Chevy Bolt first drive

Luke,

I go everywhere on my electric assist bicycles. I do my own shopping on it. Unfortunately, my wife likes to do the grocery shopping, and is not prepared to risk her life on two wheels, like I am. I have wished for decades that our private car culture would somehow crash. If we got rid of big, fast, idiot piloted cars, we could safely get around on bikes, and NEVs. As I have said before, it looks like we will literally drive ourselves to extinct. I was on a 50 mile ride yesterday. Heading home, down a straight, two lane state road, I saw flashing lights ahead. There was the required firetruck, and two cop cars. A cop is directing everybody down my lane. As I go by, I see two, 25 year old Ford F-150 trucks, facing each other, 10 feet apart, down a steep bank on the other side of the road! Apparently one of them, or a third vehicle that got away, caused them both to try to avoid a head-on collision, and they both took the same ditch.
 
Chevy Bolt EV deliveries are surprisingly down to 952 units in the US last month:
https://electrek.co/2017/03/01/chevy-bolt-ev-deliveries/

Starts:
In its first full year of production, which is this year, GM is expected to produce about 30,000 Chevy Bolt EVs. While deliveries don’t reflect that so far, the company is currently expanding to more markets.

The automaker confirmed its February deliveries in the US today and with only 952 units, Bolt EVs deliveries are actually down month-to-month after 1,162 deliveries in January.

There are now 2,114 Bolt EVs on the roads in the US since GM started deliveries in December.
 
Yup. Hideously ugly Prius Prime plug-in is eating Bolt's lunch, with 5,150 sold in first four months-1,287.5/mth. You get an HOV sticker, tax credits, and it's cheaper! Configurations: Plus $27,100 Premium $28,800 Advanced $33,100

Bolt is 897.7/mth for three months. March numbers will be very telling. Maximum monthly production for the Bolt is supposedly 2,500. There are a month's worth sitting on lots right now. North Carolina isn't supposed to see them until September. Colorado isn't supposed to see them until May.

http://www.hendrickchevrolet.com/searchnew.aspx?Type=N&Make=Chevrolet&Model=Bolt%20EV

http://www.emichchevrolet.com/VehicleSearchResults?model=Bolt

They are also shipping to Canada, South Korea, and Norway. Doesn't look good for the future of EVs. Yeah. I know. Tesla will save us.
 
EVs are going to be just fine. Cars, on the other hand, are a problem that we need to solve.
 
I think private cars, for the 99%, are going away. Despite Trump's best efforts, cars will get more efficient/cleaner, and more expensive. The subprime auto loan business will blow soon. All the car makers are rushing to get into the electric self-driving taxi business.
 
Warren said:
I think private cars, for the 99%, are going away.........
....... All the car makers are rushing to get into the electric self-driving taxi business.

Unless someone gets control of that potential situation ...(self driving taxi), ...i see little to change the private car situation.
Driverless taxi's just means more profit for taxi operators, and less jobs for taxi drivers......or do you really expect taxi fares to suddenly drop when this fleet of shiny new EV cabs hits the streets ?
I bet fares will increase, so little incentive for everyone to suddenly switch to cabs.
They might be a little less choosey as to where they go for pick ups, but i doubt they will wander far out of the normal high passenger traffic zones of the urban areas, so all you healthy country dwellers better make your own arrangements ....(private self owned transport ..car ? )
.Ideally, Mass Transit authorities will take control and own fleets of "Autotaxi's" and completely restructure the urban transit business model with affordable options.
 
Hillhater said:
Unless someone gets control of that potential situation ...(self driving taxi), ...i see little to change the private car situation.
Driverless taxi's just means more profit for taxi operators, and less jobs for taxi drivers......or do you really expect taxi fares to suddenly drop when this fleet of shiny new EV cabs hits the streets ?

I guess you haven't been paying attention while Uber and Lyft (or in Austin, Fasten and Fare) have cut both wait times and ride cost to a fraction of what they used to be. And that's with the embedded cost of human drivers. Lots of folks in my neighborhood have already given up cars in part because they can get a ride to wherever they want, whenever they want, at a reasonable price.

The best promise of self-driving cars isn't that we won't have to drive them. It's that we won't even have to own them. The cars will cost the same to buy, operate and maintain as personal vehicles, but they'll amortize much more quickly because they're not sitting idle 90+ percent of the time like personal cars do. Ultimately, that will make them cheaper to use than your own car, unless you drive many hours per day.
 
Yep. Uber is already a paradigm shift for bay area transportation. Automated Uber will be even cheaper (and at least eventually safer if not immediately safer).
 
Chalo said:
The best promise of self-driving cars isn't that we won't have to drive them. It's that we won't even have to own them. The cars will cost the same to buy, operate and maintain as personal vehicles, but they'll amortize much more quickly because they're not sitting idle 90+ percent of the time like personal cars do. Ultimately, that will make them cheaper to use than your own car, unless you drive many hours per day.
.??..So if we dont own our cars, who will own them ?......"Taxi" type service provider companies i guess .?
...But, other than not needing to pay the drivers (who currently mostly survive on tips anyway) ...how does that make them cheaper than todays taxi service ?
No, the idea is that we do privately own our new autonamous cars , but when we are not using them , they go off and operate as a public taxi, earning money to offset the ownership/ running costs.
That would enable lower fare charges. But i suspect the Tax man will want a cut in that deal also.
 
