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nevetsyad

Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2015
Messages
15
So, who else is trading in for the new Bolt at the end of the year? If it's AWD, I'm trading my Sparky in, otherwise I'm holding out for an AWD Tesla model 3.
 
It's a crossover, not a hatchback, typically that means AWD is an option. When the exec was asked about AWD, she replied that, "Anything is possible". A slightly larger Spark with 3 times the range and AWD would be the ultimate vehicle to me.
 
Some more info at http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1101775_2017-chevrolet-bolt-ev-specs-released-battery-pack-motor-power-and-more and http://www.chevrolet.com/bolt-ev-electric-vehicle.html.

At least they finally got a clue and included a 7.2 kW OBC. I saw the car at Chevy's booth @ CES. I felt the styling was decent. It'll be interesting to know how close the EPA range rating will be vs. the 200 miles they keep talking about. If it is close to 200, it really does start at $37.5K before tax credit and is reasonably reliable, it'll be a game changer.

Real shame that they decided to continue w/SAE Combo yet won't fund CCS/SAE Combo infrastructure: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1101774_gm-wont-fund-ccs-fast-charging-sites-for-2017-chevy-bolt-ev. Good going, not! They should've thrown in the towel and gone w/CHAdeMO or worked out a deal paying Tesla for Supercharger access.
 
And what's with that goofy shift pattern in the Bolt?
PRNDL has served us fine for decades. Stop fixing things that aren't broken! It's the Apple syndrome.

Wikipedia is stating 60kW hour battery pack. And an automatic transmission?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Bolt

Have these figures been vetted?
 
NomadMac said:
Wikipedia is stating 60kW hour battery pack.
...
Have these figures been vetted?
http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/11/10747204/chevy-bolt-motor-battery-info-naias-2016
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1101775_2017-chevrolet-bolt-ev-specs-released-battery-pack-motor-power-and-morehttp://insideevs.com/chevrolet-bolt-ev-specs-revealed-60-kwh-0-60-in-less-than-7-seconds/
http://media.gm.com/media/cn/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/cn/en/2016/jan/0114_bolt-ev.html
 
NomadMac said:
And what's with that goofy shift pattern in the Bolt?
PRNDL has served us fine for decades. Stop fixing things that aren't broken!

Really? PRNDL is stupid! Why go through R to get to D? With that attitude, there are horse drawn wagons you can buy.
 
cwerdna said:
...Real shame that they decided to continue w/SAE Combo yet won't fund CCS/SAE Combo infrastructure.... Good going, not! They should've thrown in the towel and gone w/CHAdeMO or worked out a deal paying Tesla for Supercharger access.
CCS is the new standard. Not worth yapping about.
However, a Tesla to CCS adapter cord and new card readers on the Tesla Supercharger network is definitely worth yapping about !!

I just posted this on another Bolt forum:

Why should an EV charge network be car maker based?
There are so many EV manufacturers out there now and more coming soon.

In Kansas City there is a huge network of L2 and 50kW DCFC units (and more on the way), and all are FREE !!
http://www.kcpl.com/about-kcpl/envir...charge-network
Look at the metro area on PlugShare, filtered for FREE ! KC may be the most EV friendly city in the world !!

There are several ways to welcome the Clean EV future. In KC the local Electric Company is doing it.

There is one Tesla Supercharger in the area, but from what I see on PlugShare comments a lot of Tesla owners are using the network DCFC's with the $450 Chademo to Tesla adapter cord.

But, alas, for me to make a road trip in a Bolt, I'll need a new, different network of DCFC chargers.
Has there been talk in this thread about a Tesla to CCS adapter cord and Tesla allowing others to charge for a fee?
 
NORTON said:
cwerdna said:
...Real shame that they decided to continue w/SAE Combo yet won't fund CCS/SAE Combo infrastructure.... Good going, not! They should've thrown in the towel and gone w/CHAdeMO or worked out a deal paying Tesla for Supercharger access.
CCS is the new standard. Not worth yapping about.
However, a Tesla to CCS adapter cord and new card readers on the Tesla Supercharger network is definitely worth yapping about !!
...
Has there been talk in this thread about a Tesla to CCS adapter cord and Tesla allowing others to charge for a fee?[/color]
It is a (not "the") new standard that's been barely supported by GM and many of its other "supporters", w/the notable exception of BMW.

