What is maximum charge rate you've seen?

What is the highest ACTUAL charge rate you have seen going into your Bolt?

For me, I've seen sustained 46 kw for 10 minites with momentary bumps at 47 kw on a 50 kw charger.

This is with battery about 50% SOC.

There is a 150 kW DCFC charger (ABB) in Fremont, CA - that has been "in testing" (i.e., nobody can use it) for months now. I've never seen any stats on what a Bolt can suck out of it, unfortunately.

With a nominal ~400V battery, the Bolt would have to pull 200A to reach the stated max charge rate of 80kW. I don't know of any 200A chargers around here, but there must be one somewhere. Hopefully soon, someone can confirm whether the Bolt hits 80kW, and under what conditions...

I've only used an EvGo DCFC charger a couple of times and never got anything faster than around 45 kwh. Would be nice to get a 80kwh charge that the Bolt is supposed to be capable of accepting.

Related to "fast charging >50 kW" ...

EVgo was going to install 4 or 8 "super-fast" chargers in Baker by June 2017 (up to 350 kW). I can' find any recent news on this - anybody heard anything?

EVgo DID install a ?350A? (150 kW) DCFC in Fremont, but nobody admits to having used it.

ChargePoint announced their new, modular Express Plus systems last december (up to 400 kW) but I haven't heard anything about any actually being installed.

The CEC announced (also late last year) a big grant for a bunch of DCFCs to be installed in multiple highway "corridors" across California - has a single one actually been installed anywhere?

Any news on where/how/when VW will be installing EV chargers in California as part of the DieselGate agreement?

I wish people would read my question and stick to it.

Those of you who have actually used fast charging, what is the highest rate ACTUALLY SEEN going into the Bolt. No theoretical. No what ifs.

In other words, has anyone actually seen flows of more than 47 kw on THEIR in-car display?

I've seen 45 kw regularly, 46 kw occasionally, and 47 kw momentarily.

gpsman said:

I wish people would read my question and stick to it.

Those of you who have actually used fast charging, what is the highest rate ACTUALLY SEEN going into the Bolt. No theoretical. No what ifs.

In other words, has anyone actually seen flows of more than 47 kw on THEIR in-car display?

I've seen 45 kw regularly, 46 kw occasionally, and 47 kw momentarily.

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Your results are consistent with what I have observed as well. We're up against the hard 125A limit of the charging station and the voltage level of the battery pack. Once the battery pack voltage level rises above a certain level, the Bolt has to back off on how much current it is pulling.

I've seen about 45 when my SOC is between 20 and 60;
drops into the 30s until 75 then into the low 20s and teens after 85% SOC

sgt1372 said:

I've only used an EvGo DCFC charger a couple of times and never got anything faster than around 45 kwh. Would be nice to get a 80kwh charge that the Bolt is supposed to be capable of accepting.

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There is no such thing as an 80 kWh charge. i think what you mean is an 80 kW charge rate.

What the manual actually actually states is that in order to get 90 miles in 30 minutes, you need to use a station that can supply a minimum of 80 kW. This probably means a 200A/400V or 200A/500V station. Which aren't available yet. Current stations are limited to a max of 125A at either 500V or 400V. For the purposes of the Bolt, there's no difference between a 125A/400V or 125A/500V station since the max voltage of the Bolt's battery pack is 400V, and with SOC at or below 50%, the pack voltage is 360V or less.

devbolt said:

What the manual actually actually states is that in order to get 90 miles in 30 minutes, you need to use a station that can supply a minimum of 80 kW. This probably means a 200A/400V or 200A/500V station.

Click to expand...

Or could mean a station that supports up to 160A at up to 500V. In which case the best charge rate we could hope for is 160/125 * 47 kW = 60 kW, or 1C.

Cheers, Wayne

wwhitney said:

devbolt said:

What the manual actually actually states is that in order to get 90 miles in 30 minutes, you need to use a station that can supply a minimum of 80 kW. This probably means a 200A/400V or 200A/500V station.

Click to expand...

Or could mean a station that supports up to 160A at up to 500V. In which case the best charge rate we could hope for is 160/125 * 47 kW = 60 kW, or 1C.

Cheers, Wayne

Click to expand...

True. But I'm hoping for a 200A/400V unit so we can possibly get higher peak rates closer to 70 kW, or start out a higher initial rate than you could with a 160A unit. All we can do is wait and see...

devbolt said:

What the manual actually actually states is that in order to get 90 miles in 30 minutes, you need to use a station that can supply a minimum of 80 kW.

Click to expand...

That's not true.

I routinely add 3 miles per minute on a 50 kw (47 kw net) charger.

The problem is with the car.
It can't sustain 47 kw for the full 30 minutes (typically).
The car always dials down the power after 15 to 20 minutes at the peak.

I see a very weak arguement for the push for more than 50 kw chargers, with the Bolt in its current form.

I'd be happy if the CAR could take the full 50 (47) kw for a wider span of SOC. 50 kw COULD get you 80% charge in 1 hour, IF the car didn't have to taper charge rate.

