A Facebook post from the Great State of Maskachusetts:
When the rules get stupid…
I acquired a Chevy Volt last year. For the ones who don’t know it, this is a plugin/hybrid that can drive ~55 miles on pure electric mode.
Afterward, when the battery is down, the gas engine kicks up. 55 miles is way enough to go to the office (in a prior life) and to the tennis courts. Great, I installed a 220v charger in the garage and I went twice to the gas pump during the year, typically for longer trips.
Last week was the time for the yearly Mass state inspection. And the car was rejected!! The reason: I have not used the gas engine enough so the computer cannot retrieve the actual emission of the engine (thanks VW!). Now they ask me to run on forced gas before I come back for another inspection.
Let’s recap: I used my car 95% on electric energy, which means almost zero direct emission, and the car was rejected as it might pollute. And now they ask me to pollute to validate it! How is that stupid??
Related:
“the yearly Mass state inspection”
What’s an inspection? No such thing in Florida; though over 25% of drivers on the road are uninsured.
Actually, it’s not stupid, although the owner might think so. Gasoline engines don’t do very well when they are not run for a long period of time, or only run intermittently so they never fully warm up. Fuel injectors clog, emissions systems stop working properly, etc. If something is wrong (and the Volt’s emission control system is stringent!) it throws fault codes and emissions equipment has to be able to read those fault codes and get enough history to pass the car and determine if something is wrong. So the computer has to collect the data, and part of the reason is that some people try to trick the test by disconnecting the 12 volt battery and wiping out the fault codes on an engine they know is going to fail, rather than pay to get it fixed.
This issue covered in the owner’s manual and there’s a FAQ about it online.
https://gm-volt.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-74218.html
It’s really not a big deal. Drive it with the gas engine for a couple of days a year and you’re OK. The Volt’s gasoline engine is not a smog-spewing monster. It’s an 84 horsepower, 1,398 cc engine – smaller and less powerful than a lot of motorcycles.
In other words, I’m quite sure the powertrain engineers didn’t do this out of stupidity or malice toward super-frugal Volt owners. They did it because in the absence of the data, the computer has no way to determine if the emissions system is working properly.
I’ll also take a guess that this person wouldn’t mind if the government tracked every single mile that everyone drives and fined people for being “profligate.” So it kind of comes with the territory of “being green.”
By the way I drive a 2010 Ford Escape XLT Limited Hybrid, with the full-time electric/gas drive system and CVT transmission. I like it a lot, it’s very well-engineered, but it’s complex. The hybrid drive is virtually seamless and it really does significantly improve the gas mileage, especially around town under 40MPH. The downside is the complexity and when the high-voltage battery poops out and is out of warranty, the cost can run into the thousand$.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-Escape-2005-2009-Rebuilt-Hybrid-Battery-18-Month-warranty/222627189536?hash=item33d59d5320:g:oGwAAOSwQPlV-EF4
Finally, most modern cars have elaborate requirements when it comes to data and their computer systems. You cannot replace the transmission on a Ford Transit Connect, for instance, without the shop connecting the car and the new transmission to the FoMoCo internal servers to make everything work together. Not a shade tree mechanic job any more. The first thing you do with all cars now is hook them up to a computer.
There are some people on the internet who are unusually generous with their expertise. FordTech Makuloco is one of them:
Am I mistaken in thinking that the gas engine is for generating electricity and the car always uses electricity for propulsion?
@Roland Gregg: Not exactly, and it depends on the year of the Volt. 2016 and later Volts have a different drivetrain than the earlier models. The newer cars have two electric motors, one gasoline engine, and a complex control regime that uses all three in different roles, at different times. There’s a good overview here:
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1096942_2016-chevrolet-volt-powertrain-how-it-works-in-electric-hybrid-modes
The earlier Volts are different. They’re “purer” electric / series hybrid vehicles in the sense that the gasoline engine never *directly* powers the car (although it does contribute torque through the transmission at higher speeds through a complicated planetary gear setup).
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1096942_2016-chevrolet-volt-powertrain-how-it-works-in-electric-hybrid-modes
Whoops sorry, second link to the earlier Volt drivetrain setup:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/hybrid-electric/a6179/chevy-volt-hybrid-drive-system/
You can get the stats from OnStar They give a monthly report on the car and look up your stats for the last month that you drove it on gasoline and it will tell you the emissions that you have saved That should suffice and make them happy I live in Washington State where that car is exempt from emissions tests I have used 32.5 gallons of gas in mine since I bought it November 4th 2017 and I have about 22,000 mi on it now I hope this has helped you
When will RMV begins its road test
I have a 2018, a maintenance feature forces the vehicle to operate in the non electric mode to verify the it is operating within EPA standards. I have owned this vehicle since November of 2018. In June of 2020 I just went over $100.00 in fuel purchases. I did drive 23.5 miles to work a total of 47 miles round trip. I usuallywould end up with about 10 miles remaining each day. I have since retired and Door dash for my neighbor since Coronavirus or what I call (A.C.) after Coronavirus. I deliver between 11 and 3. average about six or 7 deliveries. I earn about 45 to 50 dollars a day and costing about 28 cents 7 cent a KWH to charge car. That takes about 4 hours. I love this car. I have a premier, with lane monitoring, collision advoidance, adaptive cruise. With the braking system I have had to have the rotors cleaned do to lack of use. This car is hard to beat of the line 0-40, the tork is incredible. Try sport mode. Whole lot of car used for $23K. Thanks Chevy.
My horror was registering the thing in Ohio and them wanting $260 dollars…
Damn you Mike DeWine. Damn you.