Bolt keeps forgetting charge rate limit setting

[BillM]

I just took my 2017 Bolt to the dealer on July 25 for the required battery condition monitoring firmware update.

The firmware update changed a number of my settings and zeroed my energy consumption history. Even more irritating is that every time I start the car, the charge rate limit resets form 12 Amps to 8 Amps. Now I have to remember to go to the energy screen and manually set the charge rate back to 12 Amps every time before I turn the car off.

The owner’s manual says the selection for charge rate limit is supposed to be retained for 30 days, and that is the way it worked before the new firmware was installed.

I am going to call the dealer Monday to see if the firmware can be downgraded back to the previous firmware version. I feel it is unacceptable to have to set the charge rate every single time the car is power cycled. When other family members use the car, they don’t always remember to check the charge rate before powering off and it ends up taking 50% longer to charge up.

I have also found the car does not respond to changing the charge rate in the My Chevrolet mobile app. The car keeps charging at 8 Amps regardless.

I am charging my car on a 120 Volt, 20 Amp rated outlet using the Chevy/Clipper Creek EVSE cord that was supplied with the car.

 

[winterescape]

After the firmware update did you also set your home location?

 

[BillM]

No, I did not reset the home location. I guess I’ll have to figure out how to do that. For what it is worth, I did not continue OnStar after the three month trial. Hopefully Onstar is not needed.

In another thread, I mentioned that GM should update its service procedure for the dealer technician to include customer education. Having energy efficiency reset to zero makes the predicted range drop precipitously upon leaving the dealer. I arrived at the dealer having used about 3 KWH, so after the firmware installation, the car assumed I had used 3 KHw to drive 0 miles, and the guess-o-meter dropped from 200+ to about 100+ miles in just a few miles of driving. I had read on this forum to expect that, and over several days the range prediction is almost normal again. If I had not seen the article on this forum, I would have been very concerned. The dealer said nothing about the range prediction, nor anything about losing the home location, etc.

I will report back if I am able to successfully reset the home location and resolve the charge rate resetting. It still would have been nice to have a pop-up or something to the effect: “Are you sure? Home location is not set.”

 

[BillM]

Thanks very much for the suggestion! I found that the home location had been deleted by the firmware update. I was able to set home location in the location based charging submenu on the energy settings screen. I believe the problem may be resolved.

I had set up location based charging when I got the car nine months ago, and forgot where to look for the setting. For other readers, setting charging conditions is described starting on page 124 of the owner’s manual.

It seems like it would be more intuitive to have the home location setting on the charging screen. Also more information about being at or away from the home location on the pop-up when selecting 12 Amps would be handy.

It seems weird that the battery status monitoring firmware affected so many settings. The OTA infotainment software update seemed much less invasive - I suppose that is why it could be OTA.

 

[winterescape]

Thanks very much for the suggestion! I found that the home location had been deleted by the firmware update. I was able to set home location in the location based charging submenu on the energy settings screen. I believe the problem may be resolved.

Glad to hear that likely resolved it for you! Yes, I can agree that the User Interface takes a little getting used to, I have had my Bolt a little over a year and I now can find most settings without much thought. The location based charging also expires after ?? days. It will flash a message when you turn the car off with a warning about it being expired, but if you happen to not catch it, you could be surprised to return and find it not full charged...

 

[BillM]

Thanks again for the memory jog. I went though the manual and set things the way I wanted them back when I got the car. I fixated on the screen for setting the charge rate and overlooked the energy settings menu on the other screen for entering location based charging.

It would make more sense to have those settings together, however I believe it is better to not keep playing whack-a-mole trying to figure out where settings have gone, as in Windiws 10 for example. It is nice to have to the printed manual continue to be relevant. Perhaps adding a link on the charging page and also keeping the the link in the energy settings menu as well.