650 mile roundtrip roadtrip in the Bolt

[markbolt11]

Hi all,

Bought my Gray Premier Bolt with DC Fast charging, driver confidence II, and the infotainment package Thursday night in Maryland. I live in northern Delaware (I think I may be the first in the state?), but the dealership is only ten minutes away and right over the state line.

Less than 12 hours after getting it, we were on the road to Troy, NY for the weekend! Left with a full charge showing around 225 miles on the Guess-O-Meter. Temps were in the high teens to low 20's and it was starting to rain and snow as we left. Spent quite a bit of time researching charging stations for the trek up (about 290 miles one-way, so we had to charge at least once). I figured we wouldn't get the full 225, so I found a 50kw DC Fast charger in Plattekill, NY around 190 miles away (Greenlots) and as a backup a 24kw DC fast charger at Prestige BMW in Ramsey, NJ (Chargepoint) about 150 miles away. We had the climate control set to around 75 degrees and I drove mainly at the speed limit (65 mph). Made it to the BMW dealership with about 25 miles to spare. They were very nice at the dealership and moved one of the salesman's i3's so that we could charge. We spent 1 hour 1 minute on the charger there (21.54 kWh added) and added 85 estimated miles. Car showed 22 kW as we charged with the climate control on and phones charging. The Plattekill charging station was 40 miles away so we figured we'd have enough to get there without any problems.

Made it to the Plattekill charger with plenty of juice left. This was a Greenlots charger so I needed to download the app and enter my credit card information. Didn't have a key tag like I do for the Chargepoint so this one had me scan a QR code to start the process. Was very easy, straightforward, chose the correct adapter, stuck it in the charging port and settled in. Although this one was advertised as 50kw, max I saw was 33-34 kw on display on the screen. Spent an hour and 12 minutes on the charger and got 40.61 kWh. Our hotel in Troy was 87 miles away, Guess-O-Meter showed around 120-130 miles, and we made it up there no problem! This was the only station I had to pay to use...$8 a session, but no time limit and we just got tired of sitting there instead of letting it charge the battery to 100%.

Big props to Troy, NY for their free charging options. Went to a concert the first night, parking garage right by the venue had free Chargepoint charging and free parking. Left the car overnight there to recharge and wanted to keep it hooked up as the low temps for the night were in the single digits! This was a level 2 charger, finished charging around 3am and looks like the car took two more little hits of electrons for what assume was battery conditioning in the next couple hours. I did receive 3 emails in quick succession that I had reached the max time limit (4 hours, although this email was sent about 14 hours I hooked up) and needed to disconnect. There was nobody else charging according to the Chargepoint app but guess it was just an automated message. I disconnected and took the car back to the hotel. Drove around town the next day and decided to leave it at the RPI field house's level 2 Chargepoint chargers as it was a closer walk from the hotel. No issues there! Free, easy to use, no one else in the parking lot. Go Engineers!

Left Troy Sunday morning with temps in the single digits. Stopped again at Prestige BMW to charge (1 hour 24 minutes, 30.62 kWh added). Couple with an i3 headed to Vermont parked next to us. The second DC Fast charger was broken, so they hooked up to level 2 and we let them know when we left. We ended up stopping again to charge at a Walmart in Burlington, NJ with a 50kw DC fast charger. Man that thing was fast! Started at around 45 kw, then ramped down to 35kw and eventually around 25 kw. Stayed on the charger for 58 minutes, added 32.35 kWh or an estimated 128 miles.

Got home with plenty of mileage to spare! We averaged around 3 miles/kWh for the trip, but I expected that with the nasty cold weather and little bit of snow. Overall very impressed with the Bolt's performance! Seats were comfortable for the entire trip (no complaints here!) and the Bolt is just a blast to drive. I think I've finally got the hang of the L mode and used it as much as possible during the trip. It's definitely not as simple as just using an ICE car and not worrying about range, but I enjoyed planning the trip and we made sure to get food before charging and enjoyed the time we spent sitting there. Will definitely be taking the Bolt for trips in the future!

