Driving in low

[user 124]

^^^^^^^ The Bolt is setup with a coolant system to control HVB temps. The cells are attached to a heat sink and
has no coolant flowing through the batteries like the Volt. It uses a Heater and a Chiller to maintain temps.
The Chiller is tapped into the A/C system and the heater uses HVB power when needed. The system does not
use a radiator to control HVB temps. Here's an image of the components used. :mrgreen:

Thanks for posting this. Definitely different from the Tesla system in my RAV4EV too.
No radiator to remove the heat from the compressor? That's what I had in mind. Fans? The heat from the system has to get out of the car somehow.

 

[user 124]

L = Lively
D = Dull

 

[SeanNelson]

No radiator to remove the heat from the compressor? That's what I had in mind. Fans? The heat from the system has to get out of the car somehow.

The only time you need to get heat out of the system is when you're trying to cool the battery, and that uses the car's A/C system which does, in fact, have a radiator.

 

[drdiesel1]

No radiator to remove the heat from the compressor? That's what I had in mind. Fans? The heat from the system has to get out of the car somehow.

The only time you need to get heat out of the system is when you're trying to cool the battery, and that uses the car's A/C system which does, in fact, have a radiator.

Yes, the A/C system has a radiator/condenser, but the coolant for the HVB has no contact with that side.
The HVB coolant is cycled through the Chiller that is cooled by the A/C refrigerant.

 

[SeanNelson]

No radiator to remove the heat from the compressor? That's what I had in mind. Fans? The heat from the system has to get out of the car somehow.

The only time you need to get heat out of the system is when you're trying to cool the battery, and that uses the car's A/C system which does, in fact, have a radiator.

Yes, the A/C system has a radiator/condenser, but the coolant for the HVB has no contact with that side.
The HVB coolant is cycled through the Chiller that is cooled by the A/C refrigerant.

In other words, the heat exits the system via the A/C radiator.

 

[LeftieBiker]

In other words, the heat exits the system via the A/C radiator.

So the real test will be a 95F day (with bright sun), a Bolt being driven aggressively in Low, and the cabin A/C set to 70F with the blower blasting. Will the cabin stay cool? Will the pack stay cool? Will the BMS reduce power output? It will be interesting to see. In any case, even if it can only handle this with one parameter improved (less A/C, higher cabin temp, reduced power output) it will be a better scenario than it is now with a Leaf. (Although there is actually evidence that the Leaf does use cabin A/C to cool the pack...IF you have the fresh air intake open to let cabin air blow down into the pack area through a floor vent, and the blower on a higher speed.

 

[SeanNelson]

So the real test will be a 95F day (with bright sun), a Bolt being driven aggressively in Low, and the cabin A/C set to 70F with the blower blasting. Will the cabin stay cool? Will the pack stay cool? Will the BMS reduce power output? It will be interesting to see.

GM seems to do a pretty good job of verifying their designs with environmental testing, so I'd be pretty surprised if there were any issues there. There could be range implications, but I doubt there would be anything that fails to work properly.

 

[drdiesel1]

L Mode works for me :mrgreen:

 

[drdiesel1]

Anyone notice the gray range trending bars to the left of the battery bars. They go green as you
trend towards the maximum range and orange as you trend towards the minimum range.

Here's a shot of mine trending towards the maximum. Almost averaging @ 5.0 kilowatts per miles
today with 126 miles traveled

 

[sgt1372]

Just got my Bolt LT and love driving it in L. It's just like driving a golf cart. Look ma, no brakes. :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

I can shift from D to L but can't seem to shift from L to D. From L it first shifts to N and then I have to shift again to D. Is this normal? Or am I the only one with this issue?

 

[devbolt]

I can shift from D to L but can't seem to shift from L to D. From L it first shifts to N and then I have to shift again to D. Is this normal? Or am I the only one with this issue?

Just pull back on the shifter. You don't have to push forward on it, nor do you need to push in the side button to shift back to D. It's just a simple toggle between the two modes at that point.

Confused me at first, too.

