Jet1, I cant agree with you more regarding a mandatory hybrid expert. Its such B.S. that the dealers are not trained at all on these vehicles. When mine ended up at the dealer last week I asked the service manager what he knew about the 08's...he said they have only sold 1...yes..1...since they have been out. Yes, they are a relitively small dealership, but thats rediculous. I asked one of the salesman in the showroom about the hybrid vehicles. He said "the tahoe really doesnt make sense, your paying a premium for the hybrid, is it really worth it"?

 

I agree with you guys. I think it was Jet who mentioned his wish that GM would be more involved with their hybrid owners. This is a great idea. It would be great to have some type of GM two-mode hybrid center of excellence where you could learn lots of nitty gritty details about your vehicle.

Toyota has done a great in supporting their Prius owners and developing a whole Prius community. Nissan Leaf owners are pretty informed and involved with the company.

It would be great for GM to have some involvement with their two-mode hybrid community, to have a mechanism for input, providing answers to questions, and otherwise make the owners feel like they have purchased something special - which we have!

 

Thanks been on there. Found two, one is a 08. Just reading in other forum, that the 08 has issue. Tom

 

Hello,

I bought a 2010 Silverado Hybrid with 13k on it last week and really like it. It is the 1HT so no nav screen.

I am still getting used to the right profile to drive it and safe MPG. The last few days it has been cold and I have only taken it on short drives so the battery did not have alot of juice and only ran on "auto-stop" towards the end of my 10 minute trips.

Do you think finding a steep hill, and cruising down it in M3 to get alot of juice to the battery would be helpful to help ensure the battery kicks in from the start and not just the end of my short trips.

vroom vroom Start it up!

 

Beofotch,
THe cold weather and short drives is the worst for this kind of vehicle.
you need to have the engine warmed up before you go into autostop and V4 mode.
so don't expect a lot of savings with these kind of conditions. I try to avoid taking short trip specially in cold weather
if you use the remote start, this will even reduce the MPG more.
the same thing in extreme hot watehr with AC on, and short drives.
The battery gets drained rather quickly, and and the engine is forced to kick in to recharge

Taking a long drivew to recharge the battery will help, but if you park it for several hours in cold weather, this it wont have enough juice to for your next trip to start with autostop mode, so the engine has to warm up again.

Also keep in mind the efficiency of the battery drops in cold weather as well, although it is well insulated.
The battery is also designed to be charged up to 50-60% of its capcity and not 100% . to prolong the life of the battery and keep it under waranty from manufacturer.

Hope this helps