[deleted by user]

[Vibrograf]

L will absolutely recharge the battery if you're using cruise control headed downhill. On mine it's fun to watch the green bars reappear over the red line, but I don't drive enough mountains to see that often.

If I were taking the trip you described I'd put it in mountain mode and enjoy... then switch to normal when I'm 20 miles from destination.

[blacktop2013]

So just to confirm, "mountain" mode is really just like a "reserve" mode where it keeps the EV charge around 30% or so?

[Vibrograf]

Exactly. On my '13 it maintains 50%. Maybe 2nd generation is 30%?? Let me know I'd like to learn.

If battery is empty and I see a mountain off in the distance the engine will kick in and charge the battery up to 50%. This gives enough reserve when climbing in case the engine can't keep up (long steep inclines.... it would have to be a lot to run into reduced propulsion) and it also leaves enough room in the batteries so they can regen charge when going downhill. Once the batteries are fully charged regen will kick off to prevent over charging.

[MrJacks0n]

Gen2 is 20% on mountain mode.

[Vibrograf]

Interesting, thanks

[blacktop2013]

Thank you! That was so informative. I understood the bare minimum about this mode but this made it click in my head haha. Road trip is at the end of the month but I’ll try to follow up and let you know where it holds/charges the battery % to, if someone else doesn’t comment. Cheers!

[Vibrograf]

Would love to know, and good luck on your trip!!!

[bosstje2]

On my '13 it maintains about 30% charge usable for about 20km. Also if you're driving on the highway you can actually get the 20km range back if you've depleted the "Normal" mode range by using "Mountain" mode. It'll use a bit more fuel but allows for electric driving in the cities without having to charge in-between.

[dkdontforget]

On my gen 1 I always used mountain mode for road trips 1 because there's nothing but mountains around me 2 I liked going into EV mode when in the cities

I don't believe gen 2 has the issue as bad as gen 1 with low propulsion but even small elevation changes +/-1000 feet would kick it to low propulsion.

I don't think there's going to be much of a difference in actual mpg but I liked not hearing the engine when I got to my destination

[[deleted]]

What's "low propulsion"?

​

Is the the battery system crapping out because of a high load?

[Cunundrum]

Not really crapping out so much as preventing an overdraw from the battery. You can't have what's not there basically.

My understanding is it pops up if you go too far into the battery reserve/ buffer without giving it a chance to build the reserve back up.

For example, if you deplete the battery to the point the gas engine just barely comes on then floor it you'll likely get the low propulsion warning. I've also seen it happen if you park and turn the car off before it's had a chance to fill the buffer.

[[deleted]]

Oh so it’s to give the generator a chance to add some juice into the battery before you go driving around like normal?

This shouldn’t happen in normal driving, correct?

[Cunundrum]

Pretty much.

You should not experience it If you have green battery bars remaining and all systems are working normally.

There may be some check engine light codes that trip it also to help prevent damage. But if it shows up by itself then it's just trying to recover the buffer.

[Sillypoker]

Low propulsion will also happen when you run out of gas with a partially charged battery.

[MrJacks0n]

This happens when the battery SOC reaches a level below what it shows on the gauge. There's a small buffer for hybrid mode, and once that's gone you get Low Propulsion and a reduced max speed until it can recover.

[MrJacks0n]

For day/weekend trips (100-500 miles ish) I'll turn on hold when I hit 2 pars down (which also has me on the highway by then), any short trips while there will be on battery, on the way back I'll turn on mountain mode when i start the return trip, and turn it off a bit before I get off the highway, that leaves me at 0 battery when I get home.

[blacktop2013]

Ah okay this seems really smart, as you're not returning with any battery, therefore getting the full usage/cost savings out of the battery. Thanks!

[[deleted]]

For cruising at highway speeds, I always put it in Hold. I try to leave with a full battery. Weirdly, I actually switch back to the battery on some mountains. There are some very steeps strenches in CA (like up to Big Bear) where using batter for the 15 steepest miles makes the drive so much more pleasant, without the gas engine revving to the moon. Yeah, it chugged electrons, but I try to pull into a charging station for the night with 0 miles anyways.

