Bolt Range Issue

[Jian]

I got a new Bolt and was told it would go 259 miles on a full charge. But it's not even doing that. It keeps losing range, even after charging in a warm garage. The dealer says it's because of the cold weather and my driving, but I don't think that's right. I drive the same way every day, and it's still getting worse.

 

[Drey]

I remember when I first got my Bolt, the range didn’t quite match the advertised 259 miles either, and I was convinced something was wrong. I kept it charged in a warm garage and drove pretty consistently, yet the range kept dropping.

The dealer pointed to cold weather and my driving habits, too, and it felt like a brush-off at first. But after some digging, I found that colder temps really do impact range more than I'd thought. Heating the cabin alone uses a lot of energy, and even the battery itself doesn’t perform as efficiently in the cold. Over time, as I adjusted, it stabilized a bit more. It can be frustrating, but I did notice improvements with slightly warmer temps and small tweaks to cabin settings.

 

[tim-c]

Do you charge it to 100% every night? If so, that can reduce the capacity of the battery over time. I charge mine to 80% overnight and only do a full charge the night before a longer trip.

I'm not sure if older Bolts allow you to set max charge, but my 2022 does.

 

[BillM]

Weather impacts the range estimate quite a bit. My 2017 Bolt doesn’t allow picking a specific charge-end percent, but has a setting called Hilltop Reserve which equates to 90%. I use that in combination with the Location Based Charging setting to normally limit the charge when I am parked at home, Hopefully that will help the battery last longer.

Summer range estimates at 90% are often close to 300 miles. Most recently when I drove the Bolt, the estimate was 209 miles.

The range estimate seems to be a combination of outside temperature, the previous 50 miles of efficiency data and whether the HVAC is turned on. My experience has been that the estimate is usually pretty close to reality.

My efficiency since a firmware update reset the data about 20K miles ago is 4.5 miles/KWH. I feel like that is pretty good.

 

[Joe Cherra]

I remember when I first got my Bolt, the range didn’t quite match the advertised 259 miles either, and I was convinced something was wrong. I kept it charged in a warm garage and drove pretty consistently, yet the range kept dropping.

The dealer pointed to cold weather and my driving habits, too, and it felt like a brush-off at first. But after some digging, I found that colder temps really do impact range more than I'd thought. Heating the cabin alone uses a lot of energy, and even the battery itself doesn’t perform as efficiently in the cold. Over time, as I adjusted, it stabilized a bit more. It can be frustrating, but I did notice improvements with slightly warmer temps and small tweaks to cabin settings.

 

[Joe Cherra]

Another thing is cruising speed. I found that my range drops 5 miles for every 5 mph you drive above 55 mph. DOT was correct back in 1970 when they dropped the speed limit to 55 mph

 

[tim-c]

Another thing is cruising speed. I found that my range drops 5 miles for every 5 mph you drive above 55 mph. DOT was correct back in 1970 when they dropped the speed limit to 55 mph

YES! Wind resistance is the enemy! In windy Iowa, a tail wind helps me tremendously. I also take back roads (55mph speed limit) when I'm not in a hurry. On the interstate where I set my cruise to 72mph, I get about 3.5 miles per Kwh. If I'm going 60mph on 2 lane county roads, I get 4+ miles. As we all know, running the cabin heater sucks electrons! For me, it subtracts about 1 mile per Kwh in the bitter cold (below freezing).

The new Bolts are supposed to use a heat pump instead of resistive heating elements for cabin heat. That should help quite a bit. I'm thinking about a Equinox EV just for that improvement.

 

[Joe Cherra]

YES! Wind resistance is the enemy! In windy Iowa, a tail wind helps me tremendously. I also take back roads (55mph speed limit) when I'm not in a hurry. On the interstate where I set my cruise to 72mph, I get about 3.5 miles per Kwh. If I'm going 60mph on 2 lane county roads, I get 4+ miles. As we all know, running the cabin heater sucks electrons! For me, it subtracts about 1 mile per Kwh in the bitter cold (below freezing).

The new Bolts are supposed to use a heat pump instead of resistive heating elements for cabin heat. That should help quite a bit. I'm thinking about a Equinox EV just for that improvement.

 

[Joe Cherra]

Minnesota has the law slowpoke law and I am required to use the slow lane. I do 60 because I'm bad at calculating arrival times at 55 or 65. So I forgot 5 "MPH".
I'm thinking of putting an Amish triangle
on my trunk.

 

[Joe Cherra]

Don't forget Friction . Every car, truck and semi that passes,at 75 or 80 screams as the asphalt or concrete tips at their tires. The next time you travel put your hand on the tire and feel the warmth.