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I've heard complaints about how during the winter months the Volt will keep the gas engine on to keep things heated up and it will cut the range almost in half
by swozey 10y ago
I've heard complaints about how during the winter months the Volt will keep the gas engine on to keep things heated up and it will cut the range almost in half (60ish to mid 30s) during the winter. I'm not sure if that's the overall range or the electric range.
That's probably enough for a lot of us commuters, especially if you've got charging options at work but that'd make it a non viable winter getaway car (which you'd probably already know if you're researching hybrids).
- labcomputer 10y agoThe range drop applies only to electric mode, and it doesn't drop by half unless you're driving very slowly (in other words, you spend a lot of time with the heater on and don't go very far). Pre-conditioning the cabin while the car is plugged in helps tremendously in moderately-low temperatures. There's a setting on the center console screen to adjust how aggressively the Volt uses the engine for heating.
- swozey 10y agoYeah that makes sense. The pre-conditioning is a really cool thing.
- mikeash 10y agoHow would that make it nonviable? The whole point of the gas motor in a Volt is to let you drive beyond battery range. Once you deplete the traction battery, you're essentially driving a standard hybrid that still gets excellent gas mileage and has similar range to standard gasoline cars. It's not like the i3 range extender where you lose substantial power once it kicks in, it has a microscopic fuel tank, and it's really just a last resort if the batteries can't get you where you're going.
- swozey 10y agoI said that I wasn't sure if that was the TOTAL or the electric range. My point was that if that's the total range it's a problem. I know nothing about these cars beyond the Winter complaint I heard.
- mikeash 10y agoOK, I was unprepared for that level of cluelessness. Maybe take a few seconds to look it up before spreading misinformation? I mean, not to be harsh, but I don't see how it's in any way believable that the total electric plus gas range of a Volt could be as low as 30 miles. For the record, total range for the Volt is officially 420 miles. Chop the electric range in half and it would be about 400 miles. Chop both in half (range on gas won't be nearly as badly affected in the cold) and it's still 210 miles.
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