It sounds like you can indeed do xxx miles a day under extremely far from normal driving circumstances. This is creating and establishing a record of a far less than practical thing to do. Maybe Guiness will recognize this? This is all OK, I suppose, and it is even mildly interesting. Sort of like a modern day Mobil Economy Run, but far more rigged for impressive results.
EV Range limit is only 86 miles?
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By the way, the reason the Mobile Economy Run was ended wasn't because the economy numbers the professional drivers achieved were far beyond what anyone could expect to achieve. It was because many of these professional drivers decided that stopping at stop signs was not in their best interest to achieve good results. (Apparently this was fairly common practice in these events) it was just a matter of time before someone plowed through a stop sign and killed an occupant in a non-participating car. The negative press from this is what killed the event.
Hopefully no one trying to duplicate or improve on Joe's impressive numbers would make those kind of choices.
Hopefully no one trying to duplicate or improve on Joe's impressive numbers would make those kind of choices.
Just make a giant, 200 mile long ski slope for a car. Airlift the car to the top and let it glide to the bottom. ICE or BEV, it doesn't matter. Both would use zero gas or electricity for 200 miles. Impressive results to boast about, or simply a rigged stunt?It sounds like you can indeed do xxx miles a day under extremely far from normal driving circumstances. This is creating and establishing a record of a far less than practical thing to do. Maybe Guiness will recognize this? This is all OK, I suppose, and it is even mildly interesting. Sort of like a modern day Mobil Economy Run, but far more rigged for impressive results.
My impression is the start of day, full charge range estimates are fuel-specific. The ev range estimate is created by the computer from your Electric Mode driving data, the gas range from your Extended Range Mode driving data.
If so, it should be easy for any Gen 2 owner to discover if 86 miles of ev range is a Gen 2 display maximum without even driving far enough to deplete the battery. Don’t drive at all in Electric Mode unless you’re driving downhill. Use Hold Mode for all other driving. Then fully recharge that night, and repeat the following day.
By driving only downhill in Electric Mode, you should be able to obtain an ev mileage of 6.5 miles/kWh or better for those Electric Miles you do drive. That mileage should then influence the ev range estimate calculations (would one week of such driving be enough to produce a significant increase in ev range estimate?).
Eventually, if the range estimate algorithm multiplies the ~14 kWh of usable power in a fully charged Gen 2 battery by an ev mileage estimate approaching 6.5 miles/kWh, this should produce a start of day, full charge ev range estimate of 91+ miles... unless there really is a fixed limit of 86 estimated miles on the display. O’Dell has posted on the first page of this thread of seeing 87 on the display a couple of times.
For 2013 and later Gen 1 owners, driving only downhill in Electric Mode and using Hold Mode for all other driving should produce similar results. After a few days of "high ev mileage" Electric Mode driving, the calculated ev range estimate should exceed 60 miles of estimated range for your 10+ kWh of usable power, so the estimated range display should gradually reach the maximum of 60.
Just to be clear, Joe’s pictures remind us of the difference between the full charge ev range estimate and the end of day ev range achievement. Not everyone can drive far enough to achieve the start of day ev range estimate. Joe exceeded it.
If so, it should be easy for any Gen 2 owner to discover if 86 miles of ev range is a Gen 2 display maximum without even driving far enough to deplete the battery. Don’t drive at all in Electric Mode unless you’re driving downhill. Use Hold Mode for all other driving. Then fully recharge that night, and repeat the following day.
By driving only downhill in Electric Mode, you should be able to obtain an ev mileage of 6.5 miles/kWh or better for those Electric Miles you do drive. That mileage should then influence the ev range estimate calculations (would one week of such driving be enough to produce a significant increase in ev range estimate?).
Eventually, if the range estimate algorithm multiplies the ~14 kWh of usable power in a fully charged Gen 2 battery by an ev mileage estimate approaching 6.5 miles/kWh, this should produce a start of day, full charge ev range estimate of 91+ miles... unless there really is a fixed limit of 86 estimated miles on the display. O’Dell has posted on the first page of this thread of seeing 87 on the display a couple of times.
