I am fully aware of regen, and how it works. I have been driving a hybrid exclusively for 10 years, and the volt for the past 2. I regularly get 75KM on a charge, even though the range meter tells me that I am only estimated to get 60. The demonstration was only to show what the generator would produce, without any gain from regen, to compare with plug in charge.

D and L do exactly the same thing as far as driving goes. The difference between the 2 is when you take your foot off the accelerator. In D you more or less coast, like you would on a standard car, but in L, it is like down shifting, the car slows down relatively quick, which recovers more energy to the battery. I use both. As I approach a stop light, I drop to L to slow the car, and use the brakes at the last second. I also use L when traveling down hill as it slows the car and recharges batery

We just bought a 2017 Volt Premier with 9500 miles on it. We’re in Portland, Oregon but I recognized the route you traveled as my wife and I both went to Rocky River High School. Anyway, we’re moving back to River when my wife retires in a year or so. Hope to drive by you sometime soon.

@12voltvids

Ай бұрын

9500? Shit I have 70,000 on my 2019 and 205,000 on my old 2012.

Mountain mode will charge the battery to 40% and then shut the engine off once you reach 40% charge, which is good for 10 miles. That is about 2.5KW/h of charge over the 10 minute run cycle, which if I remember took 1 litre. Therefore if we were to follow that charge rate it could technically fully charge the battery in 40 minutes if the computer would let you. That would use 4 liters, just over a us gal. At 3.90 a gallon it would cost over 4.00 in fuel, compared to 1.00 off the grid to charge.

@kardaleholland5202

3 жыл бұрын

Which button do I press for mountain mode?

@patrickflohe7427

Жыл бұрын

@@kardaleholland5202 Your manual tells you how to change modes.

I just ran across this video and keep reading in the comments that "there is no reason to ever do this". WRONG!! I'm a car dealer and the volts often come back from test drives fully depleted. Everyone who test drives the car wants to know how Electric drive feels opposed to engine mode. Well, I show them mountain mode and have them drive a few miles then we switch to normal or sport mode and magically have some electric range to test drive. It's great and a lot faster than charging. My landlord charges me a flat rate for utilities and doesn't like it when I charge the electric cars at the lot. Love the Volts.

@12voltvids

10 жыл бұрын

It costs about 4X to put a charge in using the generator as opposed to charging from the grid. I guess your landlord gets upset when you run the air conditioning, or leave the coffee pot running all day too right. Charging the volt from the grid cost about 1.20 if you pay what I pay, .11 / kwh. A full battery will operate the volt for 40 miles. About the same as 1 gallon of fuel. Last time I checked 1 gallon of fuel cost more than 1.20 Do the math.

@cleanfuelsutah6462

10 жыл бұрын

12voltvids From the car dealer's perspective, I have a warm body in the car and don't want to go plug in at the lot (120v) for an hour to get 3-4 miles of range. I can achieve the same electric range in a fraction of the time by using the onboard generator and keeping the customer occupied with a test drive in mountain mode until we can switch to electric drive. The extra few pennies for fuel is well worth it to me. I charge 240v at home.

@12voltvids

10 жыл бұрын

***** I understand from the dealers perspective, and you want to demonstrate the transition to gas, and how seamless it is, but other than in your situation, where you want to demonstrate how it operates, there would be no practice reason for an owner to operate it in this manner, as there would be no savings.

@patrickflohe1193

5 жыл бұрын

Clean Fuels Utah I'm so glad that one of the dealers I visited, kept a full charge on their Volts.... The one I bought it from, did not. -I wasn't pleased, having to test drive a Volt with no charge....at least I had already done so, at another dealer. You should be able to test-drive an electric car with a charge on it!

This is a good test for a person buying a used volt to test the battery to make sure it's still holding a proper charge.

@12voltvids

4 жыл бұрын

This car is now 9 years old. Still have it and a new one. It has 100,000 miles on it now (160,000 km) and it still gets about the same range on the battery. In the cold weather the range does drop due to temperature but I still get the same capacity out of the battery 9.7kwh on average. They did a software upgrade to change the low point on the battery to make the engine start a little sooner that they say will prevent the battery from going into an over discharge state designed to extend battery life. So far no issues with the car. Wife drives this one every day.

Cool experiment - and good info about mountain mode that I didn't know!

@12voltvids

10 жыл бұрын

My car is a 2012 model, but starting in 1013 they have an additional mode, hold. Hold allows you to run on gas and keep the full charge for later. This is good for cities that allow electric vehicles to have special lane access, but only in electric mode. If someone is driving in from the suburbs they could do that on gas, and keep the full charge for the city to get access to the green lanes. I have no need for that here. In Vancouver BC, where I live we have free charge stations springing up every where. So when I go shopping for example, there is usually a "reserved" stall waiting for me. And in the case where some jerk in a BMW or Mercedes takes that stall, well they find out how expensive tow trucks and tickets are. I have parkade security for a few public lots I use on speed dial, and they waste no time getting an expensive luxury car towed.

It was an experiment to show a few things. 1) that the volt can place a partial charge in the battery, but can not fully recharge it, and 2) how much fuel was required to place this charge. That way it is relatively easy to figure out the cost of running on gas, vs charging form the grid. As the video demonstrates. 1 litre of fuel (0.26 gallons of fuel ) to gain 16 KM or 10 miles. Do a little math. 40 miles would use 4 litres of fuel, which is what you can get on a charge. A full charge costs 1.20 here. Fuel is 1.45 per liter for premium. 5.80 to go the same distance on gas. A savings of 4.60 to drive those 40 miles on electricity vs gasoline. That is the point I am driving home. It saves a ton of money on gas. I have saved personally over 12,000 in cash that would have gone in my gas tank in the old car, and that is over 2 1/2 years owning the volt. For my daily driving, the car will TOTALLY HAVE PAID FOR ITSELF in just over 7 years, and that is not taking into consideration maintenance that a regular car requires. We also have a Hybrid, and as good as it is, it still costs about 100.00 more per month to operate than the volt, for similar mileage driven on it. Even if the battery pack fails at 10 years, I will have enough cash in the bank from the savings to buy another one, and I will buy another one in a heart beat. In fact when my wifes, current hybrid dies, she too will have a volt! My kids even want one!

@shawnnance3670

5 жыл бұрын

Just bought a 2013 volt, how do you get the gas engine to continually run, even while in mountain mode my volt switches to battery while stationary. I have to be in drive and moving over 25MPH to force the gas engine on.

@patrickflohe1193

5 жыл бұрын

12voltvids I totally agree with you, and you make (as well as prove) valid points.... It's sad that so many people aren't smart enough to pay attention and actually LISTEN to what you're saying. I'm glad my new Volt doesn't require premium gasoline.

Well I took my volt up over the Coquihala summit in BC, which is a tough climb all the way up, and I had no problem whatsoever getting to speeds of 140 Kmh and above going UP the hill when everyone else was struggling. Remember this is not a 500 HP super car, or even a 300HP car. The gas range extending engine is only a 1.4 liter 4 banger that puts out only about 70HP. If you enter mountain it will build up 15 miles of full power to get you over hill. Run the battery flat, and it is a 55mph slug

@michaelcarman4875

Жыл бұрын

a slug? 55 was the speed limit. once.

@patrickflohe7427

Жыл бұрын

@@michaelcarman4875 What he’s saying is, everyone will be passing you….you won’t be able to keep up. I don’t think Canada ever had that 55 MPH speed limit. That’s where he lives.

@michaelcarman4875

Жыл бұрын

@@patrickflohe7427 ok then.

It would use 1 gallon to fully recharge the battery if that was possible with the car stationary. If the car is moving it would take more than that to recharge. As it is, when the car goes into gas mode, the engine does not run constantly. It runs for a few minutes, then shuts down, and you drive on electric till the charge runs down, then it starts up, and puts a few more miles in the battery, then shuts down again. This maximizes range, and keeps the battery low ready to racharge on the grid.

@patrickflohe1193

5 жыл бұрын

12voltvids If I put my '19 into Mountain Mode, I get about 8 miles of battery range out of that exercise.

lots of questions answered in this video! thanks.

