Chevrolet Bolt & Bolt EUV

[GetOffYourGas]

I didn't have any issues with the range calculator. I put in Syracuse to Rochester (88.5 miles on google maps), and it told me I could make the ROUND TRIP (177 miles) with 23 miles remaining. That's a perfect 200 miles.

Yes, it is reporting round trips. I didn't read it correctly. However, 130 miles plus 59 miles is still only 189 miles total for my journey. LOL!

Interesting. How precise were your endpoints? Is it possible that google and the calculator are using different points for "city center" if you entered just a city name instead of an address? Alternatively, maybe it's considering other factors? My route is mostly highway, but it's incredibly flat. Does your route have a lot of hills/mountains?

Edit: I put "Garden Grove to Encinitas" into google maps, and it reports 70.5 miles. Round trip is 141 miles, plus 59 left is 200. I don't believe there is any magic in this calculator, short of assuming to one always gets the magical 200 miles of range.

 

[Valdemar]

If 2016 Volt execution is of any indication how Bolt will feel and drive I could certainly live with it. In any case it would be a major upgrade over a gen 1 Leaf.

 

[mwalsh]

Interesting. How precise were your endpoints? Is it possible that google and the calculator are using different points for "city center" if you entered just a city name instead of an address? Alternatively, maybe it's considering other factors? My route is mostly highway, but it's incredibly flat. Does your route have a lot of hills/mountains?

My origination I did by zip code, so that one is pretty precise. I did the destination by city, so I'll try that again. There is a good swath of significant terrain change about half way through the drive, right around San Clemente - I did think that might be one of the reasons I still came up a bit short.

Edit: I did door-to-door and came up with 201 miles total range. WooHoo!

 

[mwalsh]

I swear I had no idea that Chevy would announce the Bolt's (slightly larger fraternal ICEV) twin today when I made that comment yesterday.
]

Perplexing that I received a communication from GM today about the Cruze hatch, but as someone who is known to GM as both an EV enthusiast and a Volt owner the only information on the BOLT in the last few days is that I've been able to find for myself. :|

 

[WetEV]

Cottage Lake, WA to Leavenworth, WA and back is 200 miles according to Google Maps. 2017 Bolt EV shows 1 round trip and 0 miles left.

I'm not impressed.

 

[Stoaty]

If Leaf 2.0 doesn't have a thermal management system for the battery, I will probably buy the Bolt.

 

[Valdemar]

If CPO Teslas drop below 40gs. , I will probably buy the Tesla.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

If Leaf 2.0 doesn't have a thermal management system for the battery, I will probably buy the Bolt.

Do we know yet what (if any) thermal management the Bolt has/will have? All I know is that GM is typically very conservative/gentle with the batteries in the Spark EV and Volt.

 

[willk55]

I wonder what the seating height will be like in the Bolt? Looks taller than the Volt. Hoping it is even taller than my Leaf. I like sitting up high. Also easier to get in and out. I test drove a BMW i3. I really liked the driver's seating position in that car (along with everything but price).

 

[scottf200]

I wonder what the seating height will be like in the Bolt? Looks taller than the Volt. Hoping it is even taller than my Leaf. I like sitting up high. Also easier to get in and out. I test drove a BMW i3. I really liked the driver's seating position in that car (along with everything but price).

This guy is 6'5" so you can make some relative guesses with him standing outside the car or sitting inside. Volt allows you to pump the seat up or down so I'd guess the Bolt seats are similar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHycHt2zicg

Love the mirror going from standard to 80 degree view.

Image: http://i.imgur.com/yJqFZ6y.png

Image: http://i.imgur.com/YSvhOdb.png

 

[TonyWilliams]

Yup, 24 kW is less than 50kW, and the reliability of the 24kW units seems to be a bit spotty (but then, many of the CHAdeMO units aren't a byword for reliability either). And AFAIK, CCS holds the record for most non-Tesla QCs at one site (4), with at least some others having 2. The interesting thing will be whether the 150kW CCS QCs that Audi is talking about will be fully backward compatible.

