Here is my experience on a trip from my home in North Arkansas to Chicago.
First leg of trip was 217.8 miles at the speed limit (half 55 mph, half 65 mph) on a non-highway route with temperatures in the high 60’s / low 70’s, with horrible elevation changes starting at 200 feet above sea level, climbing to 1000 feet, and then back down to 500 feet. Look at the pic and you will see it looks like a seismograph! I had a slight tail wind for the trip, and the last hour this section of the trip was in the rain.
![]()
I arrived with 19 miles of range and 2 orange bars left and an average of 4.1 miles per kWh. Looking at the main display I used 53 kWh over 217.9 miles for 4.111 miles per kWh. I stopped at a 100 amp EVgo station just south of St. Louis (Festus MO) and charged for 34 min gaining 19 kWh at a cost of $7.51, just enough to get me to my next charging station north of St Louis in Edwardsville IL 55 miles away. Charge cost was $0.39 per kWh.
The second section of the trip was around 55 mph and a net zero elevation change, but still hilly terrain and still raining off and on. I arrived having used another 13.4 kWh after driving 54.1 miles (4.0 miles per kWh). I was planning on about a 90% charge here for the next stage of my trip, but the charging station was having issues, and my backup station a mile away was completely out of service. I was able to gain 10.42 kWh in 19 min ($3.24) before the unit tripped off. I re-started the charge, and this time gained 2.94 kWh in 7 min ($1.08). I tried again and got 3.54 kWh in 7 min ($1.08). I kept trying a few more times for .59 kWh in 2 min ($0.18) and a couple of failed attempts where no power was gained before the station shut down the CCS cord. This was all during a massive rain deluge, and it was very frustrating. Total power delivered was 17.49 kWh for $5.58 ($0.32 per kWh). I had to backtrack to my tertiary backup station, and since it was a backtrack I would have to get a full charge rather than 90% to get to my next stop. The tertiary backup was a backtrack of 17.8 miles and used 3.3 kWh (5.4 miles per kWh). If the faulty station had given me zero power, I still could have made it to my tertiary station on the power I had when I arrived at the station having troubles.
At my tertiary backup station (Shiloh MO), I had no troubles, I did my first 46 min session and gained 25.86 kWh ($8.10) and a second 46 min session gaining 12.57 kWh ($8.10) and then had to top off with a third session of 8 min gaining 1.1 kWh ($1.26). Total power delivered was 39.53 kWh for $17.46 ($0.44 per kWh). I had to do a full charge since my next station was 200 miles away.
My next planned stop was a Chevy dealership in Fairbury, IL. I called the day before my trip to verify that the CCS station (60 amp, 24 KW) was working, and that it would be left turned on so it would be available for me to use. I arrived to (of course) find the CCS station turned off!!! It was after hours, so nobody answered the phone, or was available to turn it back on. There is no CCS backup in this area, so I had to use a L2 station in Dwight IL 31.2 miles away, luckily there is a nice dinner just down the street from the L2 ChargePoint station. I arrived on the fumes that come off of an electron when it is lonely because all of its friends have gone away. I was so frustrated by this point that I failed to take down the data from my displays. I do know that I charged 11.88 kWh in 1 hour and 41 min for free. Elevation changes for this leg of the trip were from 550 feet up to 870 feet max, and then down to 650 for a net gain of 100 feet, but the peak in the middle is rough on overall efficiency.
The last leg of the trip was to my wife’s friends house in Crown Point, IN 68 miles away. Start at 650 feet elevation, peak of 800 feet, and back down to 700 feet for a net gain of 50 feet. Arrived tired, didn’t bother to plug into her 110V outlet in the garage since there is a 125 amp EVgo station 15 miles from the house.
Drove to the CCS station the next morning arriving with 3% battery remaining, and proceeded to talk with the head Volt / Bolt Engineer for over 2 hours while we each charged up Bolt EV’s.
Total trip length with detours and backtracks was 616.7 miles and used 136.1 kWh for a total efficiency of 4.5 miles per kWh. This matches what the trip meter said before I reset it. The charge station is at the Lincoln Oasis on the highway inbound to Chicago. The 1st charge session of 46 min was 33.85 kWh ($8.10). The second session of 47 min was 19.36 kWh ($8.28) and the third and final session (for data logs for my charge rate comparisons) of 41 min gained me 6.42 kWh ($7.20) total power delivered was 59.63 and cost $23.58 giving me an average of $0.39 per kWh.
