This is what Tesla Owners said about the Bolt last year!

[madobee]

From: https://my.teslamotors.com/it_CH/forum/forums/coasttocoast-chevy-bolt

"COAST-TO-COAST IN A CHEVY BOLT!
Andrew_OH_S60andS70D | 14 GENNAIO 2015

Here is what it will likely be like to take a trip of any consequence in a Chevy Bolt. This is based on our experience with a Nissan Leaf we had for a year, before purchasing our second Model S.

You leave home with a full charge for the first leg of your trip. You have selected your first charging station, a Chevrolet dealership at the 180 mile point, giving you a 20 mile buffer. You drive for two hours and arrive at the dealership with 20 miles range. The dealer tells you that you cannot charge at their dealership because they limit charging to cars purchased at that dealer. You explain that their dealership showed up on the navigation panel as a charging station. They say they don't know what you're talking about. You call the Chevy Bolt Customer Service line and explain the problem. The Customer Service Representative says that their dealers are independent, so unfortunately, there is nothing they can do.

At this point, you begin searching for a public Level II charging station, and luckily, you find one. Since you thought ahead, you have a Chargepoint card, and gladly pay the 50 cents per hour rate. At 30 miles per hour of charge, you have 6 hours to kill. You spend that time researching your next charging spot. Luckily, you find a Chevrolet dealer that will allow you to charge that is 150 miles down your route. You take a 5 hour nap in the back seat, and wake up refreshed, all ready to go.

It's now nighttime. You arrive at the designated Chevrolet dealer, only to discover their entrance is blocked by a gate at night. There is no way you can charge, and you only have 50 miles of range. Again, you find a public Level II charger, and spend another 6 hours sleeping in the back seat.

You wake up again, refreshed, and ready to go on another leg of your trip. However, you look up and discover that the mall where you are charging has a Tesla Gallery. You walk into the mall, talk with the amazing staff, and test drive a beautifully engineered and designed Gen III. At the end of your test drive, you ask if the inventory car you just drove is for sale. Of course it is. You spend the next two hours working out the trade in on the Bolt and the loan for the Gen III. Once everything is complete, the Delivery Specialist hands you the key fob, and gives you a full orientation on your new car. They then help you plan the rest of your route through Superchargers. The rest of the trip is incredibly enjoyable with a never ending Tesla grin and nods along the way.

(This little story is based on our actual experience with Nissan dealers, Nissan Customer service, and Chevrolet dealers as well)"

 

[michael]

Here's what really happens...

I drive around town all day long in my Bolt. My daily usage ranges from 80 to 120 miles, so I have the option to charge at home or at work, whichever works out better. In the meanwhile my wife drives her Volt and very rarely needs to add gasoline, maybe once every few months

When we take a coast to coast trip, we take the Volt. We charge it up at home before leaving and then never bother charging again. We drive past supercharger stations at 70 MPH. Every three hours we stop for gas, spending maybe 10 minutes. If we wish to take some out of the way back road, we do it, not worrying about where to charge up

Our coast to coast trip uses maybe 70 gallons of gas, call it $200

Our Bolt and our Volt together cost about the same as a base model Tesla S

 

[Breezy]

I'm sure that accurately reflects the experience of many early Leaf owners.

The CCS/CHAdeMO network is improving, however. Most new stations being installed are truly public, not at dealers. PlugShare now provides real-time availability data.

There are many organizations installing CCS chargers, so the network is growing rapidly. Tesla is still going it alone. The gap is closing.

 

[elpwr]

I have been considering the purchase of a Tesla. I've taken two extensive Tesla test drives and even been offered to take a Tesla home to live with for a while. I've also spent a good bit of time on the two major Tesla forums. But that's really beginning to turn me off.

It's really amazing how the ardent Tesla "fanboys" refuse to acknowledge their cars shortcomings or even consider other EV's. Unless you have glowing praise for Tesla, don't post there. Anyone saying anything negative about Tesla is immediately attacked and flamed.

Even with the supercharger network, cross-country travel in the Tesla is slower and more tedious than in an ICE car - but most Tesla fanatics won't admit that.

I love my Spark EV and the additional range of the Bolt will allow it to do everything I need except for long road trips. And no EV, including the Tesla, can compare to an ICE car for quick and effortless cross country travel.

