I Road Tripped a Chevy Bolt to see why EVs AREN'T SELLING - 1,100 Miles Eye-Opening Experience
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- čas přidán 7. 01. 2024
- I drove from Seattle, WA to Las Vegas, NV using only chargers available to the public in a 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV. Besides the slow charging times, I found some other unexpected surprises along my trip.
I traveled 1,284 miles over three days. The lowest cost that I paid was $0.48/KWH, and the highest was $0.64/KWH. Charge times averaged about 1 hr per charge to gain approximately 150 miles of range. The most expensive charges were from Electrify America chargers. - Auta a dopravní prostředky
It's not that bad. My wife has driven our Bolt from Seattle to Bend, Oregon. She & her mom picked charging stops at interesting places like Walmarts, and they dawdled long enough that they were done charging before they got back to the car.
I've done the same, if you walk to a nearby fast food place and sit down to eat, you're done before you get back.
150 miles is over 2 hours of driving, and I like to stop every 2 hours anyway for a break.
My Bolt is great, I drive it from DC to NYC with just one 45 minute stop. You need that break from the crazy traffic/drivers in my opinion. I just have 3 apps, Electrify American, Charge Point and EV Go.
If the goal is to get more people to adopt EVs then an EVs strength is as a commuter vehicle. I realize this does not make exciting videos, but this is their strength.
The adoption of EVs by Americans does not have to be an all or nothing scenario. If you have two adults in a household, one owns an EV and one a gas car. The EV is used for the daily commute. If a trip is taken out of town, you take the gas car. You charge by plugging into your home. What about apartment dwellers? That is a personal choice of whether you want the hassle of charging publicly.
I have a 40 mile commute. I never charge in public. I can run my car for $35 a month during the warm months and $45 a month when it is cold. That is how you sell an EV.
Great first trip! However, It is possible with a Bolt to road trip quite a bit faster than what's shown in the video by optimizing the charging better. The key is that charging starts to get slower long before the battery reaches 80%, so if you cycle the battery between 10% and 55%, it works out to 25 minute charging sessions gaining 100 miles of range, which is much less charging time overall than 60 minute charging sessions to gain 150 miles of range, even though it means stopping to charge more often. Leaving home with a full battery also helps a ton, as does staying at hotels with overnight charging so that every day begins with a full battery, not just the first day. If done right, a Bolt driver can actually road trip faster than a drive of a more expensive EV that is less prepared.
That's a great tip! I'll try that during the next charging session, Thanks
You gotta check plugshare ahead and contribute your charging experiences when you charge.
I know someone must have told you that putting fat tires on will kill your range.
That EA stop in Sutherlin, OR next to the DQ and Starbucks makes you so jealous with those 50+ Tesla chargers sitting over there empty. I would avoid EVCS like the plague. They're a total ripoff and I'm convinced a scam to just get govt grants to install the hardware then abandon it.
Which app are you using to find charging stations? Thank you!
Great Video!! Probably does not make sense to occupy a 350KW charger when the Bolt has a max charge rate of around 55KW. Obviously station does not look busy so not a huge deal. But if a car with the capability of 350KW comes along they would then be stuck potentially using a slower charger. While you pull 55KW out of a 350KW stall. Plugging into a 150KW stall is going to charge the car at the same rate (55KW).
My thoughts exactly! Most of the time the only chargers available (or that worked at all) were of the 350kw variety. Seemed like a waste to only use 55kw of capacity with the bolt! It was really hit and miss as to what was available. Some stations, like the Electrify America one on the way to Las Vegas in Death Valley only offered the 350kw chargers.
These comments are from people that don’t live in Oregon. The Chevy bolt is great for getting around the state. Plenty of chargers everywhere and for 3-5 hour road trips around the state the bolt is perfect.
How’d the ride change with the lowering coils? How much stiffer?
Nice video of a good adventure!
Thank you! The coils made a world of difference for the handling - it's a little bit stiffer, but the body roll is substantially less. It easily out handles any of my other cars. The only place that I really notice the stiffness is going over speed bumps, but other than it, it's great!
1 hr per stop is quite a lot. If only Bolt could hit 100 kW. Good on you for patiently making the trip!
you use an extension cord to charge? normal outlet?
I absolutely love the Chevy Bolt for what it is, but I would never use it to leave the Phoenix metro area where I live. For any trip farther than that I have my old Saturn.
Yeah, I agree. The Bolt is great as a daily driver, where charging can be done overnight at a slower rate. I mainly wanted to do the trip to see what the current state of the non-tesla network is for a roadtrip like this. Thanks for watching
I stick to hybrid. Thank you very much.
Get a Chargepoint RFID card, they will most activate Chargers stations that don't have a data connection.
if you have good amount of time, Bolt euv is not bad for the road trip
damn... that's not even that much cheaper than my V6 ICE car would cost to fill up and go the same distance. About 400 miles per tank, at let's say $3.80 per gallon 87 where I live right now, it would come to about $200...
