Bolt Range Issue

[BillM]

I have never seen the Bolt advertised as having a range of 259 miles! Wow! Maybe you have an older model... mine is a 2023 Bolt EUV... with an advertised range of . I regularly charge to 92% and when charging is done... have a range of 270+ miles. However I am diving into what I think is the safety margin... theoretically the most conservative advice is to charge to 80%... as I am sure you are aware.

My 2017 Bolt was advertised as 238 mile range and when the battery was replaced due to the recall, the paperwork said the range had been upgraded to 259 miles by the slightly larger battery. That isn’t a huge difference, but it is still appreciated.

 

[BillM]

Speed and outdoor temp are the main factors
You can't do a whole lot about outdoor temp
But I estimate that range increases by up to 1/3 (that's a lot) by driving at 55 instead of 65
I try to get behind a slow truck and enjoy the scenery and podcasts

Speed makes a big difference. Energy consumption is a constant to be determined times velocity cubed, thanks to frontal area wind resistance. Going a little faster takes massively more energy.

 

[BillM]

I believe I forgot to click Post reply when I commented previously. Energy consumption is a particular fixed constant times velocity cubed due to wind resistance of the frontal area. At higher speed, a small increase dramatically increases energy consumption due to the velocity cubed factor. Of course that is true for both gasoline and electric vehicles, but it is much more noticeable on electric because there are not any static losses associated with an internal combustion engine.

 

[Joe Cherra]

I believe I forgot to click Post reply when I commented previously. Energy consumption is a particular fixed constant times velocity cubed due to wind resistance of the frontal area. At higher speed, a small increase dramatically increases energy consumption due to the velocity cubed factor. Of course that is true for both gasoline and electric vehicles, but it is much more noticeable on electric because there are not any static losses associated with an internal combustion engine.

My family is made up of gas freaks and they cannot understand why I drive an electric vehicle. They cannot understand why I restrict my speed to 60 miles per hour. And yet they blame me for the condition of the roads. They like to do 70 or 80 miles an hour and they're range drops by 10 miles an hour for every 10 miles per hour that they drive over 55