[Allannde]

This is my first post here. I have owned a Prius PHEV for 5 years.

Last Wednesday I took delivery of a new Volt. It has been sitting in my unheated garage since, plugged in so that the thermal control will work. We are having a cold snap in Spokane (think 0 degrees). The car is in Normal Mode. When I press START the ICE comes on. I can hear it, I can feel it and I can smell the exhaust.

I thought the ICE would only come on when the high voltage battery was depleted. What is happening?

 

[WopOnTour]

There is a menu in vehicle configuration settings to disable engine run during remote start (plugged in)

Refer to P138-140 in your owners manual

Settings>Vehicle>Climate and Air Quality>Engine Assist Heat (plugged in)> OFF

BTW you can also lower the default setting for the "Engine Run Due To Temperature" (ERDTT) feature in that menu as well.
If cabin comfort is most important to you, leave it at the default 35F setting.
But if NOT burning ANY fuel (even for heat) is what you desire you can lower the setting to 15F

Welcome to gm-volt.com
WOT

 

[voganni]

If it's below 35° in your garage and "engine assisted heating" (ERDTT) is set to the higher temp, the engine will start to provide cabin heat. You can select "deferred" in the config menu and lower this threshold to 15° And as WOT says, you want to disable "engine assisted heat while plugged in" if your preheating in a garage!
We're in the throes of the same cold snap up in Kettle Falls. Hopefully tonight is the last night!

 

[Allannde]

My thanks to both WopOnTour and voganni for your rapid and helpful replies. I suspected that there was a setting but I did not know where to start looking. I thought the if I wanted heat I could turn on the heater. The problem for me is that I prefer not to turn off the ICE unless it has had a chance to warm up and I often have a very short trip which does not permit that unless I change my plans. I prefer to be able to choose when the Ice comes on.

With my Prius, the warm up was done at 140 degrees which I measure with a ScanGuage. Is that different with the Volt?

 

[Arcanox]

My thanks to both WopOnTour and voganni for your rapid and helpful replies. I suspected that there was a setting but I did not know where to start looking. I thought the if I wanted heat I could turn on the heater. The problem for me is that I prefer not to turn off the ICE unless it has had a chance to warm up and I often have a very short trip which does not permit that unless I change my plans. I prefer to be able to choose when the Ice comes on.

With my Prius, the warm up was done at 140 degrees which I measure with a ScanGuage. Is that different with the Volt?

The Volt (when in "ERDTT", or Engine Running Due To Temperature mode) likes to keep its coolant between about 120-125 *F and 145-150 *F. It'll run the ICE to keep it between those temperatures. Thankfully the Volt's ICE warms up very fast (much faster than my old Highlander Hybrid) so it doesn't need to run much.

But as everyone else has said, you can set your "Engine Assist Heat" to "Deferred" and it will use electric heat until the outside temperature drops below 15 *F.

 

[ampera_jed]

I have had a couple of cars that were putting out warm air within (less than) 60 seconds from first cranking. The Gen1 engine takes about 4 minutes. How quick is the Gen 2?

The best car I have had for this was a high performance 4 cylinder normally aspirated engine with a magnesium-aluminium alloy head and a ~12:1 compression ratio, and it was all but instant.

These days the exhaust manifold is also an integral part of the cylinder head on the latest designs and these warm up 'very fast'.

If you really want heat straight away the best plan is to put it on MAX for a few minutes until the engine can get involved in heating the cabin heater coolant up. (I presume this is the same for Gen 2 as Gen 1?) then power the electric heating off. It doesn't use that much energy if you only run it for a few minutes.

 

[don shaw]

You also pre heat the car remotely with key fob, 10 or more minutes in advance of leaving, which wil warm up the car using grid power. I am quite sure gas motor will not start even in extreme cold until you get in the car and press the start button.

 

[Arcanox]

You also pre heat the car remotely with key fob, 10 or more minutes in advance of leaving, which wil warm up the car using grid power. I am quite sure gas motor will not start even in extreme cold until you get in the car and press the start button.

That's only true if the "Engine Assist Heat Plugged In" setting is "Off". Something to note, as well, is if the "grid power" is a 120V EVSE, the battery will still drain because the plug power is not enough by itself to power the heater.

 

[quirkySquirt]

I have had a couple of cars that were putting out warm air within (less than) 60 seconds from first cranking. The Gen1 engine takes about 4 minutes. How quick is the Gen 2?

