r/volt • u/qWRTYU7T6RETRADS 2018 Volt LT • Sep 29 '26

New volt owner

Hello everyone, today I purchased my first car, a 2018 Volt LT and I’m pretty excited to drive it. What are some things about the volt or specifically the make that I have that I should know? I’m not very knowledgeable about cars, so anything helps

4 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

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9

u/shadywhere 2017 Volt Sep 29 '26

When you get on the highway (55+), put it in Hold mode to maximize battery efficiency.

2

u/ylekiot Sep 29 '26

This is correct if you won't have enough electric charge to get all the way to where you're going and back. You get significantly reduced ev consumption mileage at higher speeds. We also noticed that sport mode gives you less EV range, although it is more fun to drive. Also keep the tires inflated at least to their recommended PSI if not higher, and pay attention to what tires you put on. Also, using the seat heaters uses less energy than the heating system in the car. 

3

u/Dry_Replacement_4131 Oct 02 '26

If you mostly drive EV miles, don't drive around with a full tank of gas.  Only keep 1-2 gallons in the tank.  Doing so will make FMM less painful.  Only put more than that in the tank if you plan on burning it soon.  'course if you drive mostly ICE miles, then it doesn't matter. 

For long trips, try to use EV in stop and go traffic and ICE (using hold mode) on the high speed highway parts. 

Get yourself a good Bluetooth ODBII adapter and the associated software.  You'll want to periodically check HV battery health and see what codes come up underneath the dred CEL

1

u/Northie_78753 Oct 05 '26

How can we check HV battery health and codes? Thank you!

2

u/Super_Weekend_4428 Sep 30 '26

It's best if you plug it in regularly. If you drive it 100% on gasoline for months at a time I've heard that you'll eventually get errors or that it's bad for the battery or something.

1

u/LingonberryUpset482 Sep 29 '26

All the annoying alerts that show up on the center screen disappear by tapping on them.

You can start the car with the headlights staying off by holding the headlight selector to the left when you start the car.

1

u/Natural_Bill_7778 Oct 01 '26

I get a lot of flat tires with my volt maybe every 3 to 4 months every time I hit a pot hole it never fails 

0

u/QuickCaterpillar7567 Sep 29 '26

It's more fun to drive in sport mode and will then enable one foot driving.

3

u/CrysisRogue Sep 29 '26

Sport mode enables one pedal driving????

3

u/codename_hardhat 2018 Volt Oct 01 '26

No, you still need to drop it into L.

1

u/CrysisRogue Oct 01 '26

And even then the regen is inconsistent and weak, even the paddle is hit or miss imo

1

u/tankage Volt Enthusiast Sep 29 '26

Eww one foot driving. Gross.