2013 Volt: 98MPGe, 38miles EV range

I am not a fan of the Volt, but I am very happy to hear this.

I worried that once produced, GM will not pay attention to the flaws (everything has flaws, this it not a complaint) and make running changes to improve them. When I was growing up, British cars were designed but never improved, we don't get many British cars here any more.

I have expressed my worry that the Volt was a statement car, not a production car, I am glad to be wrong!

 

Not sure what's the speed limits are for city in Europe. Here in the states, there are many major city streets with 50-60mph speed limit. The 62MPH EV limit covers all the city roads in the US.
Why not give us TOTAL control. Let us set the speed limit on when the ICE kick on to assist with the propulsion and at what throttle position. Let us map the percentage of assist at different speeds. Let us choose how and when to run the ICE. Give us a default button if we screwed it up. If the setting is less fuel efficient, give us a short 2 second warning.
With this much control, you can turn the Volt into a leaf or an old Volt, or a regular Prius or a PiP. Just saying.

 

EV offers battery only operation.

HOLD offers engine only operation.

Why still no option for something in between?

I really enjoy the EV-BOOST mode that PHV offers. Cruising along the highway at 150 MPG is something I've really grown fond of. It's the best of both worlds.

 

Just because all you check is a single blog site doesn't mean it didn't happen. Go over to the GMI forum. Geez! And the fact that they want it now has nothing to do with what they said in the past.

There you go again, making decisions for people rather than presenting data for them to draw their own conclusions. Blending when driving beyond the capacity available makes sense, use the system as a hybrid.

Goodbye.

 

Right on queue. Because tomorrow I'm driving 130 miles. I have the best of several worlds (above average MPGs, BEV for most driving, sporty and fun drive, great looks beyond what many see as econo box high mileage cars, etc, etc).

 

This is incorrect.

Hold mode will switch from charge depleting to charge sustaining, the system is still hybrid, if you are driving along in CS and happen to get a lot of regen you will build up charge that the car will utilize instead of gas until the charge is reduced again to the sustaining level, just like every other non-plug hybrid.

 

Hold mode

2:30 in this vid

[video=youtube;jjgpzjT-4UA]

As well as 1:00 in this vid

TRANSLOGIC 97: Opel Ampera - Translogic
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And like them, any extra electricity generated will have ultimately been produced by gas burned in the ICE. Until there's a switch in the Prius,or any hybrid, to prevent the use of the battery, it isn't a sin to use gas only instead of hybrid operation.

 

I was responding to his comment about something in between gas and electric, which is what hybrid is. (and your assumption is not necessarily correct, suppose I use grid charge to travel 5 miles up an incline on slow local roads then activate hold mode and drive down hill on a freeway, any regen I get based on the downhill freeway run is really a result of the electricity I used increasing the car's potential energy driving up the hill on battery, not from the gas).

There is such a switch in the EU Pip, btw, for places where it is illegal to burn gas, if not sinful.

 

What does that have to do with an EV-BOOST type mode?

In other words, instead of drawing from the battery-pack at the standard rate, you have to ability to draw at something higher but not as high as with the engine off... hence in between.

With PHV, that mode allows you to jump from the usual 50 MPG on the highway to 150 MPG.

 

Forgot about the EV-CITY button, eh?

 

I like the Ampera, love it infact. I just wish they'd made it a 5 seater, had more rear headroom and with larger luggage storage. Then it would have been all the car you'd ever need.

Oh and did I say it should be a wee bit cheaper too

 

And I was just alluding to the fact that saying gasoline only with these cars implies hybrid mode. (it's a fair assumption. Exceptions are always possible. Any increase in SOC during hold or mountain mode will be viewed as coming from an electric source once the return to EV regardless of what fuel generated them.)

This is the first time I've heard of EV-boost. Sounds like it can improve hybrid fuel efficiency. How is it different than an eco mode? What are the trade offs, or why isn't it the norm?

Yeah, but it only has an indirect relation with the choice of speed cut off. The 62mph cut off doesn't prevent it from being on the US version. The 51mph does preserve more charge for its use. The EU version will likely still see a higher blended EV range even without it, though. I imagine people making a trip to a gas-free zone will likely be engaging HV mode more often in order to be sure of having charge in the zone regardless of the speed cut off. (How does the law work when an exempt plug in hybrid turns on the ICE in one of these zones?)

As to a EV-boost mode for the Volt, it doesn't make sense to have it. The car is already focus to prioritizing electric use. Even its hybrid mode is mostly serial. Allowing a higher draw from the battery for it will likely result in performance enhancement, not economy, and it already has a sport mode. An equivalent mode for the Volt would likely actually be an ICE-boost with more parallel hybrid operation. And the raises the same question I have for the EV-boost, what are the trade offs that prevent it from being the norm?

 

Let me clarify here. I believe the 51mph limit was the initial one chosen by the Toyota engineers. The 1.8L has improved efficiency over the 1.5L in the Prius at higher speeds. Why not make use of that as soon as possible? The goal is to use the fuel that is the most efficient at the time, right? (what does a gen3 average in mpg at those twon speeds?)

For the Japan and EU testing, the two speed cut offs would have no bearing of the resulting EV range, correct. They would give different results on the US test though. If the 61 was chosen first, why drop to 52 for the other regions then? Perhaps to meet some requirement for the EV-city and gas free zone access. Without more details there, I think it more likely the limit was raised to game the EPA window sticker.

Background out of the way, I think a greater percentage of real world miles for given trip will be on electric from the wall for the EU spec than the US spec. This is a ymmv instant, but it should be true for drivers that just want to drive the car.

 

A lower cut off will provide better acceleration at that speed. It lowers the time delay, at say 55 mph to acceleration for passing, as the ice doesn't need to fire up. The volt with higher battery pack power doesn't require this. Its part of the cost tradeoff of choosing a lower powered battery pack.

The two different cut offs are likely the result of tailoring the software for the tests and expectations in the different markets. Perhaps the ev-city button allows the car to hit 100km/h in ev in europe. The higher cut off of 62 allows for more efficient ev operation in CD mode, and higher numbers on the test and likely in the real world for short trip.