Full charge mileage displayed isn't 238

[Anonymous]

I guess you did not bother to read my last post...

You sure you are one year younger than I am...? :lol:

I read it but you seemed to be asking for further clarification which I attempted to provide.

And,, what does it matter what age you are or I am? Now that IS confusing. :roll:

If you'll permit me, I'll just sign off here. Seems to good can come from any further discussion of this. Ciao!

That's "...NO good..."

 

[devbolt]

Me, I'd make the initial run to verify my hypothesis on my driving habit's impact on range before determining if it was non-viable.

Which I did on Monday.

Drove from Pacifica to Lodi via 280-101-80-24-242-160-12. 96.2 miles one way. Left home with a full charge with the guess-o-meter showing 200 miles of range. Did not alter my driving habits at all, which meant using climate control system as I normally would to stay comfortable, and kept up with the flow of traffic as I normally would. This meant going upwards of 75 in some stretches along the route.

Got to Lodi with 104 miles of range left. Which meant I had about an 8-mile or so cushion to get home.

I was planning on driving the entire way back without charging, but I ended up getting hungry around Lafayette/Moraga, so I pulled off and decided to try using a DC fast charging station at Whole Foods. Pulled in with 42 miles of range left and 37 miles of actual driving left to do. Plugged in, got a sandwich at Noah's, and came back 30 minutes later and the car had charged back up to 118 miles of range. Finished driving home and arrived home with 84 miles of range left, using only 34 miles of estimated range, but traveling 37 miles. The Energy Screen showed that I had used 57.2 kWh to travel 194.5 miles. 93% of that energy used was for driving and 7% for climate control. 3.4 miles per kWh.

Conclusion? The guess-o-meter was pretty accurate as to my projected range. I could've made the roundtrip without stopping. However, I probably would've been really nervous by the time I got to SF. I'd have made it home with less than 10 miles of range left. If I make a similar trip in the future, I'll attempt it without grabbing a charge on the way back because I'm now more comfortable with how accurate the guess-o-meter is.

The bonus of the trip was seeing how well the DC fast charging can be on a 50 kW charger. I went from 21% SOC to 60% SOC in only 30 minutes. 22.14 kWh delivered in 30 minutes. I didn't babysit the charger, so I don't know what rate it started out at and if it did any tapering towards the end.

 

[Sigmasailor]

Some people manage well above 238; see this clip....: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9MBf4C3gHE&t=112s

 

[sgt1372]

That's "...NO good..."

You're such a nitpicker, you can't even let obvious typos pass w/o comment. :roll:

 

[sgt1372]

Chevy Bolt EV: 800-mile trip in 238-mile electric car shows challenges remain:

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1109117_chevy-bolt-ev-800-mile-trip-in-238-mile-electric-car-shows-challenges-remain

This recent article gives a very realistic and practical illustration of the problems and challenges of driving the Bolt (or any other EV for that matter) for long distances.

As the driver/author said at the start:

"With my little lead foot taking us down the freeway at an average of 80 mph, we got nowhere near the 238-mile rated range. After 103 miles, we showed only 70 miles of remaining range."

And, as she said at the end:

"Until charging sites are more widespread, and fast enough to use the Bolt EV's 80-kw fast-charging ability, I will probably only take it on trips under 200 miles in the future."

I think many other Bolt drivers will discover this for themselves and come to the same conclusion as this driver did, which will probably continue to limit the market for the Bolt in favor of plug-in or pure hybrids like the Volt and Prius.

 

[Anonymous]

She made a key error on her trip: not staying at a hotel in Pasadena that provided a L2 charger so she could charge overnight, which hotels are readily available - a newbie mistake that cost her hours that next morning!

The Bolt EV is not marketed by Chevy as a inter-city car! Those of us doing so are pushing the envelope.

It is a big mistake in 2017 to think that you can drive an EV like a BMW AND drive it across the country! You MUST make compromises.

