Michigan to Florida 2023 Chevy Bolt EUV Charging Stations on I-75 Cross Country Trip
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- čas přidán 19. 03. 2023
- We drove our new Chevy Bolt EUV from Michigan to Daytona Beach FL in March of 2023 and we share the charging stations we used along the way. List of charging stations at the end of the video. Fixed: Moved the link to our follow up video so it doesn't cover the list of charging stations.
You have such a pleasant demeanor describing your trip in detail. The mere fact of waiting an hour for charging for 100 miles would curl my hair, but you made it sound like it was just a minor inconvenience and not a problem at all. Hats off to you. I've driven 1200 miles from my home on Long Island New York to Orlando and other trips from my home to Savannah in our Tesla. We typically stop 15 to 20 minutes per charge/rest up. The involvement of planning out a trip involves me pressing a button and saying "destination to, Orlando, Florida" within 5 to 8 seconds a detailed route is already indicated showing the necessary stops for charging. There hasn't ever been an instance where a charger was not working or not working properly. It's just plug and play and that's it. There were times I needed to stop more than my car did. I'm not trying to be negative about your experience but now Tesla opens up, it's network to non-Tesla vehicles. You should seriously look at that as an option for long road trips. Your experience will be night and day from what you have experienced. Just the same, thanks for a very informative video. Good luck in your travels…
Thanks for watching and for your comment. We're pretty zen about the trade-offs we made for the vast benefits we felt we got from the Bolt EUV. We love using wireless Android Auto and Apple Carplay and we ultimately didn't consider any vehicles that didn't have that (including Teslas). The EUV also beat everyone in affordability but glad you like what you have - that's really the goal for all of us.
Edited to add: Tesla only opened up about a dozen of their chargers for non-Teslas and none were on our route. We'd love to try charging at one but we have to get there first. Hope they open up more 🤞
Nice job telling everyone what it is like on a road trip with a BEV. You made it interesting while also hitting all the main things a person needs to know.
Thank you!
Get a real EV, go Tesla, no hassle.
@@trex2092 only thing good about tesla is charging.
Cars are unreliable with crappy build quality.
@@LittleAnastasia...
You obviously don't own one. All the maintenance I've performed on mine is add windshield washer fluid during the past 5 yrs.
Maybe they didn’t want to wait a year for delivery, or buy a car that only a handful of locations can repair. Lots of reasons NOT to buy a Tesla. I bought an EV three years ago myself, it’s Korean.
We got a 2023 Chevy bolt EUV in May 2023. We love all of the information you have been providing on your trips with your bolt from Michigan to Florida. We'd like to drive from Chicago to Tampa...thx
Thank you so much for your comment! We're so glad you found our videos helpful. We actually plan on doing another ride to Michigan and back at some point this year so we'll see what has changed in a year+...
The best trip I have seen. A lot of practical planning and advice.
I purchased a Nissan Leaf in 2016 and drove from Portland, Oregon to Hanford, California. As you said planning is a big part of the trip.
In Northern California there were no Chademo charging stations, so planning for that I took my charging station with me and charged at RV parks as necessary. At this time enough charging stations have been installed carrying a charger is no longer needed.
I was told that I couldn't make long trips with a Leaf. With a bit of planning I made it happen. It took two or three days just to get to Redding. Considering it would take weeks to do that with horse and wagon I was up for the adventure. I considered I was fortunate to be so comfortable taking as long as I did to get there. We rely so much on convenience that we forget about the inconvenience of travel in the past.
It took some of my relatives 3 months to go from California to Ohio by horse and wagon. When they got a car it took 3 days. When a person has a shift in perspective waiting for a car to charge isn't all that bad.
You folks did a great informative job showing us your adventure. Thanks.
Thank you for watching the video and for your comments! We're with you on the perspective of being early adopters with the still early days of EV roll out. We're also fortunate to have the time to take our time.
😂 horse and wagon
Great video. You have probably figured this out from the comments so far, but 100 miles of range is often what you are going to charge UP to, not where you are going to stop and charge. For those who are not familiar with battery charging or EVs in particular, there is a charging "curve." Take not next time you are charging your phone -- it will charge up to 50% pretty fast, then start to ramp down. To get from 80% to 100% might take as long as it did to get from 5% to 80%. So, on a road trip, plan out your stops so that you arrive at a charger with 5 or 10% battery, then charge up to only what you need to reach the next charger. Most EVs start to ramp down the charging speed around 50 or 60%. Your total trip may well be faster if you stop to charge more often rather than less often. Use ABRP (A Better Route Planner) to plan your route. Make sure you enter all of the info properly. Just by using different apps, a trip I take each year could involve 5 hours of charging or 12 hours of charging.
Having said all of that, the ideal situation is to charge at home or at work and never be worried about charging in public except for trips that take you outside of your car's range. Yesterday, I took my family on a trip to an airplane museum. The round trip was right at 160 miles. I could have turned around and gone back to the museum without even worrying about charging. When I got home, I plugged in, and when I got in my car this morning, my "tank" was full. Magic!
Very much THIS. Also the faster chargers only work on vehicles that can accept the faster charge rates. Every EV is different so you need to know your car. Using a 350KVa charger on a car that can only accept a 100 would not charge it any faster. Hope the OP are enjoying their new vehicle.
wow, just confirms what I and many others think of going electric. Great report btw. So for me, my trips to FL are 14 hours from OH to the panhandle, using good old fashioned ICE vehicles. Usually do this in one day, easy, only pulling over for fuel and food, maybe 4 - 6 short stops in all... With the short range and lengthy charging times required and add the surprizing unreliability of these stations = HIGH RANGE ANXIETY. So my take away from your report is my 1 day trip is now 3 days, long days with long shopping excursions at coffee shops, restaurants and walmarts which equals even more $$ not to mention additional hotel overnight expenses. This may explain why many with EVs also have their trip vehicle, the large, thursty Suburbans, Tahoes and Excursions. Add the cost of these charging locations, doubt there is much saving on energy costs as well. Until this tech reaches well over 400 miles range, EVs will largely remain a niche vehicle for short commutes that can be reliably charged at each end of the commute. That said, from what I have researched, the Bolt seems like a real value buy that is fun to drive and built with good quality, and may just maybe have a place in my driveway used for my 125mile twice a week commute. Of course next to the Escalade, CTS and Avalanche.
