ICE in EV Mode ... Again

No.......it's probably dat last "fifth" u had

 

p/k, what are you doing up so early on sunday busting my chops?

 

You have a very unusual driving schedule Kitty. Take a 35 + mile trip.

 

Werkin muh s off lol

SCH-R530M ? 2

 

Wot?!?!? I don have a Arghhh VOLT

SCH-R530M ? 2

 

Managing expectations has always been a major challenge for hybrids, adding a plug makes it even more difficult.

The impression of getting electric travel from having a plug is a sensible one. But the window-sticker clearly doesn't state a bunch. It states an all-electric-range of just 6 with an illustration showing only "Electricity + Gasoline". The car itself provides an EV-mile estimate that's larger, but test-drive experience reveals high-power requests and highway cruising to be blended. The "PLUG-IN HYBRID" emblem should help to clarify. And with since a new product, it does tend to make sense that the buyer would do more homework than usual researching their purchase.

You still get outstanding efficiency, even in the cold when the engine must run. My 5.2-mile drive last night in sub-freezing temperatures resulted in an average of 162 MPG. No complaints here.

Is there something specific current owners can convey to help set expectations?

 

Agreed on all points!
I'm not happy that the ICE fires up when I'm not calling for heat or propulsion from it- but thanks to the efforts of folks here on PC we at least know why it fires up when we have no use for it. I can live with the condition knowing that the real cold weather only lasts < 3 months here now thanks to climate change, etc and the other 9 months the ICE won't be firing up when I don't need it.

Does the Volt exhibit the same behavior (running the ICE to protect from possible battery overcharge) as the PIP?

 

Lifestyle probably determines mileage more than anything, then weather conditions, then the automatic settings that the PIP imposes ( like it or not ) Right now, overall I am averaging 80 mpg, but now I am going on a short trip, up two giant hills and back down two. The car will not return to 80mpg after the trip. It will show something less. It did 76 mpg. But next week, I will again be back to my primarily EV mode and The car will show steadily increasing mpg. //// In regards to temp. Sensor, does anybody know where it/they are? A small amount of insulation, so the car thinks the OAT is 65 in stead of 35 ?

 

What about sub-freezing temperatures, when the engine joins in for the sake of battery longevity?

Last night's drive for me was a great example. No heater either direction, just the seat on high. 2.6 miles there, resulted in 81 MPG due to the engine starting. On the way back 1 hour 40 minutes later, the battery still has some warmth remaining from the prior use. That allowed the entire return trip to be 999 MPG as a result, all electric despite the cold.

 

I noticed PiP coolant retains heat longer than gen2 with vacuum bottle.

 

I believe so, but it can absorb something like 2kWh on top of a full charge without having to use the ICE as a resistive load. The Volt can also use brake regen to warm the battery and the cabin rather than having to direct the energy into the battery.

 

thought i was closing in on ice starting reason, but this morning, i did my new routine toburn off some charge and hit the ice trigger area with about a mile below full on the range meter. the ice fired for the first time since i started doing this, and looking down, i noticed i was going 42 mph. this is the first time i always manage to keep it below 40 and wonder if there is another threshold involved. it was 39 degrees out. it's nice to say overall efficiency is good, but these persistant engine warm up's caused the lowest mpg i have seen in 8 years of driving pri. 48.2 mpg on my last fill up. you get no mileage benefit from it, it's mostly a waste of fuel.

 

Because of that I think there have been almost no Volt owners who have run into the issue of excessive regen at cold temperatures. I've never seen anyone describe the ICE start up for this reason. I would imagine that applying the brake probably becomes mostly or entirely friction rather than regen when the battery is unable to absorb much more power. Normal coasting in the Volt only does very mild regen so I wouldn't be surprised if the Volt also disables that amount of regen under those conditions. Most people under very cold conditions will turn on some kind of heating and in the Volt that would be electric and drain down the battery a bit.

That leaves the question of what happens if you are driving with a full charge and no heating in 'L' "gear" that has high regeneration when you lift off of the accelerator pedal (sort of like 'B' on the Prius). I recall one driver's report on the gm-volt forum that when he ran into that situation the electric motors did some kind of spin-up that was audible that absorbed the "regen" energy rather than the ICE starting up and burning gas. I recall people tried to reverse engineer what was going on but I don't recall the details since that discussion happened a year ago or so.

The Volt will start the ICE at cold temperatures (26F in 2011-2012 and a user-settable 15F or 35F in 2013 models in order to assist cabin heating and perhaps to assist propulsion power under 15F due to battery chemistry limitations until the pack can be actively warmed.

 

Hahaha... I thought the same thing about the 42 mph...harkening back to the Gen 2 threshold. I was attempting to keep the ICE off when I had the heater temp on HI. It worked a few times then a few times it didn't. And the mph didn't seem to make a difference as it was anywhere from 38 to 43 when it would start. I couldn't figure it out so I'm now back to putting the temp on LO.

I've been beaten by the PIP. (If you smart people don't figure it out soon, I'm going to have T-Shirts printed up with "BEATEN BY THE PIP" on them.)

 

Oh, one more thing. Everyone can buy one of the normal T-Shirts except Priuskitty. He will have his own with the words "BEATEN BY THE PIP" on the back, not the front. The front will say, "THIS SPACE RESERVED FOR MY MAN BOOBS."

 

i'm in!

 

John, since your heater was off, did your ICE start because of Over-Regen or pressing the FRONT defog?

 

Sure wish a Toyota PIP Engineer could give us some insight.

Dianne, do you have any pull?