[jphou]

I've been seeing more posts about GEN1 volts having battery power issues. It's making me worried whether I should start looking to sell my model year 2014 Chevy Volt. The car is 7 years old and has 55K miles which 85% of the mileage was powered by the battery. I would love to be able to drive this vehicle for another 5-10 years since it's paid off.

I remember reading that the GEN1 had a 8 year or 100k warranty. I'm hitting the 8 year mark in the next 2 years since I purchased the vehicle in May 2015. Anyone else worried about the battery and end of warranty coverage?

 

[Off Oil]

From what I've seen so far, my conclusion is the battery failures are age related vs miles/cycles related. My 2017 Gen2 will be out of warranty due to mileage within 6 months. I think it's a great car for high mileage use. I've started to monitor the battery cell group voltages with the MyGreenVolt app, in order to try and predict battery issues before an actual failure occurs. I may or may not be successful in this regard. I currently would like to hold on to it until year 8, but I doubt beyond that. I also doubt 15 years on a Gen1 will be happening without dealing with battery issues.

You have to do a personal risk analysis and make the best decision for your situation.

 

[Steverino]

My 10 year old 2011 has close to 100k miles but is way past the 8 year warranty limit. If the battery ever dies I may consider getting it replaced for about $6k at Greentech auto if the rest of the car is still in good shape, which it currently is. Does that answer your question?

 

[Packard V8]

What would you buy to replace it? New cars depreciate in value as soon as you drive them off the dealer's lot. Depreciation is steepest in the first year of car ownership, tapering off the longer you hold the car. Over the first three years of car ownership, a new car will typically depreciate 45%. Since the average new car today is $40,000, depreciation alone will be $18,000. That's not a possibility, as might be a battery failure, but an absolute sure thing.

jack vines

 

[Tim S FL]

From what I've seen so far, my conclusion is the battery failures are age related vs miles/cycles related. My 2017 Gen2 will be out of warranty due to mileage within 6 months. I think it's a great car

You have to do a personal risk analysis and make the best decision for your situation.

Hello
You can also use
MyVoltControl. At 55k you probably have not seen any PPR events. I was getting them more often at 95k Miles. I monitored the voltage variations and saw them increasing to 81mv over a 3 month period. Brought the car in and they kept for 2 days and almost where going to check it more then gave it back. I think I came close to getting a battery but without A CeL forget about it

So after hearing Greentech could take 1 to 3months I traded it in on a Bolt. They gave me 8k for volt so Bolt cost about 22k. With the fast charge.

No telling for sure how far you’ll get. But would think you should at least get to 100k Miles

I probably should have kept it till 100k miles and hoped it tripped a CeL to get a new battery under warranty. But then I would have lost trade in value.

Good luck

 

[Tricoat_beauty2014]

I'll sell my 2018 before the Voltec warranty expires, but I've got just over 4 years.

I have owned a lot of cars, and I've never had to junk one so far. I don't want my Volt to be the first. Sadly, I don't think any EV battery is going to last over 12 years or so.

 

[Steverino]

I don't think any EV battery is going to last over 12 years or so.

Mine's at 10 years 4 months. I'll tell you in another 20 months. Of course, I hope you are very wrong, haha.

I've held onto my cars for 15 years or more. You just have to sink increasing amounts of money into maintenance, but usually far, far less than buying a new car would cost. I have found at 15+ years they are worth only about $300 to $1500 or so. Also, parts get harder to find for older cars, the Volt will definitely not be an exception.

With buy and hold, I don't worry about the depreciation Packard V8 mentions. So when my Volt gets replaced, I'll either junk it (not sure why that's seen as a bad thing) or sell it depending on it's condition.

Others like to trade cars every 2 years instead of buy and hold. Until the Volt and Bolt came along, I always bought those 2 year old cars, thanking the previous owner for taking the big depreciation hit for me and saving me a bunch of money on an almost new car. That savings enabled me to buy with cash, saving me interest and loan fees. Then I'd run them into the ground. All those savings eventually enabled me to buy both the Volt and Bolt new for cash. But the next EV I buy may well be a 2 year old coming off lease as they are generally the best bang for the buck.