 

[Zoomit]

I've noticed this as well. There seems to be a lot of overly-righteous Tesla owners (or wanabees) on the Tesla forums. It's very off-putting. The most arrogant are those that are not looking forward to the lower class Model 3 and all the "riff-raff" that it will bring to the previously much more exclusive car club.

I'm looking forward to the Model 3 diluting the holier-than-thou vibe I see on the forums. It might take awhile though.

But I wouldn't let the online Tesla community dissuade you from getting a Tesla. The forums have the extremophiles; a majority of the owners just drive the cars. Besides, you can do your part to bring it back into balance.

 

[Anonymous]

PlugShare now provides real-time availability data

How so? I've only ever used the reviews/comments left by other plugshare members to determine the availability of the chargers. Unfortunately, this data is only as good as how busy the charger in question is, and how recent the comment.

 

[michael]

Bmw people are pretty much the same. They'd rather run out of battery in a Bmw than arrive home safely in anything made by GM

 

[Anonymous]

The gap is closing.

No. The gap is not closing. More CHAdeMO/CCS aka L3 chargers being made available that have the following limitations does not start to catch up on Tesla.

1. Tesla supercharging sites have many "bays". The competition usually are a single bay that can charge one car at a time.

2. Tesla superchargers operate at >100kW of power. The competition offers 50kW, but more often is limited by poor hardware (fans, dust) which downrates to 40kW or less.

3. Tesla sites are on major highway routes designed for long distance travel. The competition roll out is not co-ordinated or designed to solve long distance driving in 200 mile capable EV's.

4. Tesla sites are funded and maintained by Tesla. Sites rarely go offline, and when they do, Tesla takes extraordinary measures to get them running ASAP. The competition is not funded to maintain chargers which often go offline for maintenance with no feedback on when they will come back online.

etc.

Being an owner of two EV's, one of which can supercharge, I'll pick the Tesla for any trip out of the single charge range of my vehicles.

 

[Anonymous]

I've taken two extensive Tesla test drives and even been offered to take a Tesla home to live with for a while. I've also spent a good bit of time on the two major Tesla forums. But that's really beginning to turn me off

Interesting. Not my experience at all. If anything, my following and participation in Tesla oriented forums have given me even more joy in the experience of owning electric vehicles in general. I don't claim any forum is better than another, which is why I follow and post on a dozen forums.

Can't we all just get along and not make generalized statements on the quality of people other than on this forum?

 

[Anonymous]

Anyone saying anything negative about Tesla is immediately attacked and flamed

Or more often, corrected in their inaccuracy.

Yet your point is perhaps the same as posting how GM crushed EV1's in a GM EV forum, you will expect to get responses that match those passionate enough to spend the energy to monitor and post on an internet forum, namely, fanboyz and the rest of us...

Enthusiasm has a way of being misunderstood.

 

[Anonymous]

Our Bolt and our Volt together cost about the same as a base model Tesla S

Our Tesla + Smart ED cost less than two Volt's (or Volt + expected Bolt cost) together here in Ontario Canada, but perhaps that's because GM only gives good discounts to CARB states, and charges full price here. Two Volt's (reasonably spec'd) would be $90K here in Toronto.

 

[Anonymous]

When we take a coast to coast trip, we take the Volt. We charge it up at home before leaving and then never bother charging again. We drive past supercharger stations at 70 MPH.
Our coast to coast trip uses maybe 70 gallons of gas, call it $200

We took our Tesla from Toronto -> New York (and return) city last summer. We stopped to charge 3 times, one for lunch, one for dinner, one for evening snack/desert. Given 3+ hours of driving between those stops, as the driver, I looked forward to a 40 minute break, and found that the car was ready to go before we were.

The trip cost us $10 in electricity, namely, the full charge we did at home before leaving.

 

[Breezy]

The gap is closing.

No. The gap is not closing. More CHAdeMO/CCS aka L3 chargers being made available that have the following limitations does not start to catch up on Tesla.

1. Tesla supercharging sites have many "bays". The competition usually are a single bay that can charge one car at a time.

2. Tesla superchargers operate at >100kW of power. The competition offers 50kW, but more often is limited by poor hardware (fans, dust) which downrates to 40kW or less.

3. Tesla sites are on major highway routes designed for long distance travel. The competition roll out is not co-ordinated or designed to solve long distance driving in 200 mile capable EV's.

4. Tesla sites are funded and maintained by Tesla. Sites rarely go offline, and when they do, Tesla takes extraordinary measures to get them running ASAP. The competition is not funded to maintain chargers which often go offline for maintenance with no feedback on when they will come back online.

etc.