Total of around 650 miles and $8 to charge for the entire trip!

 

[GetOffYourGas]

Glad your trip was successful. Fortunately, the I-95 and I-87 corridors up to Albany are somewhat well covered. I wonder, though, how long will it be before we start seeing lines back up? With the Bolt now for sale and others coming soon, I have to imagine these chargers will see a lot more use in 2017 than in 2016.

I have to ask - are you an RPI alum?

 

[markbolt11]

Definitely agree that they will become busier! I was worried about them being occupied while we were driving, but fortunately didn't run into that issue.

I'm not an RPI alum, girlfriend is. Chargepoint charger at the fieldhouse said "Go Engineers!" after starting. Thought that was funny!

 

[Gatedad]

Interesting posting, thanks very much for it. It got me thinking about where the Bolt EV might fit into my plans, especially considering the lack of charging on trips outside of my immediate area. To that end, our son used to attend college in central NY. From our home in suburban Philadelphia to the college was approximately 250 miles. We took that trip many, many times over 4 years and I never recall seeing any charging facilities of any type directly along the route. The school did install some Level II charging stations after he'd graduated, and there is a Tesla destination charger at the hotel in town. I looked on Plugshare yesterday in an attempt to see how things have changed in the last 5 years. I did see a Tesla SC facility at Montage Mountain in the Poconos, as well as one in Binghamton, NY and several Chademo locations off or near the PA Turnpike NE extension. But I don't recall any CCS locations. That would mean a driver would need to essentially spend a significant amount of time charging at L2 charge sites, even if they are conveniently located(not many were). Tesla drivers, on the other hand, have access to the Poconos site as well as the Binghamton SC site, in addition to destination charging. That really demonstrates the value of Tesla SC network compared to the hit or miss approach for CCS and CHademo drivers.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

I'm not an RPI alum, girlfriend is.

My brother went to RPI, class of 2007. Good school, although it's not in the nicest part of town. Very cool that they have added chargers to the campus.

 

[markbolt11]

I went to school in West Philadelphia for 6 years, so I'm laughing at the "not in the nicest part of town". Whole place seemed like a quiet little town to me. I walked about a mile every morning to go pick up the car from the charger, the bitter cold was the worst part!

In regards to the charging stations, I found there to be a bunch of choices on the way up there. I was just doing my best to avoid paying for EVGo chargers that were only 24kw. It was easy enough to find free 24kw chargers and I was more than happy to pay $8 for the one session on a 50kw.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

Fair enough. It's all relative. I did my undergrad in a small rural village (Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY). Not much going on there. By comparison, Troy seems sketchy. My brother and his friends referred to it as "the Troy-let".

I'm just glad your experience was good with those Greenlots chargers on the Thruway. I've been eyeing those because they make a trip to my mother's house possible in a Bolt. It's about 250 miles one-way, all highway. The Greenlots chargers are just under 200 miles from me. Going there would be easy - they are in the perfect spot for that extra boost. Getting home would be tough, since I'd have to basically top off the car. And we all know by now how much the charge rate ramps down as the Bolt gets full.

 

[cab]

Having just completed our first somewhat longer trip (also around 650 miles) in our Model S, I find the whole charging thing to still be a bit of a pain (even with superchargers). With even slower CCS charging and more sketchy availability and reliability, I have to imagine it would be that much worse. The FIRST time you do it, there is a novelty factor to it, but I have to believe it gets old. It helps if there is something to do at the charger stop, but I now understand why we saw some folks just sitting in their cars waiting. Once you, as an example, have walked around the Outlet mall in San Marcus, TX (which has both superchargers, L2s and CHademo...not sure about CCS) a couple if times, the thrill is gone and you just want to get back on the road.

Occasional trips are no big deal, but if we did this often, we'd be taking my wife's ICE for sure. One thing that would have made a huge difference for us is a hotel with a destination charger...that is definitely the way to go if you are staying at a hotel and can find one.