Hi, I've had my '22 XC60 T8 Extended Range for a little over a month and have been very happy with my purchase. So far I've only driven it around town (to/from work, etc.) and have been able to drive it exclusively in Pure electric mode, charging overnight when necessary to "fill up".

But: I'm wondering at what point I should be concerned about not running the gas engine? The manual isn't helpful in this area. I'll be taking some longer road trips this summer so I'm not too worried, but I'm curious if anyone knows of guidelines or best-practices around how often you should run the gas engine to avoid "problems" (and what those problems might be)? Thanks!

 

I have an ER XC60 on order. My concern is that the owner's manual says that you need to drive it at least once a week, or risk having the 12-volt battery get low. Many 2022 Volvo owners have found their 12-volt battery dead, so there's a huge problem there. The traction battery does not charge the 12-volt battery, apparently (a huge engineering failure), so the 12-volt battery can only be charged by running the ICE, evidently (alternator). If you drive only in electric mode, which is the whole point about getting a PHEV (i.e., to drive in electric-mode only when driving locally within the range of a full traction-battery charge), there appears to be a significant risk of your 12-volt battery dying. For this reason, I am seriously considering NOT taking my 2022 XC60 ER when it arrives this month and instead waiting for MY2023 XC60 ER in hopes that Volvo will correct this huge engineering mistake. Oh, there's no way that a 12-volt battery should die if the ICE is not run for 1-2 weeks (or if the car sits still for weeks) -- so there's some design flaw that causes the 12-volt battery to slowly drain when parked.

Please post here if you have any problems with your 12-volt battery (i.e., car not starting).

 

Hi, thanks for the response. I see where the manual says it needs to be driven at least 15 minutes a week to keep the starter battery in good condition, and unfortunately it doesn't state which driving mode(s) need to be used. I'll definitely post if I experience battery problems.

 

The PHEV is designed to get as much driving as possible from the batteries vs using gasoline. The electric motor is even more durable and reliable than the gasoline engine (no crank shaft, piston & rings, valves, injectors, etc.) plus no transmission with a clutch to fret over. I'm guessing at my 9,000 mile/1 year service, the engine oil probably had somewhere around 3500-4000 miles of actual use. That said, if I haven't been on a trip for several weeks forcing some gas use, I'll not charge it overnight for a couple of days forcing some gas use, just to add some fresh gas to the tank LOL. It's a very nice car for retirement with Publix only about 3 miles away

 

Plugging it in at night charges everything (so said the Volvo shop foreman). So if you're driving it, it's charging one way or the other. Now just leaving it parked w/o use at all could be the issue for some folks.

 

We have the XC60 extended range - 5 weeks old, just over 1,100 miles on it so far, 95% running on electric mode. Last night it would not charge, so I tried it 2 times, still nothing, unplugged it, started the car for a couple of minutes (on battery), then plugged it back in. It seemed to charge but it ended up going from 5% to 15% in about 7 hours so something is off. We got the error message, "Propulsion system - Service required" but it went away after my 3rd attempt at charging. This morning my wife drove off and the car died on her while on a highway - worse possible place from a safety perspective. She got another message saying 12 volt battery critical ....after a few minutes of panic she was able to start the car again and I told her to head directly towards the dealer, as fortunately she was only 5 minutes away from them. They still have the car, I will post back what they report. We did the software update last week, not sure if that has anything to do with it. Have to wonder if this is a design flaw!

 

Quick update ... Volvo dealer has had the car for a week now ... supposedly they are still talking with Volvo Canada about the issue, which they say they have not been able to recreate ...

 

So the dealership says that the car is operating with no problems?

 

My dealership's service-department foreman told me the same thing (i.e., that charging the traction battery also charges the 12-volt battery) -- which is curious because it seems that Volvo service departments are instructed that this is the case ... but it also seems to conflict with what the owner's manual states (i.e., if you have to drive 15 minutes each week, why would charging the traction battery once a day or once every other day solve the problem?) ... The Volvo's online owner manuals are absolutely dreadful, in terms of organization, in terms of lack of depth and lack of content, and in terms of writing/confusion/ambiguity. What's going on at Volvo corporate?