You're new here. Elon Musk's been widely quoted as saying "Yes, the SAE have a standard. But it sucks."

As we've discussed at http://www.mychevysparkev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4824#p4824, it's rather unlikely Tesla would allow any non-Tesla vehicles to use their Superchargers w/o paying them a significant fee and/or requiring the other player to help w/paying for infrastructure expansion (which GM said no to). After all, Tesla charged $2K at purchase time or $2.5K after purchase (http://shop.teslamotors.com/products/enable-supercharging) to enable Supercharger access on the 60 kWh Model S. All their higher capacity cars include it in the price of the car.

Adding additional (non-Tesla) users w/o helping w/infrastructure build out is probably a bad idea. http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/59542-%28Reported-on-12-26-2015%29-11-car-wait-at-Tejon-Ranch-AVOID-IF-YOU-CAN! happened over Christmas. http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/59542-%28Reported-on-12-26-2015%29-11-car-wait-at-Tejon-Ranch-AVOID-IF-YOU-CAN!/page6?p=1294103#post1294103 mentioned how long the ordeal was. http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/59542-%28Reported-on-12-26-2015%29-11-car-wait-at-Tejon-Ranch-AVOID-IF-YOU-CAN!/page3?p=1293941#post1293941 was a pic of the line.
 
cwerdna said:
>.... Elon Musk's been widely quoted as saying "Yes, the SAE have a standard. But it sucks."...
>>... After all, Tesla charged $2K at purchase time or $2.5K after purchase .....their higher capacity cars include it in the price of the car....
>>>...Adding additional (non-Tesla) users w/o helping w/infrastructure build out is probably a bad idea. ....
> Who wants every car manufacturer to come up with their own standards for nuts, bolts, wheels or EV charging systems? Charging systems are not the place for 'Proprietary Standards', imo.
The current CCS 50kW DCFC system works fine for me. Is it rated to 100kW? Only no cars other than T charge at that rate currently, correct?

>> Yes, and that initial cost gets you Free Life Time Fueling. That is his business model. Good luck with that. That is not what I am proposing from the existing Supercharger network.

>>> Why would this be a bad idea? It would be revenue coming in to Tesla, instead of nothing but revenue going out to Tesla owners.
Hang a $75 card reader on the stations, sell a Tesla to CCS adapter cord and you now have Money Coming in from the Superchargers, instead of the current business model.

Sell it at $0.25/kWh, or more.... Elon????
 
Here is what a portion of a recent article in Green Car Reports said about charging the Bolt EV:

"Using the built-in 7.2-kW charger, GM quotes a charging time of "50 miles in less than 2 hours" using a 240-Volt Level 2 charger. At the press conference, GM product chief Mark Reuss said a full recharge will be about 9 hours.

That doesn't address the time required for a full recharge, but may be more representative of how many Bolts will be used by their owners for daily transport.
The Bolt EV will also include an optional CCS fast-charging port, which GM says will provide "90 miles in 30 minutes," presumably on today's CCS charging stations, which have a maximum output of 50 kilowatts."

I believe Mary Barr said, with the longer range, Chevy expected most Bolt EV owners would charge at home during the off-peak hours as opposed to using a DCFC station. OK - Then you are going to need an L2 EVSE capable of 7.2-kW to charge the car in 9 hours given the battery is almost on empty. I estimate charge time with a current 6.6-kW L2 EVSE, which many EV drivers already have installed, would take about 11 hours for a full recharge.

My question? When is the charging "wait time" just too long?
 
MrDRMorgan said:
I believe Mary Barr said, with the longer range, Chevy expected most Bolt EV owners would charge at home during the off-peak hours as opposed to using a DCFC station. OK - Then you are going to need an L2 EVSE capable of 7.2-kW to charge the car in 9 hours given the battery is almost on empty. I estimate charge time with a current 6.6-kW L2 EVSE, which many EV drivers already have installed, would take about 11 hours for a full recharge.
Point of clarification, any of the 30A or 32A-rated EVSE, the apparently most popular rating for Level 2 EVSE, are capable of the 7.2kW charge rate. Basically, any EVSE made that can handle 6.6kW can also handle the 7.2kW power output.

A 24A EVSE will not be able to provide the fastest Level 2 charge rate that the Bolt EV on-board charger can accept.

