[ryanyoder]

Hey guys I’m excited to take delivery of a blue 2013 Volt tomorrow.
It’s got 55k miles, cloth seats, and is pretty clean.
I plan to replace the seats with Katzkins leather and want to add Android Auto and a backup cam.
It has a shimmy around 15 mph so the dealer is replacing the axle tomorrow. If that corrects it I will complete the sale.

 

[Bettergolf72]

I wouldn't buy it. The main battery is near end of life at 10 years old and there are no replacements available except for other used 10 year old batteries (and they are very expensive). The 55k miles is nice but the battery goes bad more so with time, not miles. In my mind it's a big gamble.....

 

[Cloudnine]

I wouldn't buy it. The main battery is near end of life at 10 years old and there are no replacements available except for other used 10 year old batteries (and they are very expensive). The 55k miles is nice but the battery goes bad more so with time, not miles. In my mind it's a big gamble.....

For you, me and a lot of others this doesn't make sense. Nevertheless, it's his money. Maybe if he gets a couple years out of a 2013, he'll be happy.

 

[Steverino]

My 2011 is still running as are others.

moved to Newcomers...

 

[Off Oil]

For you, me and a lot of others this doesn't make sense. Nevertheless, it's his money. Maybe if he gets a couple years out of a 2013, he'll be happy.

I did that a couple times when just starting out. I needed a cheap vehicle for local transportation, and would buy something at or close to salvage value, hoping to get 2-3 years out of it. That would be my approach to a used Volt today.
To the OP, I would not however be sinking much money into upgrades. That's a losing endeavor.

 

[MikeBCo]

My 2011 is still running as are others.

fake news! All 2011s are dead by now Steve. You're delusional. Get some help brother. We're here for you.

 

[Cloudnine]

My 2011 is still running as are others.

moved to Newcomers...

But would you pay a retail used car price for it now....

 

[Steverino]

But would you pay a retail used car price for it now....

I don't know what that means. Even though my Volt is in very good/Excellent condition, the battery is the main thing. Knowing it will need to be replaced at a price of between $8k to $10k via Greentec, I would not pay more than $1500 for it. With a replaced battery, the car is in great shape. Still, going on 12 years old "car stuff" repairs will happen and the question then will be parts availability for a low volume car.

If you can find one for Sales, I'd say a lightly used Bolt EV would be a better choice and value. I have a Bolt EV, but it too will eventually face the battery replacement issue of course.

My Volt replacement will likely be the 2024 Equinox EV based on the Ultium platform that at least technically addresses the battery replacement issue in a very good way. Take whatever brick is coming off the battery line and drop it in the battery pack. No worries about supply or how fresh it is. Technically. As some point out, we won't know for sure until the 2024 batter bricks start needing replacement around 2035, 2036, 2037 or so.

 

[Cloudnine]

I would not pay more than $1500 for it.

Thank you.

 

[Bettergolf72]

My 2011 is still running as are others.

moved to Newcomers...

Yes he may get 2, who knows even 5 years use but he didn't say what he was paying for it and I'm pretty sure he has no idea about the lack of battery replacements. The information I gave him is something he needs to know to help with his decision. Pretty sure this dealer isn't selling it cheap and surely he wouldn't mention about the battery life (if he even understands it himself).

 

[Ziv]

My 2011 is still running as are others.

moved to Newcomers...

Yes he may get 2, who knows even 5 years use but he didn't say what he was paying for it and I'm pretty sure he has no idea about the lack of battery replacements. The information I gave him is something he needs to know to help with his decision. Pretty sure this dealer isn't selling it cheap and surely he wouldn't mention about the battery life (if he even understands it himself).

So Volt packs are degrading a lot after 10 to 12 years of driving? I have been away from this site for several years but my 2013 was still getting around 40 to 42 during the warmer months when I sold it in 2020, which was maybe a 3-5% reduction from new. But it was garaged and NoVA winters were fairly mild. Kind of surprised the packs degrade that fast after lasting so well for 7 years. I had thought when I sold it that I would still have 80% of original capacity at 14 or 15 years. Guess I was wrong on that one. A Gen 1 Volt with even 66% of its original range is a decent town car, but not worth buying if the AER is going to tank in the next few years.
I am beginning to doubt my own memory. Now I have to go back and look at my last posts to see if I really was getting 40 miles of AER when I sold it...

 

[Ziv]

I just went back to my last posts on GM-Volt dot com back in 2019, a year before I sold the car and I was complaining that my AER had fallen. So my memory is part of the problem. LOL!

 

[Sir*real]

Congratulations for your Volt! You will find this forum very helpful. One tip I would give to a new Volt owner would be never run the battery down past 4 or 5 miles or 9.0 kwh used on the charging stats screen. Switch over to Hold or Mountain Mode at that point. Also plug in immediately when you get home or to your destination if at all possible when the battery is at that level or lower. I found the battery voltage will drop when its at a low state of charge and sitting with the car off and unplugged (not good). This will #1 reduce stress on the HV battery and #2 reduce the chance of one cell dropping below the threshold in the software and possibly "bricking" the car. You will give up a little range but I believe this will extend the life of your battery.

 

[masospaghetti]

Other than anecdotal one-offs, do we have any real statistics for battery life on Volts? Almost by design, people that come to this forum are having trouble with their car so taking trends from forum posts is going to be misleading.

We know that Lithium batteries degrade with age on some sort of bell curve but I have yet to see data to convince me what the "average" age is where the battery goes bad.

Even taking averages for other EVs, I would expect the Gen 1 Volt to be among the best for battery longevity since the battery buffer is comparably very large and the thermal management is very good.

 

[hellsop]

We've no more than anecdotes, but we've got enough anecdotes now to paint broad strokes about when a problem probably WON'T happen, but not enough to say when it probably WILL. Eventually we'll get to the point where 2011 and 2012s are scarce because so many of them have failed, but so far, it doesn't seem to have gotten to that point, so we can comfortably say things like "Sure, buy that 2017; you'll probably get at least five years out of it."

 

[ryanyoder]

So far so good with the Volt. I have a scanner and all cells are identical at full charge. Will check at lower levels. This is my third car and a run about so I drive it less than 15 miles and it’s back on the charger with most trips under five. I threw in new Katzkin seats, a LCD rear view mirror, new tires and Lloyds mats to make it feel new. The dash pad has issues with failing plastic so that’s my next area of concern. This was my alternative to a new Tesla so it’s cheap thrills and so far so good. If the battery dies I’ll get a refurb and report back.

 

[bowenmartins1]

Welcome

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[ryanyoder]

So far so good. The Bluetooth audio is unusable. I might do an Android Auto conversion. The new rear view mirror and Katzkins seats are awesome. Lloyds Mats are working well. I also got some Firestone Firehawk AS tires for 550 or less out the door. Loving the Volt. Will post back with any updates.