[VoltFish]

A few days ago I had the following scenario:
1. I drove about 25 miles on battery, then turned on Hold mode once I got on the expressway.
2. I drove about 60 miles on the expressway while in Hold mode.
3. I exited the expressway and turned off Hold mode, then drove about 30 miles on battery until the battery was exhausted.
4. The car switched over to the ICE automatically since the battery was exhausted and I drove another 10 miles or so.

I noticed that during item #4 there seemed to be an unusual vibration and sound coming from under my feet under moderate throttle. It seemed to be more from around the dead pedal area near my left foot. If I was driving on flat land or just cruising I didn't notice it but it seemed like if I had to increase the throttle at all such as when climbing a hill or accelerating from a traffic light it became noticeable. Any idea what this could be?

 

[Prohidium]

When going up a hill or trying to accelerate quickly, the engine will rev much higher to keep the battery at its min. charge level. As your Gen2 is fairly new, you may feel it running when hi-revving. If it is excessive there could be an issue but if only slight, it is probably normal. The dampening bushings haven't had time to soften much yet.

 

[VoltFish]

When going up a hill or trying to accelerate quickly, the engine will rev much higher to keep the battery at its min. charge level. As your Gen2 is fairly new, you may feel it running when hi-revving. If it is excessive there could be an issue but if only slight, it is probably normal. The dampening bushings haven't had time to soften much yet.

When going up a hill or trying to accelerate quickly, the engine will rev much higher to keep the battery at its min. charge level. As your Gen2 is fairly new, you may feel it running when hi-revving. If it is excessive there could be an issue but if only slight, it is probably normal. The dampening bushings haven't had time to soften much yet.

Okay thanks. Yeah, it feels to me like the car is having a really hard time keeping up, almost like on one of my first cars years ago where it didn't quite have enough power or had to be at max power to accelerate or go up a hill. Maybe this is just how the Volt is when in gas mode? Should the car "feel" the same when driving on gas vs. battery or is there a noticeable difference?

I realized that up until this point I had never driven on gas through the city. I've only used gas before when at speed on the highway and this was the first time I had completely run out of battery while still needing to drive on surface streets.

 

[hellsop]

Okay thanks. Yeah, it feels to me like the car is having a really hard time keeping up, almost like on one of my first cars years ago where it didn't quite have enough power or had to be at max power to accelerate or go up a hill. Maybe this is just how the Volt is when in gas mode? Should the car "feel" the same when driving on gas vs. battery or is there a noticeable difference?

I realized that up until this point I had never driven on gas through the city. I've only used gas before when at speed on the highway and this was the first time I had completely run out of battery while still needing to drive on surface streets.

It'll do the same stuff based on the same inputs from the driver (within some limitations that most people never encounter). HOWEVER, it might not FEEL like it is, because of the disconnect between the ICE and the progress of the car. City driving on range-extend has the engine revving delayed several seconds from the action of the car. Light turns green, you step off quickly, get about half a block, and THEN the engine revs up. You slow to a gentle stop at the next light while the engine buzzes away for another five seconds then shuts off, leaving you with just the AC blower and your music.

 

[16513]

Make sure your car has all software updates concerning engine running. If the engine chuggles or misfires you will feel it.

 

[Geohec]

Okay thanks. Yeah, it feels to me like the car is having a really hard time keeping up, almost like on one of my first cars years ago where it didn't quite have enough power or had to be at max power to accelerate or go up a hill. Maybe this is just how the Volt is when in gas mode? Should the car "feel" the same when driving on gas vs. battery or is there a noticeable difference?

I realized that up until this point I had never driven on gas through the city. I've only used gas before when at speed on the highway and this was the first time I had completely run out of battery while still needing to drive on surface streets.

It's like Prohidium said in his post, the battery is trying to maintain a minimum charge or buffer. It was also one of complaints during my 1st month of ownership. After posting a thread about it last year, I realized that this is normal and to be expected when driving on ICE with a depleted battery.

http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?209618-After-1-month-This-Car-is-Great-Except-For-One-Issue

After a year of driving, i've become used to it when it occurs as it typically doesn't seem to affect the cars performance, but it can be a bit annoying when you are sitting at a stop light and the engine revs up for seemingly no reason for 5-10 sec. To avoid this scenario, some people like myself try to use hold mode on freeways and save some EV range for the end of your trip when you come back to city/rural roads. This way you can have the quiet ride at the end of your trip.

One word of caution in case you haven't heard of this scenario or read about this in the owners manual. If your driving up into the mountians on a depleted battery, then it is suggested that you plan ahead and use mountain mode to build up a larger buffer to have suffient charge to make it up the mountain without issue. If you don't then you may find you have reduce propulsion if your driving for a long steep mountain.

Other than this little annoying item, i truly enjoy driving my G2 volt. The amount of times i drive on a depleted battery is few times a month, so this is not a big deal to me. I hope you enjoy your new volt.

 

[VoltFish]

Make sure your car has all software updates concerning engine running. If the engine chuggles or misfires you will feel it.

How can I verify I have all the software updates? Is this something that can be done over the air or does it require a dealer visit? Is there some display on the car that can tell me the current version? I'm hoping we are at the point where the car is just like a piece of software and I can see the current version and if it's old I can get the updates over the air!

 

[mr_raider]

How can I verify I have all the software updates? Is this something that can be done over the air or does it require a dealer visit? Is there some display on the car that can tell me the current version? I'm hoping we are at the point where the car is just like a piece of software and I can see the current version and if it's old I can get the updates over the air!

What? That would be to user friendly. Gm does't do user friendly.