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cwerdna said:
LeftieBiker said:
FWIW, the Bolt's app has a SOC display.
It does. But similar to how the NissanConnect app is slow to update, so is the myChevrolet app.

I have found the myChevrolet app to be very responsive when connected to the car via CarPlay. I frequently use it for the % SoC display on road trips, when I actually car about the battery state.
 
GetOffYourGas said:
cwerdna said:
LeftieBiker said:
FWIW, the Bolt's app has a SOC display.
It does. But similar to how the NissanConnect app is slow to update, so is the myChevrolet app.

I have found the myChevrolet app to be very responsive when connected to the car via CarPlay. I frequently use it for the % SoC display on road trips, when I actually car about the battery state.
Woah! Thanks!

I didn't even think about running that app in CarPlay. It does seem like the app's GOM a bit behind the dash display GOM (anywhere from a few seconds to maybe 30 seconds) but yeah, it seems to self-refresh and at least puts it up the % SoC on a larger display than my phone.
 
I learned about heavy discounting again but unfortunately all the way in Maryland.

At https://www.sportchevrolet.com/VehicleSearchResults?make=Chevrolet&model=Bolt%20EV&year=2019&search=new&sort=salePrice%7Casc, I currently see Bolt LT's w/DC FC inlet starting at $25,370 not including $3750 tax credit. I'm guessing if you don't live in/around MD, you won't be eligible for the $1000 Select Market Bonus Cash 6. The cheapest Premier w/DC FC is $30,480.
 
cwerdna said:
LeftieBiker said:
FWIW, the Bolt's app has a SOC display.
It does. But similar to how the NissanConnect app is slow to update, so is the myChevrolet app.

Also, I'm still confused about whether I'll need to pay for any of OnStar (Moronstar called by some) to have it work once the 3 months trial of one my services is over. The trial for that service is normally only 1 month, but becomes 3 if you leave a credit card # with them.

It's unclear to me whether one of these will keep it going (from https://www.onstar.com/us/en/support/chevrolet/):
You will also receive 10 years of standard connectivity with Connected Access, which enables services such as Vehicle Diagnostics, Dealer Maintenance Notification, Smart Driver and Marketplace. Chevrolet Bolt and Chevrolet Volt owners will also receive 5 years of the Remote Key Fob add-on.
Remote Commands Key Fob is in a different section of the app and only has buttons to lock, unlock, start and stop precondition and horn & lights.

To see % SoC, I have to go to vehicle status which is a different section.

https://my.chevrolet.com/onstar/myservices for me shows

No additional charge
Chevrolet Connected Access
Active through: January 25, 2029

and

OnStar
OnStar Safety and Security Plan
Renews Monthly <-- this one is on the 3 month trial. They list a bunch of mostly worthless services to me (basically what's at https://www.onstar.com/ca/en/services/safety-security/). They offer it for $24.99/month and then yearly plans: all the way up to $1425 for 6 years. No thanks!

I know it has been over a month since this post but my son negotiated a lower price with Onstar. I can get the details if you want. I don't remember if he renewed or not.
 
^^^
I think I'm ok. All my OnStar trials have expired. I still seem to be able to remotely checking battery level and charging status from their app while my car's in a parking structure work. That's all I care about. The rest isn't all that important.

I don't think I plan to pay for any of Moronstar.
 
cwerdna said:
^^^
I think I'm ok. All my OnStar trials have expired. I still seem to be able to remotely checking battery level and charging status from their app while my car's in a parking structure work. That's all I care about. The rest isn't all that important.

I don't think I plan to pay for any of Moronstar.

These features are part of OnStar basic. You get 5 years free when you buy your car. I don't know how much it will cost after that. By then, I may not care enough to pay for the ability to preheat the car.
 
cwerdna said:
I learned about heavy discounting again but unfortunately all the way in Maryland.

At https://www.sportchevrolet.com/VehicleSearchResults?make=Chevrolet&model=Bolt%20EV&year=2019&search=new&sort=salePrice%7Casc, I currently see Bolt LT's w/DC FC inlet starting at $25,370 not including $3750 tax credit. I'm guessing if you don't live in/around MD, you won't be eligible for the $1000 Select Market Bonus Cash 6. The cheapest Premier w/DC FC is $30,480.
https://www.chevroletoffremont.com/VehicleSearchResults?search=new&model=Bolt%20EV&sort=salePrice%7Casc (where I bought from) also has heavy discounting going on.