Alan B said:
Uber and Lyft drivers basically work for poverty wages, not sure that's sustainable.

It would be nice to hear more about the Bolt in this thread, since that's on topic.

I doubt GM is together enough to make EVs that will be in the vanguard of self-driving cars. They'll have to wait for others to show the way. But that's the future of the car market.

Poverty wages or not, the preponderance of the cost of an Uber ride is the cost of the driver. That's why driverless cars will be the economical option almost as soon as they become available.
 
Another Chevy Bolt EV electric-car owner weighs in on pro and cons:
http://www.greencarreports.com/news...-electric-car-owner-weighs-in-on-pro-and-cons

Ends:
The Facebook group for owners of Chevy's first mass-produced battery-electric car grows every day.

In particular, Brian Ro of Columbia, Maryland, offered very specific comments on his new car. He also owns two Chevy Volts as well.

We've broken down his comments into specific topics, as noted, and edited them for clarity.

DRIVING CHARACTERISTICS
INTERIOR SPACE
INTERIOR QUALITY
 
Today's Bolt update:

Over 2,600 on lots. Cars for sale in six states outside the official rollout states: Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Minnesota, Colorado, and Washington.

http://insideevs.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/2017-chevrolet-bolt-ev-electric-car-u-s-distribution-plan-by-state-oct-2016-sep-2017_100589182_l.jpg

The official Chevrolet rollout says they will be available in the continental 48 states by August, and Hawaii, and Alaska by September. Since the 200 mile Nissan Leaf/Bolt lookalike will be available in September, at presumably a lower price (What else can Nissan do to compete?), I am guessing the rollout will be pushed forward by several months.
 
Not surprised they pulled that ad down. It was a huge embarrassment, I'm sure. It talked about the super efficient "engine", that would "wring the most miles from the fuel" or words to that effect. It was clear whoever wrote the copy didn't know what to hell they were trying to sell.

If Chevy doesn't sell a bunch of them, over the next few months, they will be having a price war with Nissan come fall. I know Tesla has panache, or whatever, but if the Bolt and 200 mile Leaf going begging for sales this fall, it can't be good for the Model 3 trying to sell at full list either. GM and Nissan can give them away for six months, but I don't think Musk has that option.
 
Got ours Tuesday. We have put on 231 miles, so far. Haven't used a public charger yet. It sits in our garage, plugged into a 120 volt wall outlet, whenever we are not driving it. I have the car set up to charge to 90% "hill charge." I just went out to look. The light on the dash top is steady green, meaning the charge is complete, and the dash says we have 226 miles available. It has been, at least, 90F here every day this month. We hit 101F yesterday. I left on a bike ride at 2:40pm at 100F.

With the AC, lights, and radio on at all times, we have averaged 3.8 mi/kWh, 263 Wh/mile, so far. Not very "sustainable." I had to laugh. With the car turned on, no lights or AC, just the dash displays, inverter, and whatever is on at "idle", it shows 1 kW draw. My big cargo bike pulls that at 32 mph. From what I have read, and it appears correct, this thing has at least 60 kWh usable.

Bolt.jpg
 
The Bolt was charged to 90 percent (216 mi), on 120 volts, when we got up, again Thursday morning. We headed off about 10:30 am for a run up to Afton for kettle corn, a trip to a peach orchard outside Crozet, and then to the bank in Charlottesville. We deliberately drove interstate, with lights, radio, and AC as cold as we could stand it. The plan was to try out the CCS fast charger, in the bank parking lot. I was hoping to have 50 percent charge, or less, to maximize the charge rate. The regen coming down from the mountains was greater than I thought, and we got to the lot with 65 percent left...close enough. The one parking space was open. I called the Greenlots number, and they turned on the charger for us. The charge was free. The parking cost $3 minimum, for one hour...all the time you are allowed in the EV space. We went to the bank, and then the wife went to the picture frame store, and the knitting store. I went for a fast walk to burn off nervous energy. We planned to meet at the car in 45 minutes. I got there at 35 minutes. I got in the car and turned on the radio and the AC. We were at 85% range (204 miles). Wife showed up a few minutes later, and we stopped the charge, and headed home. The guess-o-meter read 185 miles of range when we pulled into the garage. We had traveled 106.9 miles, adding 76 miles back in at the charger, in 45 minutes, for a 101 mph charge rate. Not as good as we would have gotten starting at a lower state of charge. That is only ~25 kW rate. Don't know if the charger is not capable of 50 kW, or the car is cutting back. Some of the power is going to cooling the battery pack.

I haven't enjoyed driving a car this much since my ten year old, 1956 MGA roadster. That said, I still much prefer my electric assist bikes. My wife puts nine times as many miles on the car as I do. It is good to know we will be polluting about half as much, as her old Corolla.
 

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