I like the rims on your Bolt. The DCF charging cost is waaaaaayyy too much.
Thanks, they're of the Tsw Paddock variety. Agree, much higher than the $0.13/KWH that I usually pay charging at home.
The range is fine. The charging rate of the Bokt is horrible. 40-50m stops every 150miles on average.
Depends how far you drive. For 3-5 hour trips is great.
~50kW charging sucks, especially when you can't even go that fast beyond 55-60% charge. Might be tolerable if it held that up until 80%. If I got an EV with road trips in mind, I'd really want something that can do at least 100kW from 10% to 70%.
These videos make me so happy that I bought a Tesla. I almost went the cheaper route with a Bolt but I drive way too much for that to have worked out well. It's fine if you never take long trips and just charge at home. I just went from Minneapolis to Miami and back. It was by far the most pleasant road trip of my life. It takes a little longer than with a gas car but it's easy to manage with Tesla's system and the Full Self Driving more than makes up for the slight inconvenience that remains. I don't get why the other charging networks didn't just copy the Tesla system for the most part. Throw in Camp Mode and the bed that I put in the back and a gas car just doesn't compare.
I had a Bolt EV and I've done road trips in it Chicago to Denver and Back and I then got a Tesla Model 3 Performance...WAY better...
@@darrenorange2982 how difficult was it for you in the Bolt? It looks like a nightmare.
It still sucks to take long road trips in a Tesla but it’s doable and not completely horrible but definitely not “pleasant”
@@JosephHowes2003 It was just the charging stops typically where 40-80 minutes long and most where over an hour. We only had 1 issue with a charger the whole time there and back. From a reliability sense it was not all that bad. I think things have changed today. My trip was August 2020.
@@frankeewagner If you are in a big battery Model 3 or Y or a 2022 or newer Model S or X it's very pleasant to me it's nearly no different than gas and it's way cheaper than gas.
EV means EVentually you will get there!!! 😂. I have the 2020 bolt, I live in Alaska and it’s quite the adventure. We also have a newer GMC Yukon for deeper snow, long drives, etc.
Even at 32mpg, a 15.9gal tank will at least bring 400mi per tank, with the cost of $50 will be almost the same and save 9 hours.
Delta is like $150 for that route, why didn’t you just do that?
The Chevy Bolt is a poor choice for a long road trip to find out "why EVs aren't selling." It uses outdated tech and is much slower to charge than newer EVs. I own one and love it. But I'd never take it on a road trip like this.
Depends where you live. Works great for road trips around Oregon!
I agree… I have a 2021 Bolt and drove it nearly 14,000 miles across the USA and Canada over 2 months time. This is not the car you want to take on a trip like that. I now have a 2023 Ioniq 6 in addition to the Bolt and it is a pleasure to take on road trips. It is comfortable, charges fast and has great range. The Bolt is now mostly relegated to local and some regional driving. I still like the Bolt a lot, but I know its strengths and weaknesses, and use it within those confines.
I owned a Chevy Spark EV. Same tech but much smaller of a battery. I traveled like crazy. I only got 70 - 80 miles on a full charge. When I get the bolt, I will be traveling all over. The charging speed doesn't bother me one bit. I have patience. Everyone is different and we all have different needs.
Thankful I purchased a 530 mile range , Rav4 Hybrid, 40+ mpg - waiting an hour to get 150 more miles Yikes.
That’s insane! My Chevy Cruze Sedan turbo Diesel 6 Speed manual gets 52 MPG, 500 miles per tank, the best I’ve had is 64.5 MPG, but usually around 45 MPG combined, I road trip a lot, adding 9 hours to the trip is ridiculous, add the cost of the hotel to the cost of the trip, because if the extra time wasted, plus 140 miles between charges? What about when it runs out in an unsafe place?
Exactly! I couldn't believe that some of the chargers were at $0.64 per KWH. Absolutely mind boggling!
@@completeconcepts what was the total electricity cost of the 1200 miles
For doing 300+ miles per day, the Bolt EV is not the way to go. But this was a fun exercise in patience and exploration of the non-Tesla charging network.
@@anthonyc8499 yeah I still wonder what the cost was for comparison to a hybrid? 1200 miles would be about $100 in gas for me
I think the main cost benefit, especially if you often have to use expensive DC fast charging, is in the average maintenance costs for an ICE vs an EV.
I would think the straw that broke the camels back is waiting an hour per charge, and having to recharge 9 times! Who has 9 hours to waste?
you reference tesla but chose to pick different charging networks... next time stick to 1 network. Like a Tesla would
Sometimes you have to choode diff charging networks, as 1/2 the locations don't work.
Tesla's supercharging network rules, just like their cars.
Yeah, the tesla network is really well executed. It's a huge value add to their platform. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to use their network with the Bolt...
I was glad to see this video as I'veMexico
@@completeconcepts How did lowering your Bolt affect your efficiency, miles/kwh, and your odometer/speedometer accuracy?
EVs aren’t selling because batteries are expensive and myths from anti EV crowd.