EV Road Trip Charging - Bolt EUV 500 mile trip 

Stay away from EVGO if you have a slower charging EV like the bolt. In my state they charge per minute so I get charged the same as other cars that can charge at 3x the speed of my Bolt. The one and only time I used EVGO I paid $.75 per kW. More typical DCFC is $.30

Your video was very enjoyable, and I admire your patience waiting over an hour for the car to charge up for every couple hours of driving. For anyone looking to buy an EV for road trips, be advised there are other electric vehicles that will not make you waste time while the car is charging. Do your research! Be sure to buy an EV with at least 300 miles of rated range AND able to accept a fast charging rate of at least 250 KW/hr. Departing home with only a 75% charge, you will be able to drive for 2-3 hours until the battery is down to under 25%. Plug into a 250 KW charger, stretch your legs, pee, buy a beverage, and when you come back to your vehicle in only 15 MINUTES, you will be back at 75% battery, ready to continue your driving trip. This is how it is supposed to work!

Great video, I own a regular bolt EV 2lt. If I can make a suggestion. Do not use auto climate use manual and set the fan speed to 1 and go up from there. I found out that makes my range longer.

Love your joyful attitude as a couple really great to see thankyou with over coming change from gas to EV cars

Thank you for this. It may not seem like it, but you are helping people with their buying decisions by answering a ton of questions people have about the entire experience. We don't do road trips often, but I didn't want to select a car with low range and cut out the possibility of it entirely. We live in Florida and don't take advantage of the beauty here nearly as much as we should. This car seems to check a lot of boxes for us.

Nice shot from the dollar fresh!

I enjoyed your video. You took things in stride and you never complained about how long it took to charge. I am the same way. I have a 2012 Nissan Leaf since 2015 when we didn’t have dc chargers . I know what to expect and I watch youtube videos in my car while I wait. I have bad legs so I can’t walk a lot in stores. I like the bolt . Enjoy your retirement. I am getting closer. 3 to 5 more years. You guys seem to get along well too .

One tip in case you don't know. Always use the estimate range by %. Estimated miles means very little because it's based on past driving history.

The Casey’s in Altoona, Iowa is a free level 3 charger also by Trader Joe’s in Coralville, Iowa is level 3 and it’s free. It’s on the lower level of the parking garage

This was so interesting to watch your entire trip from start to finish to see how the car handled the trip!

speed is the dominate factor. An increase 10 mph causes a logarithmic rise in wind resistence. Been driving EVs since 2013, lowering your speed by 5 mph, like you did, makes the difference between 1 charging stop or 2.

@time 10:00. You should sit in the car with the heat on. Pro Tip: Leaving the car in the "on" position while charging activates the battery heaters which will make the Bolt charge faster.

Great video! I learned so much. Thanks!!! Peace, Glenn

Cooooool!

Very interesting! Love your adventures and videos.

You two are the best, love your videos! God Bless you and your family! Good stuff, will watch again soon.

Fun trip, thanks for bringing us along. Hopefully MN won’t be so cold on your next visit!

I live near Minneapolis and was considering getting this same car so I REALLY appreciate this video. I wasn't sure if roadtrips would work out well with the cold, only a few charging locations but it seemed ok. I would only forsee driving to visit my parents about 100 miles away so great news to hear I probably can make it there and back if I charge overnight at their house. It would feel a little scary charging in the middle of nowhere by myself so glad to see charging stations are usually centered in a busier area or near a store. Happy now the weather is warmer and excited to get a new EUV!!! WOOHOO 😁

Glad I found your channel, subscribed. Keep up the great work! Nice drone work, too.

Great job keep up the good work.

Love to see a happy couple traveling. I want an EUV redline as well. Thankyou for the video.

Also enjoyed your video.

Most of the freeways in my area have 60mph speed limit, so I can't go much faster than that, so I do get better range than when doing 70mph... for my average commute of city and freeway driving, I get about 4mi/kWh in my Niro EV.

Nice..i really like your adventure with your electric car...

Great video! I just bought a Bolt EUV so RU-vid is recommending a lot of videos like yours. Your marriage reminds me a lot of mine and my wife’s. It isn’t so bad having to wait for the car to charge when you’re having fun. We decided to keep our 2017 Volt for longer trips but I can see us taking the Bolt on longer trips when we aren’t in a hurry.

Nice video! 🙂💚

Validates my reason for choosing a Tesla for the charging network alone. Thanks for your video.

I really enjoy your content. I retired last year and based on my driving habits and needs I decided to trade in my pickup & ordered a Bolt EUV. I should take delivery on it later this month (July). Im watching a lot of videos in preparation for the vehicle. I am using it for my daily commutes around town and don't plan on doing road trips with it (beyond the range). Keep up the good work!

You guys are such a lovely couple and so pleasant to watch!

