Gen 1 GM Volt Plug-In Hybrid (2011-2015)

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For those complaining about Volt's price, remember Cost != Value.

From
Strategic Vision - Press Releases

“The way you become a Value leader in this economy is to create an exceptional product that is affordable. Price alone will not determine value."

And some quotes directly about the Volt..

.....Alexander Edwards, President of Strategic Vision. “The Volt has been the center of attention for a number of reasons, but the customers love their vehicles and the perceived value they receive. With its leading edge and innovative powertrain, they have purchased a part of what will be the future,” says Edwards. Volt not only had the highest Total Value score in the Mid-Size Car Segment, but had the highest score of any vehicle in Strategic Vision’s comprehensive study. Volt owners had a median annual income of $133,000, with 37% having post doctorate degrees—perhaps making them “early adopter aficionados’,” similar to those who first purchased Prius when it debuted over fifteen years ago and who were looking to make a statement.

As a Volt owner.. nothing here surprised me. I'm part of that 37%.
 
GM is offering a replacement for the Volt's 120v charging cord (new part# 22914085). New one apparently has a heavier duty plug and larger wire for the 12" (inch) plug to EVSE to help with these issues. The EVSE to car cord is unchanged AFAIK. To be honest, GM should have made SPX over engineer this from the beginning. 9hrs @ 12amps/1400watts is a lot.

My neighbor has been using their 120v charger for several months without any issues. Their Volt is in the garage but they always seem to have their door open even on the hottest days so I bet it is pretty toasty throughout most of their charging.

We have heard of outlet issues as well where an old outlet and 12amp (vs 8amp setting) has caused the plug to get pretty warm. Older homes and such. Some of these have really cooled down when they installed a new outlet and made sure the wires were secure (resistive heat avoidance).

Also videos showing various testing on chargers/cords.
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?12516-Safety-testing-of-the-Volt-charger-cord

attachment.php
 
Glad they finally realized that 16 gauge wire is not a great idea for a continuous 12 amps...

scottf200 said:
GM is offering a replacement for the Volt's 120v charging cord (new part# 22914085). New one apparently has a heavier duty plug and larger wire for the 12" (inch) plug to EVSE to help with these issues.
 
Saw a new Volt commercial running on Fox News Channel last night. It was a young lady raving about how little she spends on gas, didn't find it on youtube or I would have posted a link here. Anyway I was struck by the irony of an advertiser spending money to run spots on a media outlet that trashes the product. Is the trashing still going on? I would have expected a memo went out.
 
DrInnovation said:
As a Volt owner.. nothing here surprised me. I'm part of that 37%.
The Leaf scores very well also, just a little behind. Ditto for customer satisfaction. Both are far above average on these measures.

I find it hard to believe that 37% of Volt owners would have post-doctorate degrees. Not even sure what that is. Did they mean to say "post-graduate"?
 
Can the Chevy Volt help win the War on Terror?
Mar 26, 2012- 5:19 -Electric vehicle could help ease oil dependency

Hell has froze over video --> http://video.foxnews.com/v/1529856944001/can-the-chevy-volt-help-win-the-war-on-terror/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For the past year or so, Fox News has been mercilessly bashing Chevrolet’s new electric vehicle, the Volt. They have derided it as an unsafe, unpopular, taxpayer-funded boondoggle, that was foisted on the auto industry and the public by President Obama as part of his socialist agenda.

This well-coordinate media assault encompassed conservative television, radio, newspapers, and Internet, and was an unprecedented effort aimed squarely at an American made product. They disparaged the company, the car, and the American workers who produced it. This vilification of the Volt has been most prominently featured on Fox News properties, where it has been the subject of withering criticism, despite the fact that it is also the North American Car of the Year and the European Car of the Year for 2011, the first time a car has won both honors.

