[Dano]

So the odd predicament that I am in is I am considering passing on my 2016 Volt to my daughter who will rarely be able to charge the car batteries. Like many tenants, and likely why they would not purchase an electric vehicle to start with, is that they don't have easy access to a plug outside an apartment.

I will likely be purchasing a 2018 BOLT, and therefore wanting to cascade the 2016 VOLT to her.

So my technical question that I hope someone or here or a GM moderator may know the answer to is....
Can the 2016 VOLT be driven as a gas operated every day car, without the vehicle being charged(Likely rarely) without causing long term problems to the battery pack?

I know the VOLT is meant to be charged, and what I am proposing is against the whole benefit that the VOLT offers, but out of necessity it may have to be cascaded to her, and I know for the next couple of years, she likely will NOT BE IN A POSITION TO CHARGE IT on a regular basis.

Any feedback regarding the effects on the battery system would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Dan

 

[Fyodor]

Whenever you drive a Volt, the battery is in fact being charged and discharged, so you needn't worry on that point. It's just being charged by the engine instead of by the plug.

There are many Gen1 Volts out there that were fleet cars and rarely driven just on external charging, and I don't believe they had any particular problems as a result.

And, I have two daughters as well - you never know with young people how and when their circumstances will change. My advice would be to pass on the car to her and not worry about it.

 

[fotomoto1]

Absolutely.

Under most situations, the gas engine powers an electric generator that feeds the battery which sends its power to the large electric motor that is prime mover of the vehicle. So, the battery is being used all the time whether it's plugged in or not.

 

[vawlk]

The volt will work perfectly fine as a hybrid with the battery depleted. If you are worried about the battery pack, simply have her put on mountain mode occasionally and that will charge up the battery to 40% or so. The volt always keeps a minimal charge even when the driver sees it as drained to protect the battery.

That combined with charging it every once in awhile when at home or a friends should be more than enough to keep it healthy.

 

[SharkVolt]

It will not be a problem, as the Volt is a "true" dual fuel vehicle, and can be driven either as an all electric, all gas, or any combination of the two. It will still drive using the electric drive, just using the gas engine to generate the electricity as you go.

The gas will probably cost her a little more than charging would, but that is a small sacrifice for getting one of the safest, best driving, cars on the road.

 

[telveer]

Several Gen 1 "fleet" Volts were driven in gas only mode because their drivers were reimbursed for gas. And these cars did just fine. So, don't worry if you can not charge your Volt for long periods.

 

[firehawk72]

As the others have pointed out, you have no issue. Best regards.

 

[dutch husky]

Nice of you to consider passing on your 2016 Volt to your daughter. It will be a great vehicle for her and you can be confident knowing it's one of the best combinations of safety, efficiency, and durability out there, even if she can't plug in regularly.

I plan to pass on MY 2016 Volt to my son, but he just turned 2 a couple of weeks ago

 

[eDreamin']

As a case in point, there is a 2013 Volt whose owner registered it on the Volt-stats site as "WTF? Previous owner all ice!". The car currently has more than 147,000 miles on it, 5500 from plug-in power, and most of that (> 3000 miles) since August.

 

[Joe67]

So the odd predicament that I am in is I am considering passing on my 2016 Volt to my daughter who will rarely be able to charge the car batteries. Like many tenants, and likely why they would not purchase an electric vehicle to start with, is that they don't have easy access to a plug outside an apartment.

I will likely be purchasing a 2018 BOLT, and therefore wanting to cascade the 2016 VOLT to her.

So my technical question that I hope someone or here or a GM moderator may know the answer to is....
Can the 2016 VOLT be driven as a gas operated every day car, without the vehicle being charged(Likely rarely) without causing long term problems to the battery pack?

I know the VOLT is meant to be charged, and what I am proposing is against the whole benefit that the VOLT offers, but out of necessity it may have to be cascaded to her, and I know for the next couple of years, she likely will NOT BE IN A POSITION TO CHARGE IT on a regular basis.

Any feedback regarding the effects on the battery system would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Dan

Zero issues. Some Volts are never charged by their current owners. Pass it down to her knowing it's a quality/safe vehicle for her to drive.

 

[llninja]

Several Gen 1 "fleet" Volts were driven in gas only mode because their drivers were reimbursed for gas. And these cars did just fine. So, don't worry if you can not charge your Volt for long periods.

That would be GE employees who were supplied with cars and gas cards, but not mechanism to reimburse for electricity. It seems like a waste of a perfectly good EV, but really shows the flexibility of the Volt. Alas, maybe the daughter can find excuses to do more shopping at shopping centers with free charging stations.

 

[voganni]

Yes, it is surprising how many charging opportunities are out there when one starts to look around a bit. Even in this backwater I live in I've gained 240v access at the fairgrounds, 120v at a church, and charging at work.

 

[mr_raider]

The volt will work perfectly fine as a hybrid with the battery depleted. If you are worried about the battery pack, simply have her put on mountain mode occasionally and that will charge up the battery to 40% or so. The volt always keeps a minimal charge even when the driver sees it as drained to protect the battery.

That combined with charging it every once in awhile when at home or a friends should be more than enough to keep it healthy.

The gen 2 only charges to two bars in mountain mode.

 

[Dano]

Well thanks for all the feedback ladies and gents, sounds like I'm good to go for the passing on to my daughter!
It's great having access to all this wisdom!
Look forward to reading more in the forum.

 

[VoltenRock]

This is not really a concern, more a question--one of the benefits of "plugging in" regularly is for the battery temperature maintenance. This is more an issue in hot environments with direct sunlight. In my Gen 1 Volt, I noticed that it would NOT cool the battery unless plugged in or turned on (I discovered this trying to diagnose an unrelated software issue that caused the range to drop significantly when not plugged in -- my first thought was battery cooling, but this was not the case despite 100+ temps).

I'm not sure what the Gen 2 Volt does for battery temp maintenance when sitting off unplugged, but smarter people can answer that. Fortunately, your daughter will have the battery sitting at a lower level where little damage can occur.

 

[hellsop]

That would be GE employees who were supplied with cars and gas cards, but not mechanism to reimburse for electricity. It seems like a waste of a perfectly good EV, but really shows the flexibility of the Volt.

The irony of "General Electric" buying PHEVs and not equipping their employee lots with a field of charging stations is not lost on us either...

 

[mr_raider]

The irony of "General Electric" buying PHEVs and not equipping their employee lots with a field of charging stations is not lost on us either...

A small lesson in history:

GE's primary business divisions include:

GE Power
GE Oil & Gas
GE Renewable Energy
GE Energy Connections
GE Aviation
GE Healthcare
GE Transportation
GE Capital
GE Digital

The former GE Appliances and Lighting segment was dissolved in 2014 when GE's appliance division was sold to Haier for $5.4 billion

GE is a multi national monster, building fridges and stoves is no longer their primary interest.

 

[llninja]

GE is a multi national monster, building fridges and stoves is no longer their primary interest.

GE has been hiring software engineers in huge numbers. I'd say Apple, Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, etc. all have a new competitor sneaking up on them. What GE is going to do with all that talent is yet to be seen.

 

[glasspilot]

I plan to pass on MY 2016 Volt to my son, but he just turned 2 a couple of weeks ago

Now, that right there is funny.......no matter who you are!