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Chevy Bolt - 200 mile range for $30k base price (after incentive)

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When folks learn that they can't do out of state trips without basically an overnight stay charging, this isn't a self starter. To my knowledge the Bolt doesn't support level 3 charging either.

Here's some knowledge. CCS charging port supporting an observed 45kW charge rate is a $750 option. Yeah, it's not Supercharging(tm), but it's currently the best thing available to non-Teslas.

Current daily record for miles in a day on Voltstats' Bolt section seems to be 527 miles. Looks like he had a 488 mile day too. Volt Stats: Details for Bolt EV #2017-31391 (Night Fall)
 
You have a YouTube channel I can follow for the videos? I believe lagodaboy is News Columb and I am following that YT channel.

I may make a video here and there, but I have 2 kids that occupy most of my time. And the wifey too, of course. If you have any specific requests, I may be able to accommodate you though. Here's my initial impressions I posted on the Volt owners forum:

---------------------------------------------------------

I've only driven the Bolt about 60 miles so far, so I can't really comment too much on range (other than a 100% charge got me 217 miles...but that included a ton of idling time from the shipping process, so probably not accurate for my actual driving), but here are my thoughts on other items I can comment on:

- regen in L is HUGE! Way stronger than L in a G1/G2 Volt or Spark EV (I've driven all 3). I noticed that a lot of the time I don't even need to use the regen paddle to make the Bolt come to a complete stop...it's that strong. Despite the powerful regen, at higher speeds it is tuned down appropriately so it doesn't slam you forward like you just jumped on the brakes. L + regen paddle = no touching the brake pedal except for sudden/emergency braking situations.

- Interior space is....spacey! I am 6' tall, and with the driver's seat set at a comfortable level, I have at least 4-5 inches of headroom to spare. The Bolt's front seats also sit much higher than the Volt, so it's more like an SUV seating position despite the subcompact footprint. Dead pedal is also positioned better (deeper) in the Bolt than the G2 Volt.

- The flat floor makes the rear seating area much more spacious than any Volt too. No hump of any kind back there thanks to the skateboard battery design. Having a "real" middle rear seat is welcome too (though sitting 3 adults in the back would still be tight). I found with 2 booster seats in the rear, I could squeeze my 190 pound self in the middle, though that would not be pleasant for any long distance drive. Moving a car seat to the middle should make a trip much more pleasant for an adult sitting in the rear, however.

IMG_20170117_001735221_zpsf0nktpo8.jpg~original

IMG_20170117_001619203_zps95ynj9xs.jpg~original


- Positioning the driver's seat at comfortable position (further back than I usually position the seat in my Volts) and then hopping in the rear, I found I still had a good 2-3 inches of leg room. And I have longer legs than the average 6' person. However, the complaints about the front seats being uncomfortable....I know what people are talking about, but I don't find them bothersome, but definitely noticeable. I can feel the plastic shell through the cushion with my left thigh, but likely I'll get used to it over time. Someone such as Hugh Jazz may find them troublesome, though.

- you can easily squeal the tires off the line, even in propulsion power reduced mode! ;)

- ride is solid...very similar to a Volt. No getting bounced around a rough road like in an i3 with its bicycle tires, for example.

- while I would describe getting into the driver's seat of my Volts as "dropping in", in the Bolt it is more like "sliding in horizontally".

- the Bolt has "oh sh!t" grab handles in the front! At least on the front passenger side. I didn't actually check the driver's side, but one should be there too I'm thinking.

- interior of the Bolt is definitely cheaper than the Gen 2 Volt. More use of hard plastics, but I don't care too much about that.

- hatch space is deceptively bigger than you would think. The hatch area doesn't have as much depth as the Volt, but it is much deeper, if that makes any sense (if you remove the false floor...the false floor drops into the "hidden" area easily and lays flat). I was able to fit two 28-32 inch tall luggage pieces in the Bolt's hatch (too big to carry on), and could have easily fit another. I may have been able to fit 4 of the 28 inch pieces.

IMG_20170117_222545480_zpsrcu36oqb.jpg~original


- haven't been able to test out DCFC yet

- my Clippper Creek LCS-25 (max rated output of 4.8 kW/20 amps) puts out about 4.5 kW and 19 amps in real world charging.

