[Bowtie8887]

I just got a 2015 Chevy Volt and topped the gas off and my gas range is only showing 234 miles with a full tank. Does this seem normal or will the overall gas range change and improve with more gas driving? I just expected to have around a 350-360 mile range for gas. Any explanation or help would be great thanks.

 

[saghost]

I just got a 2015 Chevy Volt and topped the gas off and my gas range is only showing 234 miles with a full tank. Does this seem normal or will the overall gas range change and improve with more gas driving? I just expected to have around a 350-360 mile range for gas. Any explanation or help would be great thanks.

The Volt is a very smart car. EV miles and Gas miles are both calculated dynamically in real time based on historical consumption and environmental conditions as well as energy remaining.

A mile shown on that display therefore doesn't correspond to a specific amount of fuel left in the tank - it could be more or less fuel depending on how the car has been driven recently.

Take the car on an hour long drive on gas, then see what it says. I wouldn't worry about it unless the number failed to come up afterwards.

 

[Bowtie8887]

Thanks for the info, still in the learning phase but like the new car a lot. I'll give that a try. Thanks again

 

[Mister Dave]

I just got a 2015 Chevy Volt and topped the gas off and my gas range is only showing 234 miles with a full tank. Does this seem normal or will the overall gas range change and improve with more gas driving? I just expected to have around a 350-360 mile range for gas. Any explanation or help would be great thanks.

Sounds about right to me. I've never noticed estimated gas range above 230-240 miles myself. I really don't check it very often though.

 

[obermd]

Quick question - How smart is the Volt's computer at range estimations? Does it adjust the gas range based on your pure EV driving? In other words if you start driving in a lot of stop & go traffic, which is relatively efficient on electric but not so much for the ICE engine will the computer reduce the ICE range estimate accordingly?

 

[freshcut]

My experience is that in EV only mode, your gas range estimate is adjusted minimally. I've noticed with mine, and a full tank I can see the range swing about 5-10 miles in either direction without touching the gas. It will of course adjust when you start using gas and the whole system can see actual usage. I've seen my gas range as low as 250 and as high as 390 with a freshly filled tank based on my driving history. Like any car, if you maintain lower speeds, and more efficient driving, your estimated range will reflect that. It usually "updates" to more current data at the next fill up although I'm sure it's reflected throughout the range of available fuel remaining but it doesn't make as much of an impact as seeing that number increase with a full tank.

 

[llninja]

Sounds about right to me. I've never noticed estimated gas range above 230-240 miles myself. I really don't check it very often though.

I don't even look at most of the telemetry. It's fun for the first few weeks, then you learn to ignore it. Remember, most ICE vehicles gave you far less than this.

 

[O'Dell]

It'll adjust to your driving style and conditions. Since I had used no gas except for the EMM's, when the FMM hit a couple of months ago, my range started going up even though I was burning gas. I ran it down to a gallon or so and then added three gallons. As you can see, with 4/10 showing my estimated gas range is over 220 miles.

 

[Bowtie8887]

Also I got the car shipped to me from a dealership and it had nearly a full tank upon arrival so it's always a possibility they filled it with a lower octane.

 

[caronjeff]

Take a long drive. When the battery hits minimum and the engine starts, reset a trip meter. The actual fuel mileage will calculate in real time. Drive 10-30 miles on gas and see the results. Should be anywhere from 33 on the freeway at 75-80 mph, up to 42 on surface streets at lower speeds. The fuel octane makes little difference. Summer blend pump gas vs. winter blend (summer is better) makes a difference. Lately I've been experimenting with no-ethanol premium which is available locally. I get substantially better mileage with it and the engine runs smoother. I don't mind paying the $3.45 a gallon as my alternative Shell premium is $3.00 plus/minus a bit. I don't use much gas, maybe $20 a month, so the few $ extra is minimal and ethanol is a notorious fuel system contaminate.

 

[llninja]

Also I got the car shipped to me from a dealership and it had nearly a full tank upon arrival so it's always a possibility they filled it with a lower octane.

If that's the case, the OP should filll any remaining space in the tank with high octane fuel. Raise the average, and keep doing so

 

[Bowtie8887]

I topped it off with 93 octane no ethanol for $2.59/gallon. Only needed about a gallon and I found out that you can't keep pumping fuel into the car once the pump trips the first time or gas will start leaking out of the car from the overflow.

 

[Barry]

When my 2013 is full, it usually shows a gas range around 285-300. It will be less if your recent gas driving was inefficient, which it would be for short trips, for example. As in, you made most of your trip on battery and just used gas for the last couple of miles. The engine is inefficient while warming up. Your car is using about 26 mpg for estimating fuel range, which is very reasonable for short trips.

Also, don't worry too much about the octane. A number of owners use regular octane gas and don't notice any drop in mileage.

It is not a good idea to top off the gas tank of any car. It is possible to flood the evaporative emissions system equipment with fuel by doing that, which damages it.

 

[jbakerjonathan]

I topped it off with 93 octane no ethanol for $2.59/gallon. Only needed about a gallon and I found out that you can't keep pumping fuel into the car once the pump trips the first time or gas will start leaking out of the car from the overflow.

How full the tank gets when pumping is dependent upon the pump nozzle vacuum shut-off variation. I have had the nozzle shut off when the tank was not completely full many times on my road trips. There have been times when the nozzle would not allow ANY gas to be pumped, shutting off immediately. THAT is frustrating. So far, I have NOT come upon a nozzle that has FAILED shut off. It is good policy not to try to "top off" once the nozzle has tripped.

 

[hellsop]

Take the car on an hour long drive on gas, then see what it says. I wouldn't worry about it unless the number failed to come up afterwards.

At 50 MPH, not 75.

 

[hellsop]

I topped it off with 93 octane no ethanol for $2.59/gallon. Only needed about a gallon and I found out that you can't keep pumping fuel into the car once the pump trips the first time or gas will start leaking out of the car from the overflow.

And you'll risk flooding your evap chamber which will require service to clear, and may require replacement. Pump clicking off is "You are done. This is not an '84 Skylark. Do not screw around."

 

[hellsop]

Quick question - How smart is the Volt's computer at range estimations? Does it adjust the gas range based on your pure EV driving? In other words if you start driving in a lot of stop & go traffic, which is relatively efficient on electric but not so much for the ICE engine will the computer reduce the ICE range estimate accordingly?

It seems to keep separate EV and gas tallies, and seems to weight the most recent miles more heavily than the ones 150 miles ago. I can get really good or bad half-tank of cs-mode travel and that'll keep influencing the gas range estimate for weeks if I don't CS again, no matter how the EV range fluctuates. It will, however, float up and down half dozen miles due apparently to temperature and therefore the volume the same amount of gas occupies.

 

[Mister Dave]

It'll adjust to your driving style and conditions. Since I had used no gas except for the EMM's, when the FMM hit a couple of months ago, my range started going up even though I was burning gas. I ran it down to a gallon or so and then added three gallons. As you can see, with 4/10 showing my estimated gas range is over 220 miles.

The OP has a 2015 and you're showing a gen 2 screen.

 

[Bowtie8887]

Yeah won't be topping it off anymore but I doubt doing that once hurts much of anything. I don't think the trip meter has ever been reset for the 20,000 miles on the car. Over 450 gallons of gas used and it shows an average mpg of 44, not bad.

 

[hellsop]

Yeah won't be topping it off anymore but I doubt doing that once hurts much of anything. I don't think the trip meter has ever been reset for the 20,000 miles on the car. Over 450 gallons of gas used and it shows an average mpg of 44, not bad.

.... How often do you plug in? Most of use have an average MPG of between 100 and 200 MPG...