Great review. Thanks. I'm currently looking at purchasing the new 2016 Volt. Stated electric only range has been lifted to 80klm's.

@12voltvids

9 жыл бұрын

Yes it is s totally new design. After looking at the deep dive on the engineering papers I see it is a totally different animal. The first gen volt operates as an electric car for 55-60KM, and then fires the engine and operates as a series hybrid, with the gas engine only generating electricity that puts some charge back into the battery and drives the main electric motor. At high speeds, through some cleaver clutching they can connect the engine into the drive line so some torque from the engine can make it to the wheels. The engine can never drive the car on it's own only help, but it can be totally disconnected and operate as a series hybrid. On the new volt the first 80KM is electric only, in either a single or dual electric motor configuration just like the first gen. The difference is that the gas engine is coupled to the planetary gear set using a 1 way clutch, and they way it is configured through the planetary gear set when the engine is running it will always be delivering power to the wheels, in addition to generating power for the main motor. It can not drive the wheels directly from the engine, only assist as in the first generation volt, but it can not be isolated and only generate power as the first gen volt does. For that reason I personally think the first generation volt is a better design. Not that I see anything wrong with the new design, and would buy one in a heartbeat if my car was say totaled, just looking at the design that series mode is cool, as at speeds under 90KMh the gas engine cycles on and off, and runs at pretty much a constant speed. I am waiting for the new one to hit the show rooms so I can take one out and give it a test drive. The biggest factor in the success of the new volt will be the price. I think if GM can get the price to the 35K range they will fly off the lots. Many people think that the 40K + price of the od volt was too high. I dm not one of those people. In the 4 years I have owned the car I have saved over 15,000 in fuel costs, and maintenance. 1 oil change at the 2 year mark, next one scheduled for the 4 year anniversary this summer. No other maintenance has been needed. 80,000 KM and there is still more than 90% left on the brake pads. As of this writing, I have put over 8000KM on the current tank of gas. Haven't filled since August of Last year!

This proves that the generator on board will continue to charge the battery, and makes the car an emergency power source during an outage. Just hook an inverter up to it, and leave the car powered on. The engine will cycle on and off to keep the battery from going dead.

Yes this is because the engine will run at a much higher speed, and fully load down the engine to produce more power than the electrics are using to move the car, thus building up your buffer charge. I drove through the mountains last summer and did not engage mountain mode. I had no problems at all as far as power goes, and actually got better fuel economy because the engine was running at the lower speed as in normal driving.

As a follow up, to see if the engine will put more than the 40% charge when switched to mountain mode, today I had the car out and used abouy 1/3 charge. There was still 31KM range remaining. I put the car in mountain mode, and nothing happened, except that the range estimate dropped to 16KM, which is where it was when the engine stopped in mountain mode. I then popped the hood release, and the engine came to life. Over 10 minutes the range went from 16 - 23 in mountain, and 31 - 38 in normal.

@tomaszstarling

Жыл бұрын

I was wrong, it took me a while to educate myself on that topic and I admit I was very wrong. I do apologize, again. Happy New Year

That was a great and objective demo! Thanks

Yes I know, this is an estimate, and usually you can exceed that range displayed. I quite often fump in the car and it tells me I am going to get 55KM, and I can get upwards of 70KM before the generator fires. It all depends on your driving style, and outdoor temperature.

Very interesting video, considering buying a volt and this provides a lot of info

Well, if you come through Port Orchard in Western Washington on the Olympic Peninsula, you're welcome to charge at my place on your trip.

This was all in a science exparament to try this. These is no reason that one would do this because the fuel used is going to cost allot more than electricity from the grid. The only reason for this exparament is to see how much you can recover the battery in the event that the volt is being used as an emergency power supply, which you can do by switching the car to on, and connecting an inverter to the 12 volt battery. The HV battery will charge the 12 volt engine keep the HV battery topped.

Just tried it and I works. Thank, Good to know.

23Km. I corrected myself on the video. I initially said miles, because I thought I had the display in imperial mode, then I noticed that it was in metric, and corrected myself.

I wondered why this was happening , thanks for the video

I'll be trying a hypermiling trip anytime soon. So far I get well over 70km on a range myself - given I drive with great foresight and care.

It went to 24 miles, or 38KM and then appeared to stop charging even though the engine continued to run. This was after about 30 minutes of run time. So that would be roughly a 60% charge I figure. Not that anyone would ever do this, I did it as an exparament while on a road trip, where there was no place to charge, so I would have burned that gas anyway. It is not economical to charge the battery this way as it costs about 6X more to generate from gas than to plug in and charge.

I never said it was a self charging car. I said it was an experiment to see how much gas was needed to charge the battery to go X number of miles. The title might be called self charging chevy volt, to grab attention, but I in no way imply the volt charges itself, and I would never recommend that someone try to run the engine to charge the battery. I was just demonstrating that it costs roughly 4X as much to run gas as to charge from the grid. So, in other words electric cars are 4X more efficient, cost wise as a conventional car.

@EatPezzzz

6 жыл бұрын

"The title might be called self charging chevy volt, to grab attention, but I in no way imply the volt charges itself" LOL!! That is all.

@RedRider1600

5 жыл бұрын

@12voltvids The title says, "Self Charging Chevy Volt". So yeah, you did say that it was a self charging car. I'm surprised that the Volt doesn't allow you the option of completely recharging the car using just the engine. People who live off-grid do not have the option of plugging in to top off the batteries. So I'm guessing this also means that you couldn't use the engine as an electric generator to power your house. What a shame. Why would they intentionally build in these limitations? I wonder if the newer models are any different.

@AmperageY

5 жыл бұрын

RedRider1600 if u open the hood, the car is on and the car is stopped the engine will run until the hood is closed so you can have a set up for emergency generator, although leaving it in mountain mode should be more efficient since as soon as the battery hits 40% it shut off the engine and turn back on only to keep to 40% rather than running indefinitely even with a fully charged battery and just wasting gas that a open hood method would cause Additionally you don’t need to open the hood to access the 12V battery so mountain mode is pretty good set up all around.

@patrickflohe1193

5 жыл бұрын

You clearly mentioned that it was an experiment. Some people are just nit-picking idiots. In this experiment, it did self-charge.

Yes it does. When you engage mountain mode, the range is calculated to leave 40% charge. Right now my car shows 46KM remaining (battery is not fully charged) and if I switch it to mountain mode, it shows 27K. That is a 19KM difference as that is the buffer. The engine will start to keep that 19KM buffer. If there is no charge, left, and i put it in mountain mode, the engine will run faster to recover that 19KM, and then shut down. To answer your question yes, that's exactly what happens.

Awesome video and information.

Thanks for conducting this experiment it was helpful.

I have absolutely no issues with the power and torque of the volt. Sure my old 95 supercoupe will blow the doors off it, but then my old supercoupe will easily do 240KMh, and the volt is limited to 160, BUT and this is a big BUT, My supercoupe would drink about 200 Liters of premium fuel per month. In Canada that would run over 300 per month in fuel. My volt cost me about 350 in electricity for an entire year, and perhaps 90 liters of fuel in the entire year, which is 148.00. Do the math!

No, mountain mode is used if you are going to be driving through the mountains, and need the reserve power to get over the big hills. There is no advantage to engaging mountain mode unles syou are driving through the mountains, as the engine will run at full speed to bring the battery pack up faster, and use more fuel. When you drive, the computer will start and stop the engine as necessary keeping the battery in it's low level charge untill you plug into the grid at your destination to charge.

Got a question for u..my volt 14 98k...was changing 40 mile per charge..car been sitting few months without charging, now im only getting 33 full charge.. do u know how to fix it ? Thanks

@ilovemysmartmeter

3 жыл бұрын

It should return after a few charge cycles. My volt went in for the hybrid module software update recall last year. Still get 56 km which is 35 miles. When new I got 60 km but the car is now 9 years old with 160k on the clock. The software update reduced the range slightly to transition to gas a little sooner so there was more reserve to reduce the chance of going into reduced propulsion mode if operating with a low battery. I always keep mine plugged in when not in use so battery is always full .