I glanced thru a bunch of cheaper LT and Premier trim cars and many of them don’t have DC fast charging inlet, if you care about that.

Cheapest LT’s supposedly start at $25.5K. The cheapest (LT) I see w/DC FC inlet is supposedly $26,245. These prices should be before $3750 Federal tax credit, $2500 CVRP (if applicable, CA only), and utility rebates (e.g. $800 from PG&E).
 
I also learned via a FB group (Bolt, I think) that https://www.concordchevrolet.com/VehicleSearchResults?search=new&make=Chevrolet&model=Bolt%20EV&sort=salePrice%7Casc is also heavily discounting Bolts. Cheapest LT's currently start at $25,995 (MSRP $37,495). Cheapest LT w/DC FC inlet seems to be $26,745 (MSRP $38,425).

I've never dealt with them and don't know anything about this dealer.
 
cwerdna said:
Sigh... on one of the Bolt FB groups, there's a guy asking about "a used 2017 bolt premium on a local lot with 60k miles on it, for 24k". That's a lousy price considering how heavily discounted new ones are combined with the $7500 Federal tax credit (thru 3/31/19 on GM EVs/PHEVs).
Along these lines, there continues to be chatter on Bolt FB groups of folks looking at uesd Bolts. Unfortunately, it seems they're looking at overpriced ones due to lack of awareness of heavy discounting. Example of a guy who was looking finally posted was https://www.drivesunshinechevy.com/VehicleDetails/certified-2019-Chevrolet-Bolt_EV-5dr_Wgn_Premier-Arden-NC/3423841633 currently going for $31,989.

Uhhh... one can buy a new one identically equipped for a bit less at Fremont Chevy and be eligible for $3750 tax credit.

As many people pointed out, a used one isn't eligible for any tax credit. Of course, one guy w/wrong info thought that it could still be claimed if someone else hadn't claimed it first. Nope.
 
Reminder, heavy discounting still seems to be going on in Nor Cal and probably elsewhere.

https://www.concordchevrolet.com/VehicleSearchResults?make=Chevrolet&model=Bolt%20EV&year=2019&sort=salePrice%7Casc
https://www.chevroletoffremont.com/VehicleSearchResults?search=new&year=2019&make=Chevrolet&model=Bolt%20EV&sort=salePrice%7Casc

On one Bolt FB group I'm on, one guy couldn't find any good deals in his area so he ended up buying sight unseen from out of state, I think the East Coast instead of flying over there and driving it back (would've been quite a road trip). He earlier had inquired about road tripping and charging along the way.

Looks like someone on my street got one. Saw one w/the new CA temp plates on their driveway the other day. They have an e-Golf now. Not sure if it's leased and near end of lease. Just on my portion of the street, these folks have Bolts now: me, my next door neighbor, that person across and over a house, and another guy two doors down from me.
 
Interesting phenomenon happening here with Bolt. There are zero new Nissan Leafs for sale on Autotrader in BC. There are 235 Chevy bolts. The entire inventory of Leafs cleaned out in about two weeks when the federal incentive came out last month. The bolts dropped by about 60 initially but seem to be levelling out. We ordered a Leaf Eplus and won’t see it till the new year. Tesla is seeing 600 to 800 orders per week. I’m not sure why the Bolt is dragging it’s feet here.
 
webeleafowners said:
Interesting phenomenon happening here with Bolt. There are zero new Nissan Leafs for sale on Autotrader in BC. There are 235 Chevy bolts. The entire inventory of Leafs cleaned out in about two weeks when the federal incentive came out last month. The bolts dropped by about 60 initially but seem to be levelling out. We ordered a Leaf Eplus and won’t see it till the new year. Tesla is seeing 600 to 800 orders per week. I’m not sure why the Bolt is dragging it’s feet here.