@Jeff & Jody Auman Not quite as bad as you indicate. The bolt is the second worse "long trip" vehicle ive seen but is a good local commuter vehicle. I went from NY to Miami and the trip took 2 hours more in my tesla than i previously had done in my gas Acura. And there are MANY other cars that charge even faster than Tesla. But reliability of the stations is a real thing. An EV may not be for everyone but with a different EV it would not take 3days to go from Ohio to the Florida pan handle.
@@omarastacio3939 It's not even that bad in a Bolt. I have driven from MD to MI in my Bolt. That's about 750 miles. I can do that in a day. I prefer to take two days if I'm the only one driving, but I have done it in a day. From MI to FL is about 1,000 miles, depending on the exact starting and finishing lines. That could easily be done in two days. These nice folks are new to EV road-tripping and didn't realizer that they should drive further down into the pack and not charge to 100%. They probably could have cut their charging time in half, if not more.
@@jmcbrew Glad to hear it. Some people are just going to hate.
I left Ann Arbor Mi. In my Jetta hybrid I drove all the way to just north Knoxville for my first fuel took on 10.1 gallons. 45 MPG. The next day stopped in Macon Ga. For food and bought 8.5 gals. Went straight home villages. Total 24 gals with two stops. Would not want to drive a bolt anywhere past a local stop.
Excellent video! We have only 300 miles on our 2023 Chevy Bolt EUV. We love the car❤
Thanks so much for watching and for your comment!
Very helpful and fun to watch! Thank you for sharing :-)
Thanks for your comment. You're welcome. It was fun to make!
RETIRED, 79, FREEDOM, USAF, VFW. BOUGHT CHEVY VOLT IN 2014 USED HOME SOLAR FOR ALL CHARGING, 2018 MOVED VOLT TO DAUGHTER. BOUGHT TESLA MODEL 3. STILL USED SMALL SOLAR FARM ON PROPERTY FOR CHARGING. HAVE CYBER TRUCK COMING IN 2024. LOVE YOUR FRONTIER ATTITUDE, WIFE AND I ARE THE SAME.
Thank you for the video and sharing your experience. It is very helpful .
I really enjoyed your video and your narration! I haven't had the opportunity to drive my 2023 Bolt past 300 miles on one trip. But I'm constantly encouraged by videos like yours. Thanks for sharing. BTinAZ.
Great job at filming and narrating your experience with the Bolt on a long drive!
Thank you!
We have been Electric for 5 years. We did have a level 2 charger installed at our house and it was convient . We gathered 20 to 28 "miles" for each hour plugged in. We sold the house and moved into a condominium that only has level 1 charging in our garage area. We have been here for 2 years and the level 1 charging is all we use locally. If we are plugged in for 12 hours it equates to 60 to 72 "miles" Our charge field is 20% to 80%. For local use we charge between 30% and 70%. Loved your video. A confidence builder. Well done.
Oh! The reason we went electirc is I have a friend who purchased a Tesla Model S in 2013. He drives it from Melbourne to Daytona 4 times per week. He has over 500,000 miles. Only had to replace the brakes 2 times and tires. Original battery was recalled at around 50,000 miles but this batters bank just keeps on going.
I appreciate your comments - thank you! We're keeping to the 20/80 but 30/70 sounds right for Level 1 charging. It's funny too that, just like a gas car, you don't need to fuel up every day if you're running around your own town mostly.
Great video, subscribed and can’t wait for the next one!
Thank you! Our very next video is going to be about a Disney trip we just took but the one after that will be about our Bolt purchase so stay tuned!
Fun story to listen to. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching and very glad you enjoyed it.
Great video with helpful information. Thanks for sharing.
So glad you found it helpful!
We have the same Bolt here in northern Ohio. Your video was so concise and quite informative! We're planning a trip to D.C. then out west and have been experimenting with all the different charging stations. You're right that it takes A LOT of homework to figure this all out. Thanks for your efforts in posting this video. So helpful!
Thank you so much for your comments and we're so glad you found the video helpful. We just re-did our I-75 trip and the charging network has definitely improved! Good luck in your travels!
If I needed to head to Florida, I would drive to Lorton, Virginia, and take the Amtrak Auto Train down to Sanford, Florida. For those who don’t know, the Auto Train allows travelers to get their vehicle loaded onboard the train, which also runs in the other direction from Sanford to Lorton. There are charging stations relatively close to both termini.
Great educational insightful video.
It does highlight the stress of charging. I have a Chevy Volt and never have to worry about charging on long drives. I would only purchase a full EV once I can have 400 miles and 20-80% charge in 10 min or less… plus the charging infrastructure needs a lot of work.
We had a Volt as a temporary driver for a couple of months and we wanted to buy one but at that time we were in a condo with no access to charging at all so it just didn't make sense. That said, I'm glad we took the plunge to full electric, for a few different reasons.
honestly this is an edge case for this particular model. Hopefully most buyers will be aware of the slow charging speeds (most EVs are faster) and will either compromise with a slower trip, or arrange around hotels with slower overnight chargers. Or just live with it for local driving. The affordability of this car is its killer feature. It should not be considered any kind of benchmark to decide whether you can live with an EV generally though. I’m sure this channel was aware of the limitations and it meets their needs despite that.
@@MrKlawUKjust bought a 23 bolt EV, the range is amazingI've had short range (50-90 mile) EVs for almost 5 years, mostly commuting, absolutely worth any trade-off.
Thanks for this charging travelog! For those of us contemplating the leap into BEV world, it is reassuring. In these still early days of BEVs, patience and careful planning can be virtues. Yes, if one drives a Tesla, route planning will be easier. But for most of us, route planning requirements are occasional, while daily driving--for many (those with detached family homes)--can be a non-issue. Those living in apartments and condos, however, can have a much different experience.