@Rushquik555

3 жыл бұрын

@@ilovemysmartmeter nice!!

@patrickflohe7427

Жыл бұрын

It doesn’t matter what it says you MIGHT get (under certain conditions and driving practices). What matters is what you actually DID get, after you drove and depleted your charge.

@Rushquik555

Жыл бұрын

Ok thanks

Not considering personal preferences, which driving mode do you consider more effcient? D or L?

Interesting test! What happened when the battery reached full charge with the hood open? Did the engine shut off and remain running?

Ok. Thanks for the information. For clarification it's there any advantage (more power to wheels) of running in Mountain Mode (Engine on and reserve battery available) versus ONLY Battery? Thanks again.

@12voltvids

7 жыл бұрын

No more power to the wheels. Perhaps a little less to reserve the power. Mountain mode turns the engine on when the battery reach 10 miles of range and starts propelling the car on gas to maintain that range. When the range gets higher than 10 miles (16 KM) the engine turns off. When it drops to 10, it starts again. This is to ensure that there is plenty of power to get over the mountain, and it does work. I have driven over many ranges, and the only time I regret it, and when I have forgotten to put it in mountain mode BEFORE I hit the incline. Wen traveling and find a huge hill has appeared out of nowhere, and I know I am going to be short power, I pull off the road, and sit for 5-8 minutes in mountain mode. This puts several miles of range (as you see in this demo) in the battery, and then I start the climb. I have video of when I have forgotten to put it into mountain mode. OK I didn`t forget I did it on purporse, but I haven`t published it, because it will make people think it is like a prius. Speed limited. I have published hill climbing performance videos, and putting the car into mountain mode is a must for performance.

The cap on the charging is probably because it's hot out. The math on this comes out to you getting 35mpg if the gas is used in the least efficient method possible: charging the vehicle in idle. I'm not sure where the mixed results came form. This is incredibly impressive. It means with the tax credit (in the US anyway), the volt's WORST case scenario is still BETTER than competitively priced volts. I didn't catch if the vehicle also had climate control enabled, but if it did that's awesome, cause it's even better. It essentially means you could idle for a long time in perfect comfort and entertainment w/o dropping to even the average MPG most other sedan drivers get.

@12voltvids

7 жыл бұрын

The cap on charing has nothing to do with the heat outside. The battery is liquid cooled. Yes climate control is always on. On long trips when running in gas mode, which is the only time I can calculate fuel used I average between 39 and 41MPG when running octane 92+, Octane 89 delivers 37-39MPG, and if those small towns where they only have 87 it drops to about 34. I had the misfortune of the pump jockey putting in E85 alcohol crap a few years ago in Arizona. I though the engine was going to blow up. I had cautions and warnings all over the place, and the fuel economy dropped to about 20MPG and I could literally see the fuel gauge dropping. E85 fuel is 85% alcohol 15% gasoline. The first gen volt is designed to run premium, which is 100% gasoline, no alcohol. Mid grade generally has about 5% alcohol., and regular can have up to 10%. The E85 crap is designed specifically for flex fuel vehicles. Don't put it in a volt, never ever. I ended up with a tank full of trouble by some drop out that just stuck whatever in my tank. Once I figured out the problem, refilling with Chevron 94 diluted it enough that the check engine light eventually went out, but for a few hours until I figured it out (noticed the gas receipt said E85 after the fact) I was freaking out, as I was in the middle of the desert (on a horse with no name) and my engine was running about 6000 RPM trying to make power from nothing. The problem with E85 is it has much less energy in it. The volt uses the engine as a power generator, and generating electricity is exactly the same as moving a boat through water, it is a full load on the engine, and with a fuel with no BTUs the computer was doing what it could to make enough power, and that was running the throttle wide open.

Man you are the best!👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 Do you know if this also applies to the newer models like 2018-2019?

@12voltvids

Жыл бұрын

The second gen operates a little different. Mountain mode leaves an 8 mile range but it won't typically start the engine and put charge in the battery while stationary. It wlll add the reserve while driving. Because the 2nd gen had a much more powerful GDI engine 152hp vs 82 on gen 1 mountain mode is much less important. I gone mountain climbing in gen2 and didn't even bother using it. I still prefer the gen 1 however. It handles better and seats far more comfortable.

Your right it is useless, but in the name of science, I needed an answer.

Running the engine just to charge the battery is not that bad of an idea. I hate the performance when it is not charged.

@RedRider1600

5 жыл бұрын

It does charge the battery, but not to 100% . . . only to about 20% as shown in this video.

@patrickflohe1193

5 жыл бұрын

Marc Irwin I drive mine home most of the way, every day, after the charge was depleted shortly after beginning the trip home. I don't have any performance issues, but it is nicer with both available.

For apt dweller's is there some type of generator that can be charged in the apt, then taken outside to the volt and charge it?

@12voltvids

9 жыл бұрын

Sir Charles You have to plug it into an electrical socket to charge. I have a friend that lives in an apartment, and he was able to arrange with the manager to plug in his car to an outlet in the underground parking lot. He had to change parking stalls with another tenant, and get one that was close to an existing outlet. He pays an extra 30 a month on his rent, and that more than covers the power he uses. At first the manager had questions, but once he explained that the car uses typically 12KWh to charge up if it is totally dead, our electricity is 7c per kwh so a full charge is about .85, so for an average month he is using about 25 in energy. They settled on 30 a month extra, and he is happy. His stall is next to the electrical room, and then ran an extension cord from the room out through a vent and onto the ground behind his stall.When he pulls in he leaves his charger in the back of his car (so it won't get stolen) and runs the cord into the back of the car to the charge unit, and then back out from the charge unit to the charge port on the car. He had been doing this for the past 2 years, no issue. He used to spend about 80 a month on gas, so now he is paying 30 for electricity, so the net savings is around 50 a month for him.

That's weird. I have an Opel Ampera (european rebadge of the Chevy Volt) and it will only show it's lifetime and consumption in 2 digits. Yours read 1,54 & 0,96 L/100, on mine it would read 1,5 & 0,9, so it's less accurate. Is there a setting for this?? (that you know of)

Engine won't start (car wont turn on for that matter) with the charge cord connected.

Have you tried popping the Hood, and possibly floring the throttle? This was a tip I read on the net, although it didn't state any chargelevel other than it would charge. Do you get additional charging beyond 40%/23km? Not that it would be practical, but interesting to know.

@12voltvids

6 жыл бұрын

Magne Elvemo No is doesn't charge more. It actually doesn't charge at all if you pop the hood. This is only a safety feature. If you pop the hood when they car is turned on the engine starts as a warning to whoever is poking around under the hood that the car is on, the high voltage is on and the engine is running. This was in response to accidents on prius and escape hybrids where a mechanic would be working under the hood and the hv battery discharged and the engine would start by itself to charge the battery. A few people got caught up in the fan belt. So pop the hood engine starts. You know it is on before working on it.

Is there any advantage of simply utilizing the 'HOLD' at say 12 miles and then simply going back to 'NORMAL' mode when going through the mountain range (in NORMAL mode). Or is there an advantage of going throug the mountain range in 'MOUNTAIN' mode? Does 'MOUNTAIN' mode provide any more power for going up the mountain than 'NORMAL' mode?

@12voltvids

7 жыл бұрын

You could put it in hold at 12 miles. My car doesn't have hold mode. Mountain mode will automatically hold the battery at 10 miles. It is intended for long steep climbs. If you do not put the car in mountain mode, on a long incline, the reserve in the battery will eventually be depleted, and then your power will be limited to what the engine can produce, about 83 HP. You won't be setting any records climbing the rest of the hill. Steed will slowly drop to about 50 MPH, and you will be right there with the big rigs, diesels and motor homes in the slow lane. On the other hand, if you put it in mountain mode in advance of the hill, and allow enough time (about 10 minutes of driving before the incline starts) you can sprint up the highest mountains at 90MPH passing everyone else on the road. Yes it makes that big a difference.