This makes this morning’s segment on Fox & Friends, with media consultant Lee Spieckerman, all the more curious. Host Steve Doocy introduced his guest for a segment titled “Can the Chevy Volt Help Win the War on Terror?” by saying that, “It’s a great car that’s gotten a bad rap, all because of President Obama’s record, perhaps.”
Spieckerman: You know, I’m a Texan. I’m a “drill baby drill” guy. And, unfortunately, I love Fox News and I feel like I’m kind of attacking my own family because I love O’Reilly, I love Neil Cavuto, I love Eric Bolling, but like a lot of my fellow conservatives, they seem to have kind of a fetish for demonizing the Volt. And they’re perpetuating this myth that the Volt was some kind of Obama administration green energy fantasy that was forced on General Motors during the bailout. It had been in development two years before Obama was elected. It had been championed by one of the greatest car executives in American history, Bob Lutz, who is a conservative and a climate change skeptic. So it’s a myth. You know the tax break for buying the Volt was implemented by the Bush administration. That was not something that occurred under the Obama administration. Text via: http://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=6738" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
scottf200 said:
Hell has froze over video --> http://video.foxnews.com/v/1529856944001/can-the-chevy-volt-help-win-the-war-on-terror/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You don't suppose this is related to the ad placement I mentioned a couple posts back? The timing is suspicious. Maybe the way you get positive publicity on these media outlets is by advertising with them. Nissan and Chevy could probably pick up some ad spots cheap on RL these days, preferably some of those "embedded" product endorsements. All the sudden EVs (and PIH's) would be the greatest thing since sliced bread at the institute for advanced conservative studies.
 
I'm sure the link to the Volt stat page has been posted before, but I cant recall these questions being answered.

http://www.voltstats.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is a self-selected, but large sampling (close to 10%?) of the US volts on the road.

You see that average percentage of "EV miles" ranges from about 20%, to almost 100% with a fleet average of over 70%.

My question about these stats is, how are "EV miles" calculated? Is energy recovered by regenerative braking, considered "electric", or is just the energy received through the plug, used for these compilations?

So, for example, if regen is accounted for as "electric", and you did a great deal of ascent/descent in your driving, you might (but I'd doubt it) be able to get 20% of your miles as reported as "EV miles", even though you never plug your Volt in, and gas was the original source, of all the energy used.

The broader question, is whether Volt drivers have tried to estimate the additional kWh (or KWH + gas) required for ascent, (when driven in EV and/or ICEV mode) and the percentage of all energy recovered in descent (not just the regen energy recovered) as some have for the LEAF, to estimate range, and which sites/threads show these results?

Similar to the estimates, for LEAFs?
 
http://www.volstats.net" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ~10% of all Volts (683 entries) -- summary: "Fleet" EV: 3,101,618 Total: 4,362,554 71.1% EV miles.

a) EV miles (CD) are counted until the SOC gets to about 22% (including regen) and then the display/stats switch over to accumulating gas miles (CS) *and* stays there. Subsequently EV miles are counted in the gas miles even if the ICE/GG put enough energy back into the battery a couple SOC %s and the ICE turns off. Or if you start off at a stoplight and get to 20 MPH before the ICE turns back on ... these are again counted as gas miles (CS-ustaining). NOTE: that actual gas is kept track of down to two decimals on the display but more internally.

b) I'm almost 100% sure that the PiP does not do the above. When the ICE turns off occasionally or at lights then the next X miles are counted into the EV miles until the ICE turns back on. (John Voelcker (bio: http://www.highgearmedia.com/user/10001529_john-voelcker" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; )mentioned this at a media event I was at during the Chicago autoshow). As well I'm sure I've read this.

c) The screen below is from my 2011 Volt with the famous 2011 software update which happened in the Fall when range was dropping anyway and people were concerned about it. Sunday March it was 64F on my way to an event and I got 48.7 electric miles on the battery. No climate controls needed because of temp. 35-45 MPH with a lot of stoplight (which I don't think were good - stop/start acceleration kW usage)

Notice that my ICE/gas_generator mileage was pretty good as well. 39.7miles / 0.79 gal of gas = 50MPGused. Yes, the ICE stopped/started multiple times.

Note: The 2012s show kWh on this screen where "Total mi"les is located. My 2011 does not. It is up to 10.4 kWh (SOC 22%-87% so 65% of 16 kWh battery). They then moved Total miles just above the ball.
Lifetime%2BAlqanqin%2BCIMG5527%2B%2528Medium%2529.JPG
 
So if the ICE recharges the battery and then the battery is discharged, does this show up as kWh used? I'm thinking that say over a longer drive the ICE generates .5 kWh or something and then that .5 kWh is later used.
 