 

[peteblair]

I can shift from D to L but can't seem to shift from L to D. From L it first shifts to N and then I have to shift again to D. Is this normal? Or am I the only one with this issue?

Just pull back on the shifter. You don't have to push forward on it, nor do you need to push in the side button to shift back to D. It's just a simple toggle between the two modes at that point.

Confused me at first, too.

Once i figured out the toggle between D/L it made me happy. I use it really often on highways as where I am I may be going full speed for a few miles and then stop and go for a few miles. So for those full speed times I can kick it into D real easy to let me coast better. Then when I approach the slow/stopped traffic kick it back down to L and do the super easy one pedal stop and go driving.

 

[SeanNelson]

Just pull back on the shifter. You don't have to push forward on it, nor do you need to push in the side button to shift back to D. It's just a simple toggle between the two modes at that point.

In other words, once you are in "D" you pull back on the shifter to shift to "L", and you pull back on the shifter again to shift to "D". It seems a bit odd, but the reason it's designed this way is so that you don't accidentally shift into "N" if you want to shift from "L" to "D" but you're actually in "D" already.

 

[gbobman]

I get that they couldn't put an "R" on there for "regen" but maybe a "D+" would have been less confusing.

But that really is the first day or two. After that, it doesn't matter anymore.

 

[boltage]

I get that they couldn't put an "R" on there for "regen" but maybe a "D+" would have been less confusing.

But that really is the first day or two. After that, it doesn't matter anymore.

Yes, if you regularly drive the car, you will get used to it. But if you jump into a different car each day, like the auto testers at Consumer Reports, you may find all of the different automatic transmission shifters more difficult to figure out.

http://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/automatic-shifters-proceed-with-caution/

Of course, one should always use the parking brake when parking the car. Though, with electronic parking brakes, it may be helpful for car companies to offer automatic parking brakes that turn on when the car is put in park or turned off while stationary, and turn off when a non-park mode is selected, since so many drivers seem not to use the parking brake when parking.

 

[gbobman]

To be clear, the Bolt will release the brake if you even graze the accelerator. I try not to do that though, I don't need to cause an issue with that component.

 

[sgt1372]

Yes, if you regularly drive the car, you will get used to it. But if you jump into a different car each day, like the auto testers at Consumer Reports, you may find all of the different automatic transmission shifters more difficult to figure out.

I have no problems switching between the different gear selectors in any of my cars. Only the Mercedes has an electronic parking brake like the Bolt. The BMW, MR2 and F250 all have manual parking brakes.

The Mercedes on-the-stalk gear selector took a bit of getting use to but I don't have any problem operating it as I still sometimes do the Bolt -- keep forgetting to push/hold the button on the side of the selector to engage R and D and still sometimes pull back for R (and get D) instead of pushing forward as I should. LOL!

The gear selector on the BMW standard unless you want to switch to sport mode (by pushing the selector to the left) or go into manual mode (which you can do w/the gear selector in the console or w/the paddles on the wheel). The F250 uses a standard "old school" on the steering column gear selector and the MR2 is a 5 speed stick with the shifting pattern on the knob.

As for confusing designations, I had 2 Priuses in the past which uses B to designate engine braking plus regen which was just as obscure as L is for regen in the Bolt. Had to ask what B stood for in the Prius the 1st time I got one, just as I had to do for L in the Bolt.

BTW, I regularly drove a Pontiac Tempest in the 60's (it belonged to a GF at the time), which had a lever gear selector positioned on the dash like the one in the Prius. There were also push button dash mounted gear selectors back in the day.

"What was once old (sometimes) becomes new again."

 

[boltage]

the MR2 is a 5 speed stick with the shifting pattern on the knob.

Seems that manual transmissions in cars have been more standardized over the last few decades. The only variations seem to have been number of gears and how to shift into reverse. Although if you go back far enough, then you get to "three on the tree" and other variations.

 

[sgt1372]

Although if you go back far enough, then you get to "three on the tree" and other variations.

Yup, had a couple of those in my time too. They were in a Ford pickup truck and in Chevy Bel Air sedan -- both from the 50's that I acquired in the 60's.