2020 Chevrolet Bolt Review: Road Trip, Apartment Life, Public Chargers Only?!
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- Опубліковано 14 бер 2021
- Yes, Chevrolet has already unveiled the 2022 Chevy Bolt, but what many don't know is that the 2020 and 2021 Chevy Bolt use the same electric motor, battery, and charging tech as the 2022 Bolt! And... they have the same amount of range at 259 miles. @Chevrolet sent us a 2020 Bolt Premier, and we took it on a 135-mile road trip! Living in a high-rise apartment with no home charging, here's how the little Bolt handled life ONLY using public DC Fast Charging stations from @ChargePointnet and Electrify America.
#ChevyBolt #EVRoadTrip
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I purchased a 2021 Chevy Bolt Premier $29k OTD, 8 year warranty, and love it. Fun, easy car to drive. For a small car, it is very roomy inside. Best bang for your buck EV car on the market today.
SO much room inside! The 1st-gen Bolts are great values if you don't care about DCFC charge speed and find the seats okay for your body.
The best way to become convinced that EVs are cool is to just experience one first hand! These things are surprisingly nice.
And it's affordable for the non-rich. I love my 2017 and that I can drive half a mile errand in sub freezing temps without driving extra time to warm up an ICE car wasting expensive gas.
Fully Charged live in Austin, Texas April 22-23, 2022.
@Harley Dawson You mean you hacked your former girlfriend’s account!!!
Good to see charging experience for people who live in apartments and have no option of home charging!!
There are a love Lyft/Uber/delivery types that use the Bolt and it works fine driving all day long. There are one year old Bolts with 30K miles. And as experienced EV drivers know, you never on a long trip charge past 80%. Everything with a battery has a charge taper. You continue on and later stop and charge to 80% again. The driver needs some short breaks anyway for safety.
What a fascinating point in time. Where you had to reassure others you could see your own family
I'm re-watching this and yeah - two big impressions are the reassurance of "it's safe to visit people" and "EVs are new, this is how they work." What a time to be alive.
@@OutMotorsports good vid. Thank you. Just bought a bolt
I would like to see the stats on how often Americans take 200 mile + road trips. My hunch is less than half do so once a year.
It really varies, depending who you talk to and where they live. City dwellers and people who live closer to the coasts may not drive as far as often, but people who live in the middle of the country can do 200 miles round trip as a quick drive to see friends. There are other EVs with more range that would work more easily for those folks.
I took 400+ mile trips every weekend for over a year. I got a 2016 Chevrolet Malibu Premier last year and I’ve put 26,000 miles on it in a year.
@@mannyruby431 You're an outlier. RARELY does anyone do that much driving.
Seeing this 3yrs later and mentioning how we at the time thought about Covid is really weird to hear now. Love my 2019 bolt I just bought a few months ago. Got it for a steal at $8700.
It is so weird, isn’t it? The Bolt is still a great little hatch!
The factory charger can also be plugged into a 240 outlet and give the car a slightly faster rate of charge
I feel kind of lucky, I can unplug the dryer and plug my car in. The county where I live also has plugs at the fishing pier so I can charge while fishing. The best part of having a 2020 Chevy Bolt myself is I can charge at work using a 14-50 outlet.
If you have 240V charging at home, plus charging at work and one of your favorite hobby spots - it sounds perfect for you!
Great video!
Thanks!
You did a great job explaining the BOLT....I have the VOLT.....Which was the big brother of the BOLT...it was scraped my GM??!!Same generating power, but without the anxiety of getting stranded....you could get anywhere between 32-58 miles of energy stored....but, 9.5 gal generator that made energy so you would still have electricity to continue you’re trip....I wish that you could get 100 miles of charge before the generator kicked on....the generator gave you 240-300 miles of energy buy using gas for the generator.....I love my 2013 VOLT....I use it to go to work....I’m not sure if I would take it on a road trip....I have a LEXUS RX400h which is hybrid and generates power as you drive, but it generates power to connect the electric and gas as one unit....I get 26 miles a gallon and can drive 320 miles on a half tank....not bad!! I can drive from
Chicago to NYC with 3 stops to a half tank...I never push it....but, city/county driving the BOLT and VOLT are great options 😀
The Volt was great! It is a fantastic concept and we are seeing more of them as more automakers build plug-in hybrids now. It was surprising to see the Volt discontinued, but it may have had to die so the Bolt and other full EVs from GM could live and/or be developed.