- 360 degree birdseye cam and the rear/front vision cameras make parallel parking a breeze. If you can't parallel park using those features, you need your license revoked.

- rear view mirror camera is pretty cool. Gives a crisp image out the rear. Not that useful at night though. Changes with a flip of the tab at the bottom of the mirror.

- the hatch privacy screen that comes with the Premier....it's a glorified Volt loin cloth. It is fabric covering a wire frame. No way you can actually put anything other than light clothing items on it such as a hat or gloves.
 
Yikes. So, the equivalent of 4 hairdryers? My house doesn't take that much heat.

Thank you kindly.

Is this supposed to be news? The G1 Volt's heater uses up to 6 kW at max draw, and the G2 Volt's heater is more powerful.
How much power does the Tesla heater use at max draw? Nevermind, I looked it up:

Power draw of heater in a Tesla:
HVAC at ‘HI’ or 82F (28C): 6.4 kWh = ~18-20 mph
HVAC at 74F (23C): 342 Wh = 1.03 mph
Energy Consumption Of Various Tesla Heating Features
 
Yikes. So, the equivalent of 4 hairdryers? My house doesn't take that much heat.
I bet your house is insulated, plus I bet it'd take quite a lot of heat if you were bringing it up from winter ambient temperature to a comfortable room temperature, instead of just holding it at +/- a few degrees.

Maybe try wrapping your car in fiberglass batts and homewrap and see if it takes less that way; let us know how it works out
 
Few more tidbits:

- the wireless phone charging slot. I shoved my Moto Droid Z Play (no case, 5.5" screen) in there, and it fit snuggly. Anything bigger than a 5.5" phone likely won't fit. Wasn't actually able to test the wireless charging feature since my phone needs some accessory to enable wireless charging.

- my Bolt has some kind of HUD for the Forward Collision Alert/Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB). The FCA activated one time when I was rapidly approaching some cars slowing on the highway. Red lights lit up in the lower left corner of the windshield along with rapid, audible beeps. A button on the left side of the steering wheel lets you adjust how sensitive the FCA is (has 3 settings to choose from).
Also, in the vehicle menu, there are options you can select for FCA/AEB, to include "off", "Alerts on, AEB off", and "Alerts on, AEB on".

- there is a "following distance" display you can choose that tells you how many seconds ahead the car directly in front of you is. I guess it's useful if you want to know exactly how far behind you are someone?

- if you don't use the turn signal and drift towards the painted lane dividers on the highway, the Bolt will nudge you back towards the center of the lane. I wanted to see how long the Bolt would play ping-pong between the lanes, but the wife yelled at me to stop screwing around after she realized what I was doing.

- there are no sensors that trigger audible beeps to clue you in on how close the front of the Bolt is to a car or wall when parking (like in my '12 Volt with that feature), but the birdseye camera + front camera give you plenty of info to see exactly how far away from a car/wall you are. I guess GM decided having front parking sensors would have been overkill?

- rear cross traffic alert system activated once when a car was approaching from the right when I was getting ready to reverse out of a parking spot. So it works I guess.

- haven't tested the front pedestrian braking system yet. If someone is in the Central MD area and wants to be a guinea pig, let me know. You'll have to sign a waiver that says it's not my fault if my Bolt runs you over and kills you though. ;)
 
Power draw of heater in a Tesla:
HVAC at ‘HI’ or 82F (28C): 6.4 kWh = ~18-20 mph
HVAC at 74F (23C): 342 Wh = 1.03 mph
Energy Consumption Of Various Tesla Heating Features

FYI, I can speak from personal experience that setting the HVAC on HI and running it is a great way to reduce your battery from 100% to 90% when you forget to reset the slider/setting after a road trip! ;)
 
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Yikes. So, the equivalent of 4 hairdryers? My house doesn't take that much heat.

Thank you kindly.

So do you use 1, 2, or 3 hair dryers to heat your home? Doesn't it warp the cardboard on the refrigerator boxes?

We have 2 hair dryers I think, but mostly we use central heating for warmth.

EDIT: 6kW is 10,000 BTUs. That is the correct size for a 250 sq ft home. About the size of a normal bedroom.
 
