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New Member Just Bought a Vtrux

Slimsalabim
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dieselfan1 Senior Enthusiast

dieselfan1

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So if you were to tow say a 2500 lb boat , how much less range do you think it has? What is the normal range?

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Slimsalabim
Slimsalabim

Hi all,   Found myself ending up here during my many searches, so I figured I might as well join the forum. In any case, I just bought myself a 2014 Via Motors Vtrux. I figured with as unpredictable a

madude91
madude91

Also for anyone interested.  I have all the information that I could gather listed here   https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xFRTP8Wd0X-TawGd8yX23xAub034FJCL0gnJw3Xnfn8/edit?usp=sh

scraejtp
scraejtp

It sucks that you have had a hard time with your truck. I bought mine 2 years ago now and knew I was potentially getting into a mess, especially since mine had codes and warning lights when purchased.

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Slimsalabim Enthusiast

Slimsalabim

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I want to know if either of you guys have towed anything?
 
Not yet. I've hauled 2500lbs of dirt in the bed without issue though.

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dieselfan1 Senior Enthusiast

dieselfan1

Posted
Posted
Not yet. I've hauled 2500lbs of dirt in the bed without issue though.

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I think you exceeded the payload , just a bit.[emoji848].
I'm sure it was fine though

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dieselfan1 Senior Enthusiast

dieselfan1

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Posted

Slim,
What about the cold?
As you know we are already in the dead of winter here . How much does it affect the range?

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Slimsalabim Enthusiast

Slimsalabim

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So if you were to tow say a 2500 lb boat , how much less range do you think it has? What is the normal range?

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If I would tow any distance, I'd use the generator (gasoline engine) anyways. With only 35 miles of range, there's no point in using it up if you're going any kind of long distance. When running on just the generator, I get 15-20mpg depending on how fast I'm driving.

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Slimsalabim Enthusiast

Slimsalabim

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Slim,
What about the cold?
As you know we are already in the dead of winter here . How much does it affect the range?

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Range is definitely impacted by the cold. Things like having the heater on, how hot of temp you select on the heater, the rear defrost is on our not, and also letting the truck interior warm up make a difference. My range dropped from about 35 miles to around 22 miles with heading up in the driveway and running the heat up to work (22 miles away)

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Slimsalabim Enthusiast

Slimsalabim

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I think you exceeded the payload , just a bit.[emoji848].
I'm sure it was fine though

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It was fine(ish)0b30e569d7514c8ea7c8a57196330386.jpg

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Serpent1234 Enthusiast

Serpent1234

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36 minutes ago, Slimsalabim said:

If I would tow any distance, I'd use the generator (gasoline engine) anyways. With only 35 miles of range, there's no point in using it up if you're going any kind of long distance. When running on just the generator, I get 15-20mpg depending on how fast I'm driving.

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Slim, 

I didnt see a way inthe manual to switch the generator only and skip the battery, did you do that or just let it run out then switch the generator?

Slimsalabim Enthusiast

Slimsalabim

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Slim, 
I didnt see a way inthe manual to switch the generator only and skip the battery, did you do that or just let it run out then switch the generator?
Put the shifter to M. Because there's no transmission, there's no manual mode. The tow/haul button doesn't do anything either. Selecting M allows you to run just the generator and maintain the current state of charge the batteries have at that time.

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  • 1 month later...
Ed M. New Member

Ed M.

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Can Anyone tell me how to get a hold of VIA Motor tech? I just bought a 2014 Silverado Vtrux and it's literally  sitting like 30 miles from their place in Orem Utah. But I can't get anyone to answer the phone or email. I was hoping they could check it out as well as give me a little education about this mystery truck I just bought.IMG_7480.pdf

Slimsalabim Enthusiast

Slimsalabim

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Can Anyone tell me how to get a hold of VIA Motor tech? I just bought a 2014 Silverado Vtrux and it's literally  sitting like 30 miles from their place in Orem Utah. But I can't get anyone to answer the phone or email. I was hoping they could check it out as well as give me a little education about this mystery truck I just bought.IMG_7480.pdf
They work a standard 8-5, so I'm guessing they they don't answer after that. I've never had an issue getting ahold of them.

What kind of information are you looking for?

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Ed M. New Member

Ed M.

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That's great news thanks. I must just be doing something wrong. I wanted to have them look over the truck before I bought it seeing it was just a few minutes away from their place in Orem. But we  tried calling and emailing with no luck. So I just took it down to the local chevy dealer and had a volt tech check it out.... And then bought the truck. My son just finished his tour in the Marines and is moving from SanDiego to Portland Maine in this truck.(and towing a vw jetta on a car hauler).  I watched all the old promo videos and they made me believe that this truck could make it. But I sure would feel better if someone who actually had some Knowledge about this thing could tell me if this is a stupid idea or not, as well as any "tips on "how to's and must do's" with this truck.

