Chevy Volt Upgrade

Sparky! · 12-02-22, 04:19 PM

We have a 2017 Chevy Volt Premier that is fueled about 50/50 with sunshine.

Last week we put 3910 miles on to got to Utah from Iowa and noticed that my wife had a valid point. The heat for your feet sucks in this car, in fact it is the worst of any car I've ever had. So I am adding heated floors to the driver's and passenger's side.

I have added heated seats before in our Prius, so I ordered the same components to do this upgrade. I will use two heat mats for both sides and will glue them down on top of the factory insulation. I will then replace the carpet and the Husky floor mats.

I will update with the performance when done. I will do the install next week and report back in a couple of weeks. I am excited about this upgrade for our Iowa winters.

The car has 156,000 miles on it and other than a 7 thousand dollar transmission replacement it has been a good car. I feel our prior Prius models were a much better car for the money but their Prime had subpar mileage range on battery alone for our needs.

Jason

Daox · 12-03-22, 08:14 AM

Interesting idea. I'm very interested to hear how this works out for you.

Sparky! · 12-13-22, 08:39 PM

When I pulled up the carpet I found out that nowadays the pad and carpet are bonded together. So I would have to glue the heated pads to the metal. I didn't like that idea for two reasons. The first is the metal was very irregular to glue to. The second is I would loose a lot of heat to the metal reducing my comfort.

So I glued carpet pad down first which solved the two issues above and should add some to sound deadening.

The last picture is where I mounted the switches. All I have left is to install the fuse assemblies.

I will let you know if there is a meaningful amount of heat after some use.

Sparky! · 07-27-23, 06:41 PM

Well the heated floors are a success. They do get warm to the touch on long commute, no so much for its new short commute.

This chevy volt was causing my wife to be stranded on the side of the road with a reduced propulsion message. No chevy dealers in our area could work on it because they did not have any ev techs, so we hauled each time into Illinois to have it worked on. They never did find the problem and after paying $400 - 500 each tow time five times ww bought her another car. Which I absolutely love and should have bought it back when we bought the volt.

So she now drives a 2018 prius prime advanced and I drive the volt because it is less thirsty than my tundra.

I finally found out the problem with the volt on my own with the help of the internet. It ended up being crappy connections in the fuse block under the hood. Gm does a cool trick of supplying 2 different 12 volt positives to this fuse block and if they ever deviate more than 3 volts you get reduced propulsion message and then you are totally screwed on the side of the road because you cannot clear the code if the condition still exists.

The fix was to replace both relays on those two circuits and remove and reinstall the two fuses many times to make good connections again.

The car run absolutely fine now.

Did I mention that I absolutely love the new prius.

She gets around 700 - 800 miles per tank. Not bad for about 9 gallons of gas.

I took a different job in another state that's about a hour and fifteen minutes door to door. I did not want to drive this everyday so we bought a second home in Wisconsin and my daily commute is 10 miles each way. So with my new driving patern I fill up once a month.

I make another post about the modifications to the Wisconsin house.

Sparky

dguzzi · 07-30-23, 02:24 PM

Does the Volt allow you to "preheat" the cabin (winter mornings) ?

12-02-22, 04:19 PM	#1
Sparky! Lurking Renovator Join Date: Oct 2021 Location: Iowa usa Posts: 11 Thanks: 0 Thanked 14 Times in 6 Posts	Chevy Volt Upgrade We have a 2017 Chevy Volt Premier that is fueled about 50/50 with sunshine. Last week we put 3910 miles on to got to Utah from Iowa and noticed that my wife had a valid point. The heat for your feet sucks in this car, in fact it is the worst of any car I've ever had. So I am adding heated floors to the driver's and passenger's side. I have added heated seats before in our Prius, so I ordered the same components to do this upgrade. I will use two heat mats for both sides and will glue them down on top of the factory insulation. I will then replace the carpet and the Husky floor mats. I will update with the performance when done. I will do the install next week and report back in a couple of weeks. I am excited about this upgrade for our Iowa winters. The car has 156,000 miles on it and other than a 7 thousand dollar transmission replacement it has been a good car. I feel our prior Prius models were a much better car for the money but their Prime had subpar mileage range on battery alone for our needs. Jason

12-03-22, 08:14 AM	#2
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Interesting idea. I'm very interested to hear how this works out for you. __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

12-13-22, 08:39 PM	#3
Sparky! Lurking Renovator Join Date: Oct 2021 Location: Iowa usa Posts: 11 Thanks: 0 Thanked 14 Times in 6 Posts	More progress When I pulled up the carpet I found out that nowadays the pad and carpet are bonded together. So I would have to glue the heated pads to the metal. I didn't like that idea for two reasons. The first is the metal was very irregular to glue to. The second is I would loose a lot of heat to the metal reducing my comfort. So I glued carpet pad down first which solved the two issues above and should add some to sound deadening. The last picture is where I mounted the switches. All I have left is to install the fuse assemblies. I will let you know if there is a meaningful amount of heat after some use. Attached Thumbnails

07-27-23, 06:41 PM	#4
Sparky! Lurking Renovator Join Date: Oct 2021 Location: Iowa usa Posts: 11 Thanks: 0 Thanked 14 Times in 6 Posts	Big changes Well the heated floors are a success. They do get warm to the touch on long commute, no so much for its new short commute. This chevy volt was causing my wife to be stranded on the side of the road with a reduced propulsion message. No chevy dealers in our area could work on it because they did not have any ev techs, so we hauled each time into Illinois to have it worked on. They never did find the problem and after paying $400 - 500 each tow time five times ww bought her another car. Which I absolutely love and should have bought it back when we bought the volt. So she now drives a 2018 prius prime advanced and I drive the volt because it is less thirsty than my tundra. I finally found out the problem with the volt on my own with the help of the internet. It ended up being crappy connections in the fuse block under the hood. Gm does a cool trick of supplying 2 different 12 volt positives to this fuse block and if they ever deviate more than 3 volts you get reduced propulsion message and then you are totally screwed on the side of the road because you cannot clear the code if the condition still exists. The fix was to replace both relays on those two circuits and remove and reinstall the two fuses many times to make good connections again. The car run absolutely fine now. Did I mention that I absolutely love the new prius. She gets around 700 - 800 miles per tank. Not bad for about 9 gallons of gas. I took a different job in another state that's about a hour and fifteen minutes door to door. I did not want to drive this everyday so we bought a second home in Wisconsin and my daily commute is 10 miles each way. So with my new driving patern I fill up once a month. I make another post about the modifications to the Wisconsin house. Sparky

07-30-23, 02:24 PM	#5
dguzzi Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Michigan Posts: 68 Thanks: 3 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Does the Volt allow you to "preheat" the cabin (winter mornings) ?