2013 Volt: 98MPGe, 38miles EV range

while I wish this was true.. my volt adviser told me the new battery would not fit our car

 

tell me about it but my volt adviser takes my suggestions (ei hold mode and the like) and passes them along mybe if enough of us say something it will be worth it...

 

I would like a better definition I'm not quite sure what the difference between power/performance is, but maybe you have a better idea. Perhaps in EV mode top speed over 80mph on max highway grade, 5-60mph in 12 seconds, I'm not really sure. One thing is for sure, in an EVer, there should be a mode where simply stepping on the accelerator should not turn on the range extender unless battery power is low. The volt does this most of the time, unless its very cold out.

The 60kw mg2 seems chosen for normal hybrid mode. I don't think they over sized it for plug in operation, or rather I don't know where you would choose a different number given the ICE. The phv seems designed from the start as a low cost blended plug in. This is definitely an engineering trade off, and likely a good one for toyota. A more powerful, higher energy battery, as I would prefer, would increase the percentage of electricity versus gasoline the car uses. I was not in the room when toyota designed the phv, but externally the battery was chosen for trade offs they saw in cost, space, and power. Toyota had negotiated down with the US Congress that 4kwh would be granted a tax credit, it had originally been 5kwh. That made 4kwh the minimum size. As batteries improve the cost/kwh, cost/kw, and volume/kwh should improve and these trade offs will lead to more powerful batteries.

I have no idea how cost reduction emerges from overkill. That makes no sense at all. Engineering for higher demands increase reliability but adds cost.

 

Let's try to get rid of bad ideas.

If you are doing overkill, that adds cost, then do proper design to reduce costs back to what they should have been, there is no cost reduction from it.

Now you can design for higher production volume. That would be proper engineering, and marketing can price it to reflect what is expected. This appears to be what nissan did with the leaf, but did not account for exchange rates, and overestimated volume.

On a new product, adding extra safety margin is a good idea. Nothing will kill a product faster than bad reliability. Toyota initially took a very conservative approach to state of charge, while Honda used more of the battery. This allowed Honda to save battery costs. But there was not a safety margin, and honda has had battery failures. This adds to warranty costs and lower sales volume. It was not over engineering on toyota's part, it was proper engineering. On the original prius, the power of the ice was undersized, leading to "turtle mode", when the users needed more power. This was under engineered. The gen III prius appears to have a properly powered ice, and this puts less of a strain on both the battery pack and the ice, which should lead to higher reliability.

 

G2 was skipped in this argument. No turtle mode in the G2, and AFAIK both had 1.5L ICEs.

I do agree though that it much harder to drain the traction battery down to purple in the G3 compared to the G2 in my driving, implying the ICE is used more. I'm happy for the decreased number of deep discharges, and even happier that my battery is straining less, and I suspect suffering less thermal highs. Since I live in a mountain area, this is all good news.

That said, my G2 is at 150k miles and operating great, so for all I know the improvements are examples of over-engineering.

 

With the emissions warranty covering the battery, they likely feel the expected life of the current battery will mean few people actually upgrading the newer one. After all, it will be expensive to take out a good battery now for the new to just add a few more miles of EV range. If the demand is there in the future, they might do it, or some third party, as with the Prius PHV, will do it. I'm sure someone also brought up the possibility of negative spin if they did so now.

For those calling for a cheaper Volt, your prayers have been answered.
GM Exec Confirms 2014 Chevrolet Cruze Plug-In Hybrid Model

 

Well maybe if they would make the PHV cruze, at least people would stop calling the Volt an electric Cruze. These two cars are radically different!

Also, on the "Definitions" Some good Volt friends actually told me to just let it go. I hope no one pushes this farther for now, but they said it was just splitting hairs. The important thing is that the Volt is not a gas car. In the absence of a gas engine it can still go, no electric motors = no go. In time the official definitions will come out but in the meantime it's a really cool car.

I'm very disappointed at several things in the Volt in regards to upgrading. It's like an iPhone in a sense, with some hardware limitations. Most of the stuff should be OS and software upgrades. I see no reason that the 2012's can roll the windows down when you hold the unlock button but not the 2011's. I see no reason why we can't have a wire harness installed and have the keyless smart key system installed. (I've had those on Priuses for EVAR!) The key is already RFID. Yet they act like it's "the impossible." And now... they are proving that even though newer battery technology comes out, is the same exact dimensions and is "incompatible." UGh. Hopefully some aftermarket companies will get involved at some point.

 

remember the plug-in hybrid cruze is just a rumor. IMHO its a waste of resources for gm. One problem identified is the sales staff does not know how to sell the volt, adding another hybrid will probably just confuse them more.

Its often easier to just design things than worry about cars in the field, which sucks for people that have older models.

On batteries, I would not worry about it. Its doubtfull that the batteries are incompatible, but they have spare parts in the field. If you volt needs one under warranty, and needs replacement soon, they are going to replace it with an old pack. By the time you need it, its likely they will have changed to newer tech, even newer than the 2013. Spare parts are strange things.

On the smart key, its likely a pita to retro fit older cars. They don't want to train the mechanics to do it. I'm sure they will have parts for do it your selfers, but it will be expensive.

That windows down may require hardware also instead of just software. I'm sure that hold is the inability of gm to roll out firmware changes.

 

Likely means pulling the dash to upgrade antennas, and maybe new key fobs.

Do the MYs have the same windows that capable of auto down? The reason autodown took time to move beyond the driver's window only, is because it requires a relay. Which adds cost, and takes up more space in the fuse box.

Someone will hack it. EV mode was hacked on the gen1 and gen2 Prius, and supposedly lean burn is hackable for North American GM vehicles. Just a matter of time.

 

Doesn't windows down from the remote require a relay also, that was the extra hardware I was assuming. I don't think the windows down is software only, but do not know. My lexus had it, and it was nice to allow the car to air out on hot days before I got in. If there isn't hardware why don't our prii have it?

Lean burn is a whole different matter. GM likely doesn't implement lean burn because of NOx emissions, but if the owner hacks it, well its not really gm's fault. I would assume hold will be a hack though.

 

Well, I now have my solar installed. Almost 3kw during sun. I am also at 42,000+ miles and beginning to think about a replacement set of tires. No issues yet!