Last edited:
How much power does the Tesla heater use at max draw? Nevermind, I looked it up:

Power draw of heater in a Tesla:
HVAC at ‘HI’ or 82F (28C): 6.4 kWh = ~18-20 mph
HVAC at 74F (23C): 342 Wh = 1.03 mph
Energy Consumption Of Various Tesla Heating Features
I realize you're just quoting but the units are a hot mess there, mixing up power and energy. Oh well, if the takeaway is "heating a cold car uses a lot of energy", then, duh, this really ought to be no surprise.
 
So do you use 1, 2, or 3 hair dryers to heat your home? Doesn't it warp the cardboard on the refrigerator boxes?

We have 2 hair dryers I think, but mostly we use central heating for warmth.

One. I do use a hair dryer for heat shrinking plastic, and intermittent use during the day is enough to raise the temperature by a degree per hour (on nice winter day in Maine). Over the course of a winter total sustained heating form all (paid) sources works out to be about 2.3kW (or about 101 Wh / Degree Day).

So what is the sustained wattage that your 'central heating' uses? Do you burn those centrals?

Thank you kindly.
 
I may make a video here and there, but I have 2 kids that occupy most of my time. And the wifey too, of course. If you have any specific requests, I may be able to accommodate you though. Here's my initial impressions I posted on the Volt owners forum:

---------------------------------------------------------

I've only driven the Bolt about 60 miles so far, so I can't really comment too much on range (other than a 100% charge got me 217 miles...but that included a ton of idling time from the shipping process, so probably not accurate for my actual driving), but here are my thoughts on other items I can comment on:

- regen in L is HUGE! Way stronger than L in a G1/G2 Volt or Spark EV (I've driven all 3). I noticed that a lot of the time I don't even need to use the regen paddle to make the Bolt come to a complete stop...it's that strong. Despite the powerful regen, at higher speeds it is tuned down appropriately so it doesn't slam you forward like you just jumped on the brakes. L + regen paddle = no touching the brake pedal except for sudden/emergency braking situations.

- Interior space is....spacey! I am 6' tall, and with the driver's seat set at a comfortable level, I have at least 4-5 inches of headroom to spare. The Bolt's front seats also sit much higher than the Volt, so it's more like an SUV seating position despite the subcompact footprint. Dead pedal is also positioned better (deeper) in the Bolt than the G2 Volt.

- The flat floor makes the rear seating area much more spacious than any Volt too. No hump of any kind back there thanks to the skateboard battery design. Having a "real" middle rear seat is welcome too (though sitting 3 adults in the back would still be tight). I found with 2 booster seats in the rear, I could squeeze my 190 pound self in the middle, though that would not be pleasant for any long distance drive. Moving a car seat to the middle should make a trip much more pleasant for an adult sitting in the rear, however.

IMG_20170117_001735221_zpsf0nktpo8.jpg~original

IMG_20170117_001619203_zps95ynj9xs.jpg~original


- Positioning the driver's seat at comfortable position (further back than I usually position the seat in my Volts) and then hopping in the rear, I found I still had a good 2-3 inches of leg room. And I have longer legs than the average 6' person. However, the complaints about the front seats being uncomfortable....I know what people are talking about, but I don't find them bothersome, but definitely noticeable. I can feel the plastic shell through the cushion with my left thigh, but likely I'll get used to it over time. Someone such as Hugh Jazz may find them troublesome, though.

- you can easily squeal the tires off the line, even in propulsion power reduced mode! ;)

- ride is solid...very similar to a Volt. No getting bounced around a rough road like in an i3 with its bicycle tires, for example.

- while I would describe getting into the driver's seat of my Volts as "dropping in", in the Bolt it is more like "sliding in horizontally".

- the Bolt has "oh sh!t" grab handles in the front! At least on the front passenger side. I didn't actually check the driver's side, but one should be there too I'm thinking.

- interior of the Bolt is definitely cheaper than the Gen 2 Volt. More use of hard plastics, but I don't care too much about that.

- hatch space is deceptively bigger than you would think. The hatch area doesn't have as much depth as the Volt, but it is much deeper, if that makes any sense (if you remove the false floor...the false floor drops into the "hidden" area easily and lays flat). I was able to fit two 28-32 inch tall luggage pieces in the Bolt's hatch (too big to carry on), and could have easily fit another. I may have been able to fit 4 of the 28 inch pieces.