You had mentioned the prevalence of Chademo stations over CCS in your region. Between that and no heat pump available in the Bolt, the ePlus may actually have better Winter 'trip-ability'...
 
webeleafowners said:
Interesting phenomenon happening here with Bolt. There are zero new Nissan Leafs for sale on Autotrader in BC. There are 235 Chevy bolts. The entire inventory of Leafs cleaned out in about two weeks when the federal incentive came out last month. The bolts dropped by about 60 initially but seem to be levelling out. We ordered a Leaf Eplus and won’t see it till the new year. Tesla is seeing 600 to 800 orders per week. I’m not sure why the Bolt is dragging it’s feet here.
You guys have a weird situation up there on those cars, at least from a Nor Cal POV.

I'm sure one can easily walk into a Nissan dealer in the SF Bay Area and pick up a Leaf Plus. Fremont Chevy's inventory is way down at around 60 vs. when I bought mine. Around the time I bought mine, at one point, they allegedly had over 200 (per dealer's inventory pages).

And, it sounded like you guys could get some newer HyunKia BEVs while they were rare in the US and heavily marked up.
 
LeftieBiker said:
webeleafowners said:
Interesting phenomenon happening here with Bolt. There are zero new Nissan Leafs for sale on Autotrader in BC. There are 235 Chevy bolts. The entire inventory of Leafs cleaned out in about two weeks when the federal incentive came out last month. The bolts dropped by about 60 initially but seem to be levelling out. We ordered a Leaf Eplus and won’t see it till the new year. Tesla is seeing 600 to 800 orders per week. I’m not sure why the Bolt is dragging it’s feet here.

You had mentioned the prevalence of Chademo stations over CCS in your region. Between that and no heat pump available in the Bolt, the ePlus may actually have better Winter 'trip-ability'...

If I portrayed a prevalence of Chademo over CCS I misled you and apologize. There is a Prevalence of Chademo and CCS over Tesla Supercharger locations...probably 10 to 1. But Chademo and CCS are pretty equal as the goverment who is one of the key station installers (we are a socialist province) supports Chademo and CCS equally.
 
cwerdna said:
webeleafowners said:
Interesting phenomenon happening here with Bolt. There are zero new Nissan Leafs for sale on Autotrader in BC. There are 235 Chevy bolts. The entire inventory of Leafs cleaned out in about two weeks when the federal incentive came out last month. The bolts dropped by about 60 initially but seem to be levelling out. We ordered a Leaf Eplus and won’t see it till the new year. Tesla is seeing 600 to 800 orders per week. I’m not sure why the Bolt is dragging it’s feet here.
You guys have a weird situation up there on those cars, at least from a Nor Cal POV.

I'm sure one can easily walk into a Nissan dealer in the SF Bay Area and pick up a Leaf Plus. Fremont Chevy's inventory is way down at around 60 vs. when I bought mine. Around the time I bought mine, at one point, they allegedly had over 200 (per dealer's inventory pages).

And, it sounded like you guys could get some newer HyunKia BEVs while they were rare in the US and heavily marked up.

Yah I agree, kind of a weird provincial inventory or demand. Honestly I think it is partly a screw up on Nissan’s part in calculating provincial demand. Our dealer is allotted 15 or so per month, every one which is presold for the next 6 months. I don’t know the mix between standard and Eplus. EV sales are estimated at 7 percent of all auto sales right now. Our Tesla Rep said that a few weeks ago they had 800 model 3 orders in one week. Wow. We couldnt make a model 3 work for our needs but what a nice car. Maybe a model Y.
 
webeleafowners said:
Interesting phenomenon happening here with Bolt. There are zero new Nissan Leafs for sale on Autotrader in BC. There are 235 Chevy bolts. The entire inventory of Leafs cleaned out in about two weeks when the federal incentive came out last month. The bolts dropped by about 60 initially but seem to be levelling out. We ordered a Leaf Eplus and won’t see it till the new year. Tesla is seeing 600 to 800 orders per week. I’m not sure why the Bolt is dragging it’s feet here.

From perusing the several hundred (its seems) EV groups I am a member of, it would appear that the Winter range hit on the Bolt AND the QC slowdown of cold batteries takes a much greater toll on the Bolt than other EVs.