I recently bought a 2015 Chevy volt. it doesn’t have DC fast charging. Only level 2 charging capability. So even at public chargers, the volt’s 17kwh battery pack takes 3-4 hours to go from low mileage to 100%. So your charging time could be a lot worse. The volt has a gas engine. Good car, I really like it.

Nice video the twin cities my old home town

I did a 800 my trip to test this vehicle and learned the hard way that this vehicle does not have a spare tire. Turned what could have been a short delay to an overnight headache.

I have a 2020 Bolt but rarely use the heater - it saves a lot (though I've only measured it on a 100 mile round trip). As I dress for the weather outside before I get in the car, I use the seat heater and steering wheel heater (such a good thing) and just have the fan setting at 2; I average about 3.7 mi/Kwh even down to 25oF (haven't driven any trips at lower temps yet. Liked your video !

Informative video indeed ! I would say these, for future long trips : - the Min value of the GOM is a prediction based on real-time driving conditions. So, as long as the distance to destination is lower than the Min, you are good. You stopped too early (52 miles to destination while the Min was 77 miles). I understand this is your first long trip, so everything is new for you. I am sure in time you'll get better and more confident in your EUV capabilities. - what you can control when driving an EV is the speed. So when you see that the Min value is lower than the distance to destination, slow down. Don't be stubborn and continue driving @ the same speed when the car tells you are not gonna make it. - tire's pressure is very important during winter. You should make sure that the tires have the right pressure even if outside is 0F.

Great info yall! Have been considering trading in my Leaf for a Bolt

Thanks for the entertaining trip video. I’m still waiting on my EUV, and preparing my house for the arrival. I have read that using the heated seats instead of the cabin climate control will increase range. I don’t know the wattage of the heated seat element, but the cabin/battery heating element is 7.5 kw. To put that in perspective, a typical 40 gallon hot water heater is 4.5 kw. If I had to guess, I’d guess the heated seats are .5 -1 kw each. It doesn’t get that cold down here in TN, but I’ll be setting the climate control to as low as possible without getting a runny nose, and using the seat heater. I’d guess about 60F, I would be in winter clothes so maybe 55F or 50F depending. The cabin heater also heats the batteries, so no matter what you do, some range will be lost during winters. Maybe some day soon we’ll have replacement Bolt batteries with either Lyten’s Lithium Sulfur, or NASA’s Selenium Sulfur and those will not require as much battery heating.

Last winter i was filling up gas at kwik trip gas station that was equipped with ev chargers . All chargers were under deep snow cuz they push snow on chargers side. And that wasnt cleared for a few weeks at least. In the winter i would not drive round trip on EVs

Nachos 😂.. great trade off brother

This should give me a good idea of what an electric car can do in Iowa in the winter time. I've been trying to find one and just happened to stumble onto this one,

In Reno NV a lot of casinos offer free charging from Chargepoint. They do charge a fee if car is not moved when battery is full. I don't remember how much. Also I'd would make sure that the hotel has on site or near EV charging. I made the mistake of staying at a hotel with charging, but it was a Tesla( not good for EUV). Good thing there was a Blink across the street.

Great video and very useful information for those--like me-- who are considering a purchase in the next 12 months. I currently own a plug in Chevy Volt and tend to feel better knowing that I do not have to plan and to worry so much about replenishing the energy as my battery range diminishes when traveling. Am leaning more heavily on purchasing another plug-in so as to by pass the range anxiety that you felt and the somewhat long waits that you endured?/enjoyed? The bolt is a really nice car and seems to work for you both and I am sure that you will enjoy the car for many years to come. For those who are "wired" more like me, impatience and more dedication in the planning for long trips is not such a welcoming process. Your video was very helpful and truly one of the most educational productions from a real life experience. With my best wishes---

Doing the math, at 70 mph for 500 miles takes about 6.5 hours, and at 65 mph, it takes almost 7 hours, so we're talking about half an hour difference between the two. To me, that's no big deal. Go slower and increase your range which only adds 30 minutes of travel time.

Public charging stations is the number one reason I prefer Tesla over any other EV manufacturers

There would be serious time saving if you could recharge between 10-50 % instead of 40-80%. It would provide the same amount of range and you probably noticed that your car accepted significantly more charge per minute when it was at a lower state. Definitely increases your range anxiety but they make a pill for that as well!

Was going to buy Bolt EUV around June - Aug, but gave up since Chevrolet Dealer only had some in the lot which already sold for people to pick up.. And GM discontinued Bold at that period of time so they stop making it until mid Aug that GM decided to continue Bolt and which announced next generation will have fast charge and Ultium battery. I cant wait for next Gen Bolt and this gen dealer didn't have in lot that I have to wait for 3- 4 months... So I purchased another car in beginning of Sept... But Bolt is nice car, may be next time... It is no brainer with all tax incentives bring it down around $20k which is lowest price you can get a new EV in US..

