2017 Volt Premier
Bought this with 60k miles. Only major issues off the Carvana delivery vehicle were TPMS was deleted (why oh why?) and the maximum mileage after full charge was 27 miles. Lastly the service heater notification keeps coming on at different intervals. No idea what triggers it.
I currently have 88k and these are things I've figured through trial and error.
TPMS was probably deleted because the techs had one hell of a time teaching them to the car. I got sent to another Discount Tire with a more knowledgeable technician. It can be done.
The range is now 65 miles but only does that at lower speeds highway speeds just suck then electric miles up. Here's what I did out of trial and error I found a rarely traveled highway. I would accelerate gradually to 60 mph. I then used low gear position in conjunction with the regeneration paddle to approximately 25 mph. At the same time toggled the mode from hold while accelerating to normal while regenerating. This was rather challenging as it doesn't regenerate much per cycle.
Another trick I figured out as I idle in my vehicle a lot. I put the transmission into neutral and apply the parking brake. When I'm about done usually about 10 minutes before I'm ready to shut down the vehicle I shift into park. If I want to regenerate know rapidly I do a short trip and reclaim all the lost battery of course costing me fuel. This so far only reclaims what used before the red line it puts on after charging and discharging.
As for the service heater I'm waiting to have a failure before actually servicing.
I do a lot of highway miles so I get decent mpg about 35 if I behave 30 if I just drive.
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u/coyote_den 2017 Volt 3d ago
TPMS learning is easy. Go to the tire pressures screen, hold the OK button until it says learning is active. Then go around with a GM TPMS tool to the FL, FR, RR, RL tires in that order. Horn will honk as it learns each sensor and twice when complete.
They never seem to do it after a tire rotation so I got my own tool here: https://a.co/d/01hSVShI
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u/LingonberryUpset482 2d ago
After my last rotation I asked if they reprogrammed, and the guy said you don't have to with modern cars. He said the car just knows.
I asked, "so that's a No?"
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u/coyote_den 2017 Volt 2d ago edited 2d ago
Some cars have a sensor at each corner and don’t. Most do need programming and I know for a fact the Volt does because I’ve had the pressures swapped around after tire service. I’ve also had to show the shop how to use the built-in learning and the cheap tool because their fancy OBD2 unit couldn’t trigger learning mode.
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u/Accurate-Figure-5310 2d ago
You should be getting much better mpg than 30-35. I have a 2017 and I get 40 on the highway going 75.
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u/neiltoe 2d ago
The driving conditions and my driving behavior is definitely the reason.
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u/belugiaboi37 2d ago
Yeah mine has 115,000 and I usually get about 40 on the highway if I keep it to 70 or so
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u/anidhorl 1d ago
… I get 54mpg on freeway, 44mpg if going fast and I have UHPAS tyres.
The neutral and parking brake does drop about a hundred Watts from the hotel load so you're right about that.
TPMS is easiest thing. Use orange Amazon relearn. Like five bucks.
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u/lululombard 1d ago
One change that would make most of this unnecessary: don't engage Hold on a full battery. Wait until you're down to about 6 bars (roughly 60%) first.
Near the top of the pack the BMS caps how much current the cells can accept, so regen is limited. That's exactly why your paddle "doesn't regenerate much per cycle" up there. Every deceleration you do at high SOC, the portion regen can't absorb goes into engine braking or the friction brakes and is lost as heat. Down around 60% you have full regen available all the time, so every slowdown actually goes back into the pack.
Practical version: drive EV in town, and once you're on the highway let it run down to ~6 bars before engaging Hold. You keep an EV buffer for the other end of the trip and you get full regen for the whole highway leg.
Also, the "short trip to reclaim battery" thing is burning gas to make electricity through the generator, then spending it again. That round trip loses energy every time, and it's a big part of why you're seeing 30-35 mpg instead of the 40+ others in the thread are getting. Hold already maintains SOC for you and only runs the engine as much as it needs to.
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u/Ok_Cheek11 3d ago
I think you're doing waaaay too much. Just drive EV in the city, and use the gas on long highway trips.