Long term storage for Bolt EV 2020

Chevy Bolt EV Forum

Help Support Chevy Bolt EV Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

RRP

New member
Joined
Mar 31, 2021
Messages
4
I recently purchased a bolt ev 2020. I found a post on this site that discusses how to put the bolt in and out of transport mode; for long term storage.

I have a need to put my bolt in that mode when I go on extended trips. Problem is that the document addresses bolts of a model year of 2018 or older.

Is there an official document that discusses this topic? Is that procedure applicable for recent models like the 2020?

Ron
 
It's on page 243 of the owner's manual:
"Vehicle Storage
Four Weeks to 12 Months
* Discharge the high voltage battery until two or three bars remain on the battery range indicator (Battery symbol) on the instrument cluster.
* Do not plug in the charge cord.
* Remove the black negative (−) cable from the 12-volt battery and attach a trickle charger to the battery terminals or keep the 12-volt battery cables connected and trickle charge from the underhood remote positive (+) and negative (−) terminals. See Jump Starting - North America -> 284 for the location of these terminals."
 
liuelson said:
It's on page 243 of the owner's manual:
"Vehicle Storage
Four Weeks to 12 Months
* Discharge the high voltage battery until two or three bars remain on the battery range indicator (Battery symbol) on the instrument cluster.
* Do not plug in the charge cord.
* Remove the black negative (−) cable from the 12-volt battery and attach a trickle charger to the battery terminals or keep the 12-volt battery cables connected and trickle charge from the underhood remote positive (+) and negative (−) terminals. See Jump Starting - North America -> 284 for the location of these terminals."

Ooops, I did look for that but failed to find it in the book. Being new at this technology, High voltage battery? 12v Battery? Must I read that there are two batteries in this car? If so, how do I go about discharging one versus both? Talk about confusing. I will research this a bit more but your help is appreciated.

Thank you.
 
RRP said:
liuelson said:
It's on page 243 of the owner's manual:
"Vehicle Storage
Four Weeks to 12 Months
* Discharge the high voltage battery until two or three bars remain on the battery range indicator (Battery symbol) on the instrument cluster.
* Do not plug in the charge cord.
* Remove the black negative (−) cable from the 12-volt battery and attach a trickle charger to the battery terminals or keep the 12-volt battery cables connected and trickle charge from the underhood remote positive (+) and negative (−) terminals. See Jump Starting - North America -> 284 for the location of these terminals."

Ooops, I did look for that but failed to find it in the book. Being new at this technology, High voltage battery? 12v Battery? Must I read that there are two batteries in this car? If so, how do I go about discharging one versus both? Talk about confusing. I will research this a bit more but your help is appreciated.

Thank you.

Yes, it's not specifically listed in the table of contents. It's in the "Battery - North America" heading.

The high voltage battery (nominal 400V) is also called the "traction" battery, which is what powers the electric motor to drive the car. There is also a traditional 12V battery to power things like the headlights, stereo system, windshield wipers, etc. that all cars have.

So the instructions to discharge the high voltage battery means to drive it until only 2 or 3 bars are left on the green range indicator on the left side of the Driver Information Center (the display behind the steering wheel). Each bar is 5%, so it's telling you to drive the car until you're down to about 15% of battery capacity.

The instructions to attach a trickle charger to the 12V battery are similar for any car that you're going to leave unattended for a long time.

The exception to these instructions might be if the car is going to be left in very high temperatures or very low temperatures for a long time. In that case, you might be better off leaving the car plugged in and having someone come drive it once a month.
 
That explains it very well. Thank you. If you find this post useful, read the book there are cautions about the type of trickle charger to use. That 12V battery is an AGM battery so be careful selecting the appropriate trickle charger.
 
Back
Top