Gear Shifter Broke Off

[CMMPro]

@saghost;

I think you are confused, the difference between D & L is not the throttle map, it is the CVT ratio map that is changed.

ie. "L" holds the CVT ratio to a "lower" ratio, the reason you get more regen is because the input side of the CVT is spinning the electric motor faster. (Electric motor is on the input side, final drive is on the output side.)


Sport mode is what we believe remaps the throttle map to a different, perhaps more logarithmic curve.

[Dithermaster]

@saghost;

I think you are confused, the difference between D & L is not the throttle map, it is the CVT ratio map that is changed.

ie. "L" holds the CVT ratio to a "lower" ratio, the reason you get more regen is because the input side of the CVT is spinning the electric motor faster. (Electric motor is on the input side, final drive is on the output side.)


Sport mode is what we believe remaps the throttle map to a different, perhaps more logarithmic curve.

Ah, no, now you're the one who is confused. At city speeds the Volt is using a single transmission ratio; there is no CVT activity going on at all. You don't get into CVT action until the second motor/generator or ICE get coupled into the planetary.

"L" uses software to do regen braking, that's all. It is no different than riding the brake pedel, which is strictly regen until you press it harder (and then the friction brakes engage).

As the poster you replied to was alluding to, there is in fact some pedal remapping going on because "coast" is now somewhat into the pedal movement instead of being at 0% like it was in "D". In other words, 0% pedal in "D" is coast, but 0% pedal in "L" is regen, and coast is moved up to something like 10 to 15%.

[Fulgerite]

I am glad to hear that they were able to fix the issue easily. (sounds like small assembly error.) There were some earlier issues that involved the shifter handle cracking. But these cracks did not seem to disable the shifter. (It was just a cosmetic horror.) I have not heard anyone complain about shifter handles cracking lately. Hopefully it was just a few isolated cases or a bad batch of plastic that has been sorted out.

[CMMPro]

I could be wrong, however it certainly physically feels like there is a difference in the cvt ratio.

Do we have a way to monitor motor rpms vs road speed so we can check this?
ie Does the Drewtech hardware have a parameter for electric motor rpm?

[saghost]

@saghost;

I think you are confused, the difference between D & L is not the throttle map, it is the CVT ratio map that is changed.

ie. "L" holds the CVT ratio to a "lower" ratio, the reason you get more regen is because the input side of the CVT is spinning the electric motor faster. (Electric motor is on the input side, final drive is on the output side.)


Sport mode is what we believe remaps the throttle map to a different, perhaps more logarithmic curve.

I'm sorry that you're confused, but what I said is in fact correct. The Volt doesn't have a true CVT - under some circumstances it plays the three elements of a planetary gears system as an eCVT, like the Toyota and Ford hybrids do.

Unlike a real CVT, the eCVT involves three different elements, and the relationship between them is a fixed function of the gear set - that is, to make one element move faster, you must move another element slower. Thus, you can't get more regen simply by cranking up the ratio - you'd have to be adding power on the third element to make that happen.

None of which is relevant because, as Dithermaster pointed out, at speeds below 35 mph (CS) or 50 mph (CD) and under high loads, the Volt acts as a single speed transmission - the ring gear is locked to the transmission housing, and the resulting 7:1 gear ratio between MG B and the wheels is somewhere around a typical 2nd gear in modern cars. The additional regen comes from increased field coil current and/or phase angle, controlled electrically, while the motor spins at the same speed.

Once again, the car does not change the speed of any element, the timing of any clutch engagement, or any other operating parameter when switched to L. If you operate the car at the same power level in D or in L it is equally efficient, and indeed operation is indistinguishable on instrumentation (though you have to press the accelerator a little harder.) The only thing L does is greatly increase the amount of regen commanded by the lower parts of the gas pedal.

[banadictaustin]

You can replace just the gear shift on your automatic transmission, Once the lower cover is of the column you will see a small hole directly under the key on the column. You can pop off the cable off the ball at the lowed end of the steering column little bit safer to shift into gear.