This is why in my opinion every single ev car manufacturer needs to go in together on a fund to put level 2 chargers at every apartment and condo if they really want electric vehicles to succeed
@@justinjones6810 I like this idea. Some sort of consortium of automotive companies and maybe local governments and maybe charging services providers?
I'm glad you liked it and your comments are spot on. 93% of our nights in the year we'll be charging at home.
I do not want to take a road trip focused on finding the next working charging station, every 200 miles.
My little Chevy, about the same size, showed 464 miles range on a full tank. At last fill-up, range was 61, travel 403 miles. Odometer reading was 82707, then 83094. 403-387=16, is damned close in difference.
Congratulations on your new Bolt. I ordered one in December. It still hasn't been built yet. Hopefully it will be built soon. Gr8 vid. 🚙 🇺🇸 🔌
Thank you!
Excellent video!
Thank you for your comment!
Very nice trip, congrats on the new car!
Thank you! And thanks for watching!
You two has so much fun it really makes me want to buy and electric car because we have so much free time.
a nice tour of charging stations
Great video! Our Bolt EUV came fully charged, lol. We love ours. Being retired, we don't mind the 50 kwh speed of charge; we plan to travel. I'm sorry it snowed the day you visited Michigan. 🙂
Really glad you liked the video. Ours came fully charged too. We actually used to live close to that area - many years ago so we drove around a bit visiting some old haunts and that's why it needed charging.
@Paradise Today we're from Lansing. We called around to make sure the dealer wouldn't charge more than MSRP. One huge mistake: our local utility offered a $1000 rebate to install a level two charger (offering 7 cents per kWh). But it had to be hard wired and on a separate meter. All told that cost $3700. And on top of that, the cost is 13 cents, and there's a meter fee extra! With our efficient EUV and being retired, we'll never recoup that cost. Still learning at 69, lol.
@Liz Burgess Ugh! That stinks and I hate when that kind of stuff happens 😭 We were lucky that our installation was fully paid for by GM with our Bolt EUV purchase. We plan on doing a video for the electric install in a few weeks.
Hopefully, one day we will never need to worry about charging during travel.
It seems like the infrastructure is going to get there so fingers crossed!
Its been available for years: Tesla
If you bought a Tesla no issues
Nice, friendly presentation.
Thank you - I appreciate your comment!
Something you’ll learn in time is that the charge curve when using a DC fast charger is highly dependent upon battery temperature. This is why fast charging a cold battery at the start of a trip can take double the time it does when the battery is warm (> 88 F). If you make this trip in the future, you might want to consider stopping at a little-known fast charger at Apollo Career Center, south of Lima and a few miles west of 75-that could have spared you that stop in Toledo. As you indicated, it’s pitiful how bad the fast charger selection between Detroit and Dayton. Wish you safe travels!
Thanks for your comment Vlad. We probably will take the trip again and my husband did have Apollo Career Center as a back up. When we drove up we scoped it out but I forgot to take a picture of it so I didn't include it in the video. Thanks for mentioning it.
The Apollo DCFC has been intermittently offline lately, I wouldn’t rely on it
Thanks! Good to know.
@@paradisetoday- a bit longer - but more comfortable - trip (in a Bolt) is to parallel I-75 between Toledo and Dayton. There are EA chargers on the Ohio Turnpike E and W of Toledo. If you took a route through the Eastbound turnpike chargers and then south through Tiffin toward Columbus, the charger spacing is better, essential when it’s cold. As you get more comfortable with your Bolt and find regional chargers which are working most of the time, for the best charging throughput, try to space the chargers about 100 miles apart, and run between 10% and 60 or 70%. As you found, non Tesla charging along I-75 through Ohio and Kentucky is quite the challenge. You should rent a Tesla and try the same trip - better charger spacing, battery preheat capability, and 2-4x charging speed. Enjoy your Bolt!
Great video production showing the real world of longer distance EV driving.
Thank you!
Not a real world experience if you drive a Tesla
This is insane.
Stopping after only 90 minutes to stretch your legs?
Yeah that’s about 2 hours too soon.
Thank you! Average, Average, Average. 8:56 bailing.
I drive an eeeeevil diesel. Fill the tank. Drive 900 miles. Fill the tank. Drive 200 miles. Done.
surprised i had to scroll this far into comments to find someone else thinking the same i was
@@xiaoka yup....
Came across your video and really enjoyed you sharing your experience! As a fellow EV driver, always interested in seeing what the long road trip experience is in different vehicles, as well as strategies people use for charging.
Hats off to you two. We have a Bolt EUV Premiere (no Super Cruise); live in Daytona Beach Shores (nextdoor to the ChargePoint site you visited); brought our car 22 miles from home and have yet to take a road trip in it. We applaud your sense of adventure considering this was your first EV and were not familiar at all with it. Lucky for you that you encountered no issues. I'd love to try a road trip North but Mama says "That's what airplanes are for 😊." As neighbors, maybe we'll meet; love to hear more Bolt tales from you. Enjoy your EV.
I drive from Marysville, OH. to south Georgia for an overnight, then am to my parents place in Fort Myers, FL by around 3 pm the next day. 1,160 miles in a little under 36 total hours including gas, overnight sleep and driving. I don't think I'll ever own an EV until I can make a similar trip in a similar amount of time because I think its just too costly to overnight twice, and I like to drive for at least 3 hour stretches before stopping to stretch, eat, get gas. Maybe in another 10 years an EV able to make a trip like this as I'm used to might be viable. It was interesting to listen to your info and data and learning from your experience. Videos like this continue to inform me when I think EV technology is ready for prime time use by someone like me.
I'm glad you found our video helpful.
Should be possible even in a Bolt. I just got back from an Ohio to Florida and back road trip in my Bolt and it was only 20hr 30mins each way. Did it in one shot on the way down and one shot on the way back up. 1,025 or so miles each way. If we had stopped halfway and slept at a hotel from 8pm-8am, total travel time would still only be 32hr 30mins, which is hours lower than your current time anyway. Hope this data point also helps!
exactly.... taking this long to get to Florida and having to spend $$$$$ on hotels is insane.
