Can a 2017 Chevy Bolt cut it?

[spuwho]

Much has been made on the 2017 Chevy Bolt. It is a pure electric with a 238 mile range. Some say it exceeds the Toyota Prius in economy. Is already on the street as compared to the Tesla Model 3, which is just ramping up production in California.

But what about "real life"?  They say mileage can vary, but here is a real case story of a woman who bought a brand new Bolt and attempted a 800 mile trip.

What "shocked" me? (ha ha) Her cost of charging was nearly as much as the gas was.

Here is her story.

Per GreenCarReports:

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1109117_chevy-bolt-ev-800-mile-trip-in-238-mile-electric-car-shows-challenges-remain

Chevy Bolt EV: 800-mile trip in 238-mile electric car shows challenges remain



With about twice the range of any non-Tesla electric car, the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV has generated a great deal of excitement and won numerous awards over the last year.

In combination with a nascent DC fast-charging infrastructure, it offers the possibility of much longer road trips powered solely by grid electricity.

One early Bolt EV owner is Dawn Hall, of San Jose, California, who has already taken an 800-mile road trip in her electric car—and written about it exclusively in this report.

What follows are her words, edited by Green Car Reports for comprehension, style, and length.

Taking a teenage girl on an 800-mile road trip in an electric vehicle across California sounds like the plot for a horror movie, but that's exactly what I did in my new Chevrolet Bolt EV.

Sarah (not her real name) had to look at colleges, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity not only to visit some campuses but also to try out the Bolt on a real road trip.

Sarah had to visit Cal Tech in Pasadena, about 340 miles from our home in San Jose, California.  In a gasoline car, that's about a 5-hour drive, mostly down Interstate 5.

But driving an electric car on a road trip that takes you outside urban areas requires a lot of pre-planning, especially when you want fast charging.

For example, while I had an account with ChargePoint, a check of Southern California fast charging stations showed that I would need one with EVgo as well.

I also discovered that I'd need to take the somewhat longer route along Highway 101, because I-5 had no Bolt-compatible fast chargers (using the CCS connector) along our path. 

The one-way distance rose to 380 miles, and because we had to pass through small cities, the trip would add at least 45 more minutes of travel time than if I had been driving I-5 in a gasoline car.

Those additional miles for an electric car might require additional charging, adding even more time.

Still, we decided to make the best of it—and added Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo to our list of schools to visit en route.

With more planning, plus some remote assistance from my nerdy friend Anthony, we identified sites along the route from San Jose to Pasadena where the Bolt could fast-charge in conjunction with bathroom breaks and meals for us.

In case we needed them, I identified fast chargers in both King City and Paso Robles as possible en-route stopping points.

We left at 9 am with a full charge, headed for a 1 pm appointment at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Based on my previous driving style, the Bolt EV told us we had 185 miles of range.

On paper, the Bolt has a range of 238 miles, so our plan was to try to make it all the way before our first charging stop, a distance of about 185 miles and about 2 hours 45 minutes away from home.

As it turned out, we ended up stopping in both King City and Paso Robles for quick top-ups and bathroom breaks.

With my little lead foot taking us down the freeway at an average of 80 mph, we got nowhere near the 238-mile rated range. After 103 miles, we showed only 70 miles of remaining range.



We stopped at the Chevy dealer in San Luis Obispo, with 24 miles left, because my cellphone wasn't charging properly on the car's USB ports.

The Bolt EV relies on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to provide navigation via the driver's own mobile phone, so having a working USB to charge the phone was critical.

We left the Bolt EV with the dealer and got a ride to the college in time for our meeting. It turned out to be a faulty USB cable, rather than the car.

However, when we got back from the college, we found the dealer hadn't put the car on any variety of charger—so we still had just 24 miles left.  Thanks, Alfano Chevrolet.

So we reverted to our original plan: after the tour, we'd park at Marigold Center in San Luis Obispo, about 6 miles off the freeway, and recharge at an EVgo fast-charging station while having lunch.

That taught us that EVgo provides exactly 30 minutes of charging, and then automatically shuts off. I guess they think people drive Nissan Leafs or other shorter-range electric cars?

We ended up paying for a second charging session, which got us up to about an 80-percent battery charge. We figured that would be good enough to get us to our next charging station, which ended up being a ChargePoint location in Ventura.

