[Even-Steven]

Trying to decide if a BOlt would be a good vehicle to be used for commuting 5 times a week 150 round trip commute?
40-50 would be highspeed hwy driving at 80 mph. not much elevation change but one or two mild climb.

consider Texas heat, 100 degrees in summer, A/C on.
I like to have a little buffer zone in available battery capacity I would hate to have a white knuckle range anxiety.
Should I go for the Volt instead?

thanks

 

[SharkVolt]

I am currently driving mine in 100-110 degrees every day, and with the hill top reserve engaged, which means 10% less range, and with air conditioning on full at all times, I still see right at 210 miles range each morning. And, I am driving about 40% freeway now, but only about 70-75 mph.

So, I would think you should easily have about 180 miles of range per charge, allowing for 80mph speeds.

If that doesn't give you the reserve you want, you could still use a Bolt without the hilltop reserve engaged, which would add about another 24 miles of range.

And, I find that the heated seats and steering wheel on the Premiere Bolt give me all the heat I need, as long as the temps aren't below freezing, so that I use less range in the winter here than the summer.

 

[BAZINGA]

To bad there isn't a way folks could get their hands on a Bolt to test over difficult routes to see how it actually performs before writing the check?

I wonder if the OP could find some local Bolt owners to run their cars over that route.

 

[Norton]

T...>consider Texas heat, 100 degrees in summer, A/C on.
>>I like to have a little buffer zone in available battery capacity I would hate to have a white knuckle range anxiety...

>AC has just a little effect on range. Plus 'Preconditioning' the cabin while plugged in helps.
It's heat that sucks it up....

>>"a little buffer zone" is highly over rated. What are you going to to with 50-60 miles of extra range?

I've been with my Chevy BEV for over 2 yrs now. Only a few times did I have to think about range on really cold winter airport runs.

I use a Garmin nuvi and it displays distance to destination. The 'GOM' / range display on the car shows current guess at range.
If I see the 'range' number lowering and getting close to the actual 'distance to destination', I slow down a tad, or turn the heat down a tad, or both.
I then almost instantly see the 'range number' start climbing while driving in relation to the 'destination number'.

I can't wait to get a Bolt and never worry about range. Maybe someday I could actually do road trips with it....

 

[Qinsp]

I would think it has a whole lot to do with what the rest of the drive is like if 50 miles is at 80 mph. If the other 100 miles is 75mph, you won't have a lot left. A magazine ran a Bolt at 75mph sustained with the AC on and went 190 miles.
3 people in a Bolt in Korea went over 290 miles at 50-60 mph most the time.

 

[llninja]

Plus since it doesn't snow in Texas, losing range from cold might not be an issue, unless the administration is wrong about global warming (which comes with colder winters).

The only other thing I'd worry about is if you have enough time each night to charge it all the way back up, or if you end up creeping down throughout the week because of a shopping trip here or there that restricts your nighttime charging routine. Yon have weekends to make that up or really blow it out of the water with additional fun weekend excursions. For example if I'm out late at night and past midnight and need to get to work at 6am without any charging st work, the bolt might not work for you.

 

[Even-Steven]

I would think it has a whole lot to do with what the rest of the drive is like if 50 miles is at 80 mph. If the other 100 miles is 75mph, you won't have a lot left. A magazine ran a Bolt at 75mph sustained with the AC on and went 190 miles.
3 people in a Bolt in Korea went over 290 miles at 50-60 mph most the time.

Thank you for the feed back folks.

The trip is 75 miles one way.
Mostly Hwy, high speed about 40 miles @ 80 mph,
30miles @ 55mph,
5or so miles @40 mph. This is the morning run, same coming back.
Slowing down is not an option. I need to get there on time and move along with traffic.

Fast charging is not a problem, I have a 100 amp (240V) circuit breaker panel pretty much unused- detached garage,
or have attached garage with 50 amp sub panel 240V.

The buffer battery capacity is needed if there is a detour, accident idling on the side of the road.
This vehicle is for commuting, 4-5 days a week.

 

[Neromanceres]

The buffer battery capacity is needed if there is a detour, accident idling on the side of the road.
This vehicle is for commuting, 4-5 days a week.

Electric cars don't idle. When stopped the only power used will be for AC (and a little tiny bit for the computers and displays). And this will be fairly low. In fact if traffic slows or stops to due an accident your range will actually increase.

 

[jeff_h]

The only place where you'll take a real hit is the stretch at 80mph, otherwise you would have a lot of buffer room. In my opinion only, I think the Bolt has a lower HVAC power draw than the Gen 2 Volt does when running AC, but again I don't have any real numbers it just seems that way.

I have a 108 mile R/T commute and then often drive another 40-80 miles later in the evening, and if I don't then I commute 2 days on a single charge.

 

[Steverino]

Fast charging is not a problem, I have a 100 amp (240V) circuit breaker panel pretty much unused- detached garage,
or have attached garage with 50 amp sub panel 240V.

The fastest level 2 charge will be about 25 miles/hour or about 6 hours to recharge 150 miles. Assuming you sleep at least 6 hours a night, you should be good

 

[Ladogaboy]

In my experience, that drive shouldn't be much of an issue. I drive about 150 miles three to four days a weeks, and over 100 miles of that drive is at ~70 mph. By the time I plug in, I still have about 100 miles of estimated range left. The biggest issue for you would be variance due to weather, but hopefully you are slowing down some in the rain, snow, ice, etc.

 

[Bluesideup]

You may be cutting it close or even not have the range certain times of the year.