As far as cold weather QCing, I noticed when the pack is cold, the charge still starts at full speed but the knee happens at a lower SOC. This results in finishing a charge frequently with pack in the 70's (which is still lower than optimum) My testing revealed I had to start a charge with SOC lower than 10% to hit 90º when pack temp started in the low to mid 50's.

This means even with RapidGate, the 2nd charge is always going to be near full speed. Although the knee happens sooner, the rest of the charge curve has a somewhat flatter slope. I have yet to determine what the actual time difference is to hit various SOC targets but guessing it wouldn't be more than a few minutes.
 
Today, I had to go on a long drive (ended up being 208 miles) and it was very hot in the Bay Area. I saw my car's outside air temp indicator get as high at 106 F. Today, my city supposedly got to 100 F.

During part of my long drive, on on the Bolt's screens, where it shows you what % of battery was (so far since last "full" charge) was used for driving and accessories vs. climate settings vs. battery conditioning), I saw battery conditioning go to 1% and then 2% during the hot afternoon.

Also, tonight, even though I didn't need it to make it home, I decided to take a detour on my return home and try one of the very few free DC FCs. I'd never been to that location nor city before. Was also my 1st time personally starting and plugging in SAE Combo. (I don't normally ever go to that area and rarely that direction besides the DC charger being 50 miles from home.)

It unfortunately was one of https://www.chargepoint.com/products/commercial/cpe100/ (24 kW max), but I knew that ahead of time. The unit is goofy in that even though SoC was fairly low at the start (37%), I was only getting 19 kW but rose slowly and steadily as the battery got fuller. It got to 20 then 21 kW before I took off when the battery was at 79% full. I wasn't going to keep waiting around as I'd been there for over 1 hr, 20 minutes. I sucked down 27.6 kWh. Location was https://www.plugshare.com/location/78995 and there have been complaints of low output. I didn't bother taking a pic of the label but the one posted on Plugshare shows output of 350 to 460 volts DC, 55 amps. I guess I can understand the low output in kW if the overall vehicle voltage is low and this DC charger can only output 55 amps. 350 volts * 55 amps = 19,250 watts = 19.25 kW.

It's a lone SAE Combo only DC charger, near a large bank of Tesla Suprerchargers. I'm not clear why it's set to free.

The above DC charger is also a bit weird in that its fans (which spin up when charging) are quite loud but I really didn't feel much airflow in or out of its vents.

At some point after 75% or so SoC (still going at full speed), I heard my car's thermal management kick in, a first for me. :) It's fairly loud and sounds weird. I opened the hood could feel a ton of hot air entering the "engine" compartment due to the fans pulling air thru the radiator.

Outside air temps were below 70 F at the time.

Prior to this, the only charging I'd done recently on the car was a top off to 100% on L1 (long story as to why) that ended at by 11:30 am. The area that was my destination wasn't as hot w/OATs at the high 80s during the day and eventually below 70 F.

If I find some time, I plan to eventually dig around about what OBD2 dongle I need then get the Torque app and the necessary PID file for the Bolt. Bolt has no battery temp gauge or indication anywhere in the car's UI.
 
cwerdna said:
where it shows you what % of battery was (so far since last "full" charge) was used for driving and accessories vs. climate settings vs. battery conditioning), I saw battery conditioning go to 1% and then 2%
That's a really nice display to have! What other cars have that? Tesla doesn't, and I suspect would help quiet cries of "vampire drain" by explainiing it.

cwerdna said:
I heard my car's thermal management kick in, a first for me. :) It's fairly loud and sounds weird.
When it kicks on in either of my cars, it's like the sound of a jet engine.
 
If you travel south down 101 again sometime in the next few months you can give the EA QC they're building in Salinas a try; you know you can expect similar heat down there during the summer as we've had around the bay yesterday and today. In fact, they're building EA QCs all along 101 S. of San Jose, in Gilroy, Salinas, Greenfield, Paso Robles, Pismo Beach and Camarillo. Salinas, Paso Robles and Greenfield will make loop trips down Hwy 1 to San Simeon/Morro Bay and returning via 101 pretty easy.
 
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