Heck, there may be some great deals coming for Bolts being panic sold by owners due to the current battery recall.

 

[clublife.peoria]

It’s not just the battery for me, it’s everything else on this car. Hard drive Infotainment system, radar sensors. This is the first car that I’ve owned that I realized I cannot fix a lot of things myself, and that alone scares me. Even if I had to swap a second battery after my 3/100k warranty is up. Would I do it? Possibly. But by then (180k miles) everything electrical might be nearing the end of its life. My use is mostly gentle country driving, but I don’t know what the previous owner did with the car. My HV battery failure at 76k was a clue this might not be the best car long term for me.

 

[hellsop]

I get it, but top tip for the future, don't buy any cars newer than this, either. They're allllllll going to be this complicated, with sensors and automatic this and failure-prone whatsits because the whatsit didn't exists five years ago. I'm old enough to remember when EFI was a nightmare-sodden bucket of failure controlled by a hand wired box full of power transistors screwed to the firewall. Volvo replaced it twice on their dime and we ended up buying two more and only ONE of them was our fault (irredeemably ruining a PC board trying to replace a smoked component inside the box).

 

[Packard V8]

Mine's at 10 years 4 months. I'll tell you in another 20 months. Of course, I hope you are very wrong, haha.

I've held onto my cars for 15 years or more. You just have to sink increasing amounts of money into maintenance, but usually far, far less than buying a new car would cost. I have found at 15+ years they are worth only about $300 to $1500 or so. Also, parts get harder to find for older cars, the Volt will definitely not be an exception.

With buy and hold, I don't worry about the depreciation Packard V8 mentions. So when my Volt gets replaced, I'll either junk it (not sure why that's seen as a bad thing) or sell it depending on it's condition.

Others like to trade cars every 2 years instead of buy and hold. Until the Volt and Bolt came along, I always bought those 2 year old cars, thanking the previous owner for taking the big depreciation hit for me and saving me a bunch of money on an almost new car. That savings enabled me to buy with cash, saving me interest and loan fees. Then I'd run them into the ground. All those savings eventually enabled me to buy both the Volt and Bolt new for cash. But the next EV I buy may well be a 2 year old coming off lease as they are generally the best bang for the buck.

For true; the man with patience and discipline lets others help buy the car he wants.

Heck, there may be some great deals coming for Bolts being panic sold by owners due to the current battery recall.

Also true, for those who can avoid panic when Chicken Little raises his cry. From another forum:

I did exactly this. Just bought a 2017 last week off lease from independent dealer. Expecting a new battery in due time. I bought it BECAUSE of the recall.

jack vines

 

[saltsman]

Our 2014 has 187,000 miles and is still going strong. Battery appears to be in great shape.

It's a $6K gamble. With the market where it is now, you'll get top dollar for your trade -- but will pay even more for anything you replace it with.

We're going to keep ours and if we do get a battery issue, we'll likely swap in a rebuilt one. Perhaps if/when the market cools back down we might decide to pick up a used Gen 2 rather than repair. For now, we're sticking with the 2014 and plan to keep it as long is it can keep moving forward.

 

[Packard V8]

Our 2014 has 187,000 miles and is still going strong. Battery appears to be in great shape.

It's a $6K gamble. With the market where it is now, you'll get top dollar for your trade -- but will pay even more for anything you replace it with.

We're going to keep ours and if we do get a battery issue, we'll likely swap in a rebuilt one. Perhaps if/when the market cools back down we might decide to pick up a used Gen 2 rather than repair. For now, we're sticking with the 2014 and plan to keep it as long is it can keep moving forward.

Obviously, that's the most fiscally responsible choice. A seven-year-old car with 187kmi, every mile you get out of it essentially comes for free. It's worth only about $4k as a trade-in and if you got one more year out of it and scrapped it, that's still money ahead over a new car.

jack vines

 

[arbus]

Think it's bad now? Add 20 years to the equation.