Wow... I will never complain about the Tesla Super Chargers on I95 NYC - D.C. route..... this lady and her husband are true troopers. The Bolt is good from local drives when charging at home.
I feel for you on this long road trip. I try to limit my Bolt adventures to 400 miles or less a day. The Bolt will slow to 7kW or less from 90 - 100% on the Level 3 chargers.
Thank you!
Most evs really slow down over 80%. Unless you need it to get to your next charge, there is really no reason to go over 80%. You just tske a lot of time and clog up the machines for others
What year Bolt do you have? I just tested my '22 EUV on a DCFC today and from 90-97% I got 13-9kW. Battery temps were 20C exact.
We are in the infancy of this transformation to an electrified personal transportation regime. We have to thank all those early adopters like yourselves for easing us into it and exposing what still needs to done for universal acceptance . Kudos to you for posting a real time long distance trip .
I know of a guy who regular drives from Portland, Oregon to L.A. and back in his Bolt and he isn't looking back to ICE vehicles as they are history to him. Of note; He does no more than 60-mph and tries to hold speed at 55-mph. This results in well over 4-miles per KW. Like he noted, "the faster you drive, the more time you spend charging".
Thank you for watching and for your comment! Those are very helpful details on speed vs. kilowatt usage from your friend and it's similar to what we've found.
Hotels should provide a way to reserve a level-2 EV charger overnight for a nominal fee. If the hotel sees more demand for overnight charging than they have level-2 outlets they could optionally provide charging valet service to rotate cars overnight. That might not even require accessing the interior of any car or moving cars, assuming they have enough parking spots within the cord length of the level-2 outlets.
It would be nice to just have a 120v outlet and a nominal daily fee too. Won't do much in a hurry but a kW is a kW.
Saw a Tesla in Helen Georgia with a regular extension cord hanging out the 2nd floor room to their car. That’s crazy
@@Thisishard2333, crazy? Or practical?
I think I'd settle for a massive Banks of level 1 charging. I stayed at a nice hotel with parking reserved for "clean air" vehicles which was abused and they refused to enforce it.
Nice trip information. But looking and waiting for a charge is why I purchased an Audi Hybrid. It's rated at 83mpg. I hold 10 gallons of fuel. My actual miles is actually around 50mpg so I travel 500 miles per tank roughly. Even when gas prices go up it's not a big hit. To wait for and searching for a charge station would drive me crazy.
Me too. Same Audi hybrid as Rian Pelger. I use the EV only while doing errands in town, and use the battery save mode on the freeway.
@RianPelger I'm glad you found the video helpful.
Great video. Thank you for the commentary on the trip. I hope you found the trip enjoyable. I didn’t see how many miles you went or the cost to fill up or your economy in miles per kWh. Those would be helpful.
For example: last year I bought a Ford Fusion Energi plug in hybrid vehicle. I have been tracking its performance. You will see if the Bolt a lack of maintenance required. My FFE has provided 6.38 miles per kWh in the EV only mode. (Non hybrid or gasoline used). This will be your big savings. The fact the FP&L just raised the service charges won’t help you much, but still plenty cheap compared to gas. I am out in California where the gasoline is $4.75. Lucky for me, when in hybrid mode I am showing 68.5 mpg for the last 5 months, and 57.8 for the last 11 months.
For comparison testing, my old Nissan Leaf would cost me about $9.90 for 325 miles
Glad you liked the video. I did mention in the video that it was 1,179 miles. We're working on an upcoming video that should be done in a few weeks about the cost of the trip.
@@paradisetoday thank you for the reply.
Excellent video and narrative. I enjoyed the video very much. You have found out 2 important things about EV's in general and the Chevy Bolt specifically. 1) Long trips with an EV takes planning and multiple down-times are part of the "adventure". 2) The Chevy Bolt is not a long trip kind of EV. I think as most have found out, that the Chevy Bolt is great for around town trips and home charging. Trips of more than 200 miles require planning and patience. I live in MIchigan as well, and our longest trip with any EV would be 155 miles to our daughter's house and then charge to get back to our home. The wife and I are planning to purchase a Chevy Bolt EUV Premier. So videos like this are very helpful. Our Ford Edge is our long distance car.
Thank you for watching and commenting!
@@paradisetoday Thank you for putting up this video. Your narrative was also very engaging. I know from experience it takes a lot of time (editing and reviewing). Still looking at a Chevy Bolt EUV. Would love to buy a Tesla - but they are so expensive!
Thanks for the compliment! Yes - the videos take a lot of work so it's nice to hear that people appreciate them!
Thank you for sharing your experience. I live in Michigan, I have a 2017 Bolt, and I am well aware that the charging situation in Ohio is abyssmal. Out of curiosity, how long were you stopped for charging total? Your husband is right about trying to keep the battery between 20% and 80% in general, but for road trips I find 10% to 90% is fine. I do almost all of my charging in my garage from my level 1 charger. That's good for about 50 miles per day. And that's approximately my daily commute.
I would go100% for road trips to start & on long braks ir overnights, but not letting the batteries sit for long periods at 100%. Silver 2023 LT2
16:33 ty for list!
You're welcome!
"The lower your battery is, the longer you will have to charge." Well, not exactly - the lower your charge is - the FASTER the charging can go. If you plug in when it shows 30 miles left it may only take 30 minutes to add 100 miles whereas if you already have 100 miles left adding 100 more may take an hour. I wish GM would show battery %age as well, they have plenty of room on the screen for it.
I did over-simplify that statement in the video but there are a lot of factors that contribute to charge rate variability including temperature, charge stations, battery condition and level of charge. We're going to do a video in the future to update our experiences.
Very well done video. I have a 2022 Bolt EUV (purchased June 2021) that I took on a 2,200 mile road trip to Louisville KY from Sebring FL last spring. During the trip I had stopped at a number of the same chargers that you ended up using. Much like you, the trick with keeping an EV charged is planning, planning, planning. I never let my average mileage drop below 50 miles and always had an alternate charger within range if I find problems with the original planned stop. I try to keep my battery between 30/80 percent (I don't have a choice with the 80% limit, still have the original battery with the 80% software limitation until I receive the new updated Bolt battery). Looking forward to seeing more of your videos. Enjoy your travels and have a safe time.