I live in the Dallas area and both the volt and the tesla take a large hit in range in the winter time. The heater takes a lot more energy from the battery than the A/C does so don't worry too much about summer.

I don't believe you will be able to make it round trip at the speed you want in the winter when it drops into the 30s and 40s let alone the teens. Even if you slowed your speed down into the high 60's you still would have a good chance of not making the round trip with the heater on.

When driving the volt during the winter my range decreases massively. My commute is 25 miles away and I have a 2015 Volt. During the spring and fall I will arrive at work with between 23 and 28 miles remaining. In the summer when the heat is on I get to work with between 20 and 25 miles remaining. In the winter I have arrived with as low as 4 miles remaining with the average between 12 and 16 miles remaining. All of these include preconditioning when it is hot or cold and then letting it top off for a couple minutes. I also don't drive as fast as you so my range would suffer even more at those speeds.

Then there is rain which also eats up a lot of miles especially when driving fast on the freeway. I was shocked at the loss of range in heavy rain. It can be as bad or worse as trying to heat the cabin. Any rain that produces enough to have standing water on the freeway will put a big dent in the range of EVs.

Wind also plays a large roll in range of EVs. If you plan on driving 80 mph and then tack on a 20 mph headwind the battery is draining as if you were traveling at 100mph and the range will suffer tremendously at those speeds as the largest draw for any car is overcoming the wind drag at faster speeds. A tailwind in the opposite direction will not give you anywhere near the same range increase as the headwind took from you. Plus there is no guarantee that the tailwind will be there for the return drive.

For most months out of the year you should have no problem getting to and from work with miles to spare. But unless you have somewhere you can charge on the way back there is a good chance there will be a number of days/weeks every year that you cannot make a 150 mile round trip at anywhere near the speeds you are talking about. Now you can increase range on those cold and wet days by slowing down a lot (like high 50's) and putting on a large jacket to keep the heat to a minimum. Ask me how I know that will work. Unfortunately even if you choose not to heat the car the car will automatically heat the battery to keep it at an optimum temperature making for a longer battery life.

Let's also not forget that there will be battery degradation. 5% in the first 10,000 miles would be very average increasing up to 10 percent in the next 40,000 before stabilizing at a slower degradation. This is just a conservative average but it could be worse but probably not much better as all batteries degrade with use and time.

 

[Norton]

....>Now you can increase range on those cold and wet days by slowing down ..

>>Unfortunately even if you choose not to heat the car the car will automatically heat the battery to keep it at an optimum temperature making for a longer battery life.

... >>>there will be battery degradation. 5% in the first 10,000 miles would be very average increasing up to 10 percent in the next 40,000 before stabilizing at a slower degradation. .....

>Right, if the nuvi shows you are cutting it close - Just Slow Down a little. There are worse things in life.

>>When you are driving the battery gets warm naturally from usage. TMS while plugged in does most of the work.
In the summer TMS may use some power to cool the pack but if you are using AC anyway it won't show up on the usage page.

>>>Where did these numbers come from? No one has plotted this out on a Bolt yet, have they?
Plus each data point varies so much it has to be plotted over a long time.
At least that's the way it works with Chevy's other BEV.

 

[bro1999]

The Mychevrolet app was just updated to give range estimates accounting for terrain. Pretty nice.

 

[Raymondjram]

Move closer or change to a closer job. It isn't cost effective (or good for the human body and mind) to drive so many miles a day. I moved closer to my job (just six miles away) after one year of driving hours in heavy traffic. 36 years later I retired with less stress, much better health, and longer lasting vehicles. And on top of that I spend just hundreds of dollars a year in gas and maintenance.

Move closer and drive less. Your body, your family, and your Bolt EV will thank you!

 

[Norton]

The Mychevrolet app was just updated to give range estimates accounting for terrain. Pretty nice.

How cool ! Very Tesla like.

I'm asking Garmin to add some EV specific functions like this.

Next there will be a long range road trip function accounting for CCS stops along the way with 'Ideal' speeds to use to minimize total time for the trip. There is an interplay with drive speed vs charge time.

But obviously there has to be a CCS network for this to work....

Hang in there!

 

[ChevyEMF]

If you can't take Raymond's advice...I'd look to see how far out the way a level 2 or DC charger is from your route. A little peace of mind in case you end up taking a side trip etc.

 

[Norton]

...I'd look to see how far out the way a level 2 or DC charger is from your route...

Are you suggesting he stop at an L2 during his daily commute just in case??

Hopefully he knows how to filter Plugshare for L2 and CCS,, just in case he as some side action!

And hopefully there are DCFC in his area.

He'll be fine. New BEV owners worry too much !

 

[Loboc]

Move closer or change to a closer job.

Not an option for most of us. I've had 6 jobs in the last 20 years and the same house. It would cost about $5,000 to move each time. And that's if I didn't loose my arse on the house price differences. And with some of those jobs, there were multiple DFW locations.

In a volatile job environment (or contract work), ya never know what your commute will be next year. I therefore bought a house centrally located in the DFW metroplex.

My commutes have been anywhere from 110mi to 12mi. There is no way to choose an EV as your only car in this situation. In the OPs situation, I wouldn't choose an EV unless I had a backup vehicle. It is iffy to recharge 6 hrs/day in Texas when the lights go out. (Georgia too!). I have had multiple times where I either forgot to charge, or, the electricity was off. Gas backup engine is a wonderful thing.

 

[Steverino]

New BEV owners worry too much !

Hence the Volt EREV solution to range anxiety. No need to stop no need to recharge, no need to worry. But I think the OP will be fine in a Bolt EV with range to spare when returning home.