remember at 120volt you can pick either 8amps or 12amps the wiring at my work is 20amp so I use the 12amp option
my ford C-max plugin didn't have that option
when charging at home I use 240volt 32amp only charges about one hour per day with my short commute
I use 8 amps to be easy on my 15 amp circuit.
Very cool, just seen your video I guess your parents are in like ocean view? I’m over lewes. Just bought a Bolt and will be picking it up in the next couple of days.
This gray on cars (like the Civic) is really growing on me.
The color of my car is fog.
The 2022 home charging speed is now 48 amps and 11 kW, up from the 2021’s 32 amps and 7.6 kW. It sounded in the video like you might not be aware of that. Most of us only charge at home, so that is an appreciated improvement.
Ah, sorry if it was unclear - the home charging speed wasn't being discussed as the video specifically dealt with using a Bolt EV when you have no home charging available. In either 2021/2022's case, the home charging speed will be more than fine for 90% of owners. But both 2021 and 2022 Bolts suffer from a far-too-slow "DCFC" charging speed that's ultimately not very fast vs the competition if you roll up with 50%+ charge in the battery.
Although I did at first live a month or so with my 2017 Bolt just using 110v, but I had a short commute. I did get a EVSE because I sometimes have to park outside in Chicago winters and plugging it in lets the battery pack keep itself warm as needed. Otherwise since then I have found Level 2 chargers at nearby grocery stores, public parking, the mall, etc. so I probably could still get by. But that's very dependent on location. Hopefully the new administration gets their wish to rapidly ramp up charge locations and I'm hoping it is grants to landlords and small towns so that apartment/condo residents can adopt EV's as soon as the used market develops in a couple years.
I regularly charge my 2022 Bolt EV 2LT to 280 miles of range using the 120v outlet in my garage. I'm not sure if I could actually get 280 miles on it though since I have not taken any long trips.
The 2020 Bolt has 11.5kw on board charger for Level 2
For every day driving, there is a need for those who don't have a house and garage. That leaves a lot of us who can't take advantage of home charging. For road trips, they need to build more charging stations and have batteries with longer range and quicker charging. I have seen videos where people tale their bolts and have to plan and map their routes to charge. Kind of takes the fun out of a road trip especially if you have reason to have range anxiety.
Yep, that's us! We have home charging but it's unreliable and not always available (shared chargers in a high-rise) - the Bolt's DCFC speed being 50 kW is not great for road tripping but is tolerable on occasion. Newer EVs that can charge at 150 kW or faster are way easier to road trip... hopefully when GM moves the Bolt to the Ultium platform or some other more modern platform, that complaint will be rectified.
Did he talk about the 2022 bolt that’s coming out?
Jake is the best!
For the money the bolt is the best EV right now
It's a good option (great value!) if you don't road trip much/at all with it or can handle the slow DC Fast Charging speeds relative to other EVs on the market. For 99% charging at home/work? Great little car.
Can you wait inside the car running ac while waiting?
You can, we did just that with one mid-trip charge where it was *pouring* rain outside. It'll charge just a hair slower (not really noticeable) and otherwise is the same experience.
Public charging at $0.43 per kwh, the cost per mile of a Prius can compete with that. Or even beat it a little.
Definitely better suited to home charging. Especially at .072 kwh i am charged in the N/W
Bolt good for city driving, hybrid for long road trips.
I'm looking at a brand new bolt 2020 $23,750 out the door..do you feel like that's a good deal..it's the base model. Thanks
That's really cheap for a brand-new Bolt - does it have DC Fast Charging, though? The options list can be confusing and based on our memory, the Premier trim is the only way to get DCFC on the 2020 model year.