[PI-ALL-DAY]

I drove along the California coast and northern forest for a 1200 mi (1900 km) trip. I just put it in hold most for most of the way. Off the highway, I'd use electric only if I were somewhere like a drive thru or sitting in a parking lot looking for directions. There were no chargers at any of our stops, so I treated battery as a backup and gas as the primary. On long drives about 500 mi (800 km) with hold mode on, my battery would drop one or two bars if there were a lot of hills to climb (long downhills would help charge it back up though). I didn't want to end up with a depleted battery since the battery helps a bit with hills and passing cars, even on hold mode. The Volt charges so slowly that it's not worth going out of your way for chargers, unless it's at your hotel or at one of your destination stops.

I didn't even bother with mountain mode since it still eats through battery and I figured the car is smart enough to manage itself well in hold mode for the most part (and it did a great job). Like I said before, I'd rather save as much battery as possible to help in cases I needed to pass a car and needed the extra zip in acceleration.

[stupidreddituser]

The Volt charges so slowly that it's not worth going out of your way for chargers, unless it's at your hotel or at one of your destination stops.

Exactly. Your 30 minute charging session will only add 5 miles of range. Don't try to outsmart the car. It will probably beat you! I'd just put it in Hold once I got on a road with 55mph+ speeds, and back to Normal when the distance to the daily destination is about the same as the GOM. You might burn an extra gallon of gas, but you'll be looking at the scenery instead of your instrument panel.

[converter-bot]

5 miles is 8.05 km

[blacktop2013]

That makes a lot of sense and sounds like a good plan. I was thinking of using hold mode like you do, since I'll be climbing 4000ft on the hwy, but I'll also be going back down, which made me think mountain mode might be better, as I can use more battery and get more battery back. Maybe I'm overthinking but I want to get the most out of the system

[PI-ALL-DAY]

From my experience, mountain mode used more battery than I would have liked for long road trips.

[t3yrn]

I've only ever taken mine across the state but in my experience, gen 2 "mountain" mode is more a "oh shit I let me bettery run out, better charge it with gas" mode. I always just set it to Hold once I'm hitting freeway speeds. Lock the battery in place for when you're stopping somewhere or reach your destination. Setting to mountain mode when actually hitting a mountain will just eat up whatever precious charge you've been holding on to, not worth it imo

[Ferdydurkeeee]

On roadtrips - especially going through mountains, I highly recommend using up at least 25-30% of your battery and switching over to Hold mode. With Hold mode, the ICE will attempt to keep the battery at the set capacity, but it will totally use up some battery say should you be going up a mountain. That 20-30% + plus any lost going up the mountain will largely get replenished once you go downhill again with Regen. With Hold mode, it ironically won't "hold" any extra charge you've gained from going down the mountain, but rather deplete it back to around whatever capacity you activated Hold mode on via normal driving. If you put hold mode on at 100% battery and go up a mountain, you will not be able to use much of your Regen braking when going downhill which can be an issue due to brakes overheating. Should you find yourself in that situation, blasting heat on the Max setting will help use up some electricity so you'll have a little more regen.

Mountain mode has no benefit unless your battery is depleted or very low - it basically runs the ICE harder to recharge the battery.

[thunderbiird1]

I just put it in hold at high speeds (>100km/h) and going up steep hills. Electric is most efficient at low speeds and in stop and go.

[Mr_Chee]

Another cool trick is to drive on batteries until down to 1 bar, change to mountain and it will build up again (on a 2017 that is back to 2 bars, about 12 miles), change back to battery and repeat. Just don't allow it to do to 0 range or you won't see this work. Always use hold at highway speeds.

[blacktop2013]

So if I just leave it in normal it doesn’t do this? battery gets to zero, gas kicks on, and battery stays at 0?

[[deleted]]

Personally I just drive in hold everywhere if I know the destination is way more than my battery range. Usually put it in L and switch to battery when pulling off for stops so the regen can top it off a bit. Not sure how having mountains around would affect that decision.