In my experimental long distance driving, I have found that some hypermiling goes a long way: a practice that i developed during my 3 years of leasehold of my Chevy Volt and is a good compromise to allowing the Bolt EV to become a true inter-city car with quite honestly not that much given in return.

Maybe I am just getting older, but the hypermiling practices that I utilize just are not that cumbersome, do not add that much time to my trip and add much more SAFETY to the drive (by NOT driving 80 MPH!)!

 

[Anonymous]

Don't mean to "flame" the fires" but I thought I'd just update my more recent experience in determining the effective range of the Bolt based on my driving style...

This tells me that the Bolt is NOT likely to make it to and from the City (160-180 miles) the way I drive and I would NOT even bother to try doing it unless I know that I have at least 2-4 hours to partially recharge the battery on a free L2 while in town. However, the reality is that I don't want to "waste" the time waiting for the Bolt to recharge while in town, so it doesn't look like I'll ever drive it there.

A CHALLENGE TO sgt1372:

I will drive up to your home in Northern California, fully charge my Bolt EV and tandem drive behind your BMW to the City and back.

If I run out of electrons (or concede before arriving back at your home), you get to take a photo of me holding a sign saying EV IDIOT...

If I make it back to your home, I get to take a photo of you holding a sign saying EV CHICKEN!

Either way, we post the photo HERE! hahahaha :lol:

Whadya say?

 

[Anonymous]

PS: Before you accept my challenge, this morning's Mileage Gauge after a full charge...

 

[sgt1372]

So, I finally got the car to show 238 estimated miles on the screen.

Hooray!!!

Big accomplishment for me w/my lead foot.

This was the result after a week of just driving 70 miles on local streets, never driving over 55 mph, resisting the impulse to pass anyone at speed and minimizing quick starts and hard braking. In other words, I was driving it like I was taking my DMV test for the 1st time. LOL!!!

Just recharged the car because I just got my L2 charger hooked up and couldn't resist not using it but, if I continue to use the Bolt in the same way, it should be at least 3 weeks before I need to recharge the Bolt again.

We'll see . . .

 

[Anonymous]

Nicely done!

ABC - Always Be Charging!

Are you saying that you do not charge every night?

I still want to come up there and follow you in your BMW on your path to SF and back and see if I can make it round trip in my Bolt EV!

 

[sgt1372]

Nicely done!

Thanks!

Are you saying that you do not charge every night?

Correct.

My current planned use of the Bolt is to just drive it as long and far as I can on a single charge down to around 10-20% (or about 25-50 miles remaining range), which (if I can get 238-250 miles on a charge) require about 9-10 hours on the L2 charger to get it back to full charge overnight.

Since I'm now only planning to drive the Bolt locally where I live-- usually only 10-15 miles/day, 5 days a week , there's really no need to recharge it every night and I can easily drive it down to just 25 miles remaining miles w/o worrying about the battery going dead.

At this rate, I'd only have to put it on the charger once every 3-4 weeks, which will minimize the need to recharge and also probably reduce (or at least minimize) my charging costs.

If I'm really under-utilizing the car by driving too few miles, I may run up some miles w/freeway trips just to get my $'s worth out of the car w/in the 10k annual mileage limit. That'll burn up a lot more energy and my range estimate will get shot to hell but w/the L2 charger it doesn't matter as much.

I still want to come up there and follow you in your BMW on your path to SF and back and see if I can make it round trip in my Bolt EV!

I'm not willing to risk it myself but I'd be interested in seeing what your range figures in the Bolt would be if you pace me into the City at freeway speeds.

I'm sure you could make it there but don't think you could make it back w/o getting at least an additional 50 miles of range after spending 30 mins on a DCFC or 2 hours on an L2 charger.

That's the reason I'm choosing NOT to use the Bolt for that. Don't want to take the time to top off when I can just drive one of my other cars into and back w/o the need to even stop at a gas station. It's a matter of time and convenience to me.

