Does Bolt EV have a battery buffer like in the Volt?

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Vanit

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Aug 13, 2019
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Does Bolt EV have a battery buffer like in the Volt? Gen 1 Volt had a 16.5 kwh battery with roughly 10.5 kwh usable (63.6%) from 0-100%. Any mentions about this in the manual? Any daring Bolt EV owners willing to do a 100% -> 0% run and see if the usage is 60 kwh?

The reason I'm asking is I'm curious whether it's "safe" to charge to 100% and back down to 0% on a regular basis, or even occasionally. I know that Tesla's have irreplaceable damage to the battery if it reaches 0% even once, and costs $40k to replace the pack. Tesla has a software safeguard where it shuts down the car before it reaches this level, so this never happens in reality. Similarly, I've read that leaving the battery pack at 100% for an extended period is also bad, especially in the heat. In the Volts, we don't have to worry about this due to the buffer.

And one more question:

I've been trying to keep my newer vehicle (2018 Honda Bolt) clean and shiny, despite it being my daily driver for work, shopping and child chauffeuring. I've taken it to several different full-service car washes https://damntools.com/how-to-wash-a-car-at-home/ . Without exception, they've done a terrible job of cleaning the car. In the past, I would take older, beat-up, and very dirty cars there about every six months. I didn't quibble too much about the outside job, but was primarily concerned with interior cleaning. The quality of those jobs was usually good enough, but every so often they would make the windows dirtier than before.

However, with the '18 Bolt, several parts of the car are still dirty (as if untouched by the water) when it rolls out of the car wash. I don't know if this is due to the car's shape and detailing, or if it's just very noticeable on a bright-blue vehicle. The car wash workers half-heartedly dry the car, including an ineffective wipe of the still-dirty sections. Bits of debris (mostly from the trees near the parking lot at work) are left clinging to the car's body all around and are quite obvious. The front of the car is still covered in insects. The side mirrors are wiped in the center only, leaving a blurry mess around the edges. The rest of the windows are about halfway cleaned. The most recent wash left more film on the inside of my windshield than when the car came in. I have the workers fix some of the issues, but I haven't had the courage to tell them that the wash job is terrible and they should just start over, do it right, and then ask me to look at it. I can't believe they are showing me an obviously dirty car and claiming it's clean. The other cars they work on look clean, why is mine so awful?

Is this how all of these car washes work? Should I be more insistent that the car is not at all clean when it's presented to me? I'm not sure I can be that insistent, despite my disappointment.

And why don't I clean my own car? I have herniated discs in my lower back, and car cleaning is done almost entirely bent over. Besides the pain I would cause myself, I could easily lose more money in missed work and medical bills than I would save by washing it myself.

What do people who are serious about having a clean car do to clean their cars?
 
I'm sure the Bolt has some kind of buffer, at least at the low end. Any lithium battery will be severely damaged when fully discharged - that's not restricted to Tesla.

That said, I can't imagine it has anywhere near the percentage buffer of a Volt. The Volt's battery system was perhaps the most conservatively designed xEV ever made.
 
I agree with Brian. There is a long thread either on this forum or the other Bolt forum on this topic.

Jeff Nisewanger, https://electricrevs.com/category/charging/, is very clear on the range of charge to discharge that he recommends. I don't know if he's on this forum or not.

The short answer is what Brian posted. Avoid discharging it too low, don't charge it to 100% more than necessary to drive it as it was intended. Eric Way has discharged his to 1% because he had to--he was headed to a charger too far. Some have taken the Bolt down to turtle in Leaf lingo.

Do a google search on this topic and the thread should show up.

Paul
 
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