Kansas City had an IKEA too for your next adventure.

Sounds you’ll need 25 different charging apps 😂

I have a checked out the Bolt EUV on-line and have read that its battery is a slow charging battery. I’m currently driving a 2020 GMC Terrain SLT with the 2.0 litre turbo engine. I’m in Canada and, traveling at about 65 m.p.h. ( 105 km/h) I can get about 800 kms or just over 500 miles to one tank. I find that the stops to charge the battery would really be a big deterrent for me,I have limited patience. I know that charging at home is a lot cheaper but from what I’ve read and heard,on the road isn’t cheap to charge. I like the looks of the Bolt but they’re still not cheap up here. We get a bit of help through the Federal government but Ontario isn’t helping with incentives to my knowledge. They had big incentives at first but the Government in charge of our Province took that away. I think they put it in their own pockets. I’ve subscribed to your channel and I’m looking forward to following you guys.👍👍🇨🇦

I think I am going to keep my 7 seater in the garage for trips and just get the Chevy Bolt EUV for my daily driver

Nice

$27.86 / $15.38 = $1.81 kw that’s highway robbery and you weren’t even on the highway at the time (a former Bolt owner). Glad MyChevrolet app. Is working for you.

Almost every exit on an interstate highways will have 4 or more gas stations that you can fill up at in less than 10 minutes. Every small town you drive through will have a a gas station or two that you can fill up in under 10 minutes. Most gas vehicles will go 400-500 miles before you need a gas stop. You wont need a varied assortment of phone apps to figure out where to fuel up at just pick a station and pump away. Enjoy your EV .

Take the Corvette for road trips. Use the Bolt for local-only.

Good video. How do I use the 5-15 charging option. I only see the 6-50 plug. Thanks

You guys charge two times to get to IKEA, I can get to 6 IKEAs in one trip and get home comfortably in my affordable EV, on a single charge. Benefits of living in a densely populated country I guess. As well a plenty of fast chargers. That Chevy looks like quite a deal though! Too bad it doesn't charge faster.

Did you use winter tires, or the stock tires? I have winter tires on my Bolt. I think the small amount of range trade-off is worth it, but I live in a snowy area.

Hello: InsideEVs did a range test of Bolt EUV. They get 3.64 mph at 70 mph at 80F ambient temperature. What was your climate control setting? Cabin heating has a great impact on range. The trip info in your car can also tell you how much energy is used for driving and how much is used for climate control. Finally did you pre-condition your car before setting off your trip?

How about restaurants, video games, movies, etc. at every charge station, even in the boonies. Try to compensate for the boredom of charging.

I just bought the bolt, what’s app to look for charger station

I now hear you say IKEA was free.

Forget it. I got kids and can't fiddle de-diddle with keeping this thing charged up.

So your EA charge was $1.97 kw. Pretty high. The most I’ve paid for Tesla charging is 46¢ kw. We need a way to know what the price per kw will be in advance. Not trying to make you miserable here, just a heads up. Destination charging, as you mentioned, is the way to go. Call ahead a couple days in advance to see how many working chargers may be available.

Are you really saving money on gas, based on your charge rates/cost it seems like a wash. Do the same trip in a civic or corolla and i think that you get to your destination soon for equal or less cost. Im i off base?

How much do they charge?

What model Bolt is yours?

Was the 500 miles each way, or was it 500 miles round trip? If it's 250 miles each way, you should be able to charge to 100%, and make the entire drive in one direction in the summer. Another trick, is to increase the inflation pressure of the front tires to 44 PSI, and the rear tires to 42 PSI. Reducing speed indeed makes a huge difference, because wind drag goes up on the square of speed. My recommendation is to drive normal speed, until you find a truck that's going a bit slower, and follow it, rather than pass it. It is not necessary to 'draft' behind it, the slower speed will suffice to improve your range. Being able to avoid charging on the road will more than make up for the extra time from driving slower. it will save money, because you were paying $.50-$.53US per kWh for the public fast charges, which is similar in cost per mile to drive a gasoline car. It's like getting about 32 miles per gallon, at ~$4.00 US per gallon. Of course, you left home with a full charge, and you arrived home low on charge, so those miles were much cheaper. Overall, you saved money, but, you likely spent that difference on snacks. You fast charged only about 60% of your trip, putting the overall cost more similar to driving something like a Toyota Prius Hybrid. (48-52 MPG)

Would be nice if more EVs worked the way the Porsche EV, and the Tesla Semi EV and have a gear ratio for highway driving 65MPH+, this way you can slow the motor down and put it into a steady gear to make it more efficient. I have to constantly drive 50-55 mph on the highway with my Kia Soul EV because that single speed drive unit consumes so much power at higher RPM. They need to consider putting real transmissions in these cars, like a 3 speed or something.