2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV: InsideEVs 70 MPH Range Test 

This is one of the best range tests I've seen! Spot-on range for the battery pack. I also love that the energy consumption showed the entire 65 KW/H of the pack were used. Like Kramer on 'Seinfeld', you took it all the way below "E". Outstanding!

3.9 - 4.0 miles per kwh at 70 mph is quite impressive. If I recall correctly, your 2020 Bolt EV 70 mph range test was around 3.4 miles per kwh or 220 miles of range.

Great call out on the Bolt EV's lack of concrete SoC information at a low charge. It leaves you flying blind. You don't know of you have 1 mile or 20 miles worth of juice left. Chevy does this same thing with the petrol cars when fuel is very low, but they need to learn that EVs are different than petrol.

Thank you for the look at the Bolt EV. I’ve often wondered how range tests so often end ‘just in time’. Guess ya look at the ODO when the GOM goes from 10 to Low and use that? Impressive efficiency for 70 mpth!!! Thank you for the great content / info you give on the vehicle ‘along the way’ in the test too.

I would argue that when it stops showing percentage/remaining range, it should be treated as 0%. Good charge estimation is crucial and if you don't have any, it's no different from other EVs that allow you to drive past 0 for some undetermined range. PS: Maybe you could take power station with you when you are doing a range test. As Bjorn showed, 2kWh battery can help you regain 5-15km of range (3-9 miles) and that should help you to get to the charging station and should allow you to push EVs closer to their limit without fear of being stranded.

Great video, I recently bought a 2LT from a Chevy Dealer in Washington State for $20K. It was a buy back with just over 3,000 miles. Like new. I love the car. I drive it every opportunity I get. I charge it on my wife's Tesla level 2 charger with an adapter. What a great value. I actually like it more than my wife's model Y.

I drove 2 2017 Bolt EV Premiers from Central Valley California to North East Georgia. I did the first run in 76 hours. The second run would have been 72 hours, but my wife's car refused to DC fast charge anymore. I took it to my Parents house and left it there for a week. So, one of 3 things fixed it. 1. removing the 12 volt battery and reconnecting it, 2. Slow charging it on a 110 outlet, or 3. Letting the car have a break. It has not had a problem DC fast charging since. The Bolt is a great car! It is NOT MADE for really long non-stop road trips. If you do get stuck like I did, try one of the above steps and see if it fixes the issue for you as well.

Great vidoes always, but I really love the way you´re presenting the unexpected end with a smile! That has class!

Great vid Tom. Big Bolt fan and a big fan of yours. I just can't justify spending $20k more for a car that saves me 20 minutes of charging on my bi weekly 300 mile road trips; the Bolt is performing yeoman duty for our family.

Great review and what an ending. Thanks

glad to see the walk-in intro is back

That’s what I call putting in the work. Great range test!

I can think of worse places to break down than East Brunswick…… Should’ve gone over to Giamarese Farm. Great in the fall. 260.1 miles is quite good, although the weather was quite nice 👍 too!! Tom, you’re a true road warrior!!!

Great video. Watching channels such as yours is why I’ve adapted to a strategy of planning to get to a charging station at 20% remaining battery, and then leaving the charging station at 80%. No range anxiety and quickest charging speed for my 2021 Mach E.

TOMMY MOLO...!!! finally the "man", "myth", "legend" uploads the '22 Bolt EV range test.🤙 the only thing that could've made this better would've been people in cars (who recognize him) beeping their horns as he stands on the side of the road recording a video.😄

Hi Tom, and thanks a lot. A long range competition winner (169 mi / gal of gas) came to our EV club and gave us some tips on hyper distance driving. He suggested taking the tires up to the "tire" manufactures limit (which is 50 psi on my Michelins). and to drive slower. The other stuff just isn't practical for freeway driving. With my 2011 Leaf, my avg. is 4.4 mi/kw. (and you know how I need the range). anyway, If you are bored some day and looking for something new to do, take one of you test cars and do your typical range test and then increase the pressure on the tires and pick a sensibly slower speed. I wonder how it would do?

This really shows up my Leaf. I can get great range out of my 62kWh Leaf but I have to keep it under 62 mph in order to reach 210 miles. The new Bolt is starting to impress me. I really don't care about public HVDC charging. I drive nearly 100 miles most days and have never needed to use a public charger. But being able to do 11kW charging at home is a real game changer. That's nearly 50 miles added every hour at home. Something else to consider is that most people would be driving at less than 70 mph especially if they wanted extra range. I'd be willing to bet that at 55-60 mph the Bolt would probably be good for nearly 275 miles.

This is helpful. For an anxious soon to be Chevy Bolt owner. Thanks!