With recent temps in 28F to 34F in the morning, I tested this recently. FYI, my car parks outside and I've only done this twice cause it's too freakin' cold to run without preconditioning. With EV only, using 74F, blowing air only on windshield, RECIRC on, FAN at 2/3, I can feel warm air at the driver's vent in about 3 stop lights (roughly 2 minutes). When using ICE in HOLD immediately after starting the car, I felt heat at the vent in about 2 stop lights. Temps outside were freezing and about 30F (was keeping track of my commute using Wundermap site to avoid icy areas).

Heated steering wheel took 10 seconds before starting to feel warm. I love it.

 

[jbakerjonathan]

<snip> I suspected that there was a setting but I did not know where to start looking. <snip>

When I find myself in such a situation, I attempt to RTFM. I also find doing a Google search helpful at times. Needless to say, this forum quite often has immediate answers, too, thanks to helpful members and experienced individuals. Welcome and I hope that the Volt is all that you want it to be.... it is for me 8^)

 

[ampera_jed]

. When using ICE in HOLD immediately after starting the car, I felt heat at the vent in about 2 stop lights. Temps outside were freezing and about 30F (was keeping track of my commute using Wundermap site to avoid icy areas).

That sounds ALOT quicker than Gen 1!

Nice!

It's probably got the integral exhaust manifold design feature.

My Ampera has to use up 0.3kWh before the engine even starts in HOLD. That's 2 or 4 stop lights from my house (depending on route) before it even starts!

The only way to fix it is to use MAX electrical heating for 5 minutes, which then also prompts the HOLD due to the electricity it uses, but that means 0.5kWh (2 miles range drop) is already used up for electrical heating.

 

[Arcanox]

That sounds ALOT quicker than Gen 1!

Nice!

It's probably got the integral exhaust manifold design feature.

My Ampera has to use up 0.3kWh before the engine even starts in HOLD. That's 2 or 4 stop lights from my house (depending on route) before it even starts!

The only way to fix it is to use MAX electrical heating for 5 minutes, which then also prompts the HOLD due to the electricity it uses, but that means 0.5kWh (2 miles range drop) is already used up for electrical heating.

Odd...on the Gen 2, it will start the ICE in hold as soon as you first accelerate above a certain amount if the coolant is below a certain temperature. Usually I can get out of my driveway and to the end of my neighborhood (which is 90% downhill) with the ICE off, and then it will start it as soon as I pull onto the main road, but won't rev it up for probably 60 seconds (which is good...don't rev a cold engine!).

 

[Allannde]

When I find myself in such a situation, I attempt to RTFM. I also find doing a Google search helpful at times. Needless to say, this forum quite often has immediate answers, too, thanks to helpful members and experienced individuals. Welcome and I hope that the Volt is all that you want it to be.... it is for me 8^)

Thank you for your kind thoughts. I am an "old timer" on PriusChat. Being a newbie is a new thing for me.

I have been pouring over the owner's manual and actually I did not find a setting for Engine Run due to Temperature (ERDTT). I did find reference to a message which might appear. Even after I did get to settings on my new Volt, I did not find any such choice under "vehicle". I did disable "engine heat while plugged in" and it seemed to have the desired effect of turning off during the ICE during READY after restart. The temperature in my garage at the time was 28 degrees but the car could have been warmer since the high density battery thermal control had been active for several days. The ICE might have gone off because the car was warmer.

Indeed, owners helping each other is really great. There were many times that I responded to a question, myself. It is a good feeling when we can help as well as be helped.

 

[Arcanox]

Thank you for your kind thoughts. I am an "old timer" on PriusChat. Being a newbie is a new thing for me.

I have been pouring over the owner's manual and actually I did not find a setting for Engine Run due to Temperature (ERDTT). I did find reference to a message which might appear. Even after I did get to settings on my new Volt, I did not find any such choice under "vehicle". I did disable "engine heat while plugged in" and it seemed to have the desired effect of turning off during the ICE during READY after restart. The temperature in my garage at the time was 28 degrees but the car could have been warmer since the high density battery thermal control had been active for several days. The ICE might have gone off because the car was warmer.

Indeed, owners helping each other is really great. There were many times that I responded to a question, myself. It is a good feeling when we can help as well as be helped.

The setting you're looking for should be in Vehicle > Climate & Air Quality > "Engine Assist Heat" > "Deferred". "On" is ~35 *F, "Deferred" is ~15 *F