Congratulations. You just achieved 35 miles per gallon in a Volt.

@12voltvids

5 жыл бұрын

My old volt, now 8 years old still gets the full 40 miles on the battery, and when the engine is running 40 miles per gallon not 35. My new volt I have gotten over 60 miles on the battery before the engine starts, and when the engine is running 41.8MPG. So far with the new one 3,000 miles less than 1 gallon of fuel used!

@thegrayvapour

5 жыл бұрын

12voltvids I was just running the conversion of the results of this experiment for us Yankees. I just bought one this week. The dealer didn’t charge the battery and I was curious how much power could be reclaimed from the ICE. Thanks for doing the dirty work.

If you have an electric car, the Seminole Hard Rock Casino near Fort Lauderdale has parking spaces that will allow you to charge electric cars for free while you're there. That's pretty sweet! You could almost go to the Hard Rock daily to eat lunch and never pay for electricity to power your vehicle.

@markguerrero7677

4 жыл бұрын

GMoney If you could eat lunch for free too then you would really have something! Always looking for free chargers. ;)

I believe this proves also one most important thing for me - that the batteries can withstand very quick charging. Which opens up possibilities for tinkering with "quick charge mode" on Volt/Ampera. Anyone done this before? To be able to charge say full capacity in one hour would be fantastic to use on longer journeys..

@12voltvids

8 жыл бұрын

For starters quick charging is very hard on batteries.Just ask anyone with a Leaf or Tesla that fast charges all the time.It is OK when traveling, and you need to do it occasionally, but quick charging every time is hard on the cells. The volt battery can be fast charged by the on board generator in mountain mode, but it limits the charge to 40% and this I am quite sure is to protect the battery. The volt does not have a DC charge port, because the car as a gas engine/generator and therefore does not require a charge on a long trip. Just run a little gas through it. That is what the car was designed for. The new volt goes 85Km on a charge, and for 95% of drivers that will more than cover their daily commuting on full electric power. Mine if first generation, and I get 50-60Km depending on how heavy my right foot is. Still that is more than enough to get me to and from where I am going, and a tank of gas lasts me about 10 months. When I do my annual traveling, I don't think about charging, I just put gas in it and go. It is the best of both worlds, and it is the only car I will buy going forward, based on my experience over the past 5 years.

@DavidSvoboda100

8 жыл бұрын

Thank for great reply. However, even just charging up to 40% in one hour (or half an hour) would be fantastic during longer trips. I am (hopefully) buying used Ampera (2012) next week so will see for myself. I only think that on longer trips, I heard of the "tipping point", i.e. kilometres travelled after which the Volt stops being more efficient than the comparable cars, like Prius ecc. Giving it often on longer trips small charge like this, could help maintain much better mpg, like 2-3 liters/ 100 km which seems appealing..

@12voltvids

8 жыл бұрын

I just completed a very long road trip that lasted 8 days. Over that trip I racked up 5,500 km. I was only able to charge 2 times in that entire trip because either the places I stayed did not have any outlets, or when I did have a motel where I could Park directly in front of my room, the wiring was inadequate and the car refused to charge (no ground). I was traveling out back country in the USA. Get off the main drag and there is no place to charge. I averaged 5.1 litres per 100 km which put it in diesel country for efficiency. My lifetime average over 100,000 is 1.8 but that includes some very long road trips. Even with the level 2 charger you can pick up about 18 km if you plug in for an hour..if you check out some of my other volt videos I show real road trip fuel economy I got on a long trip.

When I went to a customers house of mine, I popped the hood for ten minutes or so, yes, it does charge the battery. : )

So what if we open the hood first, engine starts, then plug in the cord, will the engine shut off?

please help. my 2012 has the SHVCS light on and i choose not to pay the dealer rip off fee to delete the light. the problem has been fixed i believe). so what is the best way to drive my volt as a "gas car" only how can i get the best mpg as far as mt. mode, etc? you seem like an expert who would know. thanks much

Yes I am aware of this. I am taking the car on a road trip next week, and during a driving break I intend to do just that, pop the hood, and see if the battery will charge more than 40%. I'll do it while I am burning gas anyway so as not to just waste gas to exparament, as I would be burning it anyway. Whatever I put into the battery will be used up, as there is not place to charge on the road till I get to my motel, then I will charge up over night for the next day.

@patrickflohe1193

5 жыл бұрын

12voltvids Have you found many motels that allow you to charge the car there?

Really works.!! Gracias por el tip..!!

Does this prove in theory the current Volt's are able to do Fast Charging as well, like most other electric, E-REV and plugin-hybrid cars?

@12voltvids

9 жыл бұрын

No they do not have fast charge plugs lilke other EVs that have the DC charge connector. The volt has a built in level 1/2 charger. When the generator starts up in mountain mode it will do a quick charge, but as my video shows, it only put a 40% charge in the battery and then it shuts down. It will build up 10-12 miles of range max. This is because there is no point of charging the battery on this manner. Gas to run the generator cost 4X as much as electricity.

My right foot is far too heavy. I enjoy the rush of acceleration too much, and blowing away the dorks that sneer at the traffic lights. I have changed a few peoples opinions that think it is a golf cart initially. Needless to say I average 60-63KM on a charge. If I light foot it around town, I get 70+ no problem in fair weather.

I live in a unknown city in Canada, I'm planning to purchase a used 2012 volt used at 50 000km on it. We hardly have any fast charging stations in our city.. (i can probably only think of one right now)... How long does it take to charge the battery in full in a standard outdoor outlet???... It states online that it takes 8-10hours T_T... That's pretty long. But then again I can do that charging mechanism you shown on this video. I would love to drive 8000km before refuelling. Thats the thing that intrigues me about this car. The thing that most concerns me is how drastically temperature influences the EV range.... because you know in Canada, it can be -40*C.... which is extremely cold. I hope that doesn't drop its battery range to 3 miles LOLOL

Thank you for the informative video. I have a 2012 Chevy Volt with 50,000 miles on it. When I saw your video, I immediately wanted to do that test too, so I did. But I was disappointed to determine that 10 minutes of running the engine in "Mountain Mode" on my Volt only put 5 miles on the battery. Any idea why that would be. Thanks.

@12voltvids

9 жыл бұрын

Slider1604 I get 10 miles after 10 minutes. What was the temperature when you did this. I just got back from a road trip, and I am getting exactly the same range on the battery when it was new. I also have 50,000 miles on my car now.

@Slider1604

9 жыл бұрын

I believe the temperature was somewhere between 88 and 95 degrees. Pretty warm.

was to the Mount Rainer summit for camping way up there where people do on fire roads

This could be useful to improve the charge time of the Volt. Bypass the petrol engine and existing built-in charger and install a new charger that allows for a faster charge so that the Mk 1 Volts can use the faster public charging equipment.

Can you quick charge the volt at a station or do you have to always charge it at your home?

@12voltvids

7 жыл бұрын

The volt only has a level 2 charger (240 volt) so it takes about 3 1/2 hours to fully charge. I do charge all the time at public stations while I am shopping, or out for a bite to eat, but most is done at home. Since the volt has on board power, there is no need for fast charging when traveling, just burn gas. Thats what makes it the perfect car. Electric all the time for running around and getting to and from work, and when I need to travel then I just put gas in it like a regular car and drive it llike a regular car. The trabsfer to gasa power is seamless. The gas tank is only 9 gallons, but that is still good for over 300 miles per fill.

great video, I always wondered about this, can the car charge itself while on the move with the gas engine???

@12voltvids

9 жыл бұрын

***** When in mountain mode, the engine will charge the battery to 40%, and keep it at that level so that there is enough reserve power to get the car over any mountain range. So if you are driving in mountain mode and shut the car off. When you turn it back on, there is a 12-15 mile range on the battery.

Hi I live in the UK and have a Vauxhall Ampera (Volt ) if I try to charge mine in Mountain Mode it does charge the battery but there seams to be a lot of heat generated from the car and a smell of rubber burning so I don't do it in case it overheats...