IMG_20170117_222545480_zpsrcu36oqb.jpg~original


- haven't been able to test out DCFC yet

- my Clippper Creek LCS-25 (max rated output of 4.8 kW/20 amps) puts out about 4.5 kW and 19 amps in real world charging.

- 360 degree birdseye cam and the rear/front vision cameras make parallel parking a breeze. If you can't parallel park using those features, you need your license revoked.

- rear view mirror camera is pretty cool. Gives a crisp image out the rear. Not that useful at night though. Changes with a flip of the tab at the bottom of the mirror.

- the hatch privacy screen that comes with the Premier....it's a glorified Volt loin cloth. It is fabric covering a wire frame. No way you can actually put anything other than light clothing items on it such as a hat or gloves.
There is a power reduced mode? How did you trigger that?
 
One. I do use a hair dryer for heat shrinking plastic, and intermittent use during the day is enough to raise the temperature by a degree per hour (on nice winter day in Maine). Over the course of a winter total sustained heating form all (paid) sources works out to be about 2.3kW (or about 101 Wh / Degree Day).

So what is the sustained wattage that your 'central heating' uses? Do you burn those centrals?

Thank you kindly.
Mine is something like 90,000 BTU. Propane though. Do they make resistive heating for home use?
 
Mine is something like 90,000 BTU. Propane though. Do they make resistive heating for home use?

They probably meant 90,000 BTU/hr [rasafrasin], so 26kW. That is hopefully (and presumably) PEAK power not sustained. Propane is around 84,000 BTU per gallon.

Sure, they make resistive heat for homes, electric baseboard is one option. It is often used as a backup system for house with woodstoves, or for extremely efficient houses since it is dirt cheap to install, a larger more elaborate system might not payback in the life of the house. Or where electricity is renewable and cheap.

Thank you kindly.
 
Mine is something like 90,000 BTU. Propane though. Do they make resistive heating for home use?

A lot of houses and apartments built in the 80s have resistive baseboard heating. I imagine they sold it on being cheap to install, silent, and maintenance free. (All true, assuming you keep dust and other things out of the baseboard.)

Of course, it's also expensive to run and has a penchant for starting fires if a section is blocked off or something shorts. They may have skipped over that part.
 
- my Bolt has some kind of HUD for the Forward Collision Alert/Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB). The FCA activated one time when I was rapidly approaching some cars slowing on the highway. Red lights lit up in the lower left corner of the windshield along with rapid, audible beeps. A button on the left side of the steering wheel lets you adjust how sensitive the FCA is (has 3 settings to choose from).
Also, in the vehicle menu, there are options you can select for FCA/AEB, to include "off", "Alerts on, AEB off", and "Alerts on, AEB on".

- there is a "following distance" display you can choose that tells you how many seconds ahead the car directly in front of you is. I guess it's useful if you want to know exactly how far behind you are someone?

- if you don't use the turn signal and drift towards the painted lane dividers on the highway, the Bolt will nudge you back towards the center of the lane. I wanted to see how long the Bolt would play ping-pong between the lanes, but the wife yelled at me to stop screwing around after she realized what I was doing.
These things are the "same" on the 2nd generation Volt. The "following distance" in seconds display lets you see if you are doing the 2 (or 3) second following rule: Two-second rule - Wikipedia -- Seems like same hardware for GM's adaptive cruise control ... which they eventually did add to the 2nd generation Volt (several months after initial release). One of my favorite features of the my Tesla for roadtrips (plus auto-steer of course).

The Lane Keep Assist (LKA) when you don't have your blinker on and get the nudge is decent. Had a little fight with it driving the wife's Volt on a 2 lane road and I was trying to peek around a semi-truck to pass it tho ;)

FYI, I can speak from personal experience that setting the HVAC on HI and running it is a great way to reduce your battery from 100% to 90% when you forget to reset the slider/setting after a road trip! ;)
Haha. I've absolutely done that myself. I want the car to automatically switch to 90 when it sees I've come home after at least a day and charged to 100% on a "roadtrip". I shouldn't have to remember that. I've sent in a feature request. Please do as well.
 
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