My First "Propulsion Power is Reduced" Experience

14559 Views 15 Replies 9 Participants Last post by DMC5180, Jun 12, 2017

DBMoore

Discussion Starter · Jun 7, 2017

Living in Phoenix, I have had no need to use Mountain Mode until today when I had to drive to Show Low. I hadn't realized just how critical it is to use Mountain Mode when driving in the mountains. I assumed the engine generator would take care of my needs on this trip. I was wrong.

Driving across the Valley, I used up all the traction battery power, and as I started up the mountain with the engine running things were fine for a bit, then the "Propulsion Power is Reduced" message came up and the car slowed, then slowed some more, then I had to pull over and stop. Having read related posts on this forum I knew what was happening, so didn't panic. Put it in Mountain Mode, waited just a couple of minutes for some battery charge, then all was well. Carried on the trip with no further concerns.

Once again, the Chevy engineers knew what they were doing in the design of the car to include Mountain Mode. Once again, however, it goes to show that driving a Volt requires some understanding of how it works.

I understand the Gen II cars have more power available from the engine generator such that Mountain Mode isn't really necessary. Yet another reason to lust after a Gen II Volt.

Save

1 - 3 of 16 Posts

DMC5180

· #2 · Jun 7, 2017

My First "Propulsion Power is Reduced" Experience

I love that drive. Just think of all the regen you'll get going back down to the valley. L will come in quite handy. It would be an interesting test to have the HV Bat near empty when you hit the long down mountain grade just to see how much capacity gets recaptured.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Save

DMC5180

· #14 · Jun 12, 2017

My First "Propulsion Power is Reduced" Experience

I actually tried the Self charging Via MM yesterday. The total Round trip Ended up being 66 miles. The trip started with GOM at 42 and Normal mode (L) all the way to our destination about 32 miles. At the end of the first leg the GOM was at 13 ( at about 21 mile point their is a 2 mile 5% downhill grade that helped Regen 1 bar ) got back 3 mi of range. After leaving the first stop, I drove to another in town stop 3 miles away that consumed 2 miles on the GOM. When we left there I had 11 miles showing. I drove in N(L) until I was down to 3 mi. and 1 bar showing. It was about 2-3 miles before the 5% Uphill grade. I switched to MM with 58 miles range showing in the fuel tank. I noticed something interesting. The engine does not immediately begin charging. I assume it goes through a Warm up phase before actually running at higher Rpm to produce excess energy for battery storage. This lasted about 1 mile then the the Engine started reving up. By the time I reached the Up hill grade it gained back 1 bar. I ended up getting stuck behind a truck with camper trailer in a 1 lane construction zone climbing the hill at 45 mph. When I crested the hill the gas range was already down to 50 ( lost 8 miles in 4 miles). I drove another 10-12 miles in MM The Low fuel message came on in the middle. My gas range had dropped to 36 when the message came on. About 5 miles from home and a couple miles out of town, I switched Back to Normal mode since the battery was filled up the Red line in MM. GOM showed 18 EV miles. A couple Miles later , I stopped for Gas, then Proceeded Home. when I pulled in the Drive way I was Down 16 EV mi.
The Trip energy log showed. 40 EV miles out of the 66.3 driven.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

See less See more

Save

DMC5180

· #16 · Jun 12, 2017

I forgot to mention the kw consumption 10.5 for which it said , 40 miles this charge. I also did not power the car off at the gas station. The wife wanted the A/C running while i filled the tank. The tank fill was 8.6 gal. I started the trip with a GOM at 42 EV

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Save

1 - 3 of 16 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month