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Tesla ModeModel 3 vs. Chevy Bolt

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Even what I have TACC on, I put my foot on the pedal so I am ready to use it in case I need it. Once I realize the car is properly slowing down for the car in front of me, then I'll relax my foot off. So really, it's about when the Model 3 doesn't see the other cars ahead but they are stopped or slowed down, and I'm still shooting along at a decent speed - I want to make sure TACC will take effect when the cars ahead come into sensor range, but I'm always at the ready in case it's a stopped fire truck.

Be careful with that. The car sensing your foot depressing the pedal is one of the disengagement conditions for TACC/AP - at which point the car will stop braking on its own unless you get into the automatic emergency braking (and I'm not sure that engages when the car knows you're braking, either.)
 
Same with the Model 3. I can continue to push a little on the accelerator pedal, and it will reduce my regen, reducing how much I slow down. If I push it just right, I can "coast".
Exactly the same experience as the Bolt in L mode, except that the Bolt in L mode has strong regenerative braking all the way down to zero, while the Model 3 doesn't. The Model 3 is, of course, still a truly great driving experience, arguably the best of any car in the world.
 
If on level ground, you can get your Model 3 to go from 5MPH to 0MPH in much under 10 seconds on regenerative braking alone, let me know. Mine can't. I dunno, maybe yours is set up differently, and better, than mine.

FYI - On level ground, our Bolt can go from 5MPH to 0MPH in about 1 second. There is a big difference between the two cars in how regenerative braking works at low speeds.

Yes, I can. Do it all the time. But then I’ve practiced using minimal braking on ICEs over the years as well. Admittedly, I don’t like jerky braking. I like the braking to be real smooth with not a lot of inertia and when the vehicle finally stops I want it to flow into the stop with absolutely no bump at the end. It’s just a thing I picked up as a kid from my dad.

Perhaps down the road Tesla will add more aggressive regen. Maybe if enough people tell Tesla they want stronger regen in the 3, Tesla will do it? Worth a shot.
 
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Exactly the same experience as the Bolt in L mode, except that the Bolt in L mode has strong regenerative braking all the way down to zero, while the Model 3 doesn't. The Model 3 is, of course, still a truly great driving experience, arguably the best of any car in the world.
I do wish the Model 3 either could regen to 0, or would automatically use the brake to get to 0 once under a certain speed, like it does with TACC. I don't care which it does, but I do wish I could just feather the accelerator and have the brake automatically engage appropriately.
 
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Yes, I can. Do it all the time. But then I’ve practiced using minimal braking on ICEs over the years as well.
Am I misunderstanding? Are you saying that you can go from 5MPH to 0MPH in your Model 3 in much under 10 seconds? Here is what I did to get that number: I drove at 5MPH on level ground. Then I lifted my foot completely off the accelerator, and noted the time. I then waited until the car reached 0MPH and checked the time again. The difference was about 10 seconds. By regenerative braking alone from a speed of 5MPH, I can't stop the car in less time than that. If, doing that same test, you can, that's pretty interesting.
 
I’ve been a Bolt owner since January, 2017 with 39,000 miles on the car already. I have also driven a 2013 Model S (no AutoPilot) on a ~2,500 mile road trip using Supercharging and spent almost two hours test driving a Model 3 in a variety of conditions. I’m a possible Model 3 customer in another 2-3 years.

However the big issue is availability of non-Tesla DC Fast Charge is still sparse so you have to plan harder to map fast chargers and it is not easily or automatically shown on the Bolt CarPlay mapping system. Also the other issue is many of the DC Fast Chargers are only two per installation and it has happened more than once to me that one or both of them are offline and then getting topped up is tricky and can leave you stranded.
This is all true today. I assume the iOS and Android smartphone software will continue to improve their EV driving/charging experience over time. As of iOS 12 I now have Google Maps and Waze choices in addition to Apple Maps.

The story around highway CCS charging is set to dramatically improve over the next year or so with good coverage on many major highways in 40 states (no Hawaii, Alaska, Wyoming, Dakotas, etc.) in the first phase. It should continue to rapidly improve much like the Supercharger network has rolled out since late 2012.