A hypothetical 80 kw charge rate will save about 5 minutes of charge time with the Bolt in its current form. I don't see this as being noteworthy.

gpsman said:

devbolt said:

What the manual actually actually states is that in order to get 90 miles in 30 minutes, you need to use a station that can supply a minimum of 80 kW.

Click to expand...

That's not true.

I routinely add 3 miles per minute on a 50 kw (47 kw net) charger.

The problem is with the car.
It can't sustain 47 kw for the full 30 minutes (typically).
The car always dials down the power after 15 to 20 minutes at the peak.

I see a very weak arguement for the push for more than 50 kw chargers, with the Bolt in its current form.

Click to expand...

Starting out at 5% SOC, I got between 42 kW and 46 kW over the course of a 30-minute session. I constantly pulled the full 125A of current the station could provide during the session. I ended up at 40% SOC at the end of the session. I did not try a second session, but I know from others that the Bolt cuts the current from 125A to 100A at the 55% SOC point.

What we don't know is what is the actual current limit between 0% and 55% SOC. It's somewhere between 125A and 200A, that's for sure. Some guys from Quebec had access to an experimental DC fast charger where they were able to program it to advertise a 250A capability, and when the Bolt was at 40% SOC, it was requesting 150A of current. The charger couldn't actually provided that, but they wanted to see what the Bolt was asking for. Unfortunately, they haven't been able to repeat the test again with a starting SOC lower than 40% SOC, so we don't know what the taper points are on a higher current charger.

I think it's possible that the Bolt will easily pull 55 kW at the low end of SOC. That's 20% more than what we get now. 20% more range in the same amount of time is nothing to sneeze at.

Thanks for pretty much confirming what I have been saying all along.

The Bolt's maximum charge rate is 60kw and the manual has a typographical error.

In person to person interviews, Chevy reps have said 60 kw. And if you look catefully at the bar graph while charging, it maxes out at 60 kw charge rate.

To go higher will require a re-program of the car, which I see as unlikely.

Lastly, look at the car's maximum regen rate.
Peak Regeneration lasts a few seconds. It can theoretically be higher than a sustained charged rate without overheating or overtaxing components.

Why are so many people eager to destroy their batteries? Many, many folks already believe 50 kw is stressful to the batteries.

I personally doubt that 80 kW was a typographical error. I think a better explanation is that 80 kW is 160A x 500V much like a "100 kW" CCS charger is 200A x 500V.

In other words, the real limiting factor is the "160A" and battery packs in actual cars have charging voltages more like 320-400V (depending upon their state of charge).

As far as I know, the only media outlet to report 60 kW for the Bolt's peak charging rate is Motor Trend and they just stated it without any source attribution. Electrek has reported 55 kW without attributing it to a specific source. HybridCars has quoted a GM manager by name as saying "about 150A" which is likely equivalent to a peak rate of 55 kW since the manager also said the peak rate would be "a little over" 50 kW but would not state an exact number.

See:
http://www.hybridcars.com/chevy-bolt-ev-can-charge-at-55-kw/

gpsman said:

And if you look catefully at the bar graph while charging, it maxes out at 60 kw charge rate.

Click to expand...

I've not heard of this ratioanle before. I can't find any images inline that show what you refer to. Is this on the driver's display when the car is off and DC fast charging?

gpsman said:

Why are so many people eager to destroy their batteries? Many, many folks already believe 50 kw is stressful to the batteries.

Click to expand...

How about some facts instead of beliefs?

There are many, many people who regularly DCFC'd their EVs for years without destroying or damaging their batteries.

Now my opinion, I dislike EVs getting an undeserved reputation for needing babying. Lease, drive, let GM worry about the best way to trade-off range, battery life and recharging.

The Bolt fast charges at <1C, the Spark was close to 3C. Sparks are doing fine at 3+ years and IMO the Bolt will do even better thanks mostly to the reduction in charge cycles.

DC fast charging the Bolt EV is gentler than any BEV out there. The cars in the 80-125 mi range category DC fast charge bewteen 1.4 and 2.7C. Teslas Supercharge at 1.2-1.3C. The Bolt EV charges at 0.7C at a 125A station. Even if it can charge at 150-160A, that still right at or under 1.0C.

Well that is good.
Still, circumstantial evidence points to 60 kw fast charge maximum for whatever reason. Maybe just by choice. Maybe that's all the wire gauge or the weakest component in the system will safely handle.

I said it before, I'll say it again.
Free box of donuts from me to the first person who proves with video that a stock Bolt can, and will charge at 80 kw.

Maybe it can.
Maybe it won't due to programming.

Year one of geneneration one tends to be more conservative than later iterations.

-John

Now be honest with yourself.
Does that green bar graph showing charge rate look slightly past HALF? (0-80 kw)

Or slightly past two-thirds? (0-60 kw)

To me, personally, it looks like 76.67% of the span is used up at 46 kw charge rate.

Zoomit said:

gpsman said:

And if you look catefully at the bar graph while charging, it maxes out at 60 kw charge rate.

Click to expand...

I've not heard of this ratioanle before. I can't find any images inline that show what you refer to. Is this on the driver's display when the car is off and DC fast charging?

Click to expand...