For 2013 and later Gen 1 owners, driving only downhill in Electric Mode and using Hold Mode for all other driving should produce similar results. After a few days of "high ev mileage" Electric Mode driving, the calculated ev range estimate should exceed 60 miles of estimated range for your 10+ kWh of usable power, so the estimated range display should gradually reach the maximum of 60.
Just to be clear, Joe’s pictures remind us of the difference between the full charge ev range estimate and the end of day ev range achievement. Not everyone can drive far enough to achieve the start of day ev range estimate. Joe exceeded it.
so what is optimal speed for regen?
There isn't such a thing. Just drive. Just like a normal person.
I've seen it contended that to get the most power into the battery, use the pedal and apply it as gently as possible to stop when you need to. That's also the least likely to invoke the pads before actually necessary.so what is optimal speed for regen?
Numbers that are not based solely on round trips are meaningless. There are just too many variables that can skew the data on a blind drive. If you end up right where you started, a lot of those variables are eliminated and the numbers will mean something. My '17 Volt LT has right around 20,000 miles on it. About 98% of that was in EV mode. The car's lifetime MPGe just dropped to 120 (it's cold here in Wisconsin), yet I've only seen that EV range indicator at 81 once or twice. The rest of the time in the summer it's usually in the mid-70s range, and in the winter it runs anywhere from mid-50s to mid-60s.
The fact that Joe's lifetime MPGe is in the mid-teens tells me that the numbers he's touting are just outliers, though I'm still curious as to how they were achieved. I will say this: driving a Volt around in "Hold" mode to achieve silly numbers just defeats the whole point of the car, which (for me, anyway) is to use less fuel. My wife just crunched our fuel cost figures for 2015 vs 2017. In March of 2016, we replaced our 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee Diesel with the Volt, and at the end of the year we replaced our 2011 VW Golf TDI with the Malibu Hybrid. Hence 2015 vs 2017...the last full year of Diesels vs the first full year of EV/Hybrid. We saved nearly $1600 in fuel costs, and that figure includes the increase in our electric bill for charging the Volt. As one of the major magazines said in their comparison between a Volt and a Prius, "the best use of a gallon of fuel is to not burn it all".
The fact that Joe's lifetime MPGe is in the mid-teens tells me that the numbers he's touting are just outliers, though I'm still curious as to how they were achieved. I will say this: driving a Volt around in "Hold" mode to achieve silly numbers just defeats the whole point of the car, which (for me, anyway) is to use less fuel. My wife just crunched our fuel cost figures for 2015 vs 2017. In March of 2016, we replaced our 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee Diesel with the Volt, and at the end of the year we replaced our 2011 VW Golf TDI with the Malibu Hybrid. Hence 2015 vs 2017...the last full year of Diesels vs the first full year of EV/Hybrid. We saved nearly $1600 in fuel costs, and that figure includes the increase in our electric bill for charging the Volt. As one of the major magazines said in their comparison between a Volt and a Prius, "the best use of a gallon of fuel is to not burn it all".
I find that placing dead trust in the Volt's EV usage can easily be misplaced and skewed. I drive the exact same 52.5 round trip to town quite frequently. The trip is quite hilly in spots with little traffic. It is more than the car can do (in the winter anyhow) on full electrical power. Under very nearly identical weather and driving circumstances (temperature, speed etc), I find I can easily change the EV range reported for the trip from 38 to 46 miles, just by choosing when and where to use the hold mode. The gas usage per trip obviously changes to when I do that. Any mode combination uses the same amount of energy to propel the vehicle. But when I record high EV miles on this trip, I get a low gpm number. Conversely, low EV miles equal much better gas mileage. I could do the math more, but I am not sure it is worth it as there are lots of hard to classify variables (i.e, the car can use a sizable amount waste combustion energy to heat the interior when I use gas... Gas is more expensive per Watt... An electric motor is more efficient.... Coasting is better than regen..... Coasting in hold mode doesn't provide as good of EV numbers as coasting in Normal mode.... and on and on. ) I am realizing that comparing gas energy to electric energy is not comparing apples to apples as it seems it should be.