@12voltvids

10 жыл бұрын

Naturally you would nopt normally charge your battery using the generator. This is silly because petrol costs 4 times as much to charge this way vs the grid. It was an experiment to find out how much fuel was needed to generate electricity, and the video shows how much fuel it uses. Normally mountain mode is used while the car is in motion, which aids in cooling. When I am driving long distances in mountainous territory I put it in mpountain mode, as that will build up a 11-12 mile buffer range so I have full power to get over the hills. Other than that I leave it in normal more, or select sport mode.

What you fail to understand is that 14 miles on the battery will actually give you about 20 miles + on a warm day. I drove 30 miles yesterday while using only 21 miles off of my battery charge. These are regenerative actions that all plug ins are capable of.

thanks

can i ask question if i put mountain mode and leave car for half hour and keep car without moving question is car in this case wil be harmed or affected

@12voltvids

7 жыл бұрын

No, it will run the engine untill the battery gets to 40% which is about 15 minutes and then the engine shuts down. Once the battery discharges bellow 40% it will start again for a minute or so to get the change back. Last year when I was shooting time lapses in the desert, I sat in the car while the camera was doing it's thing so I could escape the 115' F temperatures. Air condition was running, and the engine would come on for about 2 minutes and then go off for 10.

@mohammadzidan1433

7 жыл бұрын

12voltvids thanks

eh you can keep the engine running in the most optimal range of rpm. this might save gas if you have a lot of uphill driving to do and have the time and not the charge. might try this on my next road trip during rest stops... as long as someone is in the car...

Yes, I charge as much as possible on public chargers here too (there are many here), type 2. But can you almost fully charge (from empty to full) your Volt in about an hour..?! I though not less then 4 hours is needed, at least that is the case for the public chargers over here in the Netherlands. Would be great if faster charging would be possible.

@12voltvids

9 жыл бұрын

It takes my 2012 about 3 hours to charge, 3 1/2 in cold weather. Some of the public chargers take a little longer, and I suspect it is because they are on a 3 phase power system, and thus the charge voltage is 208 as opposed to 240. When I head out for lunch, the place I am going is only about 12 miles from home, so 1 hour will bring my battery back to almost a full charge. When I am out and about because there are so many chargers that are free, I plug in at almost every place (plus there are reserved parking stalls for charging at the stores and malls) so basically I might use 1/4 of the battery, charge up, go to the next place, charge up again, ect. A fast charge option might be nice, as the battery could technically be charged in probably 15 minutes, but GM engineers know that quick charging is very hard on the batteries if done repeatedly. So to provide the longest life, and they claim the battery will last the life of the car, a fast charge option was not included.

Thanks for your reply. Too bad it isn't possible to fast charge our Volts. It's something I miss, since here in the Netherlands, and futher in Europe, they're building up a fast charging network quickly now. Fast charging would enable me to keep driving on electricity a lot more when I have longer rides.

@12voltvids

9 жыл бұрын

They actually took out of of our DC chargers here in Surrey BC because it wasn't being used enough and are relocating it somewhere else. We do have a network of hundreds of level 2 chargers though, which I take advantage of whenever I go out. Like today for example. I plan to go out for lunch and there is a level 2 charger where I am going, so while I eat, I will pick up about an hours charge, which will bring my battery back to almost a full charge.

Also, with wise driving you're most likely to get more than 23 km of range on that fuel charged battery range.

12voltvids Just curious, what would be the use of charging your volt with the gas motor when you can just drive it on gas for the same mileage?

@12voltvids

9 жыл бұрын

kidwithaquadcopter There is no point.It was an experiment to see what happens when the car is put in mountain mode with no charge left in the battery. I wanted to see how much fuel was used, and how much energy would be put in the battery. I don't use the gas engine to charge the car, I plug it in at home, and I plug it in at public charging stations. The only time the engine runs is when I am on road trips, and the odd time I need to go farther than the electric range which is perhaps once every 6 to 8 weeks. As you will see in the video it costs about 4 times as much to run on gas as it does to plug in and pay the power company for electricity.

@kidwithaquadcopter5107

9 жыл бұрын

Oh I see, I was just a little confused about that haha, but thats cool, I'm buying a '16 volt when it comes out and cant wait :D

@12voltvids

9 жыл бұрын

kidwithaquadcopter I can't wait for it either, to see it. Not ready to trade up yet, as my current volt suites my needs, but they have made huge improvements to interior, exterior and performance improvments too. Not enough for me to trade in mind you. I don't need the 3rd seat in the rear, but for some people this was a deal breaker with the existing model. The extra 12 miles on the battery is a big improvement, but no big deal for me, as I never run out of electric range on my daily commute, and when I am going out of town that wouldn't make much of a difference.In 4 years I have had no problems other than wearing out the front tires.

@fiftyning

7 жыл бұрын

.

@KimonoSkunk

6 жыл бұрын

12voltvids These are excellent videos.... trying to see íf my ssdi comes in soon so i can get a used Volt.... Thank you sir, and keep posting and i'll keep watching.

That's about 40 MPG... not bad...

hi love ur videos,i have a question: i just tray to do exactly what u did in ur video, i just bougth an used volt 2012 with 220000km on it,the hybride battery its charging when plug in with no problem,bud now that i tray the montain mode and open the hood so its charge the battery with the combustion engine its never charge the battery at all, my battery was 0 volts before i tray ur methode ,and stay at 0volt after so didnt charge at all with ur method so i asume that the generator motor its not working at all,im deseperated!!! any help please what to do.

@12voltvids

Жыл бұрын

Won't charge with hood open. It starts as a warning for someone working on the car that the power is on. Mountain mode only puts 10 miles of range and then stops. If you just bought the car a trip to the dealer is recommended to verrif that the 2019 update is put on. This will reduce the electric range by raising the minimum charge but will prevent the battery from over discharge. Now sometimes when the car has been sitting for several days with a full charge the engine starts and runs for a few miles then switches to electric. It is doing a cell balance. I have a new video coming to show this.

@alhamilton1806

Жыл бұрын

@@12voltvids thanks for ur answer! i was rung in my reply before cause i forgot that after charging my volt in montain mode for 10 minutes i need it to turn off the car and the turn it back on to be abble to see how many km were add and my big surprise when i saw that 13km were add yuppy so itd wrk like a charm ur idea!!! thanks! now my question is : since then i was traying to rung as many time i can in montain mode and swtch it back to normal modefor a few km ,so i realize that i sepnd more gaz when im running in montain mode !!! so my question is : m i spending more gaz running my car in montain mode so even if give me back some km into my battery!! is it worth it !!! thanks!

@12voltvids

Жыл бұрын

@@alhamilton1806 I only use mm in winter when the car will sit with a discharged battery for awhile that way it sits with a higher charge on the battery as the car is 12 years old and old batteries self discharge faster. Don't want it over discharging if left sitting unplugged with a low battery.

what happened to the front of the car? Look spotchy like someone tried to paint it but ran out.

@12voltvids

7 жыл бұрын

Nothing is wrong with the front of the car. Just the way the light is hitting it.

Why doesn't it just go to 100% charge and have gas engine shut down for around 40 miles or so? I might of missed something here.

15KM, not miles. Now my question is, if he plugged int he 220 and did the same ten minutes on the gas engine, would it even charge faster?

I understand that recharging on the grid is much cheaper at about a buck. But away from the grid, all there is the on board gas engine. Even at recharging at about $4 a gallon, moving a long still at about 40 miles per gallon, it still a good deal in any car. Why not still let it go to full charge and then "coast" on battery until it runs out at 40 to 60 miles that I read that it goes.. I know that it is programmed to go to 40% charge by design. Just wondering why not?

How many hours to full charge

so all i need to do is have the car at or near 0, park it, then put it in Mountain mode? it will start charging?

@12voltvids

8 жыл бұрын

+texclydes That wasn't the point. Mountain mode will only put 10 miles of range. It was to figure out how much gas was burned for a specific charge, so that operating costs between gas and grid energy can be calculated. The car will not totally charge the battery in Mountain mode. Once it gets to 10 miles it shuts off.