@@OutMotorsports ok thank you idk if it does if it doesn't have dc fast charging does that mean I can't charge at a level 3 charging station? Btw thanks for the quick response..
Check the window sticker. If it does NOT have DCFC, it will only charge at a maximum of 6.6kW which will make long roadtrips really difficult, because charging will take 4+ hours. The typical home charger you will have installed using a 240V "dryer socket" plug will charge at 6.6kW or so as well, and will work fine since you'll plug the car in overnight and start each day with a full charge.
By comparison, DCFC Bolts can charge up to 55kW. Much faster even though it's still slow compared to other new EVs.
@@OutMotorsports wow! Thanks for that info I really appreciate it!
@@OutMotorsports The LT model has DC Fast Charging as a $750 option that is usually included on most models. Just check the sticker, I'm willing to bet it's on there unless it was a special order that got canceled.
I wish people would talk about the safety of the Bolt battery packs compared to Tesla battery packs. My research indicates that the Bolt battery pack design is significantly safer then the Tesla pack. Safety is very important to me. Is my research accurate?
I'm seen a lot of good things but it is also kind of going do I really need an electric vehicle any answer is no setting EV charging station for 45 minutes to an hour not for me do I look at going long trips with an electric vehicle at this time no I live in an apartment building will never have a charge station we only have two charging stations here in my hometown so the outlook on all this it will be quite a long time before I ever own an electric vehicle I hope the others of you did reading this post if you own a home then if there is no problem when you get home you just plug it in and that's it I hope I didn't ruin it that's my point on all of this good luck
Congratulations, you just won the longest run on sentence award.
Seems this car would be a pain to take on any kind of long road trips. May be good to drive around town but I would rent a car for long road trip.
If your idea of road tripping is 200-some miles from home, it's easy. If you need a charge partway through the trip, it'd work so long as the battery is run down enough, given that "fast charge" rate only applies for a certain portion of your charging.
I do a 200+ mile round trip in my 2016 Kia Soul. Costs about $12 round trip. (2) DCFC charges and the occasional Level 2 charge.
Now that is how to wear properly fitting jeans. Take note, folks. :)
Chevy screwed you all the way around, my friend. They gave you a half-charged, 3-year-old model to review. With the slow recharge rate, you are charging this as often as you do your smartphone.
State of charge wasn't a big deal when it arrived, still plenty of range to run around a bit and charge at the local DCFC station. The powertrain and "fast charging" (in quotes because it's not that fast by this point) have not changed at all from this model we reviewed to the 2022 Bolt. The 2022 is visual revisions and an updated interior only. This was a great way to get a feel for the Bolt, and 2020/2021 model years can be found brand new with 0 miles on dealer lots for killer deals right now.
Until, ev's can be completely charged in the same amout of time it takes to fill you average gas tank, they will never become mainstream.
It's certainly a hassle if you're relying on public chargers, either to charge in town or - worse - on a roadtrip. Thirty minute stops when you're taking a long trip really add up. Thankfully, it seems like the tech is getting there. Bolt's charge speed is not competitive with other new EVs on sale at this point.
Until I can fill that ICE car while it’s parked up at home and not being used, while I do more interesting stuff indoors, I can’t see them catching on. What’s that? I’ll have to drive across town to a ‘gas station’, possibly queue up to get up to a pump with the right kind of fuel, then stand in the rain and in a puddle of spilt diesel fuel while I breathe in noxious fumes and then pay upwards of £40 for the privilege? Yeah right, that sounds an enticing prospect.....
If you can charge at home, for the bulk of miles that you typically drive, filling an EV (to 88% in the case of a Bolt) takes just seconds to plug it in, and the car charges while you spend your overnight doing what you normally do. No lost time, like driving to gas stations.
@@dennislyon5412 That's a big IF! Most of the apartments where I live are old turn of the 1900's homes that have been turned into 2 or 3 family homes. Also most of them you have to park on the street. So not every one can charge at home.
@@stevenjump8234 - work with apartment management to create a plug or 2 with associated short term parking. If enough people express interest, providing reasonable cost charging to your tenants can be a new revenue stream for the company. It all starts with the first plug!