"propulsion power is reduced"

[beback]

coming from bmw i3 REX I did not know what happens if the battery fully discharges,
beamer switches to gas seamlessly

So
SoC turned orange at 28 miles, saying "charge soon"

I drove it to capacity, when there was 17 miles
after that I drove slowly

suddenly the display switched to "propulsion power is reduced"
luckily I was 2 miles away from my garage
arrived gingerly to my Clipper Creek

question remains, how long could a Bolt drive in the "reduced propulsion"?? anybody know?

 

[boltage]

Page 231 of https://my.chevrolet.com/content/dam/gmownercenter/gmna/dynamic/manuals/2017/Chevrolet/BOLT%20EV/Owner%27s%20Manual.pdf tells you what happens when the battery runs low.

 

[beback]

Oh I see, thx
It doesn't say though how many miles left in "reduced propulsion" mode
In my experiment it was 2

 

[NeilBlanchard]

This is based on the state of charge, not (directly) on the number of miles left. If you are driving well, or leadfooted, or if you are using a lot of HVAC or none - all affect the miles remaining estimate.

This is typical of EV's - some will limit speed, and reduce / cut HVAC, and then reduce power, as the battery gets closer to being discharged.

 

[redpoint5]

Comments pasted from the other forum...

If I owned a Bolt, I'd probably already have accidentally "tested" this. I've run out in every vehicle I've owned at least once. I have coasted into petrol stations 5 times, had to push a motorcycle about 1/4 mile once, and the longest walk I've had to take was half a mile when I ran out of both petrol and electrons in the Prius. Oh, and I almost forgot running out of diesel several times in the truck, which is a huge pain since you have to bleed the high pressure injector lines; a very messy process.

A better question is, at what SoC does the Bolt shutdown propulsion entirely? How does that SoC correspond to the GOM? Is 0 miles range really near actual shutdown point, unlike every petrol powered vehicle?

I'm sure someone has run out, but I doubt they are eager to share their embarrassing story.

If someone wanted to run out on purpose, they could get a recharge from a tow vehicle. Just lightly apply the brakes while being towed, and regen will put some juice back in the battery. Then again, if it's on purpose, you might as well drive around your house until it runs out, and then just push/tow it back to the garage.

 

[PV1]

Most every other EV out there has a reserve below 0 miles. The i-MiEV has about 5 extra miles hidden. The Volt, I understand, has 2-3 miles when the battery and gas tank are empty. I haven't had my Bolt long enough to even get down to 25% let alone all the way empty.

Typically, 0 miles would be between 4-10% SoC and shutdown would be 0% SoC.

 

[Anonymous]

Most every other EV out there has a reserve below 0 miles. The i-MiEV has about 5 extra miles hidden. The Volt, I understand, has 2-3 miles when the battery and gas tank are empty. I haven't had my Bolt long enough to even get down to 25% let alone all the way empty.

Typically, 0 miles would be between 4-10% SoC and shutdown would be 0% SoC.

My Volt 1.0 did not show miles when that low.

I did an experiment near the end of my lease and ran the gas tank to empty and then added a charge. I then drove around the block near a gas station expecting some sort of emergency warning and reserve: NOPE! It rolled to a stop while I was going down an alley, thank goodness, but blocking traffic. A women came out of her car and helped me push the Volt to a nearby parking space and I called AAA for some reserve gasoline!

When I recently did my test drive from Las Vegas to Victorville at 70 MPH cruise control, I arrived at the DCFC at 3% battery. Other than low battery warnings and low propulsion mode, I could no longer read the mileage available.

I already knew I was 5 miles ahead of the Mileage Gauge when I entered the "flats" of the city limits of Victorville on I-15, so I knew I was safe to complete the trip.

 

[boltage]

I'm sure someone has run out, but I doubt they are eager to share their embarrassing story.

Perhaps you can ask Consumer Reports, who recently wrote that they got 250 miles out of a Bolt on some mixture of highway and non-highway driving. Presumably, they ran it down to "empty" or nearly so (though I expect that they drove the last miles on their test track to avoid being a traffic hazard when it ran out).

 

[Anonymous]

Is 0 miles range really near actual shutdown point, unlike every petrol powered vehicle?

There is no 0 miles!

The Mileage Gauge goes to LOW at about 20 miles left. There is no numeric showing of miles after that as I discovered on my Las Vegas to Victorville drive at 70 MPH to 3% battery remaining.

Am I missing some other gauge?

 

[beback]

Is 0 miles range really near actual shutdown point, unlike every petrol powered vehicle?

There is no 0 miles!

The Mileage Gauge goes to LOW at about 20 miles left. There is no numeric showing of miles after that as I discovered on my Las Vegas to Victorville drive at 70 MPH to 3% battery remaining.

Am I missing some other gauge?

---------------------
I wonder what the phone app shows at that point.
I had range anxiety and forgot to look at the phone reading.
Got to do it again )
BTW: my.chevrolet.com doesn't show charging status any more, for the last 2 months
I called onstar support, a few times, they are clueless

 

[Anonymous]

---------------------
I wonder what the phone app shows at that point.
I had range anxiety and forgot to look at the phone reading.
Got to do it again )

The last thing I want to do when I have range anxiety and I am trying to stabilize my last few KWs is to pull over and look at the phone app!

They must incorporate it into the screen!!

 

[redpoint5]

Is 0 miles range really near actual shutdown point, unlike every petrol powered vehicle?

There is no 0 miles!

The Mileage Gauge goes to LOW at about 20 miles left. There is no numeric showing of miles after that as I discovered on my Las Vegas to Victorville drive at 70 MPH to 3% battery remaining.

Good info!

Based on a previous comment, it appears the car will continue to drive with reduced power until reaching 0% state of charge. It would be great if Chevy included a %SoC gauge, but I'm sure aftermarket solutions can provide that info. Perhaps Torque with the correct PIDs programmed would accomplish this.

What would be very cool is a gauge that showed overall miles/kWh, instantaneous miles/kWh, and remaining kWh. This would be akin to overall MPG, instantaneous MPG, and gallons of fuel remaining in a petrol vehicle. With these figures, very accurate estimates of range can be made.

 

[PV1]

Most every other EV out there has a reserve below 0 miles. The i-MiEV has about 5 extra miles hidden. The Volt, I understand, has 2-3 miles when the battery and gas tank are empty. I haven't had my Bolt long enough to even get down to 25% let alone all the way empty.

Typically, 0 miles would be between 4-10% SoC and shutdown would be 0% SoC.

My Volt 1.0 did not show miles when that low.

It won't. When the i-MiEV runs low on charge, the range gauge counts all the way down to 2, then goes to ---. At that point, it is mental math based on SoC on how far you have left. --- occurs at about 10% charge (even though the gauge is empty and the turtle light is on). There are two Android apps that can read detailed stats on the i-MiEV, and both show %SoC. I've personally driven 4 miles beyond --- with 5% charge left (although you'd never see it on the dash).

Regarding the Volt, I watched a video where someone drove around a city block until the car stopped, but they had a 2 gallon gas can with them to get going again.