Category Archives: Chevy Bolt

My Chevy Bolt EV at One Month

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One month ago today, I got a ride down to the Chevrolet dealership and picked up my first new car since my 1991 Saturn. I knew I wanted it as soon as I heard about it–for numerous reasons, including its size, its shape, and especially, it’s long driving range. Today, on the 25th anniversary of the starting of my automotive column, I celebrate a month and 1,641.1 miles of joyous gas-free travel with my Bolt EV.

Fixing My Windshield

Two things happened today. At 9 a.m. I drove to the Safelite Auto Glass in Redwood City, CA to repair a dime-size chip in my windshield that I picked up last Saturday. I was greeted warmly by Tommy, and then Robert, an expert technician, who made the tiny rose on my car’s front window virtually disappear. It’s sad when something new starts to take on the scars and marks of living in the real world, but just as the front rugs aren’t pristine any more, my car has shed its perfection while retaining its goodness.

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Blogging in Plug In America

The second Bolt EV event of this anniversary day was the publication of my one-month wrap-up story in Plug in America as a guest blogger. The post starts like this:

As an auto journalist, I’ve driven nearly 1,200 cars over the last 25 years. I’ve sampled pretty much every electric and hybrid car you can get, from the Mitsubishi i-MiEV to the Nissan Leaf to the Cadillac ELR. I even took a short drive in the ill-fated GM EV1. I liked the smooth, quiet ride and loved the environmental benefits of driving an EV, but none of the cars had enough range to make me feel like I could use them most of the time.

To read the rest, please go to Plug In America’s In the Driver’s Seat blog.

Moving forward, I’ll be looking for highlights in the ongoing story of me and my Bolt EV–and the growing world of electric and hybrid cars.

 

Chevy Bolt EV Easily Makes a 165-Mile Trip

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Not long ago, owning an EV meant you were strictly limited on how far afield you could roam. The typical 70 to 80 miles per charge was a real issue.

That’s why, when I heard the Chevrolet Bolt EV had an EPA range of 238 miles, I knew it was the only choice for me. I couldn’t afford a Tesla, but really needed decent range.

I have a particular reason–my granddaughters live about 80 miles away and I wanted to be able to go visit them in my new car without stopping to charge. So yesterday, nearly three weeks after taking delivery, I made the 165.6-mile round trip.

My driving experience since getting my Bolt EV gave me confidence that I could do it. The driving range display gives estimated range, with “Max” and “Min” brackets above and below it, and the estimate appeared to be close to my actual mileage. But you never know until you try.

I filled my battery up on the Level 2 ChargePoint charger at work on Friday, and topped it off with my little 120-volt charger at home on Friday night. On Saturday, just before we left, the display looked like this:

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Note: That 203-mile figure is with the climate control on. With it off, the number would be about 10 miles higher.

We headed north and plugged in my wife’s iPhone to use Apple CarPlay to enjoy the James Taylor Greatest Hits album No. 1. It provided a soothing experience for a projected hour and a half on the road. I limited myself to 65 mph on the mostly freeway trip. I used the cruise control part of the time, and drove in Low, too. Low, with its greater brake regeneration, adds about 5 percent to the total.

We encountered some traffic in the MacArthur Maze in Oakland and around Petaluma (as usual), and inched along for a little while. Those two sections of the trip regenerated more energy than flying along unobstructed, and made the trip take a little longer. But I was encouraged that as we made progress, the projected range was staying higher than I expected it would.

After we pulled up in front of my son and daughter-in-law’s house, I examined the gauge:

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At an hour and a half, we had driven 82.8 miles, but the range indicator only moved from 203 to 144–or 59 miles. We had nearly three quarters of the battery charge left. That was fantastic!

We spent about four and a half hours with the family, and after a pleasant meal and much animated conversation and some hugs, we climbed back into the Bolt EV and headed home. I wasn’t worried about running out of charge on the way home.

This time, it was later, and traffic flowed steadily at 65 mph the whole way. That meant less opportunity to regenerate electricity, and we took more of a hit in the range. The final screen looked like this (darker because it was nighttime when we arrived home).

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This time, the 82.8 miles reduced the range by 91 miles–about 50 percent more than the trip up there–but not that far off from the actual traveled distance. We had less recharging ability, but saved a quarter of an hour of road time. 53 miles was a fine cushion. Our 165-mile trip showed up as 150 miles of range used. The Bolt EV passed my test.

The silence of the motor and smooth ride made our trip pleasant, the upgraded Bose stereo and Apple CarPlay kept us entertained, and I now know my Bolt EV will do the job!

 

Loading up my Bolt EV!

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So far, most of my trips in my Bolt EV‘s first week and a half have been commuting solo to work and back home and running various errands around town. Yeah, my wife and I went out to brunch once. But today, for work, I filled my car with three colleagues and an enormous suitcase to go to a meeting a half hour away.

Interestingly, the Bolt EV didn’t seem to handle differently with the additional several hundred pounds aboard. And, everyone seemed to be pretty comfortable. Further, with the quiet of the EV powertrain, conversations were easy to follow between the front and the back rows.

As for the suitcase, I just removed the delicate privacy panel and dropped it in. I didn’t even need to remove the false floor panel to accommodate it. Piece of cake.