It's quickly becoming apparent I'm going to be giving a lot of demos when my Volt gets here. My current plan is to schedule blocks of time, keeping 10 minutes (or so) between each drive to let the driver poke and explore around the car. I expect to run out of CD mode before I run out of demos, but I'd like to provide for the last demo of the day to drive CD just like the first demo.

While this work? If the car is left booted during the static display portion of the demo, and placed in Mountain Mode either in park or neutral, will the engine run to bring the car back to a 45% SOC?

Yes, it'll play absolute hell with the gas mileage. But for demos I'm not worried about that.

That's a good question. One of the CAB guys should be able to answer it for us. I expect that for "customer experience" purposes, they don't run the engine to charge the battery when the car is at a standstill, ever. I think it's only going to start up once the car gets moving.

It will be interesting to know, because I will likely be gaming the mountain mode as well for my own demos. I'm going to have lunchtime drives booked at work for months! Not to mention weekend events. First Volt in Georgia!

I read somewhere that you could force the ICE to run if you were in PARK and opened the hood. If that is true, wonder if the battery gets charged?

That is a very interesting question. Ask someone who is driving a Volt (or a CAB member) to check this and post it here.

I read somewhere that you could force the ICE to run if you were in PARK and opened the hood. If that is true, wonder if the battery gets charged?

The Owners Manual section 9-4 states:

"In Either Electric Mode or Extended Range Mode, when the hood is open, the engine will run without turning off if the vehicle is on. The high voltage battery is neither charged nor discharged when this occurs."

Ohhh, good find, thanks Xzlon! In that case I wonder if it just runs at idle, instead of wide open throttle like when in actual service generating power.

Ohhh, good find, thanks Xzlon! In that case I wonder if it just runs at idle, instead of wide open throttle like when in actual service generating power.

Here is a video on this (second half of clip):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP7woKYEkpM&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Thanks MichaelH. Here's a link that goes straight to that point in the video (I love this Youtube feature) and that isn't part of a playlist so it won't jump immediately to the next video when done playing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP7woKYEkpM#t=00m25s

He doesn't actually say anything about whether the throttle is idle or wide open though. It's got to be idle really.

The Owners Manual section 9-4 states:

"In Either Electric Mode or Extended Range Mode, when the hood is open, the engine will run without turning off if the vehicle is on. The high voltage battery is neither charged nor discharged when this occurs."

That's interesting. Why do they do that? What's the point?

That's interesting. Why do they do that? What's the point?

As in the video above, to run the engine after an oil change. Or for a mechanic to run the engine when needed.

My GM high level engineering friend said they start the engine when the hood is open so that a mechanic isn't working around the belts when the engine decides to start when the computer tells it to. When I drove his I opened the hood and was surprised when the engine started. I closed the hood and it quit. That was his explanation.

Ignoring that the engine starts if you open the hood (a different thread), I've noticed that non of the CABies have commented on the base question.

Can you put a Volt into Mountain Mode in idle/park?

Yes, you can put the car in Mountain Mode while parked. It turns on the engine.

- Eric

Coooooooool!

Yes, you can put the car in Mountain Mode while parked. It turns on the engine.

Presuming it engages the generator clutch as well, and you end up with a car at 45% SOC, well... As ChrisC said, *very* cool indeed!

My demo worries are solved :-)

P.S. Well, except for all those crazy drivers doing bizarre things with *MY* Volt!

I believe the reason for having the ICE start as soon as the hood is opened is for safety. Otherwise, with the car "ON", the engine could unexpectedly start while underhood maintenance (or just admiration) is taking place.