Luckily, Sarah was getting into the spirit of electric-car road-trip adventure.  Whenever I would pass a slow-moving car or truck, she'd cry out, "Mom! Stop wasting our charge!"  Going downhill, she would laugh and scream, "Regeneration!" 



Another learning point is that, in general, the EVgo stations seemed to charge at a faster rate than the ChargePoint CCS fast-charging sites.

The EVgo chargers seemed to vary in rate, depending on what charge level the car could accept, while the ChargePoint sites charged at 21.7 kilowatts—well below the Bolt EV's rated capability of 80 kw.

We charged for about  an hour and a half while we ate dinner in Ventura. That brought us back up to about 80 percent and got us to our hotel in Pasadena at 9 pm, with about 28 miles left. Hooray! We had made it.

After 12 hours on the road, I was exhausted—and in my exhaustion, I decided we should charge the Bolt overnight at a 240-volt Level 2 station, so it would have a full charge in the morning.

I dropped my daughter off at the hotel and went looking for the charging stations that were within 4 blocks and "always open," according to the ChargePoint app. It turned out these were all in office buildings that weren't actually open or that charged outrageous fees for parking.

After 45 minutes of pointless wandering, I was extremely frustrated and finally gave up, deciding I would find a place in the morning at CalTech and charge while Sarah and I toured the campus.

Tired and frustrated, I went back to the hotel and went to bed.

The next day I woke up early and found a charging station at the college listed on the Chargepoint app. I drove the car down there at 7 am. This one was easy to find, but it had a 4-hour limit, which actually worked perfectly with our tour schedule.

After plugging the car in, I walked back to the hotel and had some down time before waking up my daughter. Then, we walked around the area and packed our things until 10:30 am, when I walked (about a quarter of a mile) back to retrieve the car.

We packed up the car and drove a couple of miles into town for a little sightseeing. At 12:30 we returned to the college, parked at a different ChargePoint Level 2 station, and did our tour of the campus while the Bolt EV charged. We came back to the car at about 3:15 pm.

After charging for a total of just under 7 hours, we seemed to have about an 80-percent charge with an estimated range of 142 miles—and it was time to tackle our drive home, reversing the route we had taken to get down to Southern California.

This time, we passed Ventura and made it to La Cumber Plaza in Santa Barbara a little after 5 pm (right before Highway 154 would take us over the high pass). We charged at an EVgo fast charger for 1 hour, giving us about 170 miles.

We stopped again at Marigold Center in San Luis Obispo, but this time something was wrong with the machine, and we only got 13 more miles during the 30-minute "fast" charge—far slower than when we charged at that same station the day before! 

Marigold Center is about 6 miles off the freeway so it takes some time to get there, making the detour really frustrating.

Giving up on San Luis Obispo, we drove on to Paso Robles and stopped at a ChargePoint at Cool Hand Luke's, a local steakhouse. We pulled in sometime after 9:30 pm. We had already eaten so we watched a movie knowing we needed about 2 hours worth of charge to get us to our next stop.

We made the decision not to stay long enough to try to get a full charge to take us back to San Jose, because ChargePoint proved to be significantly slower than EVgo and even with a full charge, it wouldn't be guaranteed to get us home.

At this point, one of our biggest challenges, in addition to finding a working charger, was trying to figure out how to kill two hours. We ended up watching videos on our cell phones.

It was now late and cold, so we would need to turn on the climate controls for the first time—and we knew that would eat up battery power and drop our range. The plan was to get to Gilroy for the next charge.

We did end up stopping for yet another top off in King City, but that was more for a bathroom break than a charge. We put a 10-minute charge in King City and that got us to Gilroy with 35 miles left. But it was 34 miles to home so we weren't going to push it.

We did our last half-hour charge in Gilroy at an EVgo station, and finally arrived home in San Jose at 2:45 am with 34 miles left on the car's dashboard display.

Turning on the climate controls definitely took more battery power, which had lowered our estimated range. The estimated miles left immediately dropped by 10 miles whenever we turned it on.

Our trip back took 11.5 hours with all the charging stops. The total charging cost was $88.00.

Comparing this to a 5-hour trip in a gasoline car along Interstate 5 (or 6 hours via Highway 101), it becomes hard to justify the extra time—especially when using a gasoline car would have cost about the same.

