Real World All-Electric Range in the Chevrolet Volt During Winter Traffic Jams

Chevy Volt Driver Information Display









The EPA has determined through testing that the Chevy Volt would go a typical 35 miles on a full battery charged. Using the full 10.4 kwh of stored battery energy available, GM has determined the majority of drivers will experience from 25 to 50 miles of range.

There are several examples in which journalists and fellow advisory board drivers have gotten more than 50 miles of range in their Volts.

Today I report on my first experiences just barely crossing or not even reaching the 25 mile threshold when the engine came on.

This first time I left home on my typical daily commute with a full charge. It was a cold day of 32 degrees outside. I had the cabin temperature set to comfort mode of 72 degrees with a medium fan speed and one bar (out of three) on the heated seat control.

My drive is almost all highway with 65 MPH speed limit. I traveled mostly at that speed plus or minus a few miles per hour, and was using the Normal as opposed to Sport mode setting. Mostly I kept the car in D, or coast brake setting.

At about 11 miles into my journey I hit standstill traffic resulting from an accident on the highway. Helicopters were circling and I spent about 40 minutes in a very minimal crawl as two lanes were funneled into one in which extensive rubber necking took place.

During the stop and go portion I left the car in L mode to use motor braking, and covered about 4 or 5 miles.

After, traffic moved smoothly, and I arrived to my office parking garage just feet from my parking spot and waiting outlet when the generator went on at 25.3 miles.

On warmer days I would have arrived with about 8 miles to spare, indicating the significant drain from being in standstill traffic for 40 minutes with the cabin temp cooking.

Thus my first experience only getting 25 miles per range had less to do with extreme cold temperatures or aggressive driving style, but more to do with unexpected traffic.

On two subsequent driving days, I experienced just below 25 miles of range, with the lowest being 24.4 miles. These days were colder, in the low 20s, and included a bit more use of the Sport mode, though not continuous. In neither case did I drive meaningfully above 70 mph. The day with the lowest range included a 20 minute traffic jam.

Most recently I drove to work after the Northeast snowstorm and several of my low speed roads were a bit thickened with snow. This extra tractive effort seemed to drain a lot from the battery. The temperature was again about 30 degrees and this time I kept the cabin at 74 degrees of comfort mode. I did not use Sport mode at all and kept my speed around 65 MPH. The engine went on after 22.7 miles.

Using aggressive cabin heating combined with high speed highway driving in sub freezing weather may lead to electric ranges of less than 25 miles.

Source: GM-Volt.com