Bought a 2017 Bolt EV

[JSH]

Originally Posted by aerohead

Actually, AeroStealth questimated it from contemporary costs for a Kilowatt of Lithium Ion battery.
He got a call the other day from his dealer, and will be getting the 66-kWh for his BOLT.
He and his wife just did an 800+ mile trip with the defective pack, and will be cleared for trip to San Diego, CA, from New Mexico.
Regardless of the actual cost, you scored big-time!

The problem with that calculation is that I didn't get 66 kWh of Li-Ion batteries. It isn't like I got to keep the old 60 kWh battery to use as home storage or in my campervan. The old battery went back to GM and a new one with 6 more kWh replaced it.

I did gain 6 kWh of battery. Yes, that extra capacity adds 20ish miles of range although 90% or more of my trips are 50 miles or less. A handful of trips I'll be able to go a bit farther between charges and might save a few minutes. Minor score there.

Yes, I got a new battery to replace a 4 year old battery so the vehicle should go longer before an replacement battery is needed but I had no plans to own this vehicle outside of the original battery warranty so - again - nothing gained.

The only way this would be real gain to me is if the future buyer is willing to pay more for my Bolt because it has a newer battery. Time will tell if that overrides the fact that the Chevy Bolt has a reputation for catching on fire.


Now for losses. The old battery had a flat aerodynamic bottom that sealed the underside of the car. Better for aerodynamics, efficiency AND better for long term life of the car because there were no places for road grim, mud, and salt to collect and corrode the unibody. The new battery leaves the huge areas exposed to collect grim and rust out the car. Not much of an issue here in Oregon were salt use is very limited but for people in the rust belt they can expect their car to rust out faster. (Likely before the battery gives out)

There is also the time lost between the two recalls.

[JSH]

Preliminary data from the first couple of days of driving with the new battery.

21.6 kWh used to travel 83.4 miles. That is 32.7% of the battery capacity so using 100% I should have a range of about 255 miles. Of course that is range at 50F, range in the spring and summer should be better.

[JSH]

I'm on my 3rd battery charge with the new battery. The dealer tech and everything I've read online said to discharge down below 25% to help car learn the new battery capacity faster.

1st Charge
When I picked up the car from the dealer the range read 200 miles
SoC (Display) = 100%
SoC (RAW) = 100%

I drove it 191.2 miles and used 49.5 kWh of juice.
94% driving / 5% HVAC / 1% Battery Conditioning
Remaining range = low
SoC (display) = 9.4%
SoC (Raw) = 13.4%


2nd Charge
Charged it up and the range read 218 miles
SoC (display) said 100%
SoC (Raw) said 96%


I drove 190.8 miles and used 46.8 kWh of juice
91% driving / 7% HVAC / 2% Battery Conditioning
Remaining Range = 46 miles
SoC (Display) = 22.7%
SoC (Raw) = 27.2%


3rd Charge - In Process

It will be interesting to see what the range meter says tomorrow with a full charge. The car does seem to be learning the battery has more capacity.

On the 1st charge the car thought 49.5 kWh was 90.6% of the usable capacity. That calculates to 54.6 kWh usable capacity

On the 2nd charge the car thought 46.8 kWh was 72.3% of the usable capacity. That calculates to 64.7 kWh usable capacity.

[JSH]

A little update:

The range has been slowly growing but I was curious how much I was throwing off the car by running undersized tires. Does the car pull speed from the speedometer, GPS, or both? I assume the speedometer.

My winter tires are Bridgestone Blizzak sized 185/65R15 with a diameter of 24.5 inches and 852 RPM. Stock tires for the Bolt are Michelin Energy Saver A/S sized 215/50R17 with a diameter of 25.5 and RPM of 815. So the tires are 4% smaller and the car thinks it is going 4% farther than it actually is.

I have no answer on this yet - the car will take some time to adapt.

What I did notice right away is that the stock wheel / tire combo is HEAVY. I could easily tell the difference when swapping wheels. The stock wheel / tire weights 44 lbs even with the tread worn down almost to the wear bars. The 15" wheels / winter tires weigh 34.9 lbs. So 9 lbs lighter - likely 10 lbs lighter with full tread.

WHY do automakers put such heavy and oversize wheels on their vehicles? I know the answer - big is in style but the penalty for that style is less efficiency, poor ride, and expensive tires when it is time to replace them.