Thank you for your comments. The planning is so important in these still early days of the infrastructure build out. We're seeing signs of more electric chargers being installed locally so hopefully it's just a matter of time...
@@paradisetoday Right now EV's are in the Model-T era. The next few years will see a massive increase in the necessary infrastructure. Once people get a chance to start test driving EV's and sales increase, the prices will drop and the sales will skyrocket. It will take a few years but it will totally change the way people drive.
that's right. Charging Adventure. No one ever has a gas station Adventure
They did when ICE cars first came out. We’re still in the EARLY days of adoption.
You must be younger. I've had plenty of gas station adventures 😅 In the late 80s you could easily run out of gas on certain highways because you couldn't always trust those road gas signs. I once drove 5 miles off the highway on fumes to a gas station that was advertised but was out of business. There wasn't any internet then.
Thanks for this video. You confirmed my decision to buy another gas vehicle.
You're welcome. I'm glad you found my video helpful.
Had a Bolt. Great little car. You have to be a glutton for punishment to road trip very often tho. Your video was great.
I'm glad you liked the video. We're retired and plan on traveling a lot in the next 10 years so I guess we are gluttons for punishment 😂
this is a very good video, and I liked it very much but I just thought you should know when fast charging and electric vehicle it charges faster the lower percentage you are and slows down exponentially once it passes 80% charge
Thank you and, yes, we've found that to be the case. We plan on doing another trip to Michigan and back so the next video will address that and we'll skip some of the charging stations.
I have a '23 Prius prime, plug in. 40 miles electric then 50mpg on evil gasoline. It sure beats endless stops to charge up.
The Bolt is a nice EV, but definetely not for road-trips with such slow charging speeds. More of a commuter than anything else.
We actually bought ours to be our car for everything - even long distance trips. We know the limitations of it. We're just optimistic that the charging infrastructure is coming 🤞
It does short road trips well 200-400 miles
good info.
Glad it was helpful!
@@paradisetoday so do you think the charging infrastructure is satisfactory or needs much improvement?
Compared to gas stations it DEFINITELY needs improvement because of all the planning involved but, it looks like the robust infrastructure is coming with lots of government and business commitment. Once we get there, I think electric has the ability to go beyond gas stations - like wireless charging anywhere.
@@paradisetoday i dont charge anything now wirelessly let alone a car.
simply charge to 60% it only takes 1/3 the time. more stops but shorter charging times is the fastest way to road trip.
Zach is my sales guy too!
I lost track of how many times you said “(charger) broken”...the industry needs to address that problem, pronto
I agree - it's not difficult to know when a charger is down because of the app so the charging company should get on it right away. To be fair though, gas pumps are broken all the time too - it's just that there are so many more of them. We're hoping and expecting to see the infrastructure for electric cars grow.
Great video. If you have lots of time for travel, then an EV is OK. We tend to stop frequently as well, but I don’t think I would want to be waiting an hour or more every couple of hours to attain adequate energy to make it to the next charger. For around town driving and being able to charge at night at home, it’s probably not a big issue. Glad you made it home safely. I don’t like driving in the rain either. Even worst when it is snowing. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
This video gives people the wrong idea about road trips in a BEV.
A bolt is just the wrong EV for road trips.
Slow charging and having to only use CCS charging.
I bought a Tesla last summer and have completed two 4k road trips and one 3. 5k road trip. First I don't have to stop every few hours and second It does not take over an hour to charge.
Also I don't have to plan my charging stops.
The Tesla route planner does it for me.
I just tell it where I want to go. It will tell me where to stop, when I will arrive at each stop and how long I will be there to charge.
Should have got a Tesla, loaded with power and better TECH. Super Chargers ROCK.
If you had a Tesla you would know how many are not working and which ones are not working.
Another reason to buy a Tesla for road trips.
@@trex2092 Or they could have gotten TWO Bolts for the price of a Tesla and always had the other one charged and ready to go.
Hello
You left out 2 very important items
1 How much did each charging station cost?
2. What was the total cost of the trip?
For extra credit.
Did you notice a difference between the FREE charging and the paid charging
Thanks for your comment. We do have a detailed spreadsheet with cost, etc that we will be putting into a future video on our reasons for switching to electric. FWIW - on average public charging cost us about the same as our gas vehicle trip on the way up to Michigan. We didn't do any free charging but the two we saw available were Level 2 only.
@@paradisetoday Thank you for the informative video... you are wonderful for sharing your experience... but, (there's always a but), with all due respect, if electric recharging costs "roughly" the same as gasing your car, but you have to hunt to find rechargers, and recharging takes 3 to 4 times longer than gasing your vehicle (be it ICE, HEV or PHEV), I see no advantage what-so-ever for taking a road trip with an EV. I can see the short commute benefits while recharging at home with an EV, but road trips are nothing but downsides and headaches compared to any other type of vehicle. Once again, great video... but aside from a "project to see how it goes", I just can't see the upside to using an EV for a cross-country road trip. Commute to work, sure... but road trip... NOPE.
Nice video and good information. Are you comfortable posting the total amount spent to charge for the trip? I ask because some of the level 3 chargers kWH costs are almost as expensive as gasoline/gallon.
Thank you.
I'm glad you liked the video and we'll absolutely share the costs. We found the same issue you mentioned with away-from-home charging and we have a lot of data about our trip. We're putting everything in our next video which should be done in a week or two.
Buc ee's in Richmond Ky. has installed 12 charging stations.
Thanks for letting me know. Is that Tesla only so far?
This is why reviewers complain that certain EVs charge rather slowly. An Ioniq 6 or 5 would charge at 4-6x the speed as your Bolt, shortening wait times and long trips like this one. But for everyday, city not interstate use, the Bolt is plenty.
