[Ladogaboy]

So my first road trip didn't go so well. I've been doing the best to record the adventure on video while sharing my thoughts on EVs in general and the Bolt EV in particular. Well, you can see for yourself. I'll provide some of the behind-the-scenes details later, but even I will have to stay tuned to see how this ends.

A couple acknowledgements:

• First, thanks Ilninja for asking me to load up the Bolt's luggage compartment. I don't have that much stuff, so I had to get inventive. As luck would have it, that left me with a lot of warm clothes.
• Second, though they won't see it here, a BIG thank you to a couple of neighbors (whom I've never met before), Shaun and Jade. They were the only people to stop (yes, including CalTrans workers) to see whether I needed help.

 

[phil0909]

Well, that was unfortunate. Glad you're ok.

Do you have the optional "Tire Inflator Kit"? Do you think it would have helped in this case?

 

[Ladogaboy]

Well, that was unfortunate. Glad you're ok.

Do you have the optional "Tire Inflator Kit"? Do you think it would have helped in this case?

Thanks! I don't, and it definitely wouldn't have helped; the entire sidewall is blown out. The only thing that would have helped in this situation is a full spare and jack.

The rock wasn't huge, but it was big enough that I didn't want to risk trying to clear it. I swerved to avoid the rock, but I still managed to clip about 2 inches of it. It repaid my kindness by ripping a hole in the sidewall:

 

[Sly Bob]

Wow that was a nasty hole in the tire, glad there was no damage to the car in the process.
You were surprised to see that with no cell signal you had no Onstar but Onstar is cell based and not satellite based as you had thought. No cell, no Onstar...

Read the paragraph under the map.

https://www.onstar.com/us/en/services/coveragemaps.html

 

[Ladogaboy]

Wow that was a nasty hole in the tire, glad there was no damage to the car in the process.
You were surprised to see that with no cell signal you had no Onstar but Onstar is cell based and not satellite based as you had thought. No cell, no Onstar...

Read the paragraph under the map.

https://www.onstar.com/us/en/services/coveragemaps.html

Thanks! True. OnStar works off of a different carrier than my phone, so it looks like that area is not within range of any towers. I guess that makes more sense.

 

[bro1999]

Man, that sucks. Hope you can get back on the road soon!

 

[phil0909]

Yeah, I don't see that tire ever getting reinflated.

I hope this was an uncommon occurrence, and that the Bolt tires are not flimsy. Unreliable tires would make the car a lot less desirable!

 

[Ziv]

Sorry to hear about the tire issue. I had a milder problem (but still an unrepairable flat) when I was roadtripping through Baltimore at 5pm on a Saturday night. I got the tire replaced about 15 minutes before the tire store closed for the weekend. I think many of us would like to have a Plan B and carry a doughnut and a jack anytime we are more than 60 or 70 miles from home.

 

[bro1999]

Watch Electrek spin an article titled "Chevy Bolt fails at road trips.....Just like we said it would" when they see this.

 

[Prohidium]

Hmm, rock, paper, sidewall!

 

[viking79]

Yeah, heck of a hole. As nice as paper thin sidewalls are for range, the first thing I will do with a Bolt EV is put real tires on it. Sorry to hear about your flat. That is rough on a new car. Unfortunately, I don't think your story will be uncommon. GM should probably offer a real spare option.

 

[Ladogaboy]

Watch Electrek spin an article titled "Chevy Bolt fails at road trips.....Just like we said it would" when they see this.

Most likely, but I'll be calling them and others out soon.

On the bright side, this gives us all a chance to see what cold-soaking the Bolt EV does when it's not plugged it. Because of the holiday weekend, my Bolt might have to spend two nights in sub-freezing temperatures. Supposedly, that area got about 4" of snow last night, so my Bolt might be sleeping snugly in its little blanky.

 

[Ladogaboy]

Yeah, heck of a hole. As nice as paper thin sidewalls are for range, the first thing I will do with a Bolt EV is put real tires on it. Sorry to hear about your flat. That is rough on a new car. Unfortunately, I don't think your story will be uncommon. GM should probably offer a real spare option.

It's not so much of an issue on city cars, but when you have the range to go out on back roads/highways, the likelihood of this happening increases. It might just be my luck, though. My first Volt got three nails/screws in the same tire in the first 10,000 miles.

Also, I'd rather replace the tire now. I'm going to put OEM back on. Because it still has less than 200 miles on the tires, I shouldn't have any issues.

 

[Qinsp]

That sucks. LRR tires have more flexible sidewalls, and less armor in the treads. I put real tires on my daughter's Volt after 'The Day'. On the afternoon she was leaving for college, she calls me and says she has a flat. The kit didn't fix it. So I decided if she was going to be out of my range, I'd put non-LRR on it.

Looks like you were 3.4 mi/kWh? Not bad assuming cold weather, and uphill.

 

[Henry_FL]

Looks like you could have limped home with that flat? I know its nasty gash, but sure looks like it would not have damaged the rim to drive it.

 

[BAZINGA]

Watch Electrek spin an article titled "Chevy Bolt fails at road trips.....Just like we said it would" when they see this.[/something GM QUOTE]

Yea, suggest changing the TITLE. There is an army of folks just waiting and looking for ANYTHING negative to latch on to. Poor cell service and a flat tire can happen to anyone.

Personally for me I would opt for a run-flat tire and take a bit of hit on the range, over the last two decades as a Corvette owner with EMT's aka run-flat tires they saved me three times from being stranded or having to wait for a flatbed to tow me to lord knows where. Yes I gave up a bit of all out performance, but let's be honest even with the reduced grip and stiffer ride my vette's could still easily out perform 99% of the cars on the street. And if I ever exceed the grip of an EMT in routine/street driving I would be at fault for being an butt head for driving like that.

 

[Sean Nelson]

Wow, that really sucks. I'm just not comfortable driving without some sort of spare, even if it's no more than one of those silly limited-service ones. So I'm very eager to hear whether or not the Bolt will accommodate a compact or full sized spare under the false floor of the cargo compartment - or even (dare I hope) in the well at the very bottom of the cargo compartment that's shaped very suspiciously like a spare tire bay. I have a (completely unsubstantiated) theory that that well was designed for a spare but that the car did poorly on crash tests with one installed, so they decided not to use it for that purpose. Because I can't imagine why else that thing is there.

 

[!arry4pyro]

Just curious, did you try dialing 911 on your cell? I was off roading in the mountains when we came up on a fire just starting. My cell showed no service but I tried 911 anyway and amazingly the call went right through. I think there us a special protocol for 911 emergency calls where any carrier receiving the call will accept it and route it to emergency services.

 

[SteveSeattle]

Is the car still up there? Doesn't ONStar give you a free tow to a dealer?
Will the dealer have a replacement tire in stock?
Good luck Ladogaboy.

 

[Joe67]

Sounds like a trip daily indeed and hardly a Bolt fail. Hope the wheel & tire are fixed soon and there is no other suspension damage.

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