Mountain Mode not needed (Gen 2)

6086 Views 25 Replies 11 Participants Last post by wordptom, Oct 5, 2018

obermd

Discussion Starter · Oct 1, 2018 (Edited)

It's leaf peeping season in Colorado, so this morning I filled my tank and headed for the mountains. I live at 5,700 ft above sea level and ran out of battery after a little over 47 miles and a net climb of 2,800 ft. I stayed in Normal mode the entire loop, driving over Kenosha Pass at 10,000 ft, Independence Pass at 12,095 ft, Vail Pass at 10,662 ft, and through the eastbound bore of the Eisenhower tunnel at 11,158 ft. I drove the posted speed limit the entire way and kept my Volt in Normal mode the entire time. Kenosha, Vail, and Eisenhower approaches are posted 65 MPH. Kenosha isn't that steep so my car was only pulling about 20 KW on the climb. Climbing Vail and Eisenhower my car was running about 40-45 KW power output and the ICE was happily screaming along. I was even able to accelerate up both passes to about 80 MPH using the Normal mode "low" buffer in the battery. The descent from Independence Pass to Aspen actually resulted in three bars of power being regenerated. When I got to down to Georgetown I got off I-70 for a bathroom break and had one bar of battery from the descent. My car correctly identified it as "gas" power and allocated it to the gas fuel economy number even after I restarted the engine even though the Classic Enhanced display showed battery power only upon restart.

Here's the Energy Usage display when I got home.

Electronics Multimedia Technology Electronic device Gps navigation device

The leaves were stunning with a variety of greens, yellows, and reds throughout the drive.

One other note: I was passed on I-70 by a CDOT (Colorado Department of Transportation) painted Chevy Bolt. Interesting...

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jimbee

· #21 · Oct 3, 2018

wordptom said:
Seems to me that if you disable the Volt’s regenerative braking system and rely on the friction brakes, you will reduce the Volt’s total trip range without reducing the amount of grid electricity and gas used. That would seem to indicate that regen provides additional range and should be included as fuel used to drive the recorded distances when calculating fuel mileage.

However, electric miles driven using regen battery power (created while driving in Extended Range Mode) and gas miles driven using gas when the engine is running are combined in the single Gas Miles category (= distances driven not using grid electricity or regen created while driving on grid electricity). We have no method of including the regen as fuel consumed when calculating the Volt’s gas mileage.

Nope, regen energy is merely energy recovered that was originally supplied by gasoline or the charged battery. Without regen, it would have been lost as heat.

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Nanabanana

· #22 · Oct 5, 2018

I really need to learn how to drive my Volt. You folks have opened my eyes. I have been driving my car since 2012 and I rarely use L or switch back in forth between the 2. Can you do this while you are moving? Wouldn't it damage the transmission. Obviously I have a Generation 1. I live 1.3 miles from my job. I drive to and from everyday. I do take my grandson to school and pick him up from afterschool daycare. And what is ICE? I am really not knowledgeable about this machine. I love my car. I hit a deer at 77 mph 2 years ago. I was driving at night. This care saved my life. It is a tank! Cost to repair was a little over $5,000.00. But it looks brand new. It hit the right front quarter panel. right where the inverter is. I need to read my manual so I know what my full capabilities are for EV use. I have 47,462 miles on the car. It is 6 years old.

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JoeReal

· #23 · Oct 5, 2018

Nanabanana said:
I really need to learn how to drive my Volt. You folks have opened my eyes. I have been driving my car since 2012 and I rarely use L or switch back in forth between the 2. Can you do this while you are moving? Wouldn't it damage the transmission. Obviously I have a Generation 1. I live 1.3 miles from my job. I drive to and from everyday. I do take my grandson to school and pick him up from afterschool daycare. And what is ICE? I am really not knowledgeable about this machine. I love my car. I hit a deer at 77 mph 2 years ago. I was driving at night. This care saved my life. It is a tank! Cost to repair was a little over $5,000.00. But it looks brand new. It hit the right front quarter panel. right where the inverter is. I need to read my manual so I know what my full capabilities are for EV use. I have 47,462 miles on the car. It is 6 years old.

What transmission affected by D vs L? LOL! The only transmission is the CVT.

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obermd

Discussion Starter · #24 · Oct 5, 2018

Nanabanana said:
I really need to learn how to drive my Volt. You folks have opened my eyes. I have been driving my car since 2012 and I rarely use L or switch back in forth between the 2. Can you do this while you are moving? Wouldn't it damage the transmission. Obviously I have a Generation 1. I live 1.3 miles from my job. I drive to and from everyday. I do take my grandson to school and pick him up from afterschool daycare. And what is ICE? I am really not knowledgeable about this machine. I love my car. I hit a deer at 77 mph 2 years ago. I was driving at night. This care saved my life. It is a tank! Cost to repair was a little over $5,000.00. But it looks brand new. It hit the right front quarter panel. right where the inverter is. I need to read my manual so I know what my full capabilities are for EV use. I have 47,462 miles on the car. It is 6 years old.

I frequently switch back and forth between L and D. All these two gear positions do is tell the ECU how you want the car to respond to no throttle to make the car act like an ICE slushbox in the same L & D gear positions.

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Barry

· #25 · Oct 5, 2018 (Edited)

You can switch to L any time you want at any speed, and switch back and forth all you want. All it does is make the car slow down more when your foot is off the accelerator. I like using L when driving down a steep hill. It makes my speed stay at the speed I set in cruise control.

ICE refers to the gas engine in the Volt. ICE = "Internal Combustion Engine."

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wordptom

· #26 · Oct 5, 2018

Nanabanana said:
I really need to learn how to drive my Volt. You folks have opened my eyes. I have been driving my car since 2012 and I rarely use L or switch back in forth between the 2. Can you do this while you are moving? Wouldn't it damage the transmission. Obviously I have a Generation 1. I live 1.3 miles from my job. I drive to and from everyday. I do take my grandson to school and pick him up from afterschool daycare. And what is ICE? I am really not knowledgeable about this machine. I love my car...

"D" and "L" aren’t gear settings, they are regen level settings that take effect in the Gen 1 Volt only after you take your foot off the accelerator. You don’t "drive" in Low, you "slow down" in Low... D and L are settings for determining how aggressively you want your Volt to reduce your momentum whenever you take your foot off the accelerator... do you want the car to "coast" in D (relatively light regen) or do you want to quickly reduce your Volt’s momentum by engaging the stronger L-level regen each time you take your foot off the accelerator?

Regenerative braking is an alternative to friction braking in a Volt, and it doesn’t matter if you are driving in Electric Mode using battery power or in Extended Range Mode using gas with the internal combustion engine (ICE) running... once regen puts power into the battery, however, the distance you drive on that regen battery power will be classified under the driving mode you were in when you created it... driving downhill with a fully depleted battery, or in Hold Mode (not available in the 2011/2012 Volt), will give you regen-battery-powered Gas Miles once you reach the bottom of the hill and start using that regen. If you drive down the same hill in Electric Mode, the regen-battery-powered miles will be recorded as Electric Miles.

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