Part 1: • I was NOT Expecting Th...
Part 2: • The Holiday Lights Wer...
In this third and final part of the series, it's time to head home after a winter road trip through the Pacific Northwest Cascade Mountains in my 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV.
At the end of part two, the EV chargers at my hotel failed, leading me to have to go to the Electrify America on the other side of town to charge up before calling it a night. If you are curious why I charged the battery that night versus doing it the next morning, see this video: • Why does my EV charge ... I ended up falling asleep at the charger and nearly fully charging the battery, which takes an obscenely long time to do on the Bolt. This wasn't strictly necessary, as I could have charged to a lesser amount and stopped at a closer charger, but since I fell asleep...
This trip, with the gaps between chargers, the significantly reduced efficiency due to the cold temperatures and winter tires, along with the Bolt's already slow charging speeds being further aggravated due to the cold temperatures, lack of battery pre-heating and substantially slower charging above 50% further illustrated some of the Bolt's significant flaws. Trips in ideal conditions require patience and long charging stops. In less than ideal conditions, it requires even more patience. I'm not sure that I received the peaking charging speeds of 50-ish kW during this entire trip. This is illustrated by the seven hours that I spent DC fast charging over the course of three days and 900 miles. Granted, several of those charging stops were poorly optimized, but even if I had further optimized the charging and shaved an hour of charging time off, that would still be six hours of time spent fast charging. I always try to plan meal and bathroom breaks at charging stops, but there is no way that I could spend six to seven hours eating and going to the bathroom over the course of three days. I spent a lot of time sitting and waiting for the Bolt to charge during this trip.
Aside from the excessive time spent charging, my only other major complaint about the Bolt is the seat. I have a sort of unusual body shape, with a long torso and short legs. This combination makes the Bolt's seat incredibly uncomfortable. The seat tapers and curves forward near the top and this hits me right on my shoulder blades, pushing my shoulders together and pushing my back awkwardly forward. I have to use a lumbar cushion to make the seat tolerable on these longer trips. Aside from that, the seat is also hard and narrow. Even without my unusual proportions, the seat is not comfortable. The size of the Bolt might also be an issue if you travel with a family. For one or two people, it is adequately sized, even if you travel with a lot of stuff because there is lots of room in the back seat. If you need to put more than two people in the car and their luggage, space becomes an issue. As far as driving, the car drives great. The suspension is firm but comfortable, the road noises is OK, the (Bose) stereo is OK and the car has plenty of power for any reasonable needs on the road. I was also quite impressed with the traction of the Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 tires. In snow and ice, I had plenty of traction even with only FWD. My conclusion about the Bolt is the same as it has been in the past: its an excellent commuter and city car. It's capable of doing longer road trips, but it requires a lot of patience and planning to do so, especially in poor weather conditions.
As I mentioned in the previous videos, my Bolt had the original 60kWh battery at the time of this trip. My Bolt was replaced by GM with a 2022 Bolt EUV in lieu of replacing the battery.
0:00 Hello and Welcome!
1:58 Driving to the First Charging Stop
2:52 First Charging Stop
4:35 Driving to the Second Charging Stop
5:35 Made it Home! Trip Wrap-Up
5 июл 2024