Wish we could get the Bolt in the UK, looks to be another worthy, good value EV

Chevrolet took the correct approach with the Bolt of delivering more driving range than promised. I’ve been diving a Bolt since 2017 and it is great to have the charge indicator work similar to a fuel gauge in a gasoline powered car. The first EV I had was a used 2011 LEAF which started out with about 80 miles, and it was often a nail-biter if there would be enough juice to finish a trip. It was irritating that the LEAF reset its range estimate every time it charged, starting with wildly optimistic range guesses at the outset of every trip. The Bolt seems to track at least the prior 50 miles travelled and projects the available range quite accurately from the outset. I’m scratching my head as to why the Bolt reports a rather nebulous “low” for the last few miles. Perhaps GM doesn’t trust their algorithm to give a reliable answer. At the bottom of state of charge, battery non linearity, outside temperature, etc may be too difficult to compensate snd may vary a lot between cars. I have a sneaking suspicion lawyers may have something to do with it.

Tom, can wait for you to do your range test on the Aptera. I hope you are in line as soon as they have a production version for you to test

You might want to pack a 3.6kW back-up pack on future tests. Great content!

"When I finally parked it(Bolt) at my home charging station, it had gone 322 miles on a single charge. Not bad for a car rated at 238 miles per charge. Even more impressive was the fact that I didn't really try very hard to get that many miles out of it. I spent plenty of time in traffic, which helped, but there were a few sections that I was moving along at 65-70 mph as well. No matter how you look at it, 322 miles out of a Bolt is pretty impressive." - Ed Hellwig Edmund's

Thanks, Tom. You are such a trooper! Impressive range, but it would have been a few less miles without the tow truck. 🙂 I suspect most people will see the "Low" warning and immediately exit the highway and charge. While the lack of GOM at very low SoC is not ideal for people trying to wring every last electron out of the pack (very few will try, in my opinion), it is adequate for the vast majority of drivers. My e-Golf gives a warning at 31 miles remaining, forces Eco mode at about 10 miles left, and severely cuts motor power at about 8 miles left, as well as soon forcing Eco+ mode and eventually turtle mode (but gives a GOM number at all times). Did you get any power limitations as well as warnings about power limitations?

My 2015 Spark EV shows me how much range I have in real time and it is very accurate. If it says I’ve got five miles left, I know I better not be more than five miles from home.

Thanks Tom, you are a trooper! I forgot what the EUV did on the same test but that sure is a lot of range. My 2020 Bolt has a 66 kWh battery, if you had it you would have made the exit. I think one of the things we forget is that that in 2020 the battery was 1kWh bigger, once they change I'll have the 65 kWh battery I guess.

Very solid range.

Thanks for taking one for the team. 260 miles is tremendous! But knowing that the true capacity is 65 kwH is precious.

Wow!! That range is absolutely amazing!! This car at under 20k destroys the Tesla Model 3 SR which costs 50k!!

That is an amazing result at 70 mph. I'd have predicted closer to 220, and I wouldn't try for more, but it's nice to know that I can drive 260 miles before the thing refuses to go further.

Bolt ev is one of my favorite evs price performance features all for a great price . Just bought one .

Please do the range test, charging curves, etc. for the Kona Electric 2022 or 2023.

Thanks, Tom!

Another great video! I REALLY wanted a Bolt, but I live in South Texas and infrastructure is lacking, but worse, the charge time. If GM can fix that, I'll get something like this for sure.

Yikes! That was too exciting! I hope people don't take the wrong message away from this. That is a great result. the Bolt is a really good EV, especially for the money.

Excellent review. I really want to purchase an EV, but the distance per charge is a concern and so are the weather conditions. In -25 degree temperatures and driving in a blizzard concerns me, especially as I live and work rurally. Do you have any advice? Thanks.

Good video. Impressive. Every one of those cars passing you are saying "that's what they get for buying an EV" :)

Wow the EPA actually got the range correct on this one. But it did it at highway speeds,pretty good for such a budget friendly EV.

Nice i got 4.2mi/kWjh on a recent trip from NY to Virginia it was going about 60-65 and i have the chevy cruse eco rims too!

Including when it went into turtle mode and how far you went past it would be nice. Is there not a obd2 adapter and program that would show more information? I used Tourqe Pro on my Maverick Hybrid to get that sort of information.

