Hello Gen2 Volt guru's ... I love this forum for the deep knowledge base about our cars. I have a subtle question for everyone: I have owned my 2016 now since new (about 3 years), and it's been a great drive so far with few issues (a couple of recalls early on ... and then nearly bulletproof since). I tend to average around 90% plus on full electric mode, so to maximize my range, I pump my tire pressures up to about 40psi all around and I only carry 1-2 gallons of gasoline for the occasional extended trip (why carry weight you don't need, and will cost you electric miles?)
Last night, I took a trip that had me run out of battery power about 3 miles from my house -- as usual, ZERO issues -- the ICE fired up seemlessly and took me home -- but this got me to thinking:
In the conventional ICE world, one of the worst things you can do (as far as wear and tear) is to take short trips ... where the ICE doesn't have a chance to fully warm up. So, if I'm using the Volt's ice for 5 minutes, it's definitely not coming up to temp.
Also: conventional wisdom on using ICE cars in the winter is leaving the gas tank full (to help prevent condensation). My car is garaged almost every night, but may spend the day out in freezing temps during the day at work.
So:
1) should I modify my driving habits,, and if I'm marginal on electric power to kick in the ICE early so that it WILL have a chance to fully warm up before parking for the night?
2) Should I be adding some sort of stabilizer/de-icer to the gas for long term waiting??
thanks in advance,
Jd
Last night, I took a trip that had me run out of battery power about 3 miles from my house -- as usual, ZERO issues -- the ICE fired up seemlessly and took me home -- but this got me to thinking:
In the conventional ICE world, one of the worst things you can do (as far as wear and tear) is to take short trips ... where the ICE doesn't have a chance to fully warm up. So, if I'm using the Volt's ice for 5 minutes, it's definitely not coming up to temp.
Also: conventional wisdom on using ICE cars in the winter is leaving the gas tank full (to help prevent condensation). My car is garaged almost every night, but may spend the day out in freezing temps during the day at work.
So:
1) should I modify my driving habits,, and if I'm marginal on electric power to kick in the ICE early so that it WILL have a chance to fully warm up before parking for the night?
2) Should I be adding some sort of stabilizer/de-icer to the gas for long term waiting??
thanks in advance,
Jd