CCS no longer listed for Bolt

[DucRider]

Inside EV's did a piece about the Bolt
http://insideevs.com/a-tale-of-9-hours-does-gm-really-want-to-sell-the-chevy-bolt/ (let's not discuss that in this thread).
In the comments it came up that any reference to CCS and DCFC has disappeared from Chevy's Bolt EV site.

Sure enough, it's gone.

A few possibilities:
1) No longer an option and will not be offered at all - I think this very unlikely
2) Maybe rethinking the 50 kWh rate and bumping to up it to 100 kW - great future proofing move and what I think is happening
3) Adding it as standard and getting ready to include the specs on the page. Feedback from the "road tripping" Bolts spotted up and down the West Coast would have made it glaringly obvious that more thna 50 kW is needed (long term) to make road trips feasible, and that anyone purchasing/leasing with only the 7.7 kW (32 amp @240v) on board L2 charging would regret it at some point. Should happen - but probably not.

 

[Geo]

I seriously doubt GM would remove CCS from the Bolt.

I suspect you're right that either they're including it as standard or upping the capacity (or both).

If they include CCS as standard, I wonder if that will raise the price?

 

[sam]

Please keep us posted with new updates

 

[ssspinball]

2) Maybe rethinking the 50 kWh rate and bumping to up it to 100 kW - great future proofing move and what I think is happening

That wouldn't explain why Chevy would find it necessary to remove "CCS" from the website. Both 50 kW and 100 kW rates are still CCS.

3) Adding it as standard and getting ready to include the specs on the page. Feedback from the "road tripping" Bolts spotted up and down the West Coast would have made it glaringly obvious that more thna 50 kW is needed (long term) to make road trips feasible, and that anyone purchasing/leasing with only the 7.7 kW (32 amp @240v) on board L2 charging would regret it at some point. Should happen - but probably not.

Let's hope it's this one, but again this doesn't explain why they'd choose to remove "CCS" from the website. If it's made a standard feature, they'd be more likely to mention it, not less.

Also Bolt has a 7.2 kW onboard charger, not 7.7 kW as reported here.

 

[DucRider]

Also Bolt has a 7.2 kW onboard charger, not 7.7 kW as reported here.

From the Bolt EV Website re: the 9 hour charge time:

7 When using the available 240-volt charger and a 32-amp charge level. Charge time may vary with temperature.

32-amps @ 240v = 7.68 kW

I think all we really know with the removal of the Quick Charge stats is the it probably won't marketed as "90 miles in 30 minutes".

 

[new2evs]

Tesla did announce they were introducing a 100kwh battery. It is a good possibility they are in the process of increasing the battery size as well

 

[DucRider]

Tesla did announce they were introducing a 100kwh battery. It is a good possibility they are in the process of increasing the battery size as well

Huh, what?
They still list the battery as 60 kWh, but dropped reference to quick charging. Not sure why that would indicate a pack size increase.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

Interesting theories.

I can't imagine GM dropped the CCS option completely. I find it more likely that they are making it standard. It would be awesome to find out that they are upping their game to 100kW, but I don't expect that.

Personally I suspect that it is most likely simply an oversight and that nothing is fundamentally changing. They updated the page, maybe it was simply a mistake that it wasn't mentioned. These things happen.

 

[ssspinball]

7 When using the available 240-volt charger and a 32-amp charge level. Charge time may vary with temperature.

32-amps @ 240v = 7.68 kW

Again, no need to perform this estimated calculation yourself when Chevy has already confirmed directly that it is 7.2 kW:
"The battery system is mated to a standard equipment 7.2 kW onboard charger for regular overnight charging from a 240-V wall box."

 

[SeanNelson]

Personally I suspect that it is most likely simply an oversight and that nothing is fundamentally changing. They updated the page, maybe it was simply a mistake that it wasn't mentioned. These things happen.

The change seems to be awfully specific for it to have been some sort of mistake. GM has been late to publish the ordering information for the Bolt, and my theory is that they want to wait as late as possible before crystallizing the specs. With the German manufacturers announcing cars with DC charging rates of 100KW and above, could very easily have decided they need to up the ante on fast charging. Making it standard would be pretty easy for them to do since it doesn't require any hardware changes. But faster charging rates are possible too, particularly since one of the GM reps at the January unveiling said "we're saying 50KW right now" when asked about the fast charging rate. So a faster charge rate might be no more than a software modification. Such a change might get you up to 60KW, but I strongly doubt it would go all the way to 100KW.

Of course it's all just rampant speculation at this point, but with production starting in a mere month or so we should find out pretty soon.

 

[DucRider]

Such a change might get you up to 60KW, but I strongly doubt it would go all the way to 100KW.

Moving from 50 to 60 kW really doesn't get you that much.

Currently installed CCS DCFC chargers are 50 kW (some 24 kW). Next gen will be 100 (or even 150) kW. Moving to 60 kW - unusable currently and under powered in the future - why bother?

The IONIQ will come standard with 100 kW CCS (coming "this Fall"), and I expect others to follow suit.

 

[theflew]

Such a change might get you up to 60KW, but I strongly doubt it would go all the way to 100KW.

Moving from 50 to 60 kW really doesn't get you that much.

Currently installed CCS DCFC chargers are 50 kW (some 24 kW). Next gen will be 100 (or even 150) kW. Moving to 60 kW - unusable currently and under powered in the future - why bother?

The IONIQ will come standard with 100 kW CCS (coming "this Fall"), and I expect others to follow suit.

100 kW for the IONIQ doesn't mean much if it throttles to a low number a few minutes later.

 

[DucRider]

100 kW for the IONIQ doesn't mean much if it throttles to a low number a few minutes later.

True, 100 kW into a 28 kWh pack is overkill. But my point was about it becoming the "standard" CCS QC rate.

 

[Aidan]

Hmmmm....still haven't found anything online to explain why they dropped it

 

[new2evs]

Tesla did announce they were introducing a 100kwh battery. It is a good possibility they are in the process of increasing the battery size as well

Huh, what?
They still list the battery as 60 kWh, but dropped reference to quick charging. Not sure why that would indicate a pack size increase.

Here is the article

https://www.google.ca/amp/seekingalpha.com/amp/article/4002535-tesla-building-right-battery-part-1?client=ms-android-google

 

[GetOffYourGas]

That article is about Tesla increasing their pack size. It mentions nothing about the Bolt doing so. Nor has Chevrolet made any hints. As DucRider points out, Chevy still lists the battery size as 60kWh. This thread is about the fact that they dropped references to CCS.

So I don't follow your logic either. I see no indication that Chevy is considering a different battery size, at least for the 2017 model.

 

[Breezy]

Pam Fletcher from GM spoke at conference yesterday. She reiterated the 90 miles in 30 minutes.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/4004485-general-motors-gm-management-presents-citi-2016-global-technology-conference-transcript