I was considering a Bolt, which is why I watched this video. Because of the short range and frequent charging in requirements, usually very slow, I’m going back to waiting for a Tesla and their high speed charging network. Nice video. Thank you for sharing your experience.
You're welcome!
Thank you for sharing your experience. Though you stated that cost was not the reason, I do wonder how much you spent to charge on the trip.
@Gabor Herman Thanks for watching the video. We did add up the costs for the trip in this video here: czcams.com/video/ykbx_ZEOBr0/video.html
I got my EUV at a dealership 70 miles from home, so no worries. Qmerit had my 240 plug installed exactly 3 weeks later. Will probably get a Tesla adapter just in case. I hope they come down in price once more super docs are installed, but may still take years even in Northern California.
Nice! We were lucky and had our installation scheduled for just a few days after we got back from picking up the car. We considered the adapter too but my husband said he'd rather wait for them to roll it out. The infrastructure is definitely coming but you're right, who knows how many years we're looking at.
A tesla adapter only works with their destination level 2 machines a good accessory if you stop and overnight where those EVSE live but no help on road tripping. Looking forward to the expansion of the Magic Dock with Tesla Super Chargers
@@boomerbits2297 thanks for the info, I realized that while traveling at a couple of overnight stops which they only had Tesla Low-level Chargers on site and couldn't use them. Both times chargers were close by both EA, good thing at least one was working.
This is good demonstration of a typical road trip. Not everyone likes to rush to the destination by driving 6-8hours continuous.
An important advise is that stopping for level2 charger on a road trip is just not worth it unless you have no other choice.
Another advise is that GM bolt charges at peak of 50-55kw which is slow. For new buyers, please consider this fact. Also CCS infrastructure is not ideal right now. That's why everyone is switching to NACS (tesla) plug including GM. Buying of Tesla might be the best option when you consider the value, charging speed and availability
Were you using the Super Cruise on the highway during your trip? Would you recommend spending extra money on that feature?
Yes - we used Super Cruise on our trip. Super Cruise was one of the biggest reasons WE bought our Bolt EUV but I don't like making recommendations when it comes to spending other people's money. I can only say that it's something we enjoy using and something we wanted but you should know that we only get it for around 3 years for free and then we have to pay an OnStar Super Cruise subscription service in order for it to update the maps. If you're considering buying a vehicle with Super Cruise you should find out about potential future costs.
If your not in a rush and want to smell the roses an ev is the way to go . I just got done pumping gas . Washed my hands and still smell the gas .
Omg…thanks for the video
For sure no EV for me.
The more I learn about them the less I want one.
Impressively patient road tripping a bolt with super slow DC charging.
An hour per charge isn't the slowest believe it or not. Level 2 is many hours of charging and that's what we have for home charging. DC is only about an hour for charging.
@@paradisetoday sure but the bolt maxes out at at 55kW and for a lot of the charge curve it’s below that. Many new EVs top out at 250kW+ and make for 20 minute or so road tripping stops. If you’ve got the time and aren’t in a hurry though, kudos to you! :)
I have a 2023 bolt that I use is my daily driver for in town only. But there’s no way in hell I would take it on a road trip. What you guys did was an exercise in patience and tolerance. I gave up gas completely, but there was no way I was not going to have a Tesla for road trips. The bolt seriously sucks for any kind of road tripping due to the infrastructure not the cars fault. I guess if you have tons of patience and tons of time to drive 1000 miles which you could drive in 16 hours easy in a gas car, or about the same in a Tesla. But my bolt charges so disgustingly slow that I cannot even imagine taking a road trip in it ever.
We bought our Bolt for around town and road trips. We plan on doing more videos of our travels.
Nice ev.
I gonna start a tow truck business. I see plenty of business in my future.
I notice from the video that the energy efficiency of your trip is between 3.6 and 3.7 miles/kWh. What was your speed on highway? Do you keep a trip log? I am curious of the average speed between stops and the total trip time including charging.
You can see some more details on our 2nd video about our trip but we didn't log the average speed or exact time between stops. We keep to the speed limit mostly so it was 70 and 65 for most of the highway miles.
@@paradisetoday Thank you for your reply. 65-70 mph highway speed sounds about right. InsideEVs did a range test at 70 mph. They get 3.64 mi/kWh. Will you make a video on your way back to Michigan?
We live in Florida so we're home now. We may do the round trip again in a year though.
Showing how much charge is left and how time left to go is new I believe the previous years didn't offer that
Just so viewers know, you don't have to sign up to most of the charging networks. Most of them have credit card readers on the charger.
Excellent, detailed recap of your trip. Ev's are now superior to gas cars in most respects, except for the charging network and charging speeds. Tesla knew this and addressed it from day one. We chose one for superior range, efficiency, and charging network. A shame GM is cancelling the Bolt instead of making improvements. Same for Nissan's Leaf which they beat Tesla to introduction, then let the product linger until it was no longer competitive.
Thank you for your comment. Interested to use the Tesla chargers if they open up more of them. We love our Bolt but we hope newer GM EV models mean better features.
This sounds like a Tesla commercial!
In early November, we took our EUV from Tampa to Grand Rapids, MI, over to Frankenmuth, and then back down through Findlay, over toward Columbus, and then on down I75 back to Tampa. We used some of the same chargers you did. Hopefully, by now, you will have discovered that charging the top half of your battery takes a LOT longer than the bottom half.
Yes! Lol - that's why we were shooting for 80% of charge because that final 20% is a trickle. My husband used to work in the auto industry so he had his finger on that stuff - thank goodness. That sounds like a fun trip - Gotta love those Frankenmuth chicken dinners!
@@paradisetoday
On a Bolt, even 75-80%, charging is already slowing to a trickle. That's why I generally aim to have my long-distance charging stops go from around 15-20% to 60-65%. Of course, one could theoretically get even faster trip times by running the battery down further to use more of that fast charging at the bottom of the battery, but going too much below 20% starts to get risky, as it limits your options in case of broken chargers, missed exits, etc. So, I'll typically aim to charge up at around 15-20%, but adjust based on familiarity with the area and density of chargers. On the stretch of I-75 with very limited charging options, being extra cautious and charging up around 25-30% is probably warranted, even if it's slower. Conversely, if the charger I'm headed to is my home charger and the last 20 miles are filled with in-city DC fast chargers that I have personally used before and know that they work, I would feel comfortable running the battery down to around 10%.