Bolt EUV and former 2019 Bolt EV owner here. If you use the myChevrolet app and connect via Android Auto or CarPlay, you can get the numeric battery percentage reading showing on the center screen that way. That said, it isn’t accurate. I’ve twice run the car out of electricity (once in my 2019 Bolt and once in my 2022 Bolt EUV) and *both* times, it showed 2% battery remaining in the app. I actually have a picture of it. In the Bolt EUV, it was intentional, and I was sitting at an EA charger with the HVAC blasting trying to run it down (to test total capacity and see if the app was accurate). When it happened in my 2019 Bolt, it was not intentional. I hit an unexpected wind and pouring rain storm on the freeway that dropped my range by about 20% for that leg, so my buffer wasn’t enough. If I had known that I was actually at almost 0%, I’d have slowed down to like 30mph and driven on the shoulder for the last few miles, but the car showed 2% and like 4 miles remaining when it died on the side of the right as my exit came up. The charger was less than a mile away and the app said I had 4 miles left, but the car wouldn’t move anymore. So, when the Bolt starts flashing the “low” on the display, treat it as 0% remaining and find a place to charge NOW. You probably have less than 10 miles of range left at that point.

I would love a brief video on driving tips to maximize efficiency! The wife and I had done a trip that was 196miles long and there were not any charging stations between our start and destinations. We ended up, from full, completing it with 26 miles to spare. We maintained 3.5miles/kW the entire time but would LOVE some direction to improve that.

I drove my 2021 bolt from salt lake city to las Vegas going around 80 miles per hour and had to run the air conditioner I could only get around 150 miles per charge but it had real good speed pickup going up the hill

You should keep an ecoflow or bluetti handy for if this happens you can easily add a few miles and get to the charger

Tom, that is an outstanding result for such a low cost vehicle! If it had AWD it would be on my short list for sure.

From another video it was pointed out using a pull rope that the regen can put back energy to the battery pack on a Tesla while another car pulls it. 30 Miles was added. Maybe you can verify with the Bolt sometime on a more remote road rather than a Highway?

Thanks you very much Tom. I really love your videos..I'm looking to buy a electric car and this videos make a lot of difference to get the best car for my need. I really enjoy how you communicate very simple and with facts.

I know you were doing a range test, but maybe you should pay attention to the warning Chevy provided (LOL). Good video. Probably great for back and forth to work. However, 260 miles is a good range. I certainly need a break about every hour just to stretch my leg. Unfortunately, the charging curves seem to be the slowest at the higher full percentages. Guess one could consider keeping the battery charged between 25 and 50% for faster charging on the charging curve?? You did not mention anything about the ride and handling of the EV bolt. Young people are able to take more jolts and bumps than older people (at least that’s my case and why I went to larger vehicles for a better ride).

Well, I guess you truly found out what the range is on the Bolt EV. Too bad you had to find out the hard way by running out of charge on the highway. Thanks for the video and take care.

Seems like something they could fix in a software update. I actually drive with regen on and it gives me a really good range. Since I don't go an even 70 MPH the Regen kicks in every time I need to slow in traffic and it's nice to rarely ever have to use the brake, even on the highway. Driving up to my property in Minnesota with my 2022 EUV I went 135 miles on 50% battery. I have a NEMA 14-50 240v outlet at my property and the new Bolts come with a combo level 1 and level 2 charger with the car. So unless you do a lot of longer road trips, this is the perfect EV. I live in Minneapolis and get around 300 miles of city driving range in the summer using regen (one pedal driving). In the winter, especially as cold as it gets here, expect a 50% or so range reduction. And by cold I mean single digits and even below zero in January and February. I also don't travel to many places in the winter so it works out okay. For those of you who live in a colder climate and don't have the ability to charge at home, make sure you understand the range drop in winter. 130 miles or so on the coldest days and 160 - 180 or so for most of winter, so 20s and low 30s.

Tom runs his Bolt out of energy. So you don' t have to.

I see you join Club Kyle. 😁 Do they charge extra because you’re on the turnpike to tow you❓Great test‼️

Does only supercharging hurt the battery ?? I want to get one but I would only be able to supercharge it because I live in a apartment

Thank you!

I always drive my Honda Fit at 60 mph on the highway, because higher speeds waste gas & 60 mph gets me up to 45 mpg. Would the Bolt get better mileage at 60 mph than at 70?

How much the battery after out of warranty need to replace ?

I wonder if the EUV might have gone a longer distance on a full charge if you had just used adaptive cruise control instead of SuperCruise. Great results for both cars regardless.

????? Hey people, does anyone know if there is any real differences on Level 3 DC fast charging in terms of capacity or speed between say the 2018 Premiere Trim and the 2022 equivalent trim ?

Never stand to the front end of a stranded vehicle that is still near a roadway. Stand to the rear of it. If it is hit from behind, the shrapnel and car get shot forward and to the sides...

Tom: the Bolt EUV you tested got 3.6 mpg. The Bolt EV got 4.0 mpg, which is 11% more efficient. I am surprised that there are such a difference. The Bolt EUV is about 100 lb heavier than the Bolt EV, which may have 2-3% efficiency penalty. Any ideas why?

