[brock71]

I have been plagued with check engine lights since owning my 2013 volt for a month or so. They code always indicates an unexpected charging current event and resets itself after a few charging/power cycled. My other posts include the codes. My current theory is the 220 v charging has a bug.

Yesterday I had a really weird event. I drove through a lot of rain in the evening, then charged from a fully depleted battery overnight at 115vac low current. Went out in the morning , before 100% charged and drove off.
The battery capacity indicated 60 mile range. WOW! After several miles if driving it still said 60 miles to go on battery. At the same time I found the regenerative braking in L would not work to slow me down.

I tried cycling power and selecting HOLD mode to engage the gas generator. No help. After a bit more driving and a couple power cycles it began to work ... regenerative braking worked ....and the miles to go began to decrease.
No CEL or error messages. My battery life began to decrease dramatically and at the end I got about 40 miles which was normal.

What I think is the system got wet and somehow falsely showed a battery OVER CHARGE condition. That overcharge disabled regenerative braking. Has anyone had anything like this happen>? Any insight as to what may have happened?

Thanks
John

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

If you engage Hold and the battery is very high it could well continue to use electric until the battery level drops.

Go for a drive to check how much range it's _actually_ giving you.
Check the Energy Info screen to see how many kWh it thinks that you've used.
Together they could help indicate whether and how much the battery is being overcharged.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Oh, and if it's a 2013 you might want to check the 12V. Failing 12Vs can be responsible for a lot of weirdness.

 

[telveer]

60+ miles is not unheard of in a 2013 Volt. If my memory serves me correctly, 2012 and older would not display more than 50 (even though they could technically go over 80 miles, as Ari C had shown), and 2013 and later would not display more than 60 but under very ideal conditions ... they can go more than 60 miles. So, it is possible that your car internally had estimated more than 60 (but can only display a max of 60), and therefore, for the first few miles, it was not going below 60. And when the battery and buffers are full, there will be no regen, and shifting or Hold or MM would not start the engine.

 

[jbakerjonathan]

Oh, and if it's a 2013 you might want to check the 12V. Failing 12Vs can be responsible for a lot of weirdness.

^^^This^^^

 

[VoltenRock]

It's likely a software bug. My '13 does this on occasion--but only during a "partial" charge, especially under the circumstances you mentioned.

I've had everything done to my car--partial HV battery replacement, reprograms, etc. It still happens every once in a while.

Of course, it's always a good idea to check your 12V to rule that out.

The 60-mile range (the max we can show, by the way), usually will settle down during the drive to a more reasonable number.

 

[Chevrolet Customer Svc]

I have been plagued with check engine lights since owning my 2013 volt for a month or so. They code always indicates an unexpected charging current event and resets itself after a few charging/power cycled. My other posts include the codes. My current theory is the 220 v charging has a bug.

Yesterday I had a really weird event. I drove through a lot of rain in the evening, then charged from a fully depleted battery overnight at 115vac low current. Went out in the morning , before 100% charged and drove off.
The battery capacity indicated 60 mile range. WOW! After several miles if driving it still said 60 miles to go on battery. At the same time I found the regenerative braking in L would not work to slow me down.

I tried cycling power and selecting HOLD mode to engage the gas generator. No help. After a bit more driving and a couple power cycles it began to work ... regenerative braking worked ....and the miles to go began to decrease.
No CEL or error messages. My battery life began to decrease dramatically and at the end I got about 40 miles which was normal.

What I think is the system got wet and somehow falsely showed a battery OVER CHARGE condition. That overcharge disabled regenerative braking. Has anyone had anything like this happen>? Any insight as to what may have happened?

Thanks
John

We recognize how this could be frustrating, John. We'd like to reach out to your dealer to make them aware of what's been occurring, as well as pass on some information that we believe could be helpful in addressing any glitches that may be present. To best assist, please send us a private message with the following: VIN, contact information, mileage and preferred dealer.

To learn more about GM’s privacy policy, please visit https://www.gm.com/privacy-statement.html.

We hope to hear from you soon.

Lauren E.
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[ivoryjohn]

I also have what seems to be exaggerated mileage

My recently purchased 2014 Volt only has 15000 miles (12000 on battery). This morning it reported 40 miles after a full charge. After driving 20 miles EV, it still reported 35 miles remaining. Even the onstar app shows 20 miles ev since charge and 35 remaining.

Should I be concerned? I have a long trip planned and want to be sure that the ICE will engage when it should.

If I have several posts, I apologize. Each time I clicked to submit the reply, it disconnected me from wifi.

 

[TSquare]

No. It is just learning your driving patterns. You a probably staying off the highway most of your driving is slower than 55mph. It is telling you how far you can expect of go if you continue driving the same way as your recent drives.

 

[hellsop]

Also, from where to where? Dropping a thousand feet gives you like five miles for "free". You'll just eat them going back.

 

[brtime]

I had the very same issue as the OP occur to me this morning. Plugged the Volt in last night completely depleted, unplugged this morning before full charge and range showed 34 miles. Drove down the street and range had climbed to 50 miles. Low gear is unresponsive (does not function to slow car down).

OP what did you find out about the issue? Anyone else have insight? I saw a few posts in this thread with people suggesting it may be the 12v battery having an issue?