SanDust said:
So if the ICE recharges the battery [a little] and then the battery is discharged, does this show up as kWh used? I'm thinking that say over a longer drive the ICE generates .5 kWh or something and then that .5 kWh is later used.
Yes, I've heard anywhere from 300-500 Wh and then the ICE/GG may shut off again. It likes to run at WOT (not max RPM necessarily) for efficiency. SAE articles talked about this (previous listed quoted in this thread).

To be clear for the casual reader the Volt does not 'recharge' the battery to 70%,80,90,etc like a typical non-plugin hybrid does. They've (GM articles/presentation) mentioned countless times the goal is to charge at home on 1/5th or 1/6th the cost. SO just enough charge to get above that 22% SOC and get ready for a hard acceleration for a traffic merge or modest hill.

I do NOT think it shows up as kWh used in the Volt's 2012 displays. I based that on various threads I've read and screens I've seen where the ICE/GG CS mode starts up from 9.5ish to 10.4ish. I've never seen 11 kWh on one of those displays. Now I'm not sure about the PiP tho since per my above post it try to 'optimistically' show EV miles.
 
I own a 2012. Once you have spent through your electric range, your display will tell you that you used about 10 kWh of electricity when the engine turns on. That number will not go up, even though technically you are still using electricity, just powered through a gas motor. At that point, it is all gasoline range. From my experience, when you are coasting, and the engine shuts off, or you manage to regenerate some range, that is still going to show up as gas miles, and not electric miles. This may change if you manage to go down a mountain and regenerate significant amounts of electric range.
 
A few notes. You can get the kWh display above 11.. by using partial charging. If you partially recharge during the day it does not reset EV miles or kWh. They are the data "since last full charge". If you enough partial charges you can get to 999 EV miles (then it moves onto --- and stays there).

I have a 2011, so I'm not sure what will happen in a 2012, but if one plays mountain-mode games you can trick the Volt into recharging the battery a bit and then the resulting miles will be counted as EV (and bring down your apparent CS mileage, even if the actual MPG_CS is higher). I'll bet that will also allow you to get more than 11kWh used.


I would also expect that if you do some very serious regen, like going down I70 to denver, you could get more. The power from regen can be 6-7kWh down that stretch.
 
Former president George H.W. Bush buys a Chevy Volt
http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/former-president-george-h-w-bush-buys-chevy-192026852.html

<snip>
And the Volt won its first Republican presidential endorsement from George H.W. Bush, whom according to a Chevy manager in Houston just took delivery of a Volt as a birthday gift for his son Neil Bush. (Another Volt buyer this month: Obama's former auto czar Steve Rattner, who tweeted that he'd bought a silver one and loves it "even though not financially savvy.") Obama has already pledged to buy one once he leaves office, giving GM a bipartisan set of presidential endorsements.

Even with the shift to summer fuels adding another 20 cents a gallon to gas prices, the Volt's sticker will keep it from being a runaway hit -- but that also makes it just unique enough for it to work as a statement vehicle for those who can afford it, no matter what the polarity of their politics might be.

Photo by jurvetson via Flickr. Thanks to Chelsea Sexton


All-electric car pays quick visit to Clear Lake
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/bay_area/news/article_7043110d-c06d-53c9-a269-d404a87fa7e3.html
Chevrolet Zone Manager Steve Flynn told the crowd that plans were under way to put up charging stations all around Houston to accommodate those with plug-in vehicles, adding that he had just finished delivering a new Volt to President Bush 41, who had purchased one as a birthday gift for his son, Neil Bush.
 
Can this possibly be a real news item??

Recall roundup: Chevrolet Volt

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, owners of the Chevrolet Volt with XM satellite radio installed can’t pick up the Fox station and after some complaints were received by GM from loyal Fox News audience, the recall became a possibility. We won’t say anything about “life threating situations, injuries or crashes” related to this incident because this is not the case. Owners of the Chevy Volt, with the XM satellite radio installed, will be notified soon by the car manufacturer, and they will have to take a trip back to the dealers where the problem will be solved free of charge.
 
RegGuheert said:
Can this possibly be a real news item??

I thought the punch line was going to be drivers knew there was something wrong the radio when they heard a positive report about the Volt.

Meanwhile, what's up with this:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/01/autos-fires-idUSL2E8F128E20120401" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We were told the Cruze was sooooooooo much better than the Volt.
 
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