Part of that weight is Chevy deciding to remove the spare from the Bolt and instead having Michelin put a layer of tar on the inside of the tires to self seal small punctures. That adds a pound per tire vs the regular version. Just the tire is 23 lbs while the Blizzak weighs 18 lbs.

I'll be shopping for replacement summer tires. I won't be buying another set of stock tires. They are crap with a BB rating for performance and temperature. Feel on the road matches that poor rating.


Since everyone has been talking about fuel prices lately: My wife has been driving the Bolt for her 50 mile commute since I've been travelling. To date we have spent $28.67 on electricity. It is pretty crazy that we bought here a car to replace the TDI on April 4th and she didn't drive it until yesterday.

[redpoint5]

Ride harshness is a somewhat common complaint on the Bolt forum, and some have gone with lighter weight wheels/tires to mitigate the issue.

I don't know how much impact rotational weight plays in efficiency, but at least on the Bolt it will recover the majority of that energy with regen. It may play some role in why Chevy decided to go with such heavy tires/wheels. Perhaps they simply wanted stronger wheels since you can't repair a tacoed rim with fix-a-flat.

Curious to hear feedback from your wife with regards to ride comfort.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Ride harshness is a somewhat common complaint on the Bolt forum, and some have gone with lighter weight wheels/tires to mitigate the issue.

I don't know how much impact rotational weight plays in efficiency, but at least on the Bolt it will recover the majority of that energy with regen. It may play some role in why Chevy decided to go with such heavy tires/wheels. Perhaps they simply wanted stronger wheels since you can't repair a tacoed rim with fix-a-flat.

Curious to hear feedback from your wife with regards to ride comfort.

Yes, you get some of the energy expended accelerating heavy wheels back through regen but only some of it. Studies I've read put it at 70% max

The "winter" wheels are stock aluminum wheels from a Chevy Spark / Sonic / Cruze / Trax so they are plenty strong - just smaller.

My wife likes the Bolt. She likes the quiet, the acceleration, and handling. She likes having CarPlay. Comfort is fine although our longest trip has been about an hour. It will be interesting if I get it back or if I'll end up driving the new to us Acura.

[JSH]

First charge after going back to stock wheel / tires = 263 miles range. That is about 20 miles more than I ever saw with the under size winter tires.

This pretty much confirms that the Chevy dealer did not do the complete recall and reprogram the car to show the new battery capacity.

263 / 4.5 mi/kWh = 58 kWh battery capacity. That is the usable capacity of the old battery not the new 65 kWh battery.

[redpoint5]

I'm curious if there's a PID that would show actual SOC, or if that depends on the car having been programmed correctly?

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I'm curious if there's a PID that would show actual SOC, or if that depends on the car having been programmed correctly?

SOC is based on average cell voltage so it should be reading correctly. Chevy holds back 4% SOC on the top end and 5% SOC on the bottom end.

I take back the statement from my last post - before the battery replacement the PID showed Battery Capacity at 52.9 kWh. That would seem to be usable capacity not total capacity as the original battery was advertised 60 kWh and GM held back 9% of the capacity for a usable capacity of 54.6.

So 58 kWh is more than the old battery. Now is that just from the car learning through repeated charges or did the dealer reprogram the car like they said? No way to know.

One thing that did drop a lot with the new wheels is the calculated efficiency. With the old wheels I was showing about 5.0 mi/kWh. On the half charge after the wheel swap I'm down to 4.5 mi/kWh. That would make sense as with the undersize wheels the car would think it was going farther than it actually was.

I haven't plugged in my OBDII scanner and used Torque Pro to check the PIDs for almost 2 months so I'll need to do that.

[JSH]

It has been a couple of weeks since swapping back to the summer tires / stock wheel sizes and the estimated battery range is growing. After a week of driving in moderate temperatures without needing HVAC I was up to an estimated 289 miles of range with a full charge. After a week of my wife driving and running the heater and it was back down to 240. I suspect summer range will be 300 miles or higher.

So far I’ve really liked the Bolt. My biggest complaint is the HVAC. It has a dial for temperature and a manual and auto mode. In my mind manual should just be just be a rheostat. Turn it up and the air through the vent gets warmer, turn it down and it gets cooler. If the display says 50F it should be blowing air that is 50F. If it is set to 70F the vent temp should be 70F. That is not how it works. In both manual and auto modes the computer varies vent temperature all the time. Looking at PIDs through Torque Pro the heater wattage is all over the place.