I have the same exact car mine has lane centering, but it sucks, and mine does not have adaptive cruise

Quick question on climate settings in regards to fan / temp settings does the fan or Temp setting consumes the most energy I usually keep the AC temp set at 68 but find it at times when it’s hot I bump the fan speed from 2 to 3 or May drop the temp by one degree. No big deal since my model 3 has adequate range but I’m curious what you have experienced

a proper range test :)

“Famous last words” 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Spoken as a worthy professional... Honorable coincidence.

Thank you for stating kWh/100 km for us heathen metric users up here in Canada too! :)

Hi Tom, I used the mychevrolet app to see the battery % on my 2017 Bolt.

100% to 20% range would be helpful, emulating an optimal first leg of a long trip. It could probably be calculated from existing data, 208mi if it's linear. ALSO - how many miles left when you get "low" displayed.

If you stop every hour or so and charge back to 80 you’ll be fine. Each stop would only be like 20 minutes and people should get out and stretch. I wish I would’ve done that and now I have issues. Sitting kills

To get 4.0 miles/kWh I need to keep under 65 mph and drive very sedately. To get that efficiency at 70 mph is impressive.

Haha! Great job Tom, 260 miles is killer for the Bolt EV

Only 2% used for climate control. Do you find that ‘perforated’ leather seats like on the LT2 help a lot with cooling comfort and save some range? Or is that feature more ‘marketing’ material? Thinking seriously about a new Bolt and on the fence about the trim level. Thanks again!

I hope you just pulled the car to the charger. Tow charging still works. (I saw the flatbed loaded up)

Love this!

Hi Tom Is this a new video or is is this the one the car run out of battery power on the way to the charger

You could get SoC over OBD? I guess that's the new ricing for EVs.

I’m confused. My 2022 2Lt has lane keeping assist. Its the right had button just in front of the phone charger pad

You should carry a backup battery like Bjorn Nyland does

I ❤️ love this range test cause I was not doing it. Guys on the podcast will get a laugh 😂 out of it I bet. Bolt for the win. GM has great AC until battery 🔋 dead ☠️

you got it all

why not carry small backup gas generator for tests like this? when it runs out of juice you can add couple of miles just to make it to charging station

Priceless and hilarious.

I THINK*** in the battery information menu where you can set your battery charge limit it will say the remaining miles you can go even when the DIC won't tell you. It's kinda a hack.

Is it worth to buy a bolt over tesla model 3?

You don't know what updates are coming for the display in future. You can sign up for GM/Chevy News to heads up.

Not bright on a busy road like that, if you're doing such a test it should be somewhere not so busy, it's dangerous. Don't hate on me, I've had 6 EV's and currently a 2017 Bolt getting the new battery today after 94K miles and still going strong!

How much less mileage would you get if using AC the entire time???

I only subscribed because you actually took it to ZERO, not 1 or 2% left, an actual zero. Enjoyed the video thanks

That range at 70 mph is great. Too bad you could not have gone 55 moh or even 60 mph for a few miles.

We looked at one to replace my wife’s rav4 hybrid. However for besides its slow charging we found it much narrower than a Ioniq 5. I’m still impressed with its range and interior improvements.

I know a lot of people don't like the lack of a range estimator below 5%, but at that point, the battery is so low that you really should be looking to stop as soon as possible. Based on what I've seen from the charging below 5%, also, Bolt EV owners really should be targeting arriving at DCFC with no less than 10% battery remaining.

An honest and trustworthy car.

Enroute charging up to 80 percent SOC isnt great....im not certain i would want to transcontinentally trip the Bolt EV.....especially on I-10 near Clovis and Tucson.

Good job. Zigged when you should have zagged but good you're safe on the side of the road. Be safe

now that's dedication lol

260 miles bests both EV6, Ionic5, and M3 SR+

Chevy dealers in Vegas charging markup $7500 on top of MSRP

260 mi aint too bad. Well accurate. 14:31 TYFYS

Lol😂, thanks for doing this so we don't have to. Loving my new Bolt, but the DC situation is a tough pill to swallow. It's regens at 70kw, so I'm perplexed to why it can't take 70kw and slowly taper off. I'm certain it's software limited. Perhaps GM is gun shy after their battery fire issue, which doesn't give me much hope for their future. 800v systems are becoming the norm, yet the upcoming Equinox EV, of which I've already signed up for, is yet another slow charging EV being offered by GM. 1 gigawat charging is almost here, and GM is planning to release outdated tech 2 years from now is problematic.

Why don't you use an OBD app to see all the data? Luckily a 16 wheeler didn't scrap it