That said, even if I am over 80%, I will still plug into a charger if I need to stop anyway to use the bathroom. Any charge, even a slow charge, is still better than no charge.
I also try very hard to avoid waiting for the car to charge to a very high SOC at a DC fast charger. Over 90-95%, a DCFC is effectively no faster than a level 2 anyway, so at that point, the focus should be on where's the best place to spend the time, not the charger's theoretical max charging speed. Even if software tools such as ABRP would argue otherwise, it is much better to be charging at 7 kW on a level 2 next to a touristy town center and riverfront park than to be charging at 10 kW on a "350 kW" Electrify America with nothing around except for a WalMart and parking lot, even if trip planner software would argue that the latter takes 15 minutes less charging time than the former.
That sounds like a trip full of frustration. If you owned a Tesla you would have had to make stops of no longer than 10 to 15 minutes each on your entire trip. Tesla superchargers are usually dead solid reliable.
It actually wasn't frustrating for us at all. There are A LOT of considerations going into buying a vehicle and we bought the one we wanted after having done all the research and taking our preferences into consideration.
@@paradisetoday I think the Bolt EUV is a excellent city car, but for folks with less patience, not so great a road tripper. GM would have a winner on their hands if they could get that battery to DC fast charge at 150kW instead of only 50.
@@mowcowbell If they owned a Tesla, they would have paid double to charge. And you are completely lying about the time to charge at super chargers. More like 30 mins not 10 or 15. Yes, I drove a M3 for about 3 years. And gave that low quality tin-box to my teenage son, so he has a M3. And ALL EVs are great city cars. That's exactly why they were designed and developed. L2 charging at home and catering to the average driver of 40 to 50 miles per day. My Taycan has a 200 mile range and I charge it at home once a week. Never an issue. My wife's Etron has a 220 mile range. Same thing. L2 charging at home, no issues. These folks are installing a L2 charger at home and this EV will do EXACTLY what they purchased it to do. Also Elon makes more money on the charging than selling cars. Once Tesla owners starting L2 charging at home, Elon starting loosing, well not making as much money on super chargers, so he's opening them up to non-Teslas because its his cash-cow. Not for ANY other reason!
@@reb1225 I have 103k miles on my Model Y. TeslaFi data shows that I've supercharged 166 times at 43 different locations with an average stop time of 13 minutes. I live in the northeast, where it takes longer to charge in the winter too...which is why the time is averaging 13 minutes. So, while you enjoy your local drives, I can tell you that Mowcowbell is correct with the Tesla data when road tripping. I've got plenty of data to prove it.
@@TeslaDo_d Yes of course. If you’re only charging an average of 30 to 40% for each stop, then you should have lower than average stop times. DUH.
Here’s some info for you, I have L2 charged at home for 9 cents per kWh offpeak (before my solar panels) and superchargers are about 28 cents per kWh. So, Elon is making more than 211% profit each time you "supercharge." And Tesla estimates another $25 billion per year PROFIT by opening up superchargers to non-Tesla owners.
So YES, I do enjoy using my EVs for the exact purpose for which they were designed and developed, the average local driver and I've been doing this free for years. I’m stoked!
I've made that trip down 75 at least a dozen times, in a conventional ICE car (lived in MI condo in Miami). With 2 drivers taking shifts I could make it from Detroit to Miami in under 24 hrs- typically 3 or 4 gas+ food breaks- Ave. speed probably about 75-80mph. It always blew my mind to wear a winter coat on Thursday Morning, and swim trunks on Friday! I've recently bought a Tesla- I was curious what your charging costs were for your trip.
@jays1601 Thanks for your interest in our video. We did a follow up with the charging costs - see link: czcams.com/video/ykbx_ZEOBr0/video.html
Hey, what did you do on vacation? Charge my car the whole time. I think until they get these things better hybrid that sips fuel is the way to go. 600 mile range at 57 miles per gallon.
I hope when you plug in you are careful to not block the only Chademo charger (in case some poor Leaf shows up) since there is only one.
I have a Bolt EUV. I don’t do road trips, even with my other gas powered car, so this is perfect for me. I get 280 miles of range this I only need to charge once a week. I can easily charge at home off a start 110 outlet with the charger Chevy includes with the purchase of the car. We also have over 40 level 2 chargers at work, so I charge there most weeks. Who cares that it takes 6 hours, I will be in my office for at least 8.5 hrs. The city has also installed Level 2 charges every few block in the light posts, so that people who live in apartments can charge. It is so convenient I see plenty of Teslas using them.
Thank you for watching and for your comments and agree with your points about charging. Actually our next video is going to be about how often we've needed to go beyond our max range in the time that we've owned our Bolt EUV. It wasn't often.
How much longer did your overall trip take vs the same trip in a gas powered vehicle?
It was longer hours on the road in the Bolt due to the longer stops but we stopped the same number of times (to walk/eat/stretch our legs) and we had 2 hotel nights on the way up in our gas car so it was the same number of hotel nights. On the way up (gas car) we stopped in Macon, GA and Cincinnati, OH. So it was a 2 day/5 hour ride up (gas car) and a 3 full day ride down with the Bolt.
Curious......how much did it cost you to drive home? & how many hours were you driving, including hours at the charging stations?
We did a follow up video with that information. Thanks for watching! czcams.com/video/ykbx_ZEOBr0/video.html
Good video documenting electric car travel. My takeaway is electric vehicles are good for around town use and charging overnight at home. The grid and electric automobiles seems unable to support long road-trips as fossil fuel vehicles currently do.
Did you use Plug Share or A Better Route Planner?
We used Google, the Chevy App, and A Better Route Planner. People who wrote the Google reviews of the charging stations were very helpful. We still had to call a few of the places to verify that their stations were working.
Nice to hear some real world feedback on roadtrips, from someone who isn't taking a position in the EV culture wars.
