Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
Yes, despite what GM insisted for years, the Volt is (obviously) a plug-in hybrid; not an EV.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tumnasgt
I'm surprised it idles, didn't Chevy say that it can't charge the battery from the ICE? Especially since it sounds like it was running to generate electricity instead of a normal <1000rpm idle.
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Within its charge-depletion mode it will not run the engine. ...if you get to the buffer point it will while you are driving. The reason why it is idling while it is stopped is because the mountain mode essentially raises the buffer point so there is more in the battery to climb Pike's peak, or whatever high elevation rise you are trying to encounter. So it generally maintains the same state of charge, roughly, rather than charging it beyond that point. Change the state of charge it is aiming for and it will charge to that point. On one of these videos one of the GM folks said that if you engage mountain mode before it reaches that point than it will not need to charge up to that point and leave more EV range available but it won't start using the engine until it gets to that slightly higher point.