. I've owned 3 hybrid vehicles and the most they will let you drive on pure electric is about 2 to 3 miles before kicking on the gas engine. If you mash the throttle on those other hybrids and/or PHEV, the gas engine will come on. In the Volt, If you're only driving 35-40 MPH in the city you can get some serious range. Upwards of 60-70 miles on a full charge (Gen 2 of course) Right now I charge at home and at work so I'm driving 100 miles a day on pure electricity.

yea that's what we do, when on long trips. i have reset the mpg after i i am totally out of electricity on the freeway. on normal mode going 75mph i get like 32 mpg, by switching to mountain mode every 10 miles i get like 35mpg.

i am aware that in the city the slower you go the more miles i get on electric. 48 to 54 on electric. It's a great car for that purpose i never see a gas station when i am at home. but i am talking long distance trips.
Why did Chevy set a limit on how much you can charge while on gas on long distance trips?
i know they allow 10 miles to help the generator when going up mountains (on mt mode), but going down mountains and flat terrain? why cap it at 2 bars? i think it's all political.
The throttle opening more on mountain mode and it does use a bit more gas, but when you switch back and use the electric that you just generated it not only equals out, you gain a few more mpg, to add, when your climbing with gas and electric, you will most like have down grades, increasing the MPG and recharging on the down grades.
Like I said, i have not yet disconnected the hood latch switch, i will do that next time i run out of electricity. and i will reset my mpg computer to see if it is worth doing so vs MPG on normal mode, see how many miles and how much gas does it take to recharge the batteries fully while driving it with the latch sensor disconnected. unless the car does not allow me to drive it with the hood latch switch disconnected for long distance. it might.. hopefully it let's me drive forever, that way i can do my test.
ill keep you posted.

 

[microVOLT]

yea that's what we do, when on long trips. i have reset the mpg after i i am totally out of electricity on the freeway. on normal mode going 75mph i get like 32 mpg, by switching to mountain mode every 10 miles i get like 35mpg.

i am aware that in the city the slower you go the more miles i get on electric. 48 to 54 on electric. It's a great car for that purpose i never see a gas station when i am at home. but i am talking long distance trips.
Why did Chevy set a limit on how much you can charge while on gas on long distance trips?
i know they allow 10 miles to help the generator when going up mountains (on mt mode), but going down mountains and flat terrain? why cap it at 2 bars? i think it's all political.
The throttle opening more on mountain mode and it does use a bit more gas, but when you switch back and use the electric that you just generated it not only equals out, you gain a few more mpg, to add, when your climbing with gas and electric, you will most like have down grades, increasing the MPG and recharging on the down grades.
Like I said, i have not yet disconnected the hood latch switch, i will do that next time i run out of electricity. and i will reset my mpg computer to see if it is worth doing so vs MPG on normal mode, see how many miles and how much gas does it take to recharge the batteries fully while driving it with the latch sensor disconnected. unless the car does not allow me to drive it with the hood latch switch disconnected for long distance. it might.. hopefully it let's me drive forever, that way i can do my test.
ill keep you posted.

For me it only costs about $1.06 to get about 50 miles range on electric.
On an absolutely ideal gasoline generator (Not a Volt) 1 gallon of gasoline produces up to 36kW of electricity. A full charge of 14kW = 0.39 gallon of fuel. x $3/gallon = $1.17

My Volt uses about 0.20 gallon of gasoline just to move the itself for 10 miles @60MPH. I'm losing at least 15 miles per gallon in MOUNTAIN mode
It takes over 1/2 gallon of fuel to recover 10 miles of electric range and you've already traveled 15 miles in that time frame. So if you were to run on electric for another 10 miles you would have traveled 25 miles and using 1/2 gallon of fuel. Half gallon of fuel @ $3/gallon = $1.50 to get another 25 miles would cost you $3
Traveling at 60MPH on gasoline, you're already getting 50MPG which would have cost you $3
NET GAIN = $0