Thanks for your comment. There are plenty of products out there to satisfy all of us. We're all only responsible for choosing what works for us.
I would've like to know what was the cost of charging from the time of pick up and to your last stop of charging!!
We put it in this video czcams.com/video/ykbx_ZEOBr0/video.html
I have made the trip NY to florida a 100 times, I would never do it with that many stops. I would have started with 100% and put at least 95% each time. As long as you are driving right away it does not hurt batteries. SUX that chevy put only 50 KW fast charging in a car in 2023. But any fast would prob catch fire.
I wish you talked about the supercruise...
We'll be doing a Super Cruise video at some point.
loved the video! It was informative. I have to say tho watching you charge so many times and for so long makes me glad I bought a Tesla. Well over 250 miles of range, Super chargers all over the place and speeds that hit 230KW or so instead of the 50kw max your bolt does makes travel a lot less stressful and faster. Usually I aim to stop and charge from approx 20% to 80% on a trip and usually it takes about 30 min and the super chargers tend to be just off the highway so it is easy off and on. If Chevy would make it so it charged at say 150kw max that would help tremendously
I think improvements are coming and our Bolt is really one of the slower DC charging vehicles but affordability and Super Cruise really mattered to us. DC fast charging was not a major factor in our decision. All EVs have the same charging speeds at home (Level 1 or 2 AC charging).
@@paradisetoday that's true about charging at home when you can sleep for hours while charging.
Road trips are another thing.
@@paradisetoday you and your husband did a good job Don't let the Tesla fan boys discourage you on making your purchase Tesla has the best charging network out there but their fanboys think Tesla is the holy Grail and can't do no wrong and everybody else's are idiots if they don't buy a Tesla. As long as you are happy that's all that matters.
Ironic that you charged in Findlay, OH. That's the headquarters for Marathon Oil.
I will stick to my gasoline powered truck even though gas prices are too high.
Unless you live in on the West Coast, where gasoline costs are currently over $6/gallon and diesel is even more! Lucky us.
This is an adventure, and you all are learning about charging and electric vehicles, however, to most folks just sounds like a form of torture. It’s a real testament to the need for a national dependable charging network. Also a bolt is not a road trip car. The charging speed is too low.
I disagree - I think the Bolt, mainly because ours has Super Cruise, is a great car for a road trip. It is for us.
You will soon learn how to charge to lower levels to save time. EVs charge quicker at a lower percentage of charge. The Bolt is limited to 55KW below 50%. But quickly slowes charge rate after that.
Also using the plug share app. You can verify that your next chosen charger is operating correctly by looking at the charger comments.
Welcome to the EV community. You will be very happy with your Bolt. The convenience of charging at home, the easy parking, and the quiet but quick acceleration are great.
We are loving nearly everything about it! We know we didn't necessarily have to charge for an hour at every stop but we did it out of an abundance of caution and because we had the time. The infrastructure is just not here yet but it's coming.
I live in MI (the SW corner of Metro-Detroit, Sterling Heights is more centrally located in Metro-Detroit but not dramatically different.) I used A Better Route Planner to calculate a drive from home to Daytona. FL using a Chevy Bolt EV and a Tesla Model 3 long range. The Tesla would take about 20 hours to make that drive, the Bolt… over 26 hours. The difference? Charging time. The Bolt is a slow charger even with a DC fast charger. So these long trips are doable with a Bolt… as long as you aren’t in a hurry But 20 hours isn’t “in a hurry” either. If you’re in a hurry you’re flying. And the Bolt is about 40% less expensive than the Model 3. So if you aren’t taking long trips anyway… you can save a lot buying a Bolt vs. a new Tesla Model 3. New. You may be able to get a used Model 3 for less than the new Bolt. That’s what I’m looking into. I have a Bolt EV on order but it’s taking WAY too long to get GM to build the car (been waiting since October, crazy!)
Thanks for your comment and good observations about long trips. It took us 7 months to get ours built but, just like the trip from Michigan, we weren't in a hurry which I'm glad about!
@@paradisetoday Another huge bonus buying a new Bolt… Chevy will pay a decent amount towards getting a 240 volt line run to a garage/outside to help with charging. It may cover 100% of that in fact! You’d still have to buy the EV Servicing Equipment (EVSE, aka level 2 charger) but some utilities give rebates on some EVSE models. It’s a great way to get into EVs for less than any other option. The main downside is that slow charging. Only really an issue on long trips though, and it’s a bit of an issue with all EVs (to different degrees.)
The used Tesla we looked at today was great, but they’re still asking too much for what it is. So not a better option than the Bolt EV 2LT we have on order. I’ll still be a fellow Bolt owner at this rate! Some day.
The installation of the 240 volt line ended up being free for us so that was awesome! Our Bolt EUV has DC fast charging capability and the Level 1/2 EVSE as standard and that was also a draw for us.
@@paradisetoday- take a trip across FL and see how much more efficient that car is when it’s warm outside. You can approach 300 miles of range if you stay off the freeways!
The time comparison that really matters is not long how the trip would theoretically take in a faster charging car, but how it would actually take for you as an individual, by the time you get through all of the stops and breaks necessary to stay awake on the road.
As an example, the longest road trip I ever took was Seattle to San Jose, which I did in an ICE car. Spent a total of about 18 hours over two days, including rest stops. According to ABRP, the time required to make that exact same trip in a Bolt is 18 hours 26 minutes. Of course, the charging would impact where the rest stops would happen, but the total amount of time spent resting to complete the trip would be essentially the same. And, this is comparing with a gas-powered car, which refuels even faster than a Tesla charges.
Of course, some people are able to road trip faster than this. But, for those that can't, spending money on a car that can charge faster than a Bolt can isn't actually improving your trip time.
Now you know why Ford and GM switched to the Tesla Super Charging Network
Thank you for the video. Seems the charger availability is ok now but a influx of EV’s would be a nightmare.
Not really. The influx will be accompanied by an influx of charging.
what a hassle to be sure. no thanks. gawd help us all in 10 years. LOL! 😂