Chevy Bolt (Our 3rd EV) and an Adventure to the Adirondacks

Chevy Bolt (Our 3rd EV)

We are 3/31/16 Model 3 reservation holders. While waiting for our Model 3 it became apparent the lease on my Smart Electric would end long before the 3 became available, so I'd have a gap to fill. I briefly contemplated Uber. Mmmmm, no.

In December of 2017 Chevy had some amazing lease deals on the Bolt, so we pulled the trigger. We got a Bolt lease for 3/36 for $7500 in total payments. 21 cents a mile. I put $2100 down and pay $150 a month. A car for a cable bill.

Having a more spacious car with over 3x the battery was an amazing change for me. We really like the car. But with the advantage of hindsight I believe 200/140 summer/winter miles simply isn't enough battery in our climate. And it is becoming painfully apparent that infrastructure that doesn't at least match Tesla's speed and capacity is a non-starter for any car company that wants to sell at scale.

It may work as a great second car for many, but unsuitability for replacing the primary car for early majority buyers means these cars are not ever going to sell in necessary numbers to make mainstream. If the Bolt could charge at Supercharger speeds it MIGHT bridge the gap between early adopter and early majority, but I don't think so. There is a huge difference between having the car wait for you and having to wait for the car, and based on my aunt and uncle's experience going from an 85S to a 70D, and our experience between Bolt and Model 3, I think that happens once you get over 250 miles range, above 3 miles per KWH, and requires 120 KW charging.

So all but Tesla will continue to be boutique, early adopter vehicles that sell in irrelevant numbers because user experience will be bad. People will hate the Jag, Audi, Mercedes, and Porsche. Depreciation will be terrible, further accelerating failure of those cars. It will be interesting to watch.

The marketplace supports this opinion. Tesla sold 25,000 Model 3s in December. The Bolt, which is the best selling non-Tesla pure EV, sold less than that ALL YEAR!

I don't see any competitors for Tesla in the near future. I don't think anybody else will even be able to hit 100k a year, which is a long way from real competition.

That's a long intro to our Adirondack trip, which was a fun adventure for us, but would be a nightmare for most!

Bolt Adventure to the Adirondacks

Lizzy and I took a road trip to Malone NY - she has a background part in a Netflix series. We took the Bolt. It was an adventure! We got to try the only fast (not very) charging North of the Thruway, ended up sleeping one night in the car while it charged in a grocery store parking lot, and made it to her gig with 15 minutes and 11 miles to spare.

Got really lucky and found charging (unregistered - not on any map) at the Chevy dealer in town and parked there for 7 hours, then drove through a snowstorm and stayed in Old Forge, the most welcome, uncomfortable bed I've slept in in a long time.

The final leg was exciting too. A big hunk of snow blew off a semi and smashed our windshield.

More pics: https://photos.app.goo.gl/riDQmvCw1ZsKL4tp8

Everybody seems really confused about electric car range. Unfortunately, EPA rates gas cars basically on a flat road at 55 mph. For fair comparison they have to do the same for EV's. Instead of promoting mi/KWH or KWH/mi, they talk about rated range.

Pretty sure my 3 is a 220-260 mile car, and the Bolt is a 150-190 mile car. I think this confuses the marketplace. Tesla makes it worse by not having GOM option for battery display. Rated miles is worse than useless so I use % and simply double it for range. Even in the coldest weather this is safe. I kinda wish they also had KW instead of %.

Efficiency matters a lot for charging time.

In 12,000+ miles the Bolt average is 2.2 miles per Kilowatt Hour.

In 9,000+ miles the Model 3 average is 3.4 miles per Kilowatt Hour.

So when charging at 6.6 KW, the 3 is recovering 22 miles per hour range, whereas the Bolt is only recovering 14.52 miles on average.

SUMMARY:

Drove 740 total miles.

Used 257 total KWH, which took 1552 minutes or 25.86 hours (not including home charging).

This is about 10 KW average, without the fast charger the average drops to 7 KW

LEGS:

Drive 124 mi to Rome 6-7:31

Rome Charging 8:34-10:39, (51 KWH? 3 bars to 19)

Drive 53 mi to Old Forge 10:39-11:32

Old Forge Charging 11:32-1:50 (13.86 KWH)

Drive 192 mi to Plattsburgh 1:50-4:50

(2:40 10 min stop Adirondack Museum, .9 KWH)

Plattsburgh Charging 5:11-8:47 (Est 14 KWH)

Drive 53 mil to Malone 8:47-9:50

Malone Chevy charging 10:05-4:58 (39 KWH? range 2-15 bars)

Malone Firehall trickle charging 6-10pm (4 KWH?)

Drive 103 miles to ADK Museum 10:19-12:19

ADK Museum Charge 12:20-1:22, (6.3 KWH)

Drive 37.8 miles Old Forge 1:22-2:21 (arrive LOW)

Old Forge Charging 2:30-10:42 (49.94 KWH) SLEEP Clarks Beach motel!!

Drive 53 mi to Rome, 11:45-1:12

Rome charging 1:12-2:30 (24 KWH? 11-19 bars)

124 miles home. Arrive with 2 bars/12 miles

MILES/TIME:

Drive 124 mi to Rome 6-7:31

Drive 53 mi to Old Forge 10:39-11:32

Drive 192 mi to Plattsburgh 1:50-4:50

Drive 53 mil to Malone 8:47-9:50

Drive 103 miles to ADK Museum 10:19-12:19

Drive 37.8 miles Old Forge 1:22-2:21 (arrive LOW)

Drive 53 mi to Rome, 11:45-1:12

124 miles home. Arrive with 2 bars/12 miles

CHARGING/TIME:

Started full

Rome Charging 8:34-10:39, (51 KWH? 3 bars to 19)

Old Forge Charging 11:32-1:50 (13.86 KWH)

(2:40 10 min stop Adirondack Museum, .9 KWH)

Plattsburgh Charging 5:11-8:47 (Est 14 KWH)

Malone Chevy charging 10:05-4:58 (39 KWH? range 2-15 bars)

Malone Firehall trickle charging 6-10pm (4 KWH?)

ADK Museum Charge 12:20-1:22, (6.3 KWH)

Old Forge Charging 2:30-10:42 (49.94 KWH) SLEEP Clarks Beach motel!!

Rome charging 1:12-2:30 (24 KWH? 11-19 bars)

124 miles home. Arrive with 2 bars/12 miles

Need about 54 KWH to fill.

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