Experiencing the Chevy Volt Engine Running Due to Low Temperature

Lyle Dennis, of GM-Volt.com fame, is currently driving a production Chevy Volt as a perk for being on a 16 member Advisory Board. Fortunately for all of us, he is willing to blog about his experiences noting both the good and the bad. Lyle will always be a Volt "homer" but give him credit for being a fair reporter.

Lyle lives in New York and lately all of us who live in the North have been enduring colder than normal weather for the month of December. What Lyle has noticed is that the gasoline engine is coming on for a minute and a half upon startup in order to warm the battery pack. The outside ambient temperature has to be below 26 degrees Fahrenheit in order for the engine to engage. Lyle has noticed the phenomenon three times recently and all three times his Volt was parked outside or running outside. Lyle claims that this did not occur when the car was parked in his garage overnight.

Unfortunately, owning a Volt in the northern climes will mean that your engine is going to run a lot. Lyle states that he consumed 0.1 gallons of gas which is relatively inconsequential for a 24 hour period but it also means more maintenance for all the ICE components. Are you comfortable with this? We can only assume that this was programmed in the Volt as a measure of protection in order to "baby" the battery pack. For what it is worth, no such babying is required in the Toyota RAV 4 EV with the NiMH battery pack and these vehicles have exceeded 100K miles easily.

Here is a video from Lyle noting the LCD screen with an engine on warning: