Never had the engine start while plugged into my 240 volt charger!

[ctdeng0]

I want to lock out the engine starting when plugged in. The whole reason I bought this car was to NOT use gas. I do not care that the cabin isn't warmed as well as it could with the engine running.

I have had the engine start when the car was connected to a 220 volt charger for 10 hours so I know it was fully charged. I am also confident that the ambient was greater than 30 F, as the car was in my attached garage. I have a thermometer in my garage, so I am not guessing about the temperature.

Sorry to rant but I think this is a big deal because I want to minimize the use of gas and am willing to sacrifice heating performance.

[Big Moe]

What was the approximate garage temp? My average temp in NJ is 52 right now, I set the cabin temperature the night before to 76. I auto start in my garage 13 minutes before I leave in the morning. That gives it plenty of time to heat up the battery, heat the cabin and charge the battey. I have not yet had the engine start up on the 240 charger. I am drawing 13.57 amps on each leg.

Big Moe

[WopOnTour]

I want to lock out the engine starting when plugged in. The whole reason I bought this car was to NOT use gas. I do not care that the cabin isn't warmed as well as it could with the engine running.

I have had the engine start when the car was connected to a 220 volt charger for 10 hours so I know it was fully charged. I am also confident that the ambient was greater than 30 F, as the car was in my attached garage. I have a thermometer in my garage, so I am not guessing about the temperature.

Sorry to rant but I think this is a big deal because I want to minimize the use of gas and am willing to sacrifice heating performance.

That's easy then. Simply DONT push the remote start button on your remote!
it wont start unless you use this, the web or your smart-phone to command remote start (and its cold enough of course ~25F)
Just unplug- get in and drive!

WOT

[Farmedb]

[QUOTE
It's just the way it is. Cold weather isnt ideal and thus results in less than ideal behavior to compensate. If there was another way to "get there" they wouldn't have taken that route, but it doesnt amount to a significant amoint of fuel.
WOT

Thanks for all your great tips, but I have to disagree. My drive is only 4 miles to work, so the .1 gallons consumed twice a day cause me to only get 30 mpg on cold days. I can do better with the prius and don't have to plug it in. I am thinking about putting an incandescent bulb under the motor on a timer to warm the motor on cold days.

[WopOnTour]

It's just the way it is. Cold weather isnt ideal and thus results in less than ideal behavior to compensate. If there was another way to "get there" they wouldn't have taken that route, but it doesnt amount to a significant amoint of fuel.
WOT

Thanks for all your great tips, but I have to disagree. My drive is only 4 miles to work, so the .1 gallons consumed twice a day cause me to only get 30 mpg on cold days. I can do better with the prius and don't have to plug it in. I am thinking about putting an incandescent bulb under the motor on a timer to warm the motor on cold days.

Sorry but besides your math being seriously flawed, so is your though process IMO . Besides your incorrect mpg calculations it's all about TOTAL FUEL USED annually which will be significantly less than a Prius. In winter it will typically STILL be less than a Prius but in a "worst case" scenario such as yours (driving only 8 miles per day) it's about the same as a Prius.

Assuming you used the car ONLY for your very short commute for an entire winter month where the temps (in both directions) was below 25F (which is ridiculous but would represent a "worst case") So you'd be burning .2 gal over commute 20 days and you would therefore burn 4 gallons traveling 160 miles (8 per day) so that's actually 40 mpg (not 30)

The Prius doesn't get much better than 40mpg either under these conditions so... it's practically a saw off. WORST CASE
Drive your Volt any further than that 8 miles per day and the advantage margin widens significantly.
OR if there were any days within the month were the commute home was >25F
OR if there was 1 day or more where temps were >25F
Then you have the other 8-9 months where the "claw-back" is HUGE!!


As much as I LOVE winter, is not an ideal scenario for an EV but the Volt software compensates to be able to make it "doable" but of course it IS a compromise that someone in Cali or Florida doesn't have to endure.
It's the price we pay to live in God's country!
WOT

[Farmedb]

Thanks WOT. You are absolutely correct. It is just my pet peeve, and my only complaint about a car that I really love! When the weather is below 25F which was 5 of the first 10 days that I owned the car, the engine started as soon as I exited the garage, and ran the first two minutes til I got to my Mom's house where I dropped of the dog. Then ran again for the few miles to work, then started a third time as I was nearing my work. The 30MPG was reported by the car, not computed by me.

I am currently over 75 MPG for the lifetime of the car even though the first 300 miles were at 41 MPG (#09299 on voltstats.net)

Our Prius which I converted to a Plug-In gets 60 MPG in the summer, and 49 MPG in the winter. But I much prefer driving the Volt!

[bjhorton2005]

Just a question.. but is there any chance they sell a block warmer for the Volt, or have a place to put it? That might help solve this person's problem. IF you park it inside, you can put a large kerosene heater in front of the car and blast heat at it. I know some of the trucking companies do that before starting their rigs. Of course... lol kerosene is fuel. Um.. I'm not sure what else to say. I am able to preheat my garage by opening a door into it from the house. I am planning on putting in a small ductless split unit. (heat pump/ac unit) I have one in my man-cave and love it. It's a seer 24 rated machine, VERY efficient.

[c6vette]

seems to me that the volt (or any other car) should NEVER be able to start in a garage.....no need to point out the danger....
can the temperature not be adjusted up or down through the electric mode ?
be safe.....

I agree. Will this be the next problem? No way should a vehicle be run in a garage that's attached to your home.

[bjhorton2005]

It shouldn't run in a garage attached to your home. The Volt is fairly safe emissions wise, but more importantly most houses have somewhat of a firewall. I think many codes call for 2 layers of drywall, or something of the sort. Also HVAC cannot be shared between the garage and house...

I know all this doesn't really mean anything. People build things different ways. And let's be honest, you just don't want those fumes in the garage anyway. I started disengaging the hydraulics on my lawn mower to push it out before starting it because the jacket I hung in the garage smelled like exhaust!

I talked to a Volt team member about it, and he spoke to an engineer and got me some information that pointed in a good direction. Most people's attached garages won't fall below 25F so it should be pretty safe. It certainly wouldn't be a regular thing.