Thanks very informative. So a 100,000 miles on ICE only car will still have a better battery than a 100,000 miles on battery only car.
When out o charge does gas engine drive wheels or charge battery which drives wheels?
I see conflicting answers on this question. Some say that when you run out of battery (and driving in normal mode), the gas engine charges the battery, which drives the wheels. Others say the gas engine drives the wheels directly without charging the battery.
Does anyone know for sure?
This is important because if it's the latter, the battery is basically untouched (and thus will have longer life) when in gasoline engine mode.
Does anyone know for sure?
This is important because if it's the latter, the battery is basically untouched (and thus will have longer life) when in gasoline engine mode.
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In theory, yes.Thanks very informative. So a 100,000 miles on ICE only car will still have a better battery than a 100,000 miles on battery only car.
In practice, Volt batteries have been aging very, very well, so it's entirely possible that you won't be able to measure a difference between the two.
In addition to the battery difference likely being unmeasurable (especially without specialized analysis), it'll likely stay unmeasurable for several more years of all-electric driving, and when it begins to fail, it'll likely manifest as getting slightly less all-electric range before using the near-new engine. The reverse situation, where the engine has 100,000 miles on it and the battery virtually unused is that the engine is your backup. And if that becomes your "usable life" measurement before replacing the car, not wanting to use the ICE because it's unreliable is a bigger blocker than "The thing switches to reliable ICE after only 28 miles".
So if it's a choice between a car with many gas miles versus many battery miles, the one with many battery miles is probably going to last longer and be cheaper in that long term than the one that's "saved" its battery life for so long, at the expense of the gas powertrain.
So if it's a choice between a car with many gas miles versus many battery miles, the one with many battery miles is probably going to last longer and be cheaper in that long term than the one that's "saved" its battery life for so long, at the expense of the gas powertrain.
I wonder if as the battery wears, whether the software on board slightly opens up the SOC to continue to give you around 38 miles of range (in a gen 1). It's not cheating, but using up a little leftover buffer. It's almost like these new solid state drives where they have several extra megabytes on board that are unused, and as the flash memory bits fail, new ones are used as replacements and the user doesn't know any different.In addition to the battery difference likely being unmeasurable (especially without specialized analysis), it'll likely stay unmeasurable for several more years of all-electric driving, and when it begins to fail, it'll likely manifest as getting slightly less all-electric range before using the near-new engine. The reverse situation, where the engine has 100,000 miles on it and the battery virtually unused is that the engine is your backup. And if that becomes your "usable life" measurement before replacing the car, not wanting to use the ICE because it's unreliable is a bigger blocker than "The thing switches to reliable ICE after only 28 miles".
So if it's a choice between a car with many gas miles versus many battery miles, the one with many battery miles is probably going to last longer and be cheaper in that long term than the one that's "saved" its battery life for so long, at the expense of the gas powertrain.
I wondered the same thing. Also thought that once beyond warranty perhaps someone would create a hack so you could do it yourself.I wonder if as the battery wears, whether the software on board slightly opens up the SOC to continue to give you around 38 miles of range (in a gen 1). It's not cheating, but using up a little leftover buffer. It's almost like these new solid state drives where they have several extra megabytes on board that are unused, and as the flash memory bits fail, new ones are used as replacements and the user doesn't know any different.
It's been a common speculation or assumption. We have explicit statements from our GM folks that it does not happen, and I've never seen any evidence that it does.I wonder if as the battery wears, whether the software on board slightly opens up the SOC to continue to give you around 38 miles of range (in a gen 1). It's not cheating, but using up a little leftover buffer. It's almost like these new solid state drives where they have several extra megabytes on board that are unused, and as the flash memory bits fail, new ones are used as replacements and the user doesn't know any different.
By avoiding the upper and lower ends of the battery, GM greatly improved life - and then they added superior thermal management. Their approach to instrumentation also took away any easy ways of measuring what the pack is doing without OBDII.
When I BOUGHT my 2015 volt, it had never been charged, it had 31 miles on the clock, and a dead battery
I had to ask 5he salesman where he kept the volts
They were stored inside the shop across the bay from where the mechanic was working on customer's cars
I had to ask 5he salesman where he kept the volts
They were stored inside the shop across the bay from where the mechanic was working on customer's cars
I see conflicting answers on this question. Some say that when you run out of battery (and driving in normal mode), the gas engine charges the battery, which drives the wheels. Others say the gas engine drives the wheels directly without charging the battery.
Does anyone know for sure?
This is important because if it's the latter, the battery is basically untouched (and thus will have longer life) when in gasoline engine mode.
[/Q
Chevrolet Volt Drive SimulationI see conflicting answers on this question. Some say that when you run out of battery (and driving in normal mode), the gas engine charges the battery, which drives the wheels. Others say the gas engine drives the wheels directly without charging the battery.
Does anyone know for sure?
This is important because if it's the latter, the battery is basically untouched (and thus will have longer life) when in gasoline engine mode.
Gen 1 has no operating mode where Motor Generator B (MGB) is not powered and used. Gen 2 has an operating mode where the engine CAN solely power the wheels, but only at steady speed/power demands above about 25 MPH. Even in that mode, though, MGB remains connected and is used for braking and acceleration, so there's still demands on the battery.
21 - 29 of 29 Posts
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