I estimate a 25-mpg gasoline car would have cost about $84, based on a 700-mile round trip along I-5 paying $3 per gallon for gasoline.

Our electric-car journey required a longer 800-mile route round trip, and took a lot more time. Of our $88 in charging costs, EVgo fees were static at $10.95 per half-hour session, while the ChargePoint fees varied from station to station.

The location in Paso Robles, for instance, charging 10 cents per minute for parking for the first hour, plus the charging fee, while no other ChargePoint site added a parking fee.

All in all, it was a very informative trip. First, I learned always to have a backup plan.

Second, it turns out even DC fast chargers can charge at different rates. In general, charging took more time than I had anticipated and the cost for charging was a lot more than I had planned.

Third, the Bolt EV's 238-mile rated range can really only be achieved by driving mostly around the speed limit with accessories and climate controls turned off. My 80 mph average speed definitely significantly reduced the distance the car could go before needing another charge.



Conclusions: the Bolt EV has been perfect for everyday errands and a fairly long commute to work.

But even with its longer range, really long road trips are still a significant challenge—due to the current lack of charging infrastructure, and the long (and variable) charge times.

Until charging sites are more widespread, and fast enough to use the Bolt EV's 80-kw fast-charging ability, I will probably only take it on trips under 200 miles in the future.

[ProjectMaximus]

interesting. that charging connection is gonna make things tough for Chevy...Chademo and Tesla supercharge are much better built out networks.

As a Leaf-driver who has done two "road trips" I'll say it seems infinitely more plausible for the Leaf. And if the rumors are true, that a next-gen Leaf is coming potentially this fall with 200+ mile range and a sleek new look (not to mention its own version of autopilot) I will be extremely enthusiastic to upgrade my own vehicle.

[remc86007]

In the near-term, I think electric cars are most practical as one of the vehicles in a multi-car household.

[spuwho]

I think what surprised me is the variability of the output in each of the charging stations.

With gasoline, ag departments regulate the pumps to make sure 1 gallon is in fact 1 gallon.

But with these charging stations, the output varies by the brand, and this lady ran into a malfunctioning station.

I wonder if they knew that watching movies on their phones while it charged, presumably while they were plugged in the USB ports, in fact was taking a small amount of power from their charging effort.

Also, the fact she had to add 20% more miles to the trip to accomodate where the chargers were ran her charging costs up to almost more than a direct route with gas.

The one thing that baffles me is why Shell, Exxon, Mobil and others havent installed chargers. I mean just look at Daily's, its not about the gas, its about getting you inside the store/deli. Having people come inside and spend dough while their car charges seems like a potential biz model.

If these places can sell diesel with margin, I would think walk in charging traffic to the store could as well.

[Todd_Parker]

The one thing that baffles me is why Shell, Exxon, Mobil and others havent installed chargers. I mean just look at Daily's, its not about the gas, its about getting you inside the store/deli. Having people come inside and spend dough while their car charges seems like a potential biz model.

If these places can sell diesel with margin, I would think walk in charging traffic to the store could as well.

It doesn't seem like it would be tremendously difficult to retrofit an existing station to add on charging units. There isn't any need to dig into the ground for large storage tanks. Most likely, the only challenge would be to find the space to allocate for dedicated charging spots - but many truck stops and rest areas off of major interstates have plenty of room already.

[Josh]

The one thing that baffles me is why Shell, Exxon, Mobil and others havent installed chargers. I mean just look at Daily's, its not about the gas, its about getting you inside the store/deli. Having people come inside and spend dough while their car charges seems like a potential biz model.

If these places can sell diesel with margin, I would think walk in charging traffic to the store could as well.

They don't want to endorse/support a technology that will ultimately disrupt their market to the point of irrelevance.

A gas station making money on an EV charging at its station doesn't help when almost all of the charges that vehicle will experience in its lifetime will come either at home or at the owner's place of work. So why aid in the adoption of EVs now and speed up your own inevitable destruction?

[Adam White]

The one thing that baffles me is why Shell, Exxon, Mobil and others havent installed chargers. I mean just look at Daily's, its not about the gas, its about getting you inside the store/deli. Having people come inside and spend dough while their car charges seems like a potential biz model.

If these places can sell diesel with margin, I would think walk in charging traffic to the store could as well.

They don't want to endorse/support a technology that will ultimately disrupt their market to the point of irrelevance.