 

[Pinche]

For me it only costs about $1.06 to get about 50 miles range on electric.
On an absolutely ideal gasoline generator (Not a Volt) 1 gallon of gasoline produces up to 36kW of electricity. A full charge of 14kW = 0.39 gallon of fuel. x $3/gallon = $1.17

My Volt uses about 0.20 gallon of gasoline just to move the itself for 10 miles @60MPH. I'm losing at least 15 miles per gallon in MOUNTAIN mode
It takes over 1/2 gallon of fuel to recover 10 miles of electric range and you've already traveled 15 miles in that time frame. So if you were to run on electric for another 10 miles you would have traveled 25 miles and using 1/2 gallon of fuel. Half gallon of fuel @ $3/gallon = $1.50 to get another 25 miles would cost you $3
Traveling at 60MPH on gasoline, you're already getting 50MPG which would have cost you $3
NET GAIN = $0

that a bit confusing?
i know the chevy volt does not get 50mpg on gas ONLY, lets not talk using electric you got from plugging in. we all Know that if you plug in you will get 50miles.
lets talk only about the chevy volt running on pure gas once we have already used up all the electric 50 miles.
example; i live Yuma AZ to San Diego CA, some where before El Centro CA my electric is all used up.
not i am running on gas only. on normal mode going 75 mph, i get around 32 mpg with two passenger and my 150lb mobility scooter. when i use mountain mode and switch everytime i get two bars of electricity i end up getting like 35mpg.
the switching is what i hate, so if disconnect the hood latch sensor this will allow the car to charge fully while i'm driving.
if the car lets me drive with the sensor disconnected on the freeway doing 75mph i can do a test.
1st i want to see how many gallons will it take to charge the volt 100%
2nd when i discounted the hood sensor i will reset my trip computer to see what MPG i get with the hood sensor disconnected.
once i do that i can figure out if it is worth the trouble of disconnecting the hood latch sensor or not.
i suspect the volt wont let me go far with the hood sensor disconnected

 

[microVOLT]

"Vehicles are tested at a top speed of 80 mph in order to calculate the highway mpg estimates. EPA utilizes five test cycles to represent real-world driving conditions."
This is why there's a low and high limit on city and highway MPG. If you want to achieve a much higher MPG, you can drive even slower. This is also why the electric only G-O-M can range from 30 miles to 70 miles as reported by many Volt owners. I have a feeling several smart Volt engineers have already figured out this equation and decided to put charge limits on the mountain mode. If it's actually beneficial, there will be aftermarket firmware update that could easily take advantage of this scenario. If you are driving at 75MPH or higher your GOM will reduce much quicker and not give you the guesstimated range of 50 miles. This has been discussed before in various other posts.

My estimate is that it will take 2.5 gallons of gasoline to fully charge your car or about 75 miles of driving.

 

[Pinche]

"Vehicles are tested at a top speed of 80 mph in order to calculate the highway mpg estimates. EPA utilizes five test cycles to represent real-world driving conditions."
This is why there's a low and high limit on city and highway MPG. If you want to achieve a much higher MPG, you can drive even slower. This is also why the electric only G-O-M can range from 30 miles to 70 miles as reported by many Volt owners. I have a feeling several smart Volt engineers have already figured out this equation and decided to put charge limits on the mountain mode. If it's actually beneficial, there will be aftermarket firmware update that could easily take advantage of this scenario. If you are driving at 75MPH or higher your GOM will reduce much quicker and not give you the guesstimated range of 50 miles. This has been discussed before in various other posts.

