Chevrolet Bolt

[LeftieBiker]

Reminder about Federal tax credit on GM EVs/PHEVs falling to $1875 on 10/1/19. If you want to buy a Bolt, this might be a better time... unless GM further discounts Bolts to make up for the tax credit reduction.

Do they still sell a PHEV at this point? IOW are there any new Volts left for sale...?

[cwerdna]

^^^
ELR and CT6 PHEV for the US market died before the Volt. Neither of those ever sold in large numbers. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any still being produced GM PHEVs for the US market.

For Volt, a quick check at https://www.chevrolet.com/locate-invent ... vious-year raising the slider to 2000 miles reveals a surprisingly high (to me) 366 of them, allegedly.

[LeftieBiker]

Yes, it seems that we have a lot of them left in this region as well. It's frustrating: it would be a great replacement for the PIP, with tons more EV range, electric heater - if only it didn't have that squashed, cramped body...

[GRA]

IEVS:

Chevy Bolt EV Burst Into Flames In Ukraine: First Bolt Fire?

https://insideevs.com/news/373630/ukrai ... ught-fire/

[GRA]

Tom Moloughney at IEVS:

2020 Chevy Bolt EV First Drive: Building A Better Bolt

https://insideevs.com/reviews/376153/20 ... rst-drive/


Although max. charge rate is still 55kW the taper has been moved later, so you can now get 100 instead of 90 miles of range in 30 minutes (assuming a powerful enough charger), and it's also supposed to charge faster when cold.

[GetOffYourGas]

Tom Moloughney at IEVS:

2020 Chevy Bolt EV First Drive: Building A Better Bolt

https://insideevs.com/reviews/376153/20 ... rst-drive/


Although max. charge rate is still 55kW the taper has been moved later, so you can now get 100 instead of 90 miles of range in 30 minutes (assuming a powerful enough charger), and it's also supposed to charge faster when cold.

I'm anxious to see the actual taper curve on the 2020 Bolt. The only thing I have heard is "it holds its max rate to above 50% SoC". But my 2017 does the same thing. It holds max rate until about 55%. So if they just went to, say 54%, they would actually have no proof of a better taper.

As for the 100 miles / 30 minutes, that's also possible in my 2017 Bolt on a 150A+ station such as EA. With a 125A EVGo "50kW" charger, I can get about 90 miles / 30 minutes as advertised. Again, a non-improvement.

Where there is improvement is cold weather charging. You may not care about that in the Bay Area, but when I'm heading to Vermont for Thanksgiving next month, I will be sitting around waiting for my cold battery to charge at half the normal rate. They claim "150%" as fast, so instead of half the rate (27kW), a 2020 Bolt could charge at 3/4 rate (41kW). That's a non trivial improvement.

[GRA]

Okay, Bolt owners, question for you. I'm looking to rent a Bolt on Turo to take it on a test drive up across Yosemite and back to establish some baseline energy use, before the first snowfall closes Highway 120 across the park. Unfortunately, there aren't any in my part of the Bay Area, and public transit doesn't get me all that close to one, so I'd need to use my bike as well for the last/first leg of the pick up/drop-off.

Has anyone put a full size bike in the back with the seat down, and if so, how easy/hard is it? Do you have to remove one or both wheels, drop/remove the bike seat, slide the driver's seat forward to the max etc.? Here's my bike (actually just the 60 cm frame, I transferred my old components onto it): https://surlybikes.com/bikes/cross_check

Not that it matters, but mine's yellow, or as Surly calls it, "Stoned Ground Mustard".

[LeftieBiker]

My best guess, having tested a Bolt, is that you'd need to drop the front wheel, and would of course need the rear seats folded.

[jlv]

My brother-in-law in OR has a Bolt (*) and puts his full size bike in the car all the time, as he rides extensively. He removes the front wheel and folds the rear seats. It looked pretty easy for him, and he has a shoulder problem preventing him from lifting above his head.

(When we visited this year and he took us for a ride on the Banks-Vernonia trail, we had his bike inside and 2 bikes on the roof of the Bolt; I had to do the lifting to get it on the roof since he couldn't anymore)

(*) The Bolt replaced his '11 LEAF

[GRA]

OK, thanks to both. I've looked at/driven a Bolt, but figured I'd have to remove the front wheel at a minimum, unlike my current car where I can put it inside intact. I've got a narrow window to do this, but it seems like there won't be any rain/snow for the next week or two, so the road will stay open.