It creates electricity, but it was just probably not running at a high enough RPM to actively charge the battery.

On the power display in the DIC you would see a very small yellow bar on the ICE side.

 

Thanks. I should have clarified this was for the ELR, but I expect they are the same at this level.
I glanced on occasion (I was driving to work) but couldnt see even a pixel of yellow. It could well be that it was just so small it didnt show up. The engine seemed to run at quite a slow speed...

 

I don't know how similar the ELR's programming is. The Volt will generally choose to run EMM at 1400 rpm and 50% throttle, generating 5-6 kW in my experience. My older Volt will load follow with the engine while it is on if the car is being driven, but I suspect newer Volts are different.

(Though another member measured his EMM on a newer Volt and didn't see any increase in battery SoC, for reasons I don't understand yet.)

 

I think I would have put it in hold mode when the message came up - does the ELR give the option to not go into EMM? The Volt gives you one pass option but it will run the next time you drive.

 

The ELR's EMM is different from a GUI or user experience perspective. It still functions exactly like my 2012 Volt, however, to the driver, the software/display/experience seems different.

For example, on the Volt, when EMM was due, the entire center LCD screen told you clearly what the rules were. The ELR has a message just at the bottom of the central LCD screen. The description was less detailed. Also, if you ignored it and started driving the message would disappear. In the Volt, you had to dismiss the EMM message to make it go away.

The next day, in the ELR, the EMM message appeared again and then disappeared when I selected another icon (like radio) and it automatically started the engine. Also, the Driver Information Center was not entirely clear that the engine was running like it is in the Volt (The battery turned gray and the gas bar turned green, then they swapped when EMM completed). This may be due to the Configurable Cluster that I had in Classic Enhanced Mode, not sure.

 

I'm not sure what mode I have my cluster in. Its enhanced, but I think classic.
Anyway, I was watching the power display on the CUE and I did get some "blue" for using gas. And as I said, I did see the split graph on the right side of the cluster indicating engine was running.
I had the same basic results. I delayed EMM several times, but in the end, when I hit the 24 hour limit, it ran anyway.
I'll say this tho, too, just for giggles... So far, I havent gotten 'hit' for the gas usage on voltstats. My EMM ran yesterday (11/6) at 6:30am, and as of today (11/7) at 4:30pm (the last "updated" on voltstats) I still have 7 weeks and 2 days "miles driven without gas". I just find that interesting based on Volt discussions I had read...
I think total gas used for EMM was .08 gal.

 

Just like clockwork, my ELR notified me of EMM required on Saturday. Just thought I'd post that I found this interesting because its been 7 weeks since the last time, but I have run the ICE several times during that period. I guess it didnt run enough to reset. I've had several ERDTT periods, but also two (that I remember) times that I ran the battery dead. I'd have to go back and find them on voltstats to see how many miles it was, but I seem to remember it being on the order of 3-4 miles... Guess it wasnt enough.
Who knows....