Actually, no, that's not true in the context of the CHAdeMO stations along the West Coast Electric Highway built by AeroVironment are extremely reliable. Even the fobs work well. The billing is first rate, too. $20 per month, unlimited use.

There are four CHAdeMO / CCS combined stations at:

Lucky's, Fremont, California
Electric Ave, Portland, Oregon

 

[WetEV]

There are four CHAdeMO / CCS combined stations at:

Actually there are more that that.

Seattle area has the following.

North Bend Premium Outlets, Seattle Premium Outlets, a Town Center Mall, Kia and BMW car dealers, ..


Total of 9 in Seattle now. Most installed in the past 6 months.

 

[edatoakrun]

If Leaf 2.0 doesn't have a thermal management system for the battery, I will probably buy the Bolt.

And if it does have ATM, I probably will not buy it.

I will base my decision on actual performance data, comparing BEVs with active and passive thermal management.

What will you base your decision on?

So far, AVTA testing has not shown any indication that 2013 Focus E packs (liquid cooled) are substantially outperforming 2013 LEAF packs, in longevity, although since the testing is being done in one of the hottest climates in the USA (Phoenix) I expect that result to show up eventually, at least to some extent..

http://avt.inel.gov/fsev.shtml

What already appears to be clear however, is the high cost of ATM in a hot climate, in terms of energy use.

For example, the Focus has consumed ~24% more Wh/mile than the similar-sized LEAF, when you compare the most recent available fleet testing data:

The cumulative average electricity consumption is 359.5 AC Wh/mile.

http://avt.inel.gov/pdf/fsev/ar2013FordFocusBEV.pdf

The cumulative average electricity consumption is 290.1 AC Wh/mile.

http://avt.inel.gov/pdf/fsev/ar2013NissanLeafBEV.pdf

 

[GRA]

If Leaf 2.0 doesn't have a thermal management system for the battery, I will probably buy the Bolt.

And if it does have ATM, I probably will not buy it.

I will base my decision on actual performance data, comparing BEVs with active and passive thermal management.

What will you base your decision on? <snip>

Can't speak for the OP, but personally, I'd base my decisions on the primary known factor that accelerates degradation (i.e. heat), as well as GM's conservative philosophy with the Volt (and Spark) packs, which seems to be working quite well in hot locations. The Focus' TMS appears to allow much higher pack temps than GM's does. If anyone's thinking about buying a BEV and keeping it for a long time (as opposed to leasing it for a few years and then letting it be someone else's problem), at current pack prices energy use takes a back seat to pack longevity when it comes to LCC, and that will remain the case for years yet. My ICE just turned 13 with years left in its life, and I'd require any PEV to give me at least a decade's worth of utility on the original pack (or else pack prices would have come down to the point that replacement is under say a grand).

Once the tech stabilizes and standardizes, perhaps battery leasing will expand beyond Smart; it's certainly the easiest way to provide guaranteed utility over the long-term given current battery tech. I'd think the way to go would be to guarantee a given kWh, and then limit the pack's usable capacity to that from the get go, gradually opening up usable SoC, as GM apparently does with the Volt to hide capacity loss. When it drops below the guaranteed capacity, you take it in and swap it for another. Assuming that one pack would be used for all, the less capacity you need, the lower your lease rate would be, because the pack will last longer the smaller the usable SoC range allowed.

So, if you have say a 100kWh pack; you have the option of leasing it at 90, 80 70, 60 or 50kWh, with the price per month dropping as you go down in guaranteed capacity. If you decide you need more (or less), you just change the lease and they adjust the BMS and/or swap your pack to provide the appropriate capacity. and packs with higher guaranteed capacity which no longer meet that would be swapped into cars that require lower capacity, providing re-use.

 

[GRA]

There are four CHAdeMO / CCS combined stations at:

Actually there are more that that.

Seattle area has the following.