A gas station making money on an EV charging at its station doesn't help when almost all of the charges that vehicle will experience in its lifetime will come either at home or at the owner's place of work. So why aid in the adoption of EVs now and speed up your own inevitable destruction?

Because you have to adapt. Failure to adapt will just mean your destruction. Adapting to changes in the market means you might have a future.

You can't stop progress.

[remc86007]

I wonder if they knew that watching movies on their phones while it charged, presumably while they were plugged in the USB ports, in fact was taking a small amount of power from their charging effort.

Assuming a 30 watt draw by the phones charging (which would be assuming two phones with quick charging) and a 50 kilowatt charge rate, the effect would be around a 0.06% longer charge time or approximately another second. So small would be an understatement.

I agree with you about the gas stations. The "higher-end" gas stations like Daily's, the new Gate's, and Wawa should be all over the idea of keeping people on their premises for longer. Coffee shops, too, should be capitalize on the opportunity.

I think people are mistaken to believe that sometime soon a large amount of the population is going to be able to charge their cars at home. The average neighborhood power infrastructure is not capable of having many of the houses drawing 50+ kw simultaneously. Perhaps in the future, coffee shops and convenience stores will be able to keep people coming and charging their cars by offering cheaper prices than what one would pay by charging at home.

[Sonic101]

The Bolt (and the Volt) have a paddle on the back of the steering wheel to selectively use regenerative braking. It allows for one pedal driving and greatly reduces brake use and subsequent brake drag. It really slows you down but its not aggressive, I'd say its about a 25% brake apply in your car. Some owners have been reporting over 300 miles of range using the method frequently. It doesn't really help in freeway situations like this woman had, but people in urban areas can see good mileage.

[Josh]

I think people are mistaken to believe that sometime soon a large amount of the population is going to be able to charge their cars at home. The average neighborhood power infrastructure is not capable of having many of the houses drawing 50+ kw simultaneously. Perhaps in the future, coffee shops and convenience stores will be able to keep people coming and charging their cars by offering cheaper prices than what one would pay by charging at home.

Nobody is gonna be pulling 50+kW through their meter at home to charge their EV; nor is there a reason to since there is no need to charge the battery from close to "empty" to full in 20-30 minutes. 50kW would represent an entire 200 amp electrical panel devoted to charging.

Home charging will be done on much more "modest" chargers that while still pulling a lot of juice, they consume energy in a similar ballpark to HVAC emergency heat strips, which neighborhood distributions grids are more than capable of handling, even without taking into account "smart" overnight charging which EVs will end up doing.

[remc86007]

The Bolt (and the Volt) have a paddle on the back of the steering wheel to selectively use regenerative braking. It allows for one pedal driving and greatly reduces brake use and subsequent brake drag. It really slows you down but its not aggressive, I'd say its about a 25% brake apply in your car. Some owners have been reporting over 300 miles of range using the method frequently. It doesn't really help in freeway situations like this woman had, but people in urban areas can see good mileage.

I don't see why that paddle is necessary. Every hybrid I've driven recharges when pressing the brake and does so without using the conventional brakes at all for at least the first few cm of pedal travel.

[ProjectMaximus]

I think what surprised me is the variability of the output in each of the charging stations.

Yeah you'll notice it even in a Leaf for Level 2 charging. Sometimes a full charge is ~3.5 hrs and sometimes it's closer to 5.5 hrs.

The one thing that baffles me is why Shell, Exxon, Mobil and others havent installed chargers. I mean just look at Daily's, its not about the gas, its about getting you inside the store/deli. Having people come inside and spend dough while their car charges seems like a potential biz model.

Yes, well the Gate by the SJTC has one but I'm not sure how many folks use it. I never have.

It doesn't seem like it would be tremendously difficult to retrofit an existing station to add on charging units. There isn't any need to dig into the ground for large storage tanks. Most likely, the only challenge would be to find the space to allocate for dedicated charging spots - but many truck stops and rest areas off of major interstates have plenty of room already.

The charging station itself costs ~$5k for a level 2 and ~$40k for a Chademo so they aren't peanuts. And that's assuming you have power cables running underground already. If you need to install those then the cost varies dramatically based on the total distance. My wife managed the installation of 2 level 2 chargers at her workplace about 5 years ago and it was $80k total.