Slimsalabim Enthusiast

Slimsalabim

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That's great news thanks. I must just be doing something wrong. I wanted to have them look over the truck before I bought it seeing it was just a few minutes away from their place in Orem. But we  tried calling and emailing with no luck. So I just took it down to the local chevy dealer and had a volt tech check it out.... And then bought the truck. My son just finished his tour in the Marines and is moving from SanDiego to Portland Maine in this truck.(and towing a vw jetta on a car hauler).  I watched all the old promo videos and they made me believe that this truck could make it. But I sure would feel better if someone who actually had some Knowledge about this thing could tell me if this is a stupid idea or not, as well as any "tips on "how to's and must do's" with this truck.
I guess stupid is a relative term. You're buying a vehicle that's been converted from a factory production truck into an R&D platform (that they made about 250 of). You, like me, are making a gamble owning this truck. Whether or not you want to call it stupid depends on the person I would imagine.

I've owned my Vtrux for about 9 months and 12k miles now. No issues yet, but know that's probably just luck. I haven't towed anything with mine, but I've put plenty of weight in the bed without issue. If you're doing a lot of long distance driving with this, you're going to be disappointed in the gas mileage. My Vtrux returned about 14mpg doing 80mph on 33" 10 ply tires on a 300 mile road trip. I got 20mpg doing 60 mph. I would expect worse when towing the Jetta.

There not a lot of gauge to monitor the engine since those have been replaced with the battery monitoring gauges. An obd2 Bluetooth gauge setup would be something to check out to ensure everything is running okay when towing. Also, a brake controller is something you'll need as well (if it doesn't have one already).

The Vtrux is annoyingly slow as I'm sure you've noticed. The power is cut from 0-30mph, so acceleration is maddening from a stand still. Passing requires lots of room as the power tapers off again at around 65mph to the 80mph cutoff (based on gps).

The air conditioning and heater work much better when the generator (the gasoline engine) is running. Now that it's cold here in Minnesota, the heater on battery only is only adequate at 15 degrees F, so I'm not looking forward to when it gets really cold here. Same thing for the air conditioning. I would seriously consider tinted windows to help ease the burden on the ac.

For towing, I would drive the truck in manual mode because there point in driving 30 miles in EV only, then doing several hundred on gas. On long trips, I put the shifter in M to keep the battery charged, then when I pull into gas stations or test stops, I put the shifter back into D because I don't like how loud the coupler between the engine and generator is at low speeds.

I really dig my Vtrux. It's not as refined as an actual Silverado and Via Motors will tell you so. If you're an early adopter of new technology, this will be fun. If you thought you just bought a fuel efficient "Silverado", you may have made an error.

My thoughts: Do the road trip and report back to us.

Slim



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  • 5 weeks later...
rugz31 Enthusiast

rugz31

Posted
Posted

Sorry for bringing up an old post, but I was doing some googling and this popped up. I also bought a 2014 Via VTRUX this year and it's nice to see some other people that bought them as well. I picked mine up for $15k with 17k miles. Mine looks like a typical work truck compared to some of yours, but I really like it. I just took it on a 2000 mile road trip. The first 1000 miles, to the destination, went amazingly well . I believe I got about 23 mpg. The trip back, not so much. The truck stalled on the highway several times, and I'd have to pull off to the side, cycle the key several times, and eventually it would start back up. I believe I have a failing ignition switch that I need to replace, but I'm having trouble getting anyone from VIA to respond whether it's a standard Silverado ignition switch and if it needs any additional programming to swap. Do any of you know anything about the ignition system?

20200630_155402.jpg

Slimsalabim Enthusiast

Slimsalabim

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Sorry for bringing up an old post, but I was doing some googling and this popped up. I also bought a 2014 Via VTRUX this year and it's nice to see some other people that bought them as well. I picked mine up for $15k with 17k miles. Mine looks like a typical work truck compared to some of yours, but I really like it. I just took it on a 2000 mile road trip. The first 1000 miles, to the destination, went amazingly well . I believe I got about 23 mpg. The trip back, not so much. The truck stalled on the highway several times, and I'd have to pull off to the side, cycle the key several times, and eventually it would start back up. I believe I have a failing ignition switch that I need to replace, but I'm having trouble getting anyone from VIA to respond whether it's a standard Silverado ignition switch and if it needs any additional programming to swap. Do any of you know anything about the ignition system?
20200630_155402.thumb.jpg.d67a676b249389efdce17ad68ecd2777.jpg
Rugz,

I would talk with a local chevy dealer that has a certified Volt technician. It sounds like Via is becoming more difficult to reach as they begin focusing on other projects now.

23mpg over 1k miles is really impressive. I'm assuming you're running the engine (generator) the whole time or are you charging in between too?

Slim

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