My estimate is that it will take 2.5 gallons of gasoline to fully charge your car or about 75 miles of driving.

yes you said "G-O-M can range from 30 miles to 70 miles as reported by many Volt owners " those high miles reported are including the 50 miles of electric plus the gas at a certain ranges. a mixture not including the cost of the electricity they use to charge the car, these are not done correctly... i could make it 80 MPG by using the 50 miles of electricity and the driving 30 miles, that will use i gallon of gas.

you said "If you are driving at 75MPH or higher your GOM will reduce much quicker and not give you the guesstimated range of 50 miles" We are all in agreement with this?

once again, Lets not include any of the miles we get from charging it from the grid... use up all the electricity (drain the battery), then on "gas only" reset you mpg computer and do some real tests...
How much MPG does your Volt get you on just "gas alone" doing 75mph on normal mode?
How much MPG does your Volt get you on just "gas alone" doing 75mph on mountain mode switching to normal every time you have two bars of electricity generated by the car! ( not a wall socket or charging station)?

I am going to do a third test;
How much MPG does my Volt get me on just "gas alone" doing 75mph with the hood latch sensor disconnected? and how much will it charge my battery? and how much gas will it take to fully charge my car while I am driving it?

 

[microVOLT]

I've gotten 58 miles on electric alone on the G-O-M driving around 50MPH. I also got 53 miles on electric driving 60 MPH. On HOLD mode with gas engine I've gotten 46-52 MPG at 60 MPH depending on ambient temperature. @ 75F 50MPG @35F 40MPG @90F 48MPG There's a sweet spot in the 75-80F temperature range. I have no idea how some of these guys are getting 60+ on the GOM on pure electric

 

[obermd]

I've gotten 58 miles on electric alone on the G-O-M driving around 50MPH. I also got 53 miles on electric driving 60 MPH. On HOLD mode with gas engine I've gotten 46-52 MPG at 60 MPH depending on ambient temperature. @ 75F 50MPG @35F 40MPG @90F 48MPG There's a sweet spot in the 75-80F temperature range. I have no idea how some of these guys are getting 60+ on the GOM on pure electric

I have actually managed 70 miles (once) on battery alone. It was a nice day and my top speed was 55 MPH with most of the drive in the 35-45 MPH range. This is not GOM but odometer.

 

[wordptom]

I am going to do a third test;
How much MPG does my Volt get me on just "gas alone" doing 75mph with the hood latch sensor disconnected? and how much will it charge my battery? and how much gas will it take to fully charge my car while I am driving it?

Before you take the time to disconnect the hood latch sensor, take a half hour or so and find out if the battery is recharged by doing so.

When your battery state of charge is low or fully depleted, and you car is turned on and parked:
Pop the hood. The engine will start.

Helpful if you can use an OBD reader and app to obtain the raw state of charge for the battery to see if it goes up and by how much.

After ~10 minutes, the SOC should be a little above where it was when you opened the hood.

This adds some range to the range estimate, and gives the impression that the battery is recharging when the hood is open. Many people draw this conclusion after 5-10 minutes, and close the hood and turn off the car.

Don’t do that. Keep the hood open and the engine running. After an additional ~15 minutes with the hood open and the engine running, is the SOC any higher than it was 10 minutes earlier? I suspect it will not be.

After another additional ~10 minutes with the hood open and the engine running, is the SOC any higher than it was ~25 minutes earlier? I suspect it will not be.

When you pop the hood, the system draws power from the battery and uses the smaller motor MGA as a "starter motor." The engine starts.

The system is programmed to maintain the state of charge where it was when you "switched to gas," which you did when you opened the hood, so the system then attempts to recharge the power used to start the engine in order to "sustain the SOC where it was when you chose to start the engine."

The system then slightly overcharges that amount of power, and results in a state of charge a little above where it was when you popped the hood. This could result in a small increase in estimated range. The system then tries to sustain the SOC at that point as long as the hood is open and the engine is running.

Of course, you could then shut the hood at that point and turn off the car. The state of charge is now slightly above where it was when you first popped the hood.

So, start the car, then pop the hood, wait until the system over-recharges the power used to start the engine, and then turn the car off and close the hood.

Repeat this cycle enough, and indeed, you will recharge your battery (someone did it in a Gen 1 Volt on the Facebook Volt Owners page within the last year).