Clearly Tesla will have a substantially better charging network that is 3-4 years ahead of the CCS network for a number of years to come. However, it will soon be easy to drive a Bolt EV coast to coast at Electrify America locations.

Each location has a minimum of 4 fully independent chargers typically with redundant cables capable of charging at 150 kW or more (limited by the car’s capability). In comparison, each Supercharger space has a single cable and shares its charger hardware with an adjacent space.

C. The Bolt is 'peppy,' but only in sport mode.
Sport mode on the Bolt simply remaps the peddle response curve. The same performance is available in the regular driving mode by pushing further on the peddle.

I haven't yet got the physical mail letter for my second software update, but I've heard it's about as exciting as the first which was a patch to better monitory whether my battery will need replacing.
Actually, the dealer software updates to the Bolt EV improved how a car with a failing battery cell interacted with the driver. The first patch allowed for a modestly improved warning of imminent vehicle shutdown to make it safer to get off the road and park the car. The second update mainly improves the car’s estimate of driving range so it takes account of a failing cell early to give accurate driving range even when the battery is fully charged rather than suddenly taking account of the failing cell when the battery state of charge is much lower.

Even before the two updates GM was monitoring the battery health using the OnStar telematics built into the car and over time they improved their ability to detect failing cells and notify owners before they caused urgent vehicle shutdown events.

Ironically, some Model 3 owners also had to go into a Tesla service center to get a software update to their car’s battery management system because of some unusual problem updating it over the air.

The hatchback design can work well in throwing the seat down, but in the Model 3, the car can hold a lot AND 5 people. (I’m not super fond of the frunk, because of the two-handed closing method, but the extra space in the trunk under the regular trunk brings a smile to my face.)
I believe the Model 3 trunk is about 12-13 cubic feet. The Bolt EV storage area behind the rear seats is 16.9 cubic feet. The Model 3 frunk is about 2-3 cubic feet for a combined total of around 15 cubic feet in the Model 3.

If you’re thin, the Bolt’s seating is fine. Not so much otherwise, as the seats are quite narrow. (We’re small people ourselves.) The Model 3 is comfortable for a much wider range of people. The difference, I’m sure, is felt more and more the longer the drive.
The Bolt front seats are narrower than usual and are firm with substantial bolstering on the sides. This is a problem for some body shapes but not for others. I’m an average 5 foot nine inches and am 50 pounds overweight. I’m fine with the seats but I’m sure other car seats may be more comfortable.

The Bolt rear seats are not bolstered with excellent legroom and sit slightly higher than the front seats. The Model 3 rear seats sit lower and are more likely to result in lack of thigh support since the knees can be elevated. I have no personal experience sitting in the rear seats of either car on long trips.

Lack of supercharging means that longer trips aren’t even possible in the Bolt.
Longer trips are possible in the Bolt in areas where charging is available. As I noted, highway coverage will soon be dramatically better than it is today. But even over the last 1.5+ years I have personally driven from my home base in the San Francisco area to:

* LA (or San Diego) around 7 times each in one day of driving (~400 miles one-way)

* Oregon and Washington state a couple of times in two days of driving which is 600-800 miles one-way (a little tedious due to mostly 24 kW charging in Northern California and Oregon but that’s already changed on the California side)

* Salt Lake City and Moab, Utah (Arches National Park) in 3 days of driving which is 800-1,000 miles one-way

* Edmonton, Alberta in Canada (~1,600 miles one way) in 4 days of driving

All of that was done with DC charging and usually overnight AC charging at hotels.

I have rarely waited for someone else’s charging to complete or found unexpectedly arrived to broken hardware. It has happened but I’ve never been stranded.
 
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Be careful with that. The car sensing your foot depressing the pedal is one of the disengagement conditions for TACC/AP - at which point the car will stop braking on its own unless you get into the automatic emergency braking (and I'm not sure that engages when the car knows you're braking, either.)
Yeah, I know. It does require some effort to figure out the right amount. But with TACC and auto-streer, I'm supposed to be ready to take over at a moment's notice, and that means, IMO, hovering my foot over the brake when I'm coming into a situation that requires stopping.
 
Yeah, I know. It does require some effort to figure out the right amount. But with TACC and auto-streer, I'm supposed to be ready to take over at a moment's notice, and that means, IMO, hovering my foot over the brake when I'm coming into a situation that requires stopping.

