HV/EV button (taking advantage of it)

Those are the best!

There are so many little errand trips that require no gas. Last night we took our daughter to a medical appointment and were heading home wben we realized that we had forgotten to buy pickles to go with the grilled hamburgers we were planning to have for supper. A quick trip to the grocery store? No problem! Another gas-less trip...I love it!

 

Whether one gets 2 MPGe or 1000 Mega MPGe is irrelevant, it is all theoretical folderall. What is relevant is your range that you get from the wall charge. Do you manage 10,15,25, or 35 miles ? Am presently in LV, managed to get 55 mpg on 600 mile trip, doing 65 mph. I am happy with these results. As for charging up EV while on a trip, that is more mist. I managed to save 3.9 miles and the on big downhill, I 15, got it up to 6.2 miles, however that disappeared quickly and returned to 3.9 miles. The best part and most challenging, is finding outlets to charge with at Casino Garage. So far, I am succesful !

 

I'm not trying to be negative, just realistic.

You were reporting on one-way hence its 17.2 miles and you had previously reported getting 14.1 miles of EV. So the Ice segment is effectively 3.1 miles, which is pretty small for measurements.

My point was that there is very likely errors, such as truncation/rounding, in the fuel flow measurement systems, especially when dealing with small numbers.

Lets look at the math (the number in the previous post were off, not sure what I did).

17.2 miles @250 MPG = .0688 gallons used and 108MPGe overall
17.2 miles @ 310MPG = .0555 gallons used and 117 MPGe overall
17.2 miles @ 563MPG = .0306 gallons used and 141 MPGg overall

Its quite possible the two days of 562mpg and 563mpg is because .03 is rounded to the small quanta of fuel the car measures so its rather consistent. (.03 is the smallest quanta of gas the Volt will report using.. )


So the question is is this a real improvement, or were most of variance accountable from variations in trip speed, temp and driving?

If you look at MPG you are inflating the differences, at MPGe its more modest, and at gallons used it may be within measurement errors. If you want to really show the effects of the HV/EV button you'll need to be more precise in your measurements.. maybe with an OBDII device to capture the variations in repeated experiments.

 

Ugh, I know....I was so close...Im like " Really " ?

 

150 mpg for 5 miles means you burned 5/150 = 0.033 gallons. Not a lot.

But if you are in EV, you should be able to go 5 miles on battery, giving 999 mpg (actually infinite) and burning no gas, unless you are pushing the accelerator down hard at some point and turning the ICE on. So try to notice where that happens and see if it's avoidable.

 

Well some people are lead foots.. I could care less if that SUV floors it and gets in front me. For every gallon of gas he uses for flooring it to get in front of me, my oil checks just get larger ... Yes I laugh all the way to bank in my 100+ mpg PiP.

 

Very good advice!

 

So just to make sure I understand you right. In your experience it's best to start the PiP and say, back out of my garage and driveway in HV Mode to warm up the engine then switched to EV. Switching back to HV when added accelleration or when going up an incline was needed, then back to EV when decending or on a level road?

 

So let me get this right, when you start your commute/drive you start off in HV mode till it warms up then go to EV mode, then again to HV when needing that extra push? I'm assuming this is mostly city driving. I've been just keeping it in EV mode until I get to the freeway then go to HV.

 

I think everyone has to look at the route they take and needs to figure out what works for them, every route will be a little different!

 

I agree...Today, I got a wash, and fired up the engine, and it warmed, charged the ev battery .8 mi. Wash ended, ev'd to highway 1/4 mi, and then put in HV with the warm engine.

Yesterday, fired up engin onramp to highway, ev dropped .8, and it all came back after 5 minutes.

In my experiences, I get better mileage from not warming the engine, but i get more EV for my trip home, as I cant charge at work.

I think its a cat and mouse game. Today, I needed the extra EV, so I warmed the engine while sitting in the car wash...

Just passing on my experiences with the button.

Mike

 

Epoints,

For the 5 miles commute:
what was your Trip A battery miles?
was it in EV mode or HV when driving?
did you have the Fan on?
what was the car temp set to?
was it heating the car?
was the AC on?

If you had more that 5 miles of Battery and in EV mode, you should have made the trip with 999 mpg.

 

And if speculation above is correct, 0.03 gallons may be the minimum able to be measured. So it is basically telling you that you used 'some' gas. As was said, the only way to get better MPG will be to use no gas.

 

It would be nice if there was a button on the steering wheel for HV/EV settings.

 

Agreed! I've hit the 'P' button acccidentally when I wanted to toggle the EV / HV setting.

I would also prefer to have it on the steering wheel because then I don't have to take my eyes off the road (the EV/HV button is pretty low on the main control panel of buttons, too).

 

Stick a piece of adhesive foam to the EV/HV bottom, that way you don't take your eyes of the road.

 

Fortunately gear shifting is under software control, so such actions don't result in any damage. Hitting "P" while moving gets translated into "N", I believe.

 

what was your Trip A battery miles? not sure what Trip A battery miles? I started with 10 battery miles after complete charge

was it in EV mode or HV when driving?
I was in EV mode.

did you have the Fan on? yes

what was the car temp set to? at 68...drive at 6am and park in covered garage.

was it heating the car? no

was the AC on? no

It's funny. I drove a bit less aggressive and I was getting 999 mpg. Today I pushed the paddle a bit harder and the eV indicator went off. I then got 162 mpg.