@texclydes

8 жыл бұрын

+12voltvids that's ok, that is what I'm asking. I understand it will charge the battery to 10 miles and turn off. I didn't know it did this at sll.

@fiftyning

7 жыл бұрын

see but you can drive 10 miles and put it in Mountain mode again,i tried this on my volt and got 40% charge ,then it stopped charging ,then i drove on normal mode and it charged to 50% .

@12voltvids

7 жыл бұрын

Mountain mode is designed to place a 40% reserve in the battery so that when going over migh mountains you have enough reserve to get over the largest mountain pases without running out of reserve and the resulting turtle mode that follows. Anyone that has driven a Prius, or Ford Escape hybrid will know that feeling, where you are putting your foot through the floor and the speed is dropping, and there is nothing you can do about it because the battery reserve is gone, and now only the engine power is moving the car.The volt will suffer this same fate, and I have done this intentionally to see what happens, and I had my speed limited to about 55MPH (90KMH) the rest of the way to the summit.Mountain mode is not intended for normal use as it does reserve maximum power slightly to preserve the battery for those said mountain passes so you don't end up in the slow lane. I have taken my volt up the steepest pass in Canada, on the Coquahala pass, and did it at speeds reaching 160KMH (100MH) which is the governed maximum speed of the volt. No problem climbing at excessive speed.Other than going through the mountains I would never enter that mode, as all it does is make you burn gas that may not be needed to complete the trip on full electric, which is my preferred mode of travel.

if you think about it this makes perfect logical sense. 10 miles with just over 1/4 tank of gas gives you the rated 38 mpg rating when running on gas. same with the 15 minute charge if you do the math

@12voltvids

8 жыл бұрын

+djs4schools You meant to say 1/4 gallon right, 1/4 tank right.Stationary that would be correct about 38 miles of range generated by 1 gallon of gas. In practice when in extended range mode I see more like 40-42 MPG when driving in stop and go traffic as regenerative braking adds some range.

@101realtor

8 жыл бұрын

+12voltvids lol ya gallon not tank

how much time is necesary for fully charghing?

@12voltvids

10 жыл бұрын

Using a 240 volt plug the recharge time is 3.5 hours, which is what I use. On a standard 120 volt outlet (dedicated circuit) 7-8 hours. If outlet is shared with other appliances, low power can be selected which takes 10-11 hours. When traveling, I have had to use the reduced charge mode because motel plugs are generally shared between multiple rooms.

It does actually charge the battery, but won't charge it fully. Otherwise it were a waste of petrol And it is in fact a supercharging mode. So, yes, the Volt can supercharge. On itself.

1 l fuel= 8.9kW/h, not too good; that's why the Volt doesn't supercharge the battery through its onboard generator, at least not more than 40% (correct me if I'm wrong).

6:10 - 23 km, not 23 miles. Or did I get something wrong there?

that is insane! so for 1 gallon ill get 10 mills only? my ford fusion is giving my 26 mills per gallon. overall good video kip up the good work. very helpful.

@12voltvids

10 жыл бұрын

Where did you hear 10 miles to a gallon? It was 1 litre of fuel to produce 10 miles of range. There are 3.785 litres to 1 US gallon, or 4.54 litres to an imperial, or British gallon. So, using those numbers, 37.85 miles to the gallon when measured against a US gallon, and 45.4 when measured to an imperial gallon. Generally car manufactures, especially those marketed in Canada use the imperial gallon as their reference so that the MPG number appears bigger. This is why litres per 100 km is a more accurate measure as a litre is a litre anywhere you go in the world. The volt gets on average between 38 and 42 miles per US gallon when burning fuel. It is now July 4, the last time I filled my tank was December 31, last year. I have put 8200 miles on my car since then, and there is still about 2 gallons of fuel left in the 9 US gallon (7 imp gallon) tank. No other car that has a gasoline or diesel engine can boast those numbers. The only cars that can do better than that are the electric models that do not have an on boatrd generator, and those ones, even the teslas have range limit, and then you have to recharge. The volt does not. As long as I put gas in the tank I can drive across the country if I choose, but as a commuter car I burn no gas at all. So gas prices, something that frustrates other drivers has no effect at all on me. That is unless I choose to take my Harley out. Then I feel the pinch at the pump, but I only ride that a few days a month these days.

@eveneser12

10 жыл бұрын

My mistake please forgive me apparently I wasn't putting much attention I thought it was a gallon instead of a liter. Thank you so much for correcting me I really appreciate that.

You forget about the regenerative engine. When you stop or coast you also get added mileage.

@12voltvids

9 жыл бұрын

No I didn't forget about the regenerative braking. This experiment was strictly to see how much energy the generator would put into the battery with the car stationary. I invite you to view my video done last year titled Chevy Volt regenerative braking experiment. You can watch that one here: kzread.info/dash/bejne/m4R1xsGjm9nId7A.html

does the battery charge while you're driving

@12voltvids

7 жыл бұрын

Donte Coleman no it will maintain the minimum charge until you charge it again. in mountain mode it will maintain a 10 mile buffer. so if the battery has less than 10 miles of range it will build the charge to the 10 mile level then shut down the gas engine.

Whats so great about hold mode? Either or ...use all battery now or use it later... doesn't mean much..I would be more impressed if Volt came with bigger battery n longer range...like 120 miles on battery per charge plus 38 miles per 0 gallon of gas or a 500w solar panel charging battery while car is moving...that wou would be awesome....don't you think??

@12voltvids

4 жыл бұрын

Hold mode is only for those areas that have congestion tax, like London. Drive in on gas and then use electric in the city. I have never used it on my 2019 volt. The battery is more than big enough. That is the point of the engine. The first gen gets about 40 miles on the battery, the second gen 55. On my second gen, I have put over 8000 km on it since I last filled the tank which as of this reply was 6 months ago and I still have almost 1/2 tank. I won't fill it again till I hit the road for a trip. The battery is the most expensive part on an electric car. It isn't necessary on a plug in hybrid. Solar charging is a joke, and another unnecessary expense that only an idiot would want. A full year in the sun will generate a couple of miles of range. It generates enough power to run a fan to cool the cabin while the car is parked. That's about it. The second gen volt was perfect. Too bad the general killed it, but rumours are the tech is returning next year as an suv or pickup truck. That will be very tempting.

@tasaytabay5350

4 жыл бұрын

@@12voltvids just tried that on my 13volt..lelf engine on for 20s..charge still at 23%?? Am I doing something wrong here?

I tried this in my brother's 2019 Volt and it only lets you charge in Mountain Mode up to 15%. Only giving you 8 miles of range.

@12voltvids

5 жыл бұрын

The 2019 is a totally different car. I have both the 2012 and 2019. They have a different engine and quite frankly the mountain mode is not even needed on 2nd gen in the majority of cases . First the battery capacity is almost 50% larger. 14.5 kwh vs 10kwh on first gen. So naturally the reserve % is going to be lower. On first gen mountain mode maintains (charging to maintenance level for mountain mode) 10 miles or 16km. Second gen it puts In 12km which is as you discovered, 8 miles. It doesn't need as much because unlike the first gen which operates pretty much as a series hybrid except under certain conditions of low power demand it operates as parallel. The second gen operates as a parallel only so when engine is running power is going into planetary gear set and to the wheels. The first gen has a 1.4L normal engine rated at only 84 hp, so for big hills power is taken from the reserve in the battery to make up the 150 or so horses to the front wheels. When the battery is flat, then the power is limited to what the little engine can produce and this results in a speed limit of 50MPH so having a good reserve in the battery is a must for big hills and it works flawlessly. The 2nd gen a 1.5L high compression direct injection engine which puts out much more power 149 hp so less reliance on the battery and electric motors are required. Unlike the first gen the 2nd gen when running in gas mode can take 100% power from the engine. Totally different design and a superior setup in my opinion. Not that there is anything wrong with the first gen, it is an excellent and very simple design with a simpler setup. 2 motors 3 clutches and single planetary get set. 2nd gen has 2 planetary gear sets and if not mistaken 5 clutches. It is more efficient. First gen got me 38-40 mpg on highway long trip driving burning premium. Second gen and I am on a long road trip as I write this. 42mpg average using regular. Put regular in first gen and it is very unhappy and fuel economy drops to about 35mpg. Put in e85 as happened to me twice in hick town USA by crooked gas seller and it runs like a piece of shit, and fuel economy dropped to 19mpg until I found another gas station and put some real gas in it. So far on this 2000 mile road trip I used mountain mode the first day of travel to observe how it worked, and it worked perfectly. I could see therange dropping while flying up big hills, and watched the range return coming down the other side. Today I didn't use mountain mode, and still had no issues going up large hills. I would still recommend using it just to keep a nice reserve in the battery for passing big trucks and motorhomes on steep grades where there is no passing lane. Having full engine power plus the extra torque from the electrics really moves it going up big hills.

