speed limiter

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nabs

New member
Joined
Jan 17, 2017
Messages
3
sorry if someone's already posted about this... has anyone figured out how to adjust the speed limiter? i figure it'll have to be done via some hack, if it's even possible.

just curious...
 
There is a teen driver speed limited that limits top speed to 85 mph... but that's the only mention of a speed limiter in the owner's manual
 
He's talking about the 93-mph (150 kph) speed limiter. I think it would be unwise to defeat it and the car may not have been tested at any speed above that.
 
There is usually a maximum speed for the traction motor. That is probably what the limit is for. Certainly if they were trying to be your car nanny they would limit it much lower.
 
Most likely it's due to heat. Tax that huge battery with high mph, it won't last as long. It could even potentially overheat and catch fire.

I wouldn't mess with it.
 
The car uses a one speed "transmission" so the faster the car goes, the more ridiculously high the motor has to rev. This is like talking about removing the rev limiter on a five speed car that can only use third gear...
 
Well I find it suspicious that nearly all modern electric cars are speed-limited to exactly 150 kph (93 mph). I suspect it must be for some kind of regulatory or tax-related reason in Europe.
 
okay, thanks for the info... CGameProgrammer, i don't think they're all limited to 93 mph. i had a leaf, that was limited to 94 mph. i believe the bolt's limit is 92, at least that's what it tells me. a friend of mine has an e-golf and that's limited to 85 mph and the fiat 500e is limited to 88 mph.
 
My Focus Electric was limited to 85. It was sort of a soft limit, not objectionable. The real issue was the very short range available at those speeds, rare for me to go above 80.

One elegant feature of Volt was its ability to use the two motors at high speeds, allowing each to run slower than in a single-speed care such as Bolt.
 
michael said:
One elegant feature of Volt was its ability to use the two motors at high speeds, allowing each to run slower than in a single-speed care such as Bolt.

Eh? How do you go faster by running the motors at slower speeds?
I have a Volt and I am not aware that it does this...

On the other hand, the Volt can certainly utilize the power of both the ICE and electric motor to propel the vehicle in some situations.
 
So the Volt's ICE drives the car when not in EV mode? I thought it was a generator, which supplied DC to power the electric traction motor.

I still think the speed limiter may be due to the immense power throughput from the battery. At very high speeds, the power demand may outstrip the car's ability to keep the battery cool. An overheated battery can be damaged or even catch fire.
 
tgreene said:
michael said:
One elegant feature of Volt was its ability to use the two motors at high speeds, allowing each to run slower than in a single-speed care such as Bolt.

Eh? How do you go faster by running the motors at slower speeds?
I have a Volt and I am not aware that it does this...

On the other hand, the Volt can certainly utilize the power of both the ICE and electric motor to propel the vehicle in some situations.

This comes from the hybrid side of the equation. Cars that feature the so-called eCVT (which has no relation to an actual CVT) have a planetary gearset with two electric motor/generators and one ICE. The ICE is connected to the "sun" gear, the smaller electric motor/generator is connected to the "planet carrier" and the larger motor/generator (and driveline) is connected to the "ring" gear. This allows for one or the other to run at different speeds as needed to create a proper "gear ratio" mostly to keep the ICE in its sweet spot, but also to prevent the smaller motor from overspeeding (and self-destructing). This also is the reason why hybrid cars have a limited top speed in electric-only mode...you have to start up the ICE at a certain point or that motor will overspeed.

Since most EVs currently on the market have a fixed reduction gear, that redline is translated to an exact vehicle speed.
 
I also thought the Volt's gas engine did not connect directly to the wheels, although I suppose I could be mistaken.

As far as the speed limiter, you shouldn't be driving more than 90 mph anyway. You're a hazard to other people on the road if you're driving that fast.
 
The Volts drivetrain includes an ICE , a main drive motor and a smaller motor.

They are connected by a configurable planetary gear set.

In EV mode at normal speeds only the main drive motor is used. The ICE and smaller motor are stopped. At high speeds the smaller motor begins to spin as well and through the configuration of the planetary gears the rotional spieds of the two motors are added together. Thus the motor speeds are kept low even when the car is going very fast

When in hybrid mode normally the ICE drives the smalker motor which acts as a generator and only the larger motor propels the car. It functions as a series hybrid.

However at high speeds th planetary gears provide a mechanical connection to th engine as well. This provides some additional efficiency. But this is only when the battery is exhausted or when the driver has selected hybrid mode

I don't recall the speeds where these functions come into play but I think they are somewhere in the 70/80 mph range

There are also some differences between the gen. 1 and gen 2 versions but the above is generally the way it works.
 
The speedo in my Bolt topped out at 91mph when I drove it home from the dealer the other day. Will have to try it again to see if it'll reach 93. :lol:
 
My bolt did 160kmh on the way home from the dealer. I went in for some factory recall reprogramming crap and now it is limited to 148 kmh. This is bull puckies. Anyone know of a hack.
 
Anyone who hacks the max speed limit and then is involved in a serious accident will be subject to punitive damages which will not be covered by their auto insurance.
 
BoltEV said:
Anyone who hacks the max speed limit and then is involved in a serious accident will be subject to punitive damages which will not be covered by their auto insurance.
Speculation...
 
Evoforce said:
BoltEV said:
Anyone who hacks the max speed limit and then is involved in a serious accident will be subject to punitive damages which will not be covered by their auto insurance.
Speculation...
The only thing speculative is whether or not you are hacking your Bolt and driving with excessive and dangerous speeds.

What is clearly not speculative is that your post encourages others to do exactly that!

Your post is now part of your permanent record!
 
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