North Bend Premium Outlets, Seattle Premium Outlets, a Town Center Mall, Kia and BMW car dealers, ..

Total of 9 in Seattle now. Most installed in the past 6 months.

Tony's referring to 4 dual-standard QCs at one site; is that what you're referring to, or just number of dual standard QCs total in the Seattle area? The only 2 dual-standard QC sites I can find in the area on Plugshare are at Redmond Town Center and North Bend Premium Outlets, although I didn't make an exhaustive search.

 

[GRA]

Article at Plugincars.com (Brad Berman):

200-Mile Chevy Bolt Is Praised as First Mainstream Electric Car

http://www.plugincars.com/200-mile-chevy-bolt-praised-first-mainstream-electric-car-131283.html

. . . When the Nissan LEAF was introduced in late 2010, the mainstream media was nearly unanimous in its derision. According to reporters from newspapers and car magazines, Nissan’s battery-powered car kept getting stuck on the side of the road, was a dud to drive, and was just plain ugly. What a difference five years makes.

Car and Driver, which featured an image of the 2011 LEAF on the back of a flatbed truck (as if stranded) in its inaugural review, described the Bolt as a “revolutionary electric car.” Despite only a few minutes behind the wheel in a parking-lot course at CES, where speeds did not exceed 35 miles per house, the publication opined, “The steering wheel delivers quick reactions on-center, and the weight builds nicely with higher cornering speeds.”

Car and Driver delivered the highest praise a car magazine can give an EV: that it didn’t look like one. GM succeeded, it reported, in its goal of making its upcoming EV look and feel like a normal car. “The Bolt is smooth, nearly silent, and spacious.”

The Wall Street Journal quoted Kelly Blue Book’s Karl Brauer, who said, “The Chevrolet Bolt represents the first serious electric vehicle available to mainstream consumers.” The price of the Bolt, at about $30,000 after federal tax incentives, is about $5,000 to $10,000 more than the current crop of electric cars that offer around 80 to 90 miles of driving range. While those cars are commonly appraised as lacking enough value for mainstream buyers, the Bolt—based on its 200-mile range—was assessed by Brauer as a “new benchmark in alternative-fuel options.” . . .

 

[pkulak]

To be fair, the press seems to be right on both counts.

 

[TomT]

After seeing it at CES and talking to some GM product folks at length, my opinion is just the opposite! They have rolled some very nice tech and features in to it, and it is a very compelling package... My wife had the same feeling and thoughts...

I also have to admit that I managed to finagle a drive of the two they had there for the press (working the show helps), albeit on an abbreviated track... These two were less finished quality than the one on the show floor but drove very nicely. And the thing is quick! A much nicer driving experience than the Leaf...

The Bolt seems simply underwhelming to me even as a basic EV. I think they will have a tough time unless Nissan screws up bad. I had some interest here but not any more.

 

[TomT]

The OP likely should remove "Concept" from the title of this thread since it is now anything but...

 

[Stoaty]

If Leaf 2.0 doesn't have a thermal management system for the battery, I will probably buy the Bolt.

And if it does have ATM, I probably will not buy it.

I will base my decision on actual performance data, comparing BEVs with active and passive thermal management.

What will you base your decision on? <snip>

Can't speak for the OP, but personally, I'd base my decisions on the primary known factor that accelerates degradation (i.e. heat), as well as GM's conservative philosophy with the Volt (and Spark) packs, which seems to be working quite well in hot locations. The Focus' TMS appears to allow much higher pack temps than GM's does. If anyone's thinking about buying a BEV and keeping it for a long time (as opposed to leasing it for a few years and then letting it be someone else's problem), at current pack prices energy use takes a back seat to pack longevity when it comes to LCC, and that will remain the case for years yet.

I will only consider buying Leaf 2.0 if the battery capacity warranty equals or beats what the competition is offering. All the rest of Nissan's talk doesn't mean anything, after losing 25% of my battery capacity in 4.5 years.