Total energy used was 136.1 and total energy delivered at charging stations was 147.26 for an efficiency of 92.4% from the charging stations, and a cost of $54.13 ($0.37 per kWh)
We stayed several days, and on the last day I did a trip into Chicago in the Bolt to go to museums and go to millennium park to see the giant polished bean. I didn’t have time for a full charge, gaining around 12 kWh on 110V before leaving the next morning, so we ended up starting the trip on 85%.
The trip home I am not going to mention elevation changes other than it is the reverse of as described above with over all a net loss in altitude with many ups and downs, the weather was hot with no rain while driving, (started out in 80’s and rose into 90’s) with a head wind instead of a tail wind.
Since I would not be passing near the Chevy dealership during business hours I didn’t bother to try charging there, so our first charge was at the same ChargePoint L2 station in Dwight IL where we stayed for 3 hours and gained 20.97 kWh. We left with a 90% charge rather than wait another hour. As a consequence, despite the high temperatures we drove with climate control in fan only since I didn’t trust the EVgo station in Edwardsville to be working properly, so I needed enough charge reserve to reach the tertiary backup if needed.
After 4 hours of miserable hot driving, we arrived at the Edwardsville charging station and were able to charge for 27 min getting 14.87 kWh for $4.68 ($0.32 per kWh). That was the amount I wanted to charge, and I turned on the car to check the charging rate. When I turned on the car the charging station tripped off line.
We moved on to the next (and final) charging station. Since we were shooting the biggest gap back to our house in Arkansas we needed a full charge, so we had a pleasant picnic lunch while charging. First charging session was 47 min gaining 26.36 kWh for $10.47 ($0.40 per kWh) The second session of 47 min gained 23.62 kWh for $10.47 ($0.44 per kWh) third charge session was 46 min gaining 10.19 kWh for $10.24 ($1.00 per kWh) and a final session of 12 min gaining .67 kWh for $2.50 ($3.73 per kWh). Total kWh to go from 6% t0 100% was 60.84 kWh for $33.68 ($0.55 per kWh)
After that full charge, started the drive home. I chose to go 55 mph or the speed limit which ever was lower and run the air conditioning.
![]()
We arrived home with 27 miles left on the guess o meter, having driven 545 miles at 4.3 miles per kWh.
Total cost for the energy charged and cost for the trip home plus the trip into Chicago was around 145.7 kWh. Going by the % battery used for the trip into Chicago to calculate kWh used I came up with 20.4 kWh making the trip home itself take 125.3 kWh. Taking the 545 miles on the trip meter and dividing by the 4.3 miles per kWh efficiency gives 126.7, and that seems to be accurate from my other checks.
Anyway, the numbers are there if anyone wants to do more math for the trip home.
Over all the entire trip used 281.8 kWh costing me $92.49 for “fuel”. Over all that is about $0.33 per kWh. 1239.8 miles for $92.49 means 7.5 cents per mile. Even having two CCS charges to 100% (horrible $ per kWh ratio on a full charge) it was still cheaper to drive the Bolt EV than driving my fuel-efficient ICE car.
I am sick of typing at this point, so hope people like this post.
Later,
Keith
First leg of trip was 217.8 miles at the speed limit (half 55 mph, half 65 mph) on a non-highway route with temperatures in the high 60’s / low 70’s, with horrible elevation changes starting at 200 feet above sea level, climbing to 1000 feet, and then back down to 500 feet. Look at the pic and you will see it looks like a seismograph! I had a slight tail wind for the trip, and the last hour this section of the trip was in the rain.
I arrived with 19 miles of range and 2 orange bars left and an average of 4.1 miles per kWh. Looking at the main display I used 53 kWh over 217.9 miles for 4.111 miles per kWh. I stopped at a 100 amp EVgo station just south of St. Louis (Festus MO) and charged for 34 min gaining 19 kWh at a cost of $7.51, just enough to get me to my next charging station north of St Louis in Edwardsville IL 55 miles away. Charge cost was $0.39 per kWh.
