[Volt fan]

After it became clear that my wife and I needed a bigger car than our 2009 Smart Passion Coupe (in order to respond to calls to transport our granddaughters), I researched hybrids like the Prius and Lexus CT200h as well as Chevy's Volt. The Volt won, primarily because it covers so many miles on battery alone before the ICE kicks in, and secondly, because the ICE powers a generator rather than directly driving the car. This preserves the "electric character" of the car even when the battery range is exhausted. Very cool. Furthermore, our typical daily drive rarely covers more miles than the battery range. In short, we are loving the "New to Us 2013."

I'm new to this website, and very excited to have found it. It answers so many questions you just can't get from the owner's manual. The one question I am still trying to find an answer to is: Is there any way to disable the annoying horn alarms...beeps when it locks the doors; beeps when you plug it in. I live in a townhouse and worry that I'm annoying the heck out of my neighbors!

 

[TheBlueFlash]

Post pics asap, we love pics here. I too purchased a pre-loved 2013 Volt back in March. I am also leasing a Nissan Leaf. For some reason, I feel like the Leaf has more rear passenger room than the Volt, otherwise, I am real happy with the Volt. The Volt feels like a luxury brand car compared to the Leaf. Enjoy weening yourself off of fossil fuels. It is liberating! ^_^

BTW, I hear you about all the beeps and chirps. I especially hate the loud horn blast when you step out of the car with it still running. I do this frequently when I forget something and have to run back into the house to get it and yeah that 3 horn blast is pretty annoying. Anyone know how to kill it?

 

[Barry]

Many of the chirps can be silenced. Some cannot. Hit the config button and review the menus for things that can be turned off.

The blast when you leave the car running can't be turned off, but there are some ways to avoid it. Some are kind of convoluted. The simplest ones are to leave the door unlatched or turn the car off when exiting.

 

[jbakerjonathan]

I thought that you might like to understand how the Gen1 works:

http://www.plugincars.com/exclusive...rivetrain-says-volt-electric-vehicle-90758.ht

“Even when the gas engine is on and partially driving the wheels, it cannot operate without electricity flowing to one of the other motors.

“The gas engine, under most conditions, will be used to drive the generator and produce electricity, and will not be used to drive the wheels.

“There is no "direct" mechanical linkage between the Volt's gas engine and the wheels, rather there is an indirect linkage that is accomplished by meshing the power output of the engine with the power output of one of the other two electric motors.

“Motor Trend's reporting that the magic cutoff speed of 70 mph is what the car uses to determine whether or not to make the engine to partially drive the wheels is incorrect. The engine is used to partially drive the wheels when the car calculates that it will be a more efficient use of the engine's power. There is no hard cutoff point.”

I sensed the ICE engaging directly at speeds as low as 35-37 mph when I accelerated slowly, or maintained that speed for a while, with the ICE and transmission fully warmed up during my road trips in my 2014.

The GM engineers came up with a really well-thought-out drive-train that is very efficient.

Here’s another set of videos explaining how the Gen1 Volt works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80E1fOp95rA

 

[ClarksonCote]

Is there any way to disable the annoying horn alarms...beeps when it locks the doors; beeps when you plug it in. I live in a townhouse and worry that I'm annoying the heck out of my neighbors!

Welcome! There's some beeps you can disable, others you cannot. Thanks litigious society!

Beeping when locked: You can configure this under the "Config" menu in the car, along with other settings. I've setup my 2013 to automatically lock when I walk away from it, and to beep so I know it locked. You can also tell it to flash the lights instead, or even to do nothing, I think.

Beeping when plugging in: You can disable this if you're "sneaky" and using the 120V EVSE that came with the car (or any other EVSE that isn't "hardwired"). Basically, you need to set your car up for delayed charging, so it doesn't start charging immediately when you plug it in. Next, you plug in the EVSE to the car BEFORE plugging it into the wall. Then, plug it into the wall. You should see the dash light start to blink green, indicating it is setup for delayed charging, and there will be no beep.

You can setup the delayed charging to start at, say, 11pm, so it's ready to go at 8am, assuming you setup a 12A charging rate. As an side, back to the litigious society, the car will default to charge at the slower 8 amp rate, and you need to force the 12 amp rate each time. This is because of lawsuits and the fact that some people's electrical is not up to snuff to support a high current for so many hours.

There's ways to override an individual charging session to charge immediately when you need that capability, but in those cases, it will beep.

 

[Carl S]

Congrats on the Volt, Volt fan!

I like your screen name, too:

 

[Volt fan]

Thanks for the "sneaky" tips. One question RE the car defaulting to the 8 amp rate...does it ALWAYS do this? or only when set up for delayed charging?

 

[Fred_B]

It always defaults to 8 amps, but it's only an extra tap or two on the screen to set it to 12 amps - not a big deal. If you get a L2 EVSE it will use full power with no screen taps required (230V, ~15A)