Here are the level 2 charge rates, and the approximate miles you get per hour for the Bolt EV:
30A: 7.2kW, 25 mi per hour of charge
24A: 5.8kW, 20 mi per hour of charge
18A: 4.3kW, 15 mi per hour of charge
15A: 3.6kW, 13 mi per hour of charge

Note: These numbers do vary based on input voltage.

So if you drive 100 mi per day for your commute, you'd need about 9 hours to recharge the Bolt EV using a 15A EVSE or half that, 4.5 hours, using a 30A EVSE.
 
Zoomit said:
MrDRMorgan said:
I believe Mary Barr said, with the longer range, Chevy expected most Bolt EV owners would charge at home during the off-peak hours as opposed to using a DCFC station. OK - Then you are going to need an L2 EVSE capable of 7.2-kW to charge the car in 9 hours given the battery is almost on empty. I estimate charge time with a current 6.6-kW L2 EVSE, which many EV drivers already have installed, would take about 11 hours for a full recharge.
Point of clarification, any of the 30A or 32A-rated EVSE, the apparently most popular rating for Level 2 EVSE, are capable of the 7.2kW charge rate. Basically, any EVSE made that can handle 6.6kW can also handle the 7.2kW power output.

A 24A EVSE will not be able to provide the fastest Level 2 charge rate that the Bolt EV on-board charger can accept.

Here are the level 2 charge rates, and the approximate miles you get per hour for the Bolt EV:
30A: 7.2kW, 25 mi per hour of charge
24A: 5.8kW, 20 mi per hour of charge
18A: 4.3kW, 15 mi per hour of charge
15A: 3.6kW, 13 mi per hour of charge

Note: These numbers do vary based on input voltage.

So if you drive 100 mi per day for your commute, you'd need about 9 hours to recharge the Bolt EV using a 15A EVSE or half that, 4.5 hours, using a 30A EVSE.

Great information. Thanks. In my case I currently use a 15A L2 EVSE for my 2015 spark EV. Installation was easy since I punched a hole through my garage wall into the laundry room and connected to the electric dryer socket.
 
MrDRMorgan said:
... Installation was easy since I punched a hole through my garage wall into the laundry room and connected to the electric dryer socket.
Where there is NO dryer and ONLY the EVSE is using that circuit, correct? ;)
 
NORTON said:
MrDRMorgan said:
... Installation was easy since I punched a hole through my garage wall into the laundry room and connected to the electric dryer socket.
Where there is NO dryer and ONLY the EVSE is using that circuit, correct? ;)

That is correct. When we had the house built, we had the laundry room set up for both gas and electric drying. We have never used the electric connection until recently when I connected the 16A Bosch L2 EVSE to it. The electric dryer circuit breaker is rated at 30A.
 
NORTON said:
MrDRMorgan said:
... Installation was easy since I punched a hole through my garage wall into the laundry room and connected to the electric dryer socket.
Where there is NO dryer and ONLY the EVSE is using that circuit, correct? ;)

My garage-based 240V 30 amp EVSE (which, by the manual, requires a 40amp breaker) shares a socket with the welder - because the car can't be in the garage when we need to use the welder anyway.


Edit: typo
 
ReddyKilowatt said:
NORTON said:
MrDRMorgan said:
... Installation was easy since I punched a hole through my garage wall into the laundry room and connected to the electric dryer socket.
Where there is NO dryer and ONLY the EVSE is using that circuit, correct? ;)

My garage-based 240V 30 amp EVSE (which, by the manual, requires a 40amp breaker) shares a socket with the welder - because the car can't be in the garage when we need to use the welder anyway.


Edit: typo
My son is a journeyman electrician and he can, if I ever need to, install a separate circuit for a higher amperage EVSE. For now, the 16A EVSE is working fine for my two Spark EVs. The DCFC on my 2015 Spark EV and the availability of a number of DCFC stations in my area make extended range driving easy. I found that charging to about 85% minimizes my charging wait time while not creating any range anxiety. The DCFC stations are approximately 35-40 miles apart which works great.- Thank you NRG eVgo and Greenlots.
 
Welp, the Bolt is everything more your would want in a Spark, more range and slightly bigger..... but costs 2x as much. So I will keep my Spark and be happy cuz I like it anyways. But yea, Bolt is really nice.
 
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