Bolt Operating Questions

[gwn]

Hello friends,

We've had our 2018 Bolt for 2 months and 3000 km under it's belt. It is a pleasure to drive and I don't mind traffic jams because I think how little energy is used compared to a ICE idling while stopped or creeping along. It's a great feeling knowing a trail of CO2 is not being left as I drive. I am hoping the wise forum members can answer a bunch of operational questions.

0. At what speed can you go the furthest distance. I can see this being useful to max out the range when charge is getting low. Similarly how does one drive to reach the Max distance on the max, current and min estimates on the fuel gauge display.

1. Looking for specific details on how the energy efficiency bar graph with 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 km work. When does the graph refresh and next 5km bar occur. It doesn't seem to update every 5km.

2. Why does pressing Reset button on the steering wheel not zero out the Ave kW/100km value and start fresh. The Ave starts at some number but don't know what it represents.

3. What is the optimum battery resting point for efficiency and longevity when finished driving for the day. Should the battery run down or kept charged to 50% or 90%.

4. Any drawbacks to leave transmission in L all the time. Are there any situations where driving in D is preferred. I assume engine efficiency is the same in D or L.

5. Instead of shifting to P then turning off Power can it be Powered off from D/L. Sometimes I hear parking brake grinding noise when doing so.
What determines green vs yellow kW usage on dash.


Thanks all.

 

[AyeJay]

Hi gwn,

-- I concur with your observation that driving an EV in city traffic is WAY better than a CO2 polluting ICE car. I would also add that the noise ICE cars produce is quite annoying. .. ..

The highway speed which is a good trade-off for me between best range and timeliness is 62-63 mph. Above that range seems to degrade dramatically.

I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to using L and the regen-on-demand button. In all situations except on the highway in sparse traffic I drive in L and really enjoy controlling the car with 'one pedal driving'. I only use D when in cruise control on a road trip.

AJ

 

[gwn]

Thanks for the input.

When time is not an issue I still wonder what speed gets you the furthest.

 

[WetEV]

0. At what speed can you go the furthest distance. I can see this being useful to max out the range when charge is getting low. Similarly how does one drive to reach the Max distance on the max, current and min estimates on the fuel gauge display.

Generally, slower. With no heat/AC or wind or hills, somewhere around 10 to 20 mph is about the best. Faster if running heat, AC, or other major current uses. Wind and hills make it complex, see hypermiling.

3. What is the optimum battery resting point for efficiency and longevity when finished driving for the day. Should the battery run down or kept charged to 50% or 90%.

How fussy do you feel?

Simplest way to improve battery life is perhaps to set the car to "hill top reserve", and to set charge timer to your departure time and set priority charging. See manual page page 132 for hill top reserve, page 125 of manual for departure, and page 129 for priority.

Ideal battery life is as small of cycles as possible, and as close to the center of the charge range as possible. What to avoid is: leaving the car at high or low state of charge (SOC) for long amounts of time. Plug in any day that the battery might need to be warmed or cooled.

4. Any drawbacks to leave transmission in L all the time. Are there any situations where driving in D is preferred. I assume engine efficiency is the same in D or L.

If you are trying to hypermile, you might prefer D. Avoiding regeneration unless you really need to slow the car will give better mileage.

 

[SeanNelson]

2. Why does pressing Reset button on the steering wheel not zero out the Ave kW/100km value and start fresh. The Ave starts at some number but don't know what it represents.

When you reset the trip information the efficiency initializes itself to 15.9 kWh/100km. It has to start somewhere - zero doesn't make sense because that would indicate you can go as far as you want without using any power. So it initializes to a value that is appropriate for the EPA range estimate (60kWh battery divided by15.9 kWh/100km equals 377km, very close to the EPA 386km range).