First Chevy BOLT EV on a DYNO - how does the rated HP compare to Wheel HP (measured)? 

Interesting note. I’ll have to try to dyno at a low state of charge sometime. I do think it’s more likely being rated like duty cycle. So it can peak higher but at a worst case scenario it should be making 200hp. I certainly have notice driving on the road before that it doesn’t always read 160kw delivered. So SOC is an interesting variable to test

As the SOC falls so does the pack voltage. To get the same power out would require increased current which means more heat. Engineers probably compromise amperage ratings and system power to allow max power down to some voltage in the pack and limit it lower in the pack. You may be able to see this in the max displayed power output when you're at different SOC.

Electrical engineering stuff.

They all have the same motors so power should be the same.

Yeah I also tried to research to see if for some reason the 2023 had a different motor or anything weird but supposed to be the same. So as long as you see up to 160kw output on your meter under full throttle the you should be getting about same power. Theoretically

I wish there was a way to tune the ramp in of power maybe at least for sport mode. You could define gain a lot from letting it power up right away and it ramp into 30 mph. But otherwise it’s still a blast to drive

If you sustain an rpm you will just be turning energy into heat and therefore wasting unmeasured energy via heatloss. So yes your numbers would be reading less… theoretically if you added enough load to not let the motor spin at all… all energy would be expelled as heat and not rotation moment… that be said… that wouldn’t make sense to say the motor / or engine makes no horsepower… On the flip side if you were to spin a near zero mass and didn’t collect enough data points your numbers could very well be inflated based on inconsistent data… but that’s not the case here… the mass is a bit smaller than some dynos so it does spin up faster but collects sufficient data to be repeatable. You can see the 350z is repeatable within 1 Hp back to back runs and bolt is the same with 3 runs. All that being said, I don’t disagree that the ratings chevy gives the public are probably based on some heavier loading conditions based on some duty cycle to give a sort of “worst case” number.

I finally sat through the beeps and can confirm it does eventually stop. Just takes forever. I always wear a seat belt but in a dyno or moving around the yard or something I won’t.

I have people tell me all the time the dyno reads high… the dyno reads low. It’s a pretty simple tool. It measures acceleration rate based on a known mass and speed sensor. Not much to go wrong here. The torque is actually equated from the rpm of the motor, but wheel HP is calculated from the rpm of the drum (or speed of the vehicle) so that’s why a dynamometer will always read HP correctly and the need for an “engine rpm” pickup is required to calculate the torque from the “engine” It’s seems backwards from what the internet will tell you if you google HP… ie that it is derived from torque. This is true but the way it’s measured on a dynamometer is actually opposite and torque is derived from HP The rated power for the motor is likely at some specific load/ over some period of time… this is common with ICE engines as well. Why some brands rate hp higher or lower than others due to internal regulation. This does not mean that you can’t see a brief peak of performance. For example. Your CPU in a computer may be rated 2 gigahertz but can be overclocked for short periods of time. Which they do on their own now… but it’s not rated for 100% duty cycle… Lastly this is the first BOLT EV … on the dyno. That other video is an EUV while same effectively it is not an incorrect statement. Additionally I watch that video and there is not much information in there about it being on the dyno and how the car actually reacted. And barely discussed the HP. I at least show that the car meter does show in excess of the rated output and matches pretty close to what the car is doing on the dyno. The initial peak of 234 may not be captured in the meter due to the slow refresh rate of the meter but towards the end on the pull the meter appears to more closely align with the output power… above 200hp. Also an AWD dyno measuring a 2wd vehicle is likely going to have more losses in measurement due to the machines linking on the rollers and extra drivetrain loss. I appreciate your feedback though hopefully you understand mine.

She gets sleepy sometimes. But wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but riding shotgun.