Chevy Bolt, does it family? A review.

[easythereturbo]

Right, 110 miles daily is too much for a standard outlet. One thing of note that should work for you- The included charger will run on 240 volts! All you need is an adapter and you can charge at 12a 240v with the standard slow charger. I have a 240v outlet, but I haven't done it yet as I'm fine without it. IIRC adapters are $50 to $80, or you can roll your own for like $30 in parts.

To sum up, you can charge twice as fast if you happen to have 240v dryer outlet.

I am in socal, state is $2500 here, plus costco executive members get $700 through chevy, and my local electric gives $450. Fed should still be $7500.

[ksa8907]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I'd certainly go EV if I had that long of a commute just to save on fuel and maintenance cost.

That said, after spending $30k+ on a vehicle, how much extra financial burden is installing a 240v outlet?

I recently did this.

100' of 10/3 wire rated for direct bury and 30a
(1) 12 slot, 100a panel
(1) 8' ground rod
(1) 30a breaker
15' #6 ground wire
10' conduit
1.25" x 18" drill bit for holes in the house/garage
Misc stuff

= roughly $250

The L2 charger was $300 from the dealer.

[NeilBlanchard]

Yes, even at 120V 12A (the Bolt EV can be toggled between 8A and 12A on 120V EVSE units), it would take too long to charge 110 miles. That could take 20-24 hours. And that is not counting when / if you use the heater or A/C.

If you get a 240V 32A EVSE, you could recharge in about 4 hours. We are able to share one Level 2 (240V) EVSE between two electric cars.

By the way, we really love our Bolt EV - it is the best car we have ever owned; even if it didn't have an electric drivetrain.

[easythereturbo]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Yes, even at 120V 12A (the Bolt EV can be toggled between 8A and 12A on 120V EVSE units), it would take too long to charge 110 miles. That could take 20-24 hours.

No what I say is this, you can charge at

********TWO HUNDRED AND FOURTY VOLTS**********

At 12amps on the included charger. Yes the "110v charger" charges at 240 volts! Really. I know, I doubted it too but it does. That doubles you to 8 miles per hour.

Say you get home from work at 7pm, and leave for work at 7am, that is 96 miles per night. That would work out fine for a 110 mile commute. Total out of pocket less than $100 for the prong adapter cord, assuming you have the electric clothes dryer outlet.

My parents put in a 240v outlet, I think it was $1000 total to have an electrician do it right. Theirs needed to be in just about the worst place on the property relative to the source.

[NeilBlanchard]

Understood - but that is still about a day to charge. We have a L2 240v 32A (actually capable of 40A) EVSE, and typically, our Bolt EV charges for 4-5 hours every 3-4 days.

I paid about $700 for the EVSE and it cost about $100 for the 50A breaker and the cable. I installed it myself.

[easythereturbo]

I hear you, was not trying to be smart with the asterisks. I think the 240 capability of the included charge cord could be SUPER IMPORTANT for some people out there car shopping. Included 240 capability never gets mentioned or marketed by Chevy. Wanted to try to draw attention to it, and spread the word.

May seem slow, but 240x12 amps its still twice as fast as the advertised max charge rate, which blows my mind they would not tout it. The real world max 8 miles of range per charge hour should cover 90% of commutes where as the 4 mile nominal max only covers maybe 60%. IMO its a big deal..

[easythereturbo]

Update.. car still doing five with 1 to 5 people inside. Blasting up steep hills fully loaded is no problem. The rear seating is actually more comfortable than some much longer vehicles due to the Bolt's height. Some sportier cars make tall people knees into a sharper than 90 degree angle because of low seat height. I hate that. Not a problem here.

I have used the 240 outlet and it seems to be more than double the speed of a 12a120v outlet. For what reason I am not sure, but I can get well over 100 miles of range overnight. Again.. this is with the factory included charger.

[oil pan 4]

The conversation efficiency from 240v AC to 350-400v DC is much more efficient than with 120v AC and less charger cooling system run time.
So the conversation is more efficient and you use half as much power on tuning pumps and fans.

I have the duosida 16 amp charger it gives about 3.8kw.
And when that's not fast enough I found a portable 10kw CHADEMO unit.

[easythereturbo]

I have read results which show not more than a couple of percent difference between the two voltages in losses. I suspect my "120v" supply is less than half of the voltage of the 240 in this particular building. I haven't verified this but the outlets are at the far end of the property compared to the source.

Charger cooling cutting in to the charge time is a variable I had no idea existed. I guess that could be it too.

I have tried fast charge a few times. There are plenty within a few minutes drive of me but 99.75% I stick with affordable night rate at home, to try to make this relatively expensive car pencil out versus lower priced gas competitors.

In any case I must say, the factory dealio works better than I ever would have thought at both voltages. I use nothing else, and if it were broken or stolen I would get another. Living in an apt or condo with only a 120v outlet is not necessarily a deal killer for the Bolt. The charger would still be able to get me what I need daily on 120. Same goes for anyone else with a reasonable distance commute.