Decrease in total energy available for use

[voltdirk]

For the first 4000 mi on my Volt the Energy Info screen would show 10.1 kwh used when the ICE came on. For the last 2 weeks it shows only 9.8 kwh when the ICE comes on. Any ideas on why this has changed?

[tboult]

I'd guess its the recent heat wave in CO. The car estimates many things and that depends on Temp. So it may be recognizing it needs to use some of the battery to cool the battery, so it not available to use. And when you are charging, the TMS is running to cool it so depending on when you planned for it to finish charging it may also still be cooling some of the power.

[MTN Ranger]

Coincidentally, today I only got 9.7 kWh before switching over. I almost always get 10 or 10.1. I did have the battery modification last week, so who knows?

[ClarksonCote]

Does that screen report power used by the TMS also? If not, you may be seeing some variation due to the summer heat and the TMS running?

[ahaer]

Way to many unknowns in the dumbed down power displays on the volt. I wish they had a mode were you could some of the detailed data the car collects without spending $600 on a DashDAQ...

[Henry_FL]

Way to many unknowns in the dumbed down power displays on the volt. I wish they had a mode were you could some of the detailed data the car collects without spending $600 on a DashDAQ...

Yah, then we would have a wiki page claiming were losing 4% of capacity in only 4K miles and want new battery's from GM

GM put everything behind the curtain for a very good reason, look at the leaf discussions for proof.

[bonaire]

What really matters is the miles delivered to the wheels. Has that dropped at all? The kWh reading probably has some loss somewhere not calculated, like TMS or headlights or something insignificant. Maybe heat influences the metering of the kWh flow?

[jbfalaska]

I live in Colorado. The heat wave is definitely throwing a few strange numbers out there. When I parked my car, the electric range left was 6. After the heat of the day, over 100 degrees, I think the chemicals heated up and it read 8, and I did get 8 before the gas kicked in. Depending on how frugal I'mdriving, a full charge can read 44, sometimes 41. Lots of software helping you figure out range. The Leaf is far less reliable in the numbers count. Not sure about he Tesla. The Tesla I hope will join the family next to the Volt in January 2014.

[jbfalaska]

They spewed coolant all through my electrical system on that one. This car is flawless until the mechanics get hold of it.

[Roadburner440]

The amount of kwh able to be drawn from the pack is also affected by how you are driving at the time. Whenever I am on the highway I get to about 9.7-9.9kwh before the engine kicks on. If I am driving on side roads at 25-35mph however it will give me 10.1-10.3 before the engine kicks in. It depends on a lot of factors including temperature, voltage, and current draw as to when the engine comes on. For me it seems the sweet spot is somewhere between 77-82 degrees. As lately on these 90+ degree days it is not wanting to give up more than 10kwh. I am still getting 48-50 miles per charge though, so I have no complaints.