Being an owner of two EV's, one of which can supercharge, I'll pick the Tesla for any trip out of the single charge range of my vehicles.

I said the gap is closing. I'm aware that there is a gap. Despite the fact that there are far more CCS stations (not bays) than Supercharger stations, Superchargers are still superior today for the reasons you've described.

Newer CCS/CHAdeMO networks do have centralized planning and maintenance authorities for the chargers under their control.

CCS is growing rapidly, and the rate of growth is something Tesla won't be able to match unless they can form partnerships to build Superchargers.

 

[Breezy]

Our Bolt and our Volt together cost about the same as a base model Tesla S

Our Tesla + Smart ED cost less than two Volt's (or Volt + expected Bolt cost) together here in Ontario Canada, but perhaps that's because GM only gives good discounts to CARB states, and charges full price here. Two Volt's (reasonably spec'd) would be $90K here in Toronto.

I'm also in Ontario. Assuming the Bolt ends up with an MSRP of say $49,500 CAD, and the fact that a person would get an $8500 rebate for each car, a base Volt and Bolt together wind up costing $84k out the door vs. $94k for the base Model S 70 RWD.

The Model S is a much nicer car than either, of course.

 

[michael]

When we take a coast to coast trip, we take the Volt. We charge it up at home before leaving and then never bother charging again. We drive past supercharger stations at 70 MPH.
Our coast to coast trip uses maybe 70 gallons of gas, call it $200

We took our Tesla from Toronto -> New York (and return) city last summer. We stopped to charge 3 times, one for lunch, one for dinner, one for evening snack/desert. Given 3+ hours of driving between those stops, as the driver, I looked forward to a 40 minute break, and found that the car was ready to go before we were.

The trip cost us $10 in electricity, namely, the full charge we did at home before leaving.

The privilege of saving $190 in gas cost tens of thousands in initial cost. The choice of lunch stops was controlled by the location of the charging stations

I'm not minimizing or speaking against Tesla. The fact that they have made long distance EV travel a possibility is absolutely remarkable. But the cars are costly and beyond the means of most people.

I believe EVs can work for a great many people, especially those with multiple cars in the family. 80 mile class EVs require certain circumstances and a lot of commitment. The affordable 200 mile class car broadens he horizon tremendously

 

[michael]

Our Bolt and our Volt together cost about the same as a base model Tesla S

Our Tesla + Smart ED cost less than two Volt's (or Volt + expected Bolt cost) together here in Ontario Canada, but perhaps that's because GM only gives good discounts to CARB states, and charges full price here. Two Volt's (reasonably spec'd) would be $90K here in Toronto.

In California, figure $38k for the Bolt and $35k for the Volt. $73k for the pair less 10k government money on the Bolt and $9k on the Volt. $54k total

The base Tesla is $70k less 10k, $60k

For less money both the wife and I get cars, and with the savings we can pay for gas on dozens of coast to coast trips. In reality, anything much beyond 400 miles we'd probably fly anyway

While I would love to have a Tesla, I don't want the responsibility of owning such an expensive car. And if I had a Tesla, my wife would be riding the bus, and mine would not be a happy life!!

 

[Aidan]

A 2016 report says the Tesla Model S All Wheel Drive 70D uses an estimated cost of $1.07 to drive 40 kilometers

 

[Anonymous]

A 2016 report says the Tesla Model S All Wheel Drive 70D uses an estimated cost of $1.07 to drive 40 kilometers

That looks pretty accurate.

Here in Ontario, overnight electricity rates are <$0.15/kWh.
Our 2013 Tesla Model S 85 uses 250 wh/km.

0.250 x 40 x $0.15 = $1.5 CAD = $1.16 USD

That is 4x cheaper than the SUV we traded in for the Tesla.
We've driven 25000 km all-electric km in the past year, which is thousands of dollars saved in fuel!

 

[Aidan]

Tesla might have shown us the way originally with EV but Chevy bolt is the one that will get us all there

 

[Anonymous]

Tesla might have shown us the way originally with EV but Chevy bolt is the one that will get us all there

Well, if by "all" you mean the limited production run that Chevy will produce, and the lackluster dealerships that will de-promote them, then yes, "all".

Tesla accelerating their plans to produce more EV's in one year in 2020 than Chevy will have sold in their entire history by 2020, Bolt's included.