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Volt Traction Battery Reserve vs. Range

6194 Views 9 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  canehdian
I gather that Volt traction battery capacity has gone from 16.0 kWh (2011-12) to 16.5 kWh (2013-14) to 17.1 kWh (2015), and finally to 18.4 kWh (Gen 2). Therefore, there should be a small range difference in the various years of Gen 1 Volts, assuming that the traction battery is always drained to the some reserve capacity that is constant. However, that may not be the case.

Does anyone know (a) how much energy (kWh) remains in the traction battery when the system shows it is empty
and switches to the ICE and (b) if this reserve energy value has been the same, year by year, in Gen 1 Volts?
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The 2016-17 Volt with a 18.4 KWH (total capacity) battery, when the Volt is driven in electric mode only 14-14.4 KWH are used so somewhere around 4 to 4.4 KWH are still in the battery when the Volt states there is no more electric range. Even when 0 miles for electric range is indicated the car will still pull electric from the battery in when it can replenish the electricity from the engiine to keep that 4-4 KWH reserve capacity in the battery.The Volt seems to have a mind of its own and will never let the battery drop to a certain level once the range indicator for electric displays 0 miles left.
Those 4 kWh are split between upper and lower safety regions and a working buffer. To avoid damage/degradation of the pack, the car never charges to 100% or discharges to 0. In addition, the engine turns on before it reaches the very bottom of the part of the battery that ghee car will allow to be used - it holds the last kilowatt hour in reserve to use like a hybrid does in making the engine more efficient. This working buffer gives you a few miles on electric after the car runs out of gas, too.
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