@redgeciccone8218

4 жыл бұрын

How did you making charge, I have a 2017 and my battery has 8km left,... on park I put it on mountain and the engine does't start at all, it's there a special setting to turn on to make it work ?

@12voltvids

4 жыл бұрын

@@redgeciccone8218 2nd gen is a totally different design.

@GreggCesaroni

4 жыл бұрын

Redge Ciccone try it when the charge is pretty much zero. It should run. My brother’s is a 19.

@12voltvids

4 жыл бұрын

@@GreggCesaroni It will run when it is down at 0 and put in mountain mode, which should bring it to 8 miles, 12KM.

Then there would be no point in it being a plug in car. If you watch the video, it took 0.26 gallons of fuel to give 10 miles of range. So, that would, by calculation require 1.04 gallons of fuel to generate 40 miles of range. Last time I checked gas was about 4.50 a gallon. So to generate 40 miles of range, would cost about 4.50. By contrast it costs 1.10 to charge the battery on the grid. All those questions are answered on the video.

can I do the same with gen 2 ?

@12voltvids

4 жыл бұрын

The gen2 has mountain mode but it only reserves 8 miles in the battery. Not needed as much because the gen2 has a much more powerful ice, as unlike the gen1, it actually drives the wheels when running. The gen1 the ice primarily drives a generator. It can supply some power to the planetary gear set under certain conditions running as a parallel hybrid but most of the time it runs as a series. The gen2 when the engine fires is always a parallel hybrid. Incidentally I have both a 1st and 2nd generation volt. The 2nd gen is superrior in every way.

battery charging is not linear, % charge is logarithm and not consistent. environment has a huge effect and battery age, also battery usage (number of charge = hours of usage) is a factor too. up-to 15% battery charger at 1.8 units off energy to store 1 unit. at about 85% charge you need 6 units of energy to store 1 unit etc. . . . . that makes it very expensive. however, not all batteries are the same. lead acid battery behaves different and doesn't waste lots of energy to store energy. and a capacitor is the best example of that. again depending on the capacitor type some are so good you get 1.09 energy to store 1. that is a fantastic but very expensive energy storage and is very heavy. power to weight ratio makes it a poor option. good to see you trying and pushing the limits, i respect that considering you are not an electrical engineer. keep up the good work, love your honesty and presentation.

@patrickflohe7427

Жыл бұрын

They’re still quite efficient, not sure what you’re trying to prove here. I can just just tell you that I’ve saved a ton of money with this Volt of mine. It costs me about a buck to charge my Volt, and cannot do it that cheaply with gasoline.

@MrSteelAu

Жыл бұрын

@@patrickflohe7427 too advanced fir you, I’ll think about a simple version for less educated KZread lovely people

@patrickflohe7427

Жыл бұрын

@@MrSteelAu So full of yourself, how lovely. You love to make a long post to try to make yourself look brilliant. Insulting people makes you feel good….not good character. Say want you want, but you cannot take away what I’ve saved, with this car.

@MrSteelAu

Жыл бұрын

@@patrickflohe7427 so many ways you can be educated these days for free. but you have to be willing to learn.

Actually 1 liter of fuel generated 16 KM of range. 16KM = 10 miles. 1 litre - .2642 us Gal. 10 milles / .2642 = 37.85 MPGe. If you really want to split hairs. That is the car sitting there not moving. In reality, when in gas mode, depending on speed the fuel economy is 40 - 42 MPG. Don't argue on theory, I own the car, I know exactly how good it is, and with proper driving, it gets me 70+ KM on a charge every time, and when I do go into gas mode I never do worse than 40 MPG

oh. we bought our 2012 volt in 2015 and it has about 110,000 miles now in 2022. b/t/w i fixed the shvcs light about a year ago and deleted it w/ a simple odb2 scanner. that won't work this time though.

@12voltvids

Жыл бұрын

The only time i had a shvcs error was after plugging in a Bluetooth obd2 scanner and fuxing around with mygreenvolt. Dealer scolded me, fixed it under warranty and ever since then i haven't plugged that scanner in and the car has been fine. In the cold weather we put it in mountain mode to keep a higher reserve in the battery. So far no issues. 186k on it now and going strong.

@michaelcarman4875

Жыл бұрын

@@12voltvids thanks for the info. muchly

This is an extremely inefficient thing to do. It's better just to leave it in normal mode and drive it on gas. This only makes sense if...you're going to go up a mountain and need full power to maintain highway speed up the grade.

@12voltvids

4 жыл бұрын

Did you not read the title? Obviously not if you have to chime in and try to educate me about the car. I know much, much more about this car than most people. It has been my daily driver for 8 years. I have 2, this one and a 2019. This was an experiment to see how much range was maintained by mountain mode. You know, for reserve to get over big mountains, and nothing else. It was also to calculate out how much fuel was actually needed to generate this reserve, you know so the actual fuel economy can be calculated. You see the actual numbers. How much fuel for how much battery range.It's called mountain mode for a reason, and the new one has it as well as a hold mode which IMHO is an even more ridicules mode. In hold you maintain your full charge and drive on gas. WTF! OK it is useful in countries where there is a big fee to drive gas and diesel cars in the city (London I am looking at you) so the electric range can be preserved for the actual city, but for everywhere else it is totally useless. My cars never leave normal mode unless I am driving in the mountains, and the 2nd gen that really isn't even necessary because the engine has more than enough power that the reserve is rarely needed.

So...youre saying... use battery till it runs out and then switch to mountain mode use gas engine for 40 minutes..by then I should have a full charge on battery, use battery till it runs out n then switch modes to gas again,, run it for another 40 mins, by then I should have a full charge and keep repeating steps till I get to destination or run out of gas? If that's true...awsome!

@12voltvids

4 жыл бұрын

No, this was an experiment to see how much energy the system would put in the battery on a first gen Chevy volt. The 2gen won't do this. On second mountain mode will start the engine at 12km and keep that reserve in the battery but if you run it to 0 it won't run to build a charge like 1st gen did.

you know doing the math that is not that bad. you should let the engine run for 10 min a week just to keep things oiled up, but my question is, are these engines even broken in? usally takes 500 miles to get everything broken in and fuel mileage goes up usally.

@12voltvids

8 жыл бұрын

+Kevin Rogers Well mine is well broken in. I have been on several LONG road trips. In the past 4 years, I have been all over western Canada and the US.I have been from Vancouver to Prince Rupert, then across to Valemount and back on 1 trip. The next trip took me to Medicine Hat Alberta, and back through Calgary. Then I zig zagged across the province and Washington Oreogan, and Nevada on my way down to Arizona, and then back home via Utah and Idaho. This past summer I took it to Jasper, and then down the Ice field parkway, down into Montana and through Glacier park, and back through the Cascade pass, then across the straight and toured Vancouver Island. So I have many miles on the gas engine.This summer I racked up 3000 miles over the course of 2 weeks.The rest of the year it is all on battery power.The computer manages the engine, and will force run it every 6 weeks if it has not started for 6 weeks to lubricate the engine parts. It also monitors the fuel age, and will force run the engine to burn up the remaining fuel if the gas gets to be a year old.Some will claim that gas goes stale before that, but this is not true. Good gasoline stored properly, in a non metallic tank will last well beyond a year. I have gas that has been in my generator for many years. I start it every month and let it run for 10 minutes, and that gas still runs just fine. The big mistake people make with small engines is they shut the gas off and try to run the carburetor dry. This doesn't work, as there is always residue, and that residue evaporates and clogs the jets. I leave the fuel turned on, and any that evaporates from the float bowl gets replenished. Never had a problem. It start first pull each and every time. The volt won't let that happen though. Once the gas gets a year old it will run every time you turn it on until you add more gas, and the amount you add determines how long it waits before repeating the burn cycle. The volt actually measures how much fuel has been used, and how much you add in the filler. It is very accurate. When I top up the tank, the pumped amount is usually within .1 gallons of what the computer said I used.

why won't it charge the pack to 100%? seems like it should always do that when you park it. I wonder if there is a software update for that, should be an easy fix.

