An excellent job by John and his team in the Service Dept. of Burien Chevrolet! A week earlier we had the original battery replaced in our recently purchased Certified, Pre-owned 2013 Chevy Traverse. After the battery was replaced I noticed after driving a few miles the charging voltage would drop below 13-volts which this old, retired ASE Certified mechanic believed was a likely charging problem.
They checked the charging system and educated me that the modern charging systems which are now controlled by the PCM will lower the charging rate and voltage when the battery is fully charged, and can drop as low as 12.5 volts. I learned that normal operating voltage can vary from 12.5 to 15 volts depending on the state of battery charge. This is done to lower the battery temp and to slightly increase mileage by diminishing the demand on the alternator. So there is no need to panic unless the red battery light and “conserving battery” warning shows up on your instrument panel.
So thanks for taking good care of us and for bringing me up to speed on the newer technology! – Roger
Perhaps the volt meter can give you a clue about the condition of your battery on a late model GM product. As I stated above, with the original battery it was always charging at 14-volts compared with the new battery today.
Therefore if your late model GM product is always charging at the higher rate as ours was, I would recommend you have the battery load tested to prevent a potential dead battery. As John stated to me, these new style short cranking, quick starting vehicles give little or no warning of a pending battery failure. Perhaps the volt meter is the best clue?