The Volt always keeps the battery partially charged with some reserve power, even when it says the range is zero. It uses that reserve power when accelerating hard or climbing hills. Then once the power demand goes down, it will use the engine to recharge the battery to maintain the reserve.
Understanding Total Power gauge in gas mode
The gas engine generates maximum 53KW. When the battery is completely depleted (no electric range left) and the car demands access of 53KW then where does that additional power come from ? If it comes from the battery then why not power the car from the battery itself ? What am I missing ?
In the attached pictures you can see that the car is consuming 115KW and if the engine tops out at 53KW where does the extra 62KW come from ? If the battery is capable of providing that much power then why is the electric range 0, why doesn't it use the battery power until the battery can really no longer provide any power ?