@WDIO-RADIO

7 жыл бұрын

ok I did some more research, on the 2013 model, there is a hold mode for the generator, if you select hold when the pack is full the ecu will maintain the charge as you drive. It will only charge up to 40% in mountain mode, which as any solar power battery guru can tell you, you don't ever want to be below 40% charge due to the damage it does to the batteries. Looks like they made a design to fail product. No diesel engine option is another pointer that they do not want the hybrid generator based car to succeed. The rev-Happy generator engine is another sign they want it to fail. normal generators run at a constant speed, and last for 20 years or more. the Chevy volt in its current configuration will be toast in less than 10.

@12voltvids

7 жыл бұрын

You have NO idea what you are talking about. Zero.The battery on the volt (the first gen I have) is a 16KWh battery. Of that only 10KWh is usable. The battery never discharges below 30%, and never charges to 100%This is the usable energy. When the battery reaches its low state of charge, and the generaror runs the battery is still at 30%, and never drops below that level. Mountain mode will put 40% of a charge in based on that 30% that is still there in reserve.A diesel engine would make absolutely NO sense at all. Again if you were educated in mechanics and physics you would understand that the worst thing you can do to a diesel engine is start and stop it, which the volt does when it is in range extended mode unless it is being driven at high speeds. At speeds under 55 MPH (90 kmh) the engine runs for a few minutes and then shuts off for a few. See my other video demonstrating the operation of this if you do not believe me) Another problem with a diesel is the engine is MUCH heavier, and a heavier engine needs more energy just to haul it around. The generator normally does run at a constant speed. There are 3 speeds it runs. Under normal driving it runs around 2000 RPM. Under heavy acceleration, or when the car is kicked into mountain mode the engine runs at just under 4000 RPM.AC generators run at a constant speed because they are producing 60Hz electri9cal energy, and will run at 3600 RPM, or larger ones 1800, as the engine speed determines the line frequency. In the volt, or any hybrid the AC frequency is not important, as it is being rectified to HV DC to charge the battery. A higher engine speed increases the voltage so in addition to powering the electric motors, additional energy is put in the battery. You really need to do more research before spouting off your ill informed opinions, because those of us that know the car, and know how it works are just shaking our heads when we read comments like this. I am 110,000 miles in, and I still get a full 60KM of battery range. About the only thing you got right was the hold mode, which was added on the 2013 model. Mine is a 2012 model that I bought in 2011, and it does not have the hold mode.

@12voltvids

7 жыл бұрын

Mountain mode is there to add extra energy to the battery when driving in gas mode to allow full power acceleration going up long steep hills. Without it the battery would run down to the low state of charge limit, and then your power would be limited to the power of the engine, which in my car is 82 hp, so speed would be limited to 55MPH 90 KMh. By putting the car in mountain mode you can can fly over those mountains at full power, speeds up to the speed limit of 160 KMh (100 MPH). I have another video demonstrating this.The generator is not intended to fully charge the battery. The car gets plugged in for that. It would be inefficient to do this. I demonstrated that in the video. 1 gallon of fuel would generate 40 miles of range. 40 miles of range costs about 1.15 in electricity. 1 gallon of fuel $3.75Huge difference.

@WDIO-RADIO

7 жыл бұрын

12voltvids wth? No. you are confused, maybe too much smoke or something similar. diesel has a higher energy to weight ratio than gasoline. batteries, even li-ion work better longer if kept above 40% charge due to thermal cycling, I can answer the rest of your flaming of my posts later. I have lots of things to say about your download.

@12voltvids

7 жыл бұрын

No confusion here. We are not talking about thermal efficiency. We are talking about dead weight. Diesel engines work at much higher pressures, and that requires a stronger, heavier block. That is why they produce more power per btu of fuel used. No argument there.Weight uses energy to move, and ultimately for an electric car that has an engine on board as a secondary power source, such as the volt keeping it as light as possible allows for more electric miles.Carting around a heavy diesel would add probably 100 extra kilos to the dead weight by the time the engine, injector pump and all the added extras needed to make a diesel work. For something that is used very little, and most volt drivers drive 95% of the time in electric only mode, it makes absolutely no sense to haul around that extra weight. Look at BMW with the i3. They make the body out of carbon fiber to shave weight, and the range extender on that car as a 2 cylinder 600cc motorcycle engine.This is the reason that the volt uses a very small engine. Mine has a 1.4 litre engine, the new one has a 1.5. It is a very efficient normally aspirated engine optimized to do one thing, run in a very specific RPM range to produce maximum torque for the displacement, as generating electricity is a 100% load on the engine just like pumping water or moving a boat.Gasoline engines now are very close in efficiency to diesel these days.In the volt the engine is a secondary source of power. Another big problem with diesels is emissions. They are dirty filthy engines. Just look at all the sh1t that volkswagon is in with the EPA for their bullsh1t cheat device to try and sneak the cars in. Sure they can make diesel cleaner, but then they have totally lost their power to fuel advantage. Also, do check your notes, because it is very hard on a diesel engine to start and stop it constantly, and all hybrids do just that. Not only do they shut the engine off when you stop, but the volt cycles it on and off while driving in extended range mode. The engineers are smart, and if a diesel was a better choice they would have done it, but in a hybrid car, they are not a good choice. They have their place, large engines use in vehicles designed for pulling things, trucks, trains, big rigs, large power generators ect.

You can now fully charge the Gen1 battery pack with the onboard generator, using the "MyVoltHold" app in the Google Playstore.

@djgate

6 жыл бұрын

But why would anyone want to do this when its less efficient than using the engine in normal drive mode?

@patrickflohe7427

Жыл бұрын

That would be stupid.

you are getting less fuel economy than driving it in hybrid mode. 40 miles is not including hills.

@12voltvids

7 жыл бұрын

Actually I do get over 40 miles per gallon when I am traveling. Remember that big hill that uses gas going up has the reverse coming down, when the engine is off and energy is going back into the battery. Don't believe me? Well I have a video that proves it. Drive up a mountain, and then came back down. Picked up 36KM coming back down, that got me almost home.

@The_Official_Don

7 жыл бұрын

I see

In Colorado, a condominium dweller with assigned parking is assured access to an electric outlet under state law. Apartment dwellers and unassigned parking condominium owners should negotiate access with the Homeowner Association. Although my parking is unassigned, I am able to plug into an outlet in the underground garage or parking ramp garage to obtain my typical 6 kilowatt hours for my daily commuting needs. I can also plug into a lamp post at work. I have not received a bill yet.

that's not a self charging car. As i understand Self charging means you don't need outside power or source to charge a machine.

@12voltvids

10 жыл бұрын

Technically you never need to plug the volt in. It will generate all the power you will ever need from the built in generator. However this is not the most efficient way to drive. Just buy a regular hybrid for this. Electricity is much cheaper than gasoline / diesel. This experiment was done in the name of science, to see how much fuel was needed to generate electricity, and how far that generated electricity would take you compared to the same energy from the grid. I think I proved it quite nicely. Energy from the grid is about 1/4 the cost of fossil fuel.

@patrickflohe7427

Жыл бұрын

LOLOLOL Did you even watch the video, or listen to his comments? That’s not the purpose of what he was doing. -he tells us that.