 

Yes, correct. They were unable to recreate the issue and the technician drove it for about 100 km alternating between battery and gas engines. Volvo Canada apparently said it may have been some kind of software glitch but if that was not the cause then the issue may be a part costing upwards of 10K. So based on what I have learned from you folks on this forum (for which I am eternally grateful!) , I asked if that "part" was the harness that runs from the fin to to battery ... and he confirmed it.
So, I got back the car on Wednesday morning of this week. It worked fine on Wednesday and Thursday morning. We wanted to take it yesterday (Thursday evening) in the heavy rain and the propulsion message came back on. Not wanting to take a chance of getting stranded we used a different car. I tried the car again this morning (sunny) and it worked fine, no messages or warnings. My wife then drove off in the car for about 10 km, mix of highway and city and no issues. I called Volvo and spoke to the service manager, and explained all of the above. He said he was very happy that I told him that we saw the error message when it was raining - they want to try to replicate that with a hose so will need to bring the car back to the garage. He said Volvo will not pay him for the time they spent on the car during the first week they had it as they were unable to find a fault to pass it under warranty - so the dealer kept the file open and has a vested interest in finding the actual problem so that he can get paid for his technician’s time ( and we are taken care off too - ie: no more problems).
Yellow engine light appeared with the propulsion error message - so although the propulsion message is gone today, the yellow engine light is still there. He said that means the car detected an error code so it is normal that it is still on.
They will look for a courtesy car for next week so I can bring it back in. Hopefully we don’t have any other issues until then. We will be driving it a lot today so keeping my fingers crossed! I've included an image of the dash message.

 

Update: Volvo have not yet called me back with a loaner so that they can run more tests. It has been 10 days. However, we have been driving it for the past 10 days, in extreme rain, and in extreme high heat/humidity and have not had a single issue pop up. I have tried charging it at several different public charging stations and all worked well. Charging at home is working normal too (plugged into an outlet). So ...maybe it was some kind of software glitch after all??? I am not pressuring my dealer at this point because, knock on wood, their is joy in Mudville again ...

 

Earlier this week we had a check engine light come on all day while we were driving the car - a 2-month-old 2022 XC60 Recharge. I called our dealer and arranged a service appt for today (Saturday 7/2). The next day my wife had the car out and set it up to charge overnight - which it didn't do.

Today Volvo found some messages in their diagnostics, but nothing critical or even concerning. They reset all the systems/messaging.

Just now I checked the app and noticed that, although I had plugged the car in, it wasn't actually charging. So I went out to unplug the car, move it a few feet, and plug it back in. Twice I saw the "Propulsion System Service Required" message. The car is now charging, but I will be curious if we continue to get that message.

It feels like an important message! I saw over on a Volvo XC40 forum that folks are seeing this, too, and conjecturing that it relates to a recent software update. BTW - It's HOT and HUMID here in Durham, NC today!!

 

Is yours an "Extended Range" version? How many miles do you have on the odometer, and roughly what percentage of that has been driven in all-electric mode?

 

I don't think it's an Extended Range version - we bought it mid-April, does that give a clue? We normally get 36-40 pure electric miles per full charge.

The car has 1800 miles on it, roughly 2/3 driven in Pure electric mode.

 

Then you have the "Extended Range" version, yes. The pre-ER versions only got 15-20 miles of all-electric range and were lethargic in all-electric mode.

 

Does that give any clues about the messages we've been seeing? Yesterday I was greeted with the scene in the attached photo. Yikes!

Welp - having trouble uploading the photo. It showed these messages on the dashboard: check engine; propulsion system requires service; and an exclamation next to the road ahead symbol.

 

I learned something when I took the car in for someone to review the 'error' message ("The propulsion system requires service"). This may be old news for some, but:
"Before the charging cable is disconnected from the car's charging input socket, the car must be unlocked using the unlock button on the remote key. This must be carried out even if the doors on the car are already unlocked. If the car is not unlocked using the unlock button, this may lead to damage to the charging cable or to the system."

BTW, the tech said the error message was likely the result of a misdetection and wasn't serious. They ran another software update and all seems good for now.

 

Having to run the 'unlock' sequence is pretty standard in PHEV's. My 1st one, the Honda Clarity was similar in that regard. The actual 'charger' is in the car itself. When you plug it in, you are simply supplying current either 110 or 240v to the charger. Using the 'unlock' on the key fob tells the charger you want to remove the plug and shuts it down and stops the charging sequence and unlocks the plug from the socket. Sometimes but not always, mine will unlock the plug if I open the passenger side 1st to let someone in. Not sure while it's just sometimes though. Mystery there.

 

Update: the car has been working great through high heat, humidity and rain ... until the new software was released...then we got these 3 messages and although the car was able to start, we had Volvo take it back to the service center this past Friday. Waiting for news now. imges included

 

I know this thread is somewhat old, but were you ever able to get the problem fixed? If so, can you say what the issue was?