Range better than Bolt, optional or base?

[Jeff N]

I still think 0.308 is high. Even the aging Leaf is 0.28. The Bolt is much taller and has more headroom, so it's a trade-off.

Car & Driver did their own wind tunnel testing for an article in 2014 that confirmed the claimed drag coefficients for the Volt, Model S, and Prius but found the LEAF's Cd to be .32.

Drag Queens: Aerodynamics Compared - Feature

The most direct/fastest route to go from the Bay Area to SoCal, LA, or Cal Tech (Pasadena) is 5 in an ICE car or a Tesla. No one goes through 99 from the Bay. That's further east in the Central Valley.

Because there are no CCS chargers on 5, she researched and added on the extra stop/trip to go to Cal Poly SLO by going all the way down 101S before going to Cal Tech.

Here are the distances from a generic San Jose to Pasadena route according to Google maps:

San Jose to Pasadena on 5
342 miles

San Jose to Pasadena on 101
378 miles (via Santa Barbara)
364 miles (skipping SB via 46 and 5)

San Jose to Pasadena on 99
370

If driving from San Francisco or Oakland the numbers clearly favor CA-99 over US-101, according to Google:

Francisco to Pasadena on 5
383 miles

San Francisco to Pasadena on 101
429 miles (via Santa Barbara)
415 miles (skipping SB via 46 and 5)

San Francisco to Pasadena on 99
409

 

[phil0909]

The nay sayers have lots of talking points, most of which are simply random FUD and stuff they make up. This one would be a legitimate one though.

Nay.

 

[ssrajputev]

Car & Driver did their own wind tunnel testing for an article in 2014 that confirmed the claimed drag coefficients for the Volt, Model S, and Prius but found the LEAF's Cd to be .32.

Drag Queens: Aerodynamics Compared - Feature


Here are the distances from a generic San Jose to Pasadena route according to Google maps:

San Jose to Pasadena on 5
342 miles

San Jose to Pasadena on 101
378 miles (via Santa Barbara)
364 miles (skipping SB via 46 and 5)

San Jose to Pasadena on 99
370

If driving from San Francisco or Oakland the numbers clearly favor CA-99 over US-101, according to Google:

Francisco to Pasadena on 5
383 miles

San Francisco to Pasadena on 101
429 miles (via Santa Barbara)
415 miles (skipping SB via 46 and 5)

San Francisco to Pasadena on 99
409

OK, true. I'm not surprised at the Leaf then. Ours does very poorly on the freeway.

After looking at Plugshare, I was surprised to see so many CCS chargers on 99. I wonder when there will be some installed on 5 and when will these stations be dated to provide 150kw? Well, it's not like the Bolt can accept that high of a charge anyway.

 

[Jeff N]

OK, true. I'm not surprised at the Leaf then. Ours does very poorly on the freeway.

After looking at Plugshare, I was surprised to see so many CCS chargers on 99. I wonder when there will be some installed on 5 and when will these stations be dated to provide 150kw? Well, it's not like the Bolt can accept that high of a charge anyway.

The new CHAdeMO/CCS dual chargers on I-5 in Central and Southern California that are being put in by ChargePoint will begin construction by the end of this year, I think.

The CA state grant agreement calls for 50 kW stations but it requires additional stubbed-out pads for future 125 kW stations with site grid connections and transformers initially sized to eventually support them.

VW's is separately putting in I-5 charging plazas that will include both 150 kW and 320 kW stalls within the next 2.5 years.