Holy smokes! This was an awesome review. Your excitement has gotten me to be even more interested in the Bolt. I’ve set up a visit to two different Chevy dealers. Thanks for the good job on the review.
Great info in this video! I bought my first electric car in Feb. 2021. It's a new 2020 Chevy Bolt and I LOVE it. It's great to drive, stops well and moves fast and quiet. My only problem is charging it. I live in an apartment complex and I am not allowed to install a charger in the garage. There is not a charger in the complex either. That means I have to drive up the road to a tire dealer, set it up and then walk home. If it snows it's going to be a real pain. The new controls set by GM for charging is a real handicap. No higher than 90% charged and you can't drive less than 70kwh. My husband is in a MA nursing home which is 80 miles each way from home. I'm going to try the drive and hope the fast charge on Rte 80 is working. Take care and stay safe, Laurie
So, just FYI, the reason that range estimates for ICEs are so much more predictable is that an ICE is only 25% thermally efficient to begin with, so it therefore carries a lot more energy (a 10 gallon gas tank holds 337kWh of energy). So you have a lot of slop to play with before what you do begins to have a material affect on the range. OTOH the Bolt (with a full charge) has the equivalent of 1.8 gallons of gas. If you only ever put 1.8 gallons of gas in your ICE, I guarantee that you would see drastically different range achieved with that 1.8 gallon based on relatively minor differences in driving style. So the bottom line is: The reason BEVs have a difficulty predicting range is that they are always driving around with 1.8 gallons or less of fuel!
loved your review, the Bolt premier model (top of the line) which costs more does have a package $495 you can add with sort of autonomous emergency braking and rear parking sensors. this model also has a 360 degree camera with a birds eye view of the car from above when reversing or parking the car. as well as leather seats and most of the options options you added to your car are standard like heated seats for 4 passengers, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert and heated external mirrors. The fast charging dc option still costs an additional $750 like you paid there is also a entertainment package that can be added to the Premier model for another $495 that gives you 7 Bose speakers and 2usb ports for rear passengers and some other goodies . you forgot to tell us how much it cost to install a stage 2- 240v charging system in your house. I love the Bolt in Kenetic Blue I think it is for another $395 for that color. I'm waiting for the 2019 Hyundai EV Kona to see how this compares price wise with the Bolt. It comes with a lot of safety on the entry level model and is around size of the Bolt but slightly less tall. The fit and finish and seat cushioning will be exceptional and this might become the top seller in the near future providing Hyundai can make enough of them to export. I hear there is a world shortage on the lithium battery systems that power all electric cars and this is hampering production output of all electric model cars worldwide.
FYI - I'm getting 5 miles per hour charge rate with the charger that comes with the Bolt. The charger that comes with the Bolt is a level 1 only charger. You can set the Bolt's charge rate at 12 amps, which is 5 miles per hour charge rate, or 8 amps, which is 3 miles per hour charge rate using the same charger that comes with the Bolt. The charge rate is a user setting on the charge screen and only is for level 1 charging like using the charger that comes with the Bolt. If you have a 15 amp outlet you can change at 12 amps no problem as long as nothing else is plugged into that circuit breaker. If you have a 20 amp outlet you can charge the Bolt at 12 amps and run a full size refrigerator on the same circuit breaker, no problem, like I'm doing. I have no need for the level 2 charger because I usually don't travel more than 60 miles a day, so the bolt charges to 88% using "Hilltop Reserve" mode in about 12 hours max, usually a little less. I recommend using "Hilltop Reserve" mode to preserve the battery life, which will give you a range of around 209 miles. Just turn off hilltop reserve if you need the maximum range.
Actually, out-of-the-box the stock EVSE is a level 2. You simply need to plug it into 240 vac. There are 20A blade receptacles that support a 240vac 12amp charge (2.8kW charge rate) that you can install in your garage wall and the included EVSE will plug right in and give you that 2.8kW charge rate. This is interesting because it is very cheap to install (the receptacle itself costs $11.00 at home depot and you just need to wire it to 240vac) and it provides about 11 miles per hour of charge (so overnight for 10 hours about 110 miles which will probably be all that most people need for daily commuting).
I have an Android device, and based on your demo I would say that Google voice assistant is light years ahead of Siri. Even when I stumble with my request, if I correct myself it will pull the right information out. It is better at determining what I meant to say than most people are.
Nice video. Thanks. I've been looking at the LT with those same two packages. Agreed that there are decent pricing options in Maryland. Waiting to see what the Leaf pricing is like in 2019 with the longer range battery. Also Leaf has more safety packages like pedestrian alert, collision warning with auto breaking and the traffic aware cruise control. But the Bolt is definitely fun to drive and the infotainment screen is nice.
After watching you said you didn't like the a/c funticion on the centre screen,Don't even think about a Tesla Model 3 because it is ALL touch screen controlled,Also Model 3 basic has no heated steering wheel even in most expensive model and no heated seats on base model.The Bolt you own is the exact same as the one we looked at on Saturday.
The Bolt uses a high-powered AC compressor that runs off the high voltage system. Search Weber Auto channel on youtube. There are full teardown of the Bolt and reassembly. You can learn a lot of things in those videos,.
My dealer had a partnership with Katz Skin. I had it done 'after market' but the price was rolled into the purchase price of the car. You could have it done on your own, but through the dealerhip, I was able to pick an actual Chevy color. I chose Mojave Brown, which is a common color in higher end Chevy models and it looks awesome!
The "L" on the shift handle stands for LAZY. Too lazy to lift ones foot from the accelerator pedal to place it on the brake pedal. 😎 I prefer "D". I lift my foot from the accelerator pedal and use the regen paddle on the back of the steering wheel to slow and bring my Bolt gracefully to a stop while resting my ankle and foot giving them a well-deserved break. 😉
