Is there a way to keep my car from fully charging when plugged in?

[greenhornet]

I am leaving for a week and my black volt will be left sitting in the hot sun of my driveway (and it has been hot in Texas this week). From prior conversations, the consensus seemed to be that it was better to have it plugged in than to have it with a low battery. Now I wonder if there is a way to keep it at half charge and keep it plugged in so that it can use the grid to run the thermal management system but not be 100% state of charge so that the thermal management system does not have to work so hard.

I have the car programmed to delay charge on the assumption that i will leave at 6 am everyday.

Thanks for any thoughts

[mixedpixel]

The thermal management system shouldn't have to work any harder for a half full battery than for a full battery. Leaving it plugged in will run the TMS and keep the battery topped off.

[bonaire]

I think some folks here came up with an interesting plan.

Run the car down in Mountain Mode to low SOC in MM. This is not the lowest SOC, but what - about 35%?

Then, compute the daily charge time to be about 15 minutes a night (setup a charging window of say 5:00am-5:15am). Then, keep it plugged in which will run the TMS even if a charge is not occuring. This could be called the "away mode". Check the "Similar Threads" below. I hope I wrote that correctly. The idea is to allow the battery to stay at a mid-level SOC while still allowing for TMS.

[MrEnergyCzar]

It can only charge to 80% when plugged in so it shouldn't matter....

MrEnergyCzar

[AZ EV Driver]

I am leaving for a week and my black volt will be left sitting in the hot sun of my driveway (and it has been hot in Texas this week).

So you are worried about a week? Wow, what terrible things can happen in only a week? I think I would be more worried about having to dust the car off than any bad things that might happen to the battery.

VIN # B0985

[JeremyK]

I like the away mode idea, but I think that it is unnecessary in this case. A full battery is only ~80% SOC, TMS will run as needed....no problem leaving the car plugged in. This will not harm the battery....especially if it's only a week.

[Chevrolet Customer Svc]

@ greenhornet,

I agree with everyone else as it would be best to leave your Volt plugged in. No harm done on the battery.

[Raymondjram]

I am leaving for a week and my black volt will be left sitting in the hot sun of my driveway (and it has been hot in Texas this week).

Get a good car cover and lock it on. The cover will reflect sunlight and keep the car cooler and cleaner underneath. Other than that, the Volt con be left plugged in or not, which is your decision, but it will hold up perfectly. GM has already tested that condition.

[scottf200]

I think some folks here came up with an interesting plan.

Run the car down in Mountain Mode to low SOC in MM. This is not the lowest SOC, but what - about 35%?

Then, compute the daily charge time to be about 15 minutes a night (setup a charging window of say 5:00am-5:15am). Then, keep it plugged in which will run the TMS even if a charge is not occuring. This could be called the "away mode". Check the "Similar Threads" below. I hope I wrote that correctly. The idea is to allow the battery to stay at a mid-level SOC while still allowing for TMS.

Here is the thread on the idea I came up with for this:
Scheduling-method-2-keep-ur-12v-battery-charged-while-on-long-vaca
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread....e-on-long-vaca