In fact, I just drove my F250 diesel into the City today. The only problem was finding a parking space for the 22 ft truck, which I did w/o too much difficulty. Just gotta know where to look.

LOL!!!

 

[Anonymous]

Where is the closest DC Fast Charger to you so I can be fully charged when we start the test? As I recall you dont like rush hour, so the test would start about 1pm?

 

[SparkE]

My current planned use of the Bolt is to just drive it as long and far as I can on a single charge down to around 10-20% (or about 25-50 miles remaining range), which (if I can get 238-250 miles on a charge) require about 9-10 hours on the L2 charger to get it back to full charge overnight.

Since I'm now only planning to drive the Bolt locally where I live-- usually only 10-15 miles/day, 5 days a week , there's really no need to recharge it every night and I can easily drive it down to just 25 miles remaining miles w/o worrying about the battery going dead.

At this rate, I'd only have to put it on the charger once every 3-4 weeks, which will minimize the need to recharge and also probably reduce (or at least minimize) my charging costs.

I don't see how charging every night to add (say) 25 miles worth of range, or once a week to add (say) a week's worth of charge (~140 miles?) would change your charging costs.

To maximize the life of the battery, it seems that it MAY be (?is probably?) better to generally keep the battery in the 25-70% range (not discharge too low, not recharge too high). Personally, if I had your driving requirements/use, I'd probably try to keep it in the 50-70% range most of the time - able to jump in and drive it 100 miles r/t without worry, but not 'filling up' anywhere near max. YMMV .

 

[sgt1372]

I don't see how charging every night to add (say) 25 miles worth of range, or once a week to add (say) a week's worth of charge (~140 miles?) would change your charging costs.

It may or may not affect my cost, especially if I schedule it for off peak charging. Actually, the main reason I want to limit charging sessions is again for my convenience. I just don't want to have to plug it in more than I consider necessary. Why plug it in once a week, when I can just plug it in once a month?

Also, I'm no longer parking the Bolt in the garage. The MB and BMW get the privilege. The Bolt's in the driveway. No problem reaching it from the L2 charger in the garage but I don't want to bother pulling the cord out and pulling it in everyday or week when I don't need the additional charge.

To maximize the life of the battery, it seems that it MAY be (?is probably?) better to generally keep the battery in the 25-70% range (not discharge too low, not recharge too high). Personally, if I had your driving requirements/use, I'd probably try to keep it in the 50-70% range most of the time - able to jump in and drive it 100 miles r/t without worry, but not 'filling up' anywhere near max. YMMV .

You are probably correct in terms of battery management BUT I leased my Bolt and I really don't care about that.

The battery only has to last me 3 years and then it's no longer my concern. I don't intend to abuse the battery but letting the SOC drop to around 10-20% (or about 25-50 miles) and then recharging to the Bolt's max (which I believe is actually only 95%) every month or so over 3 years, really shouldn't do much harm.

Also as I said, I no longer have any plans to use the Bolt for any "long distance" travel. Trips will be limited mostly to 10-15 miles a day and 30 miles RT at most; all on local streets with no freeway use if possible. So, I don't need to keep my Bolt ready for a 100 mile trip.

If I need to drive longer distances on the freeway, I have 4 other vehicles to choose from.

 

[sgt1372]

Where is the closest DC Fast Charger to you so I can be fully charged when we start the test? As I recall you dont like rush hour, so the test would start about 1pm?

There are 2 EvGo DCFC chargers located less than 1 mile from my house right off of the the freeway.

I used one of them for a "test" charge to see how many miles I could get on a charge and how much it would cost -- 50 miles of range in 30 mins for over $12, which was one of the reasons that led me to decide that I'd rather NOT charge up anywhere but at home.

Departure time would be around 10-11am so that I can head home by 1 pm, thus avoiding rush hour, which now ends around 10am in the morning and starts again around 2 in afternoon in the SF Bay Area.

If you REALLY want to do this, PM me so that we can make the arrangements when you think you'll be in the area. Ciao!