I don't disagree, especially in tight situations. But I've had the experience of disabling the system when I wasn't expecting to and then wondering why the car wasn't braking harder, too.
 
Longer trips are possible in the Bolt in areas where charging is available.
I'm in Houston, 3rd largest metro in the country. There isn't L3 support to get the Bolt to Dallas. EA website's Coming Soon list doesn't change that state of affairs.

Actually, the dealer software updates to the Bolt EV improved how a car with a failing battery cell interacted with the driver. The first patch allowed for a modestly improved warning of imminent vehicle shutdown to make it safer to get off the road and park the car. The second update mainly improves the car’s estimate of driving range so it takes account of a failing cell early to give accurate driving range even when the battery is fully charged rather than suddenly taking account of the failing cell when the battery state of charge is much lower.

Even before the two updates GM was monitoring the battery health using the OnStar telematics built into the car and over time they improved their ability to detect failing cells before they caused urgent vehicle shutdown events.
That's not "actually", that is exactly what I described. The system checking for the failure is improved (so supplant their OnStar hack for the problem ). It changes the UX for the people with the roughly %0.01 of vehicles that experience that cell failure problem.

That's an entirely different world than Tesla's OTA patches, right?
 
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The Bolt definitely has advantages over the Model 3, and the Model 3 has advantages over the Bolt.
The importance each individual places on the specific strengths of each car will decide which car is a better choice for them.

Someone’s personal choice does not make another individual’s choice wrong. It simply means they have different priorities.
 
But even over the last 1.5+ years I have personally driven [my Bolt] from my home base in the San Francisco area to:

* LA (or San Diego) around 7 times each in one day of driving (~400 miles one-way)
Did you? I'm impressed. We live in the South Bay and I looked at driving the Bolt to see our daughter at UC Irvine. I looked at the route we would be forced to take, the number of charging stops, and the length of those stops, and I just thought, "No way. I'm not doing that." And I think most people would feel the same way. I do admire your enterprising spirit though, make no mistake.

The story around highway CCS charging is set to dramatically improve over the next year or so with good coverage on many major highways in 40 states
Well, I do hope so. Increasing the number of electric cars out there is super important, and infrastructure is a critical problem. So far, Electrify America has had some pretty weird priorities. California is the most important EV state, and they haven't opened a single station there. The nearest one is in eastern Oregon, near the Idaho border. God knows why.

I believe the Model 3 trunk is about 12-13 cubic feet. The Bolt EV storage area behind the rear seats is 16.9 cubic feet. The Model 3 frunk is about 2-3 cubic feet for a combined total of around 15 cubic feet in the Model 3.
I suppose you can count that much Bolt storage space if you include the area above the back storage cover all the way to the roof. That top part's pretty marginal space though, and we almost never use it. For a trip to the airport, we can squeeze 4 suitcases (airplane overhead compartment size) into the back of a Bolt underneath the cover, with any remaining items going in people's laps. The Model 3 can comfortably fit 6 such suitcases into the trunk, with room to spare around the edges, the lower trunk compartment, and the frunk.
 
Clearly Tesla will have a substantially better charging network that is 3-4 years ahead of the CCS network for a number of years to come. However, it will soon be easy to drive a Bolt EV coast to coast at Electrify America locations.
But even when that happens, the LR Model 3 is still going almost 100 miles further on every full charge. Also, do we know how easy it is to figure out the payment scheme of the EA charging system? In my 3 years driving a Leaf with DC capability it was a constant hassle to figure out if I had the correct payment card/membership set up ahead of time.

It literally can't be any easier than it is in a Tesla now, and they are soon adding the capability to put CC info into the touchscreen UI inside the car for payment if you don't have one on file.

Each location has a minimum of 4 fully independent chargers typically with redundant cables capable of charging at 150 kW or more (limited by the car’s capability). In comparison, each Supercharger space has a single cable and shares its charger hardware with an adjacent space.
Which version of the Bolt is going to take the full 150kW charge? And anyone using a Supercharger knows the 1A-1B pedestal numbering system (no, not always adjacent) to easily figure out where to plug in for max charge rate.