As an ex-owner a G1 Honda Insight, battery worries are nothing new. Except, in the G1, you can fool the car into running without the battery (if you can stand the "performance"). Those with know-how and cash are going to great lengths to replace the old nickel-metal batteries with various types of roll-your-own lithiums. With that car, a "new" original chemistry battery with a 5-year warranty is ~$3,000. Refurbs are about half that. Lithium replacements... depends on what you wish to do. All this for a car that, beyond enthusiasts and collectors, isn't worth more than a couple grand--and that's for a nice one.

I had a cousin who used to say "marriages and cars have one thing in common: they both last forever if you're willing to put enough money and love into them." BTW... He was divorced and drove a first generation Pontiac Trans Sport.

I recently bought a 2015 Volt Premier (92k-miles) and think it's one of the nicest cars I've ever owned. The technology is well beyond me and I know if has the best (and worst) of two completely different modes of propulsion. It's a very complicated vehicle. But I knew all of that going in. If it craps out, then I'll have a hard decision to make. Until that happens, I'm going to enjoy the heck out of driving the electric car that I've wanted ever since I was 5 years old!

 

[Jay G]

I've been seeing more posts about GEN1 volts having battery power issues. It's making me worried whether I should start looking to sell my model year 2014 Chevy Volt. The car is 7 years old and has 55K miles which 85% of the mileage was powered by the battery. I would love to be able to drive this vehicle for another 5-10 years since it's paid off.

I remember reading that the GEN1 had a 8 year or 100k warranty. I'm hitting the 8 year mark in the next 2 years since I purchased the vehicle in May 2015. Anyone else worried about the battery and end of warranty coverage?

I have a 2012 with 125000. About a 1 1/2 years ago GM had an “ recall update”, ever since then my battery lost a little more than a KW and my range sucks. I used to get 50 miles to a charge in the summer, now I’m lucky to get 40. I love driving electric but I will never buy another GM product again. Right now I’m just running it until it goes no more.

 

[arbus]

…but I will never buy another GM product again. Right now I’m just running it until it goes no more.

Approaching the problem from that direction, your 2012 will probably run forever! ;]

 

[aallen]

I'm having problems with my 2012 Chevy Volt battery. It only powers the car in warm weather (when temp>~75 degrees). The battery charges just fine, and has retained decent capacity. I've had 2 local Chevy dealers look at it; they say the battery's dead (it isn't) and I need to replace the whole thing for ~$12,000. I'm not convinced the dealerships are interested in troubleshooting this. My 2012 Volt is a GREAT car. I would drive it forever if I could get this battery thing sorted out for a reasonable price. I'm looking into Greentec Auto right now; we have one in my town. They may be able to provide a good solution. I'll keep everyone posted. THANKS for running this thread.

 

[aallen]

I should mention I have 201,000 miles on the car. The battery didn't start acting up until about 170,000 miles...

 

[Sly Bob]

I would get rid of mine if I could come across an EV that I wanted to buy. I'm enamoured with the Mach-E but something about buying the first year of anything frightens me a bit.

 

[Off Oil]

I should mention I have 201,000 miles on the car. The battery didn't start acting up until about 170,000 miles...

Which aligns with my conclusion that it's the years, not the miles/cycles. The other failures posted here had a fraction of the miles, but around the same age.

 

[clublife.peoria]

Obviously, that's the most fiscally responsible choice. A seven-year-old car with 187kmi, every mile you get out of it essentially comes for free. It's worth only about $4k as a trade-in and if you got one more year out of it and scrapped it, that's still money ahead over a new car.

jack vines

I understand your viewpoint. What I struggle with is downtime. I’ve already had two tows this year, one in the dead of winter, one from my driveway. The inconvenience of waiting on the side of the road, living an hour away from work. Trips to the dealer, only to find more problems after the work is done. I’m pretty fiscally responsible (currently drive a 9.5 year old Volt with 86k and 13 year old Vette with 152k), but honestly once my Volt hits 180k and if the battery dies again I’m DONE. This thing is just too time consuming to repair and when it’s down, it’s down for weeks.

I think a newer Blazer, Lyriq, or RWD platform car like the 6th Gen Camaro would be a better choice long term, based on the rural roads I travel and long highway distances. At 36-40k per year, sometimes the newer car makes more sense when all you can see is corn fields for miles and a tow is hours away.