The second section of the trip was around 55 mph and a net zero elevation change, but still hilly terrain and still raining off and on. I arrived having used another 13.4 kWh after driving 54.1 miles (4.0 miles per kWh). I was planning on about a 90% charge here for the next stage of my trip, but the charging station was having issues, and my backup station a mile away was completely out of service. I was able to gain 10.42 kWh in 19 min ($3.24) before the unit tripped off. I re-started the charge, and this time gained 2.94 kWh in 7 min ($1.08). I tried again and got 3.54 kWh in 7 min ($1.08). I kept trying a few more times for .59 kWh in 2 min ($0.18) and a couple of failed attempts where no power was gained before the station shut down the CCS cord. This was all during a massive rain deluge, and it was very frustrating. Total power delivered was 17.49 kWh for $5.58 ($0.32 per kWh). I had to backtrack to my tertiary backup station, and since it was a backtrack I would have to get a full charge rather than 90% to get to my next stop. The tertiary backup was a backtrack of 17.8 miles and used 3.3 kWh (5.4 miles per kWh). If the faulty station had given me zero power, I still could have made it to my tertiary station on the power I had when I arrived at the station having troubles.
At my tertiary backup station (Shiloh MO), I had no troubles, I did my first 46 min session and gained 25.86 kWh ($8.10) and a second 46 min session gaining 12.57 kWh ($8.10) and then had to top off with a third session of 8 min gaining 1.1 kWh ($1.26). Total power delivered was 39.53 kWh for $17.46 ($0.44 per kWh). I had to do a full charge since my next station was 200 miles away.
My next planned stop was a Chevy dealership in Fairbury, IL. I called the day before my trip to verify that the CCS station (60 amp, 24 KW) was working, and that it would be left turned on so it would be available for me to use. I arrived to (of course) find the CCS station turned off!!! It was after hours, so nobody answered the phone, or was available to turn it back on. There is no CCS backup in this area, so I had to use a L2 station in Dwight IL 31.2 miles away, luckily there is a nice dinner just down the street from the L2 ChargePoint station. I arrived on the fumes that come off of an electron when it is lonely because all of its friends have gone away. I was so frustrated by this point that I failed to take down the data from my displays. I do know that I charged 11.88 kWh in 1 hour and 41 min for free. Elevation changes for this leg of the trip were from 550 feet up to 870 feet max, and then down to 650 for a net gain of 100 feet, but the peak in the middle is rough on overall efficiency.
The last leg of the trip was to my wife’s friends house in Crown Point, IN 68 miles away. Start at 650 feet elevation, peak of 800 feet, and back down to 700 feet for a net gain of 50 feet. Arrived tired, didn’t bother to plug into her 110V outlet in the garage since there is a 125 amp EVgo station 15 miles from the house.
Drove to the CCS station the next morning arriving with 3% battery remaining, and proceeded to talk with the head Volt / Bolt Engineer for over 2 hours while we each charged up Bolt EV’s.
Total trip length with detours and backtracks was 616.7 miles and used 136.1 kWh for a total efficiency of 4.5 miles per kWh. This matches what the trip meter said before I reset it. The charge station is at the Lincoln Oasis on the highway inbound to Chicago. The 1st charge session of 46 min was 33.85 kWh ($8.10). The second session of 47 min was 19.36 kWh ($8.28) and the third and final session (for data logs for my charge rate comparisons) of 41 min gained me 6.42 kWh ($7.20) total power delivered was 59.63 and cost $23.58 giving me an average of $0.39 per kWh.
Total energy used was 136.1 and total energy delivered at charging stations was 147.26 for an efficiency of 92.4% from the charging stations, and a cost of $54.13 ($0.37 per kWh)
We stayed several days, and on the last day I did a trip into Chicago in the Bolt to go to museums and go to millennium park to see the giant polished bean. I didn’t have time for a full charge, gaining around 12 kWh on 110V before leaving the next morning, so we ended up starting the trip on 85%.
The trip home I am not going to mention elevation changes other than it is the reverse of as described above with over all a net loss in altitude with many ups and downs, the weather was hot with no rain while driving, (started out in 80’s and rose into 90’s) with a head wind instead of a tail wind.
Since I would not be passing near the Chevy dealership during business hours I didn’t bother to try charging there, so our first charge was at the same ChargePoint L2 station in Dwight IL where we stayed for 3 hours and gained 20.97 kWh. We left with a 90% charge rather than wait another hour. As a consequence, despite the high temperatures we drove with climate control in fan only since I didn’t trust the EVgo station in Edwardsville to be working properly, so I needed enough charge reserve to reach the tertiary backup if needed.
After 4 hours of miserable hot driving, we arrived at the Edwardsville charging station and were able to charge for 27 min getting 14.87 kWh for $4.68 ($0.32 per kWh). That was the amount I wanted to charge, and I