[virgiljj]

I am planning a trip where I will not drive my Volt for about a month. Should I leave it plugged into the L2 charger for the entire time?

 

[N8XWB]

No! Run the battery down to around 10 miles range and leave it unplugged. If you have an appropriate trickle charger, connect it to your 12 volt battery terminals located under the hood.

 

[jbakerjonathan]

Your Owner's Manual explains what you should do when you park it for an extended period of time. I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the instructions.

 

[Sean-a-Tron]

It'll probably be fine to leave it plugged in. Though I'd recommend enabling transport mode (link). This will cut off nearly all 12V systems so they do not drain your 12V battery. For a month of storage, that's all you'll need to worry about. You do not need to drain the traction battery.

 

[Off Oil]

The manual is very specific regarding the battery and long term storage for different time-frames. I would make sure to follow this.

 

[DonC]

Totally a preference. A couple of things to keep in mind. First is that a month is not considered to be "long term". Second is that the Volt doesn't use the entire SOC. Third is that after a couple of days plugged in the Volt will stop conditioning the battery. Fourth is that if the SOC is high enough the Volt will use the battery to cool itself if the temperature is too high.

The biggest issues we've seen in these situations is the 12v going dead, which is the same problem you'd get with an ICE vehicle. If you do a search you should find any number of threads discussing this. I can also dimly remember one problem reported by a member who was a former GM employee who parked at the airport but I can't remember the specifics. Perhaps someone with a better memory can chime in.

 

[TSquare]

I am planning a trip where I will not drive my Volt for about a month. Should I leave it plugged into the L2 charger for the entire time?

Here is what the 2017 manual says:

Vehicle Storage

Up to four weeks
. Plug in the high voltage battery
charge cord if temperatures will
exceed 35 °C (95 °F) and keep
the 12-volt battery cables
connected.

Four weeks to 12 months
. Discharge the high voltage
battery until two or three bars
remain on the battery range
indicator (Battery symbol) on the
instrument cluster.
. Do not plug in the high voltage
battery charge cord.
. Remove the black negative (−)
cable from the 12-volt battery.
Attach a trickle charger to the
battery terminals or keep the
12-volt battery cables connected
and trickle charge from the
underhood remote positive (+)
and negative (−) terminals. See
Jump Starting - North America
0 305 for the location of these
terminals.

 

[jupitermoon]

I am planning a trip where I will not drive my Volt for about a month. Should I leave it plugged into the L2 charger for the entire time?

If you are leaving the vehicle in an extreme cold or hot environment, yes...leave it plugged in. If not, run it down to about 50% and leave it unplugged, Li-I batteries do not like to be charged fully and discharge. The best charging level for Li-I batteries is around 50%.

 

[2VoltFamily]

Go with the manual. However, I would do like it says for 4 weeks or longer. I do not like leaving it plugged in due to thunder/electrical storms frying the EVSE. So I keep that unplugged from the wall as well.

I lost one EVSE due to electric surge during a storm. At the time it was under warranty. Not anymore so I like to protect the investment as much as possible.

 

[ClarksonCote]

Best thing to do, assuming temperatures won't be above 90 or so, is to get the battery to about 50% state of charge and leave it unplugged. Lithium ion batteries are happiest at their nominal voltage which is about a 50% state of charge.

 

[Toolworker]

When I am away for 2 to 5 weeks I run it down to about half charge (probably not necessary but better for the batteries) and put it in transport mode.

The first couple of times I did this, I measured the 12v battery before and after, and found very little voltage loss. So this has become my routine.

If I were expecting high temps I would just leave it plugged in.