So in the end, I agree with Norton. Just drive like a normal person and quite trying to fool yourself that are doing the greenhouse effect a great favor by skewing things to artificially make your EV numbers look good.
So in the end, I agree with Norton. Just drive like a normal person and quite trying to fool yourself that are doing the greenhouse effect a great favor by skewing things to artificially make your EV numbers look good.
Don't forget about wet road surfaces versus dry roads and headwinds. These can affect your range.I find that placing dead trust in the Volt's EV usage can easily be misplaced and skewed. I drive the exact same 52.5 round trip to town quite frequently. The trip is quite hilly in spots with little traffic. It is more than the car can do (in the winter anyhow) on full electrical power. Under very nearly identical weather and driving circumstances (temperature, speed etc), I find I can easily change the EV range reported for the trip from 38 to 46 miles, just by choosing when and where to use the hold mode. The gas usage per trip obviously changes to when I do that. Any mode combination uses the same amount of energy to propel the vehicle. But when I record high EV miles on this trip, I get a low gpm number. Conversely, low EV miles equal much better gas mileage. I could do the math more, but I am not sure it is worth it as there are lots of hard to classify variables (i.e, the car can use a sizable amount waste combustion energy to heat the interior when I use gas... Gas is more expensive per Watt... An electric motor is more efficient.... Coasting is better than regen..... Coasting in hold mode doesn't provide as good of EV numbers as coasting in Normal mode.... and on and on. ) I am realizing that comparing gas energy to electric energy is not comparing apples to apples as it seems it should be.
So in the end, I agree with Norton. Just drive like a normal person and quite trying to fool yourself that are doing the greenhouse effect a great favor by skewing things to artificially make your EV numbers look good.
So we went on a 350 mile trip to the mountains a couple days ago. We used hold mode for most of the highway/mountain pass uphills, normal for in-town/mountain pass downhills, and probably the last 15 miles of the trip on ICE.
Now we’ve only taken our Volt on a few longer trips and have managed to get the GOM to 86 miles a couple times but never higher, so I figured that’s where it topped out...
This morning, I was treated to this:
![Land vehicle Vehicle Car Auto part Volvo xc60]()
Now we’ve only taken our Volt on a few longer trips and have managed to get the GOM to 86 miles a couple times but never higher, so I figured that’s where it topped out...
This morning, I was treated to this:
My 2017 VOLT highest Miles report has been 83 miles after charge. She has, more often than not displayed above 80 miles after charging and of course this is during the summer.So we went on a 350 mile trip to the mountains a couple days ago. We used hold mode for most of the highway/mountain pass uphills, normal for in-town/mountain pass downhills, and probably the last 15 miles of the trip on ICE.
Now we’ve only taken our Volt on a few longer trips and have managed to get the GOM to 86 miles a couple times but never higher, so I figured that’s where it topped out...
This morning, I was treated to this:
View attachment 154841
I tend to drive, as I had with my 98 Eldorado. There is an "AVE MILES" indicator and I always tend to try to get that number as HIgh as I can without being too awfuly soft on the throttle. As with the VOLT, there is some coasting involved, of course no regen but the fuel meter goes crazy high (INSTANTANEOUS) when you are coasting, and it can sink into the basement if you push hard on the accelorator.
I have found the VOLT to be very much like this.
I drive on mostly flat roads, under 40 mph generally. Coast up to stop signs/stop lights, use cruise control when ever I can. No jack rabbit starts, no panic stops. After every charge the car reports a range of 80+ miles. These miles have been confirmed with the mileage odometer.
My recharges generally start with the car having low miles remaining in the battery so I am thinking the system does a restart when it comes to determining mileage available after the charge.
Whatever the result, I enjoy driving the VOLT . She is different and what I would call fun. Some use their car as their workhorse for transportation and I wouldn't expect to see really high mileage reports from those cars just from terrain driven and charging availablities.
Can't say that I've ever had any one time super high mileage reports from the VOLT but I don't have any mountains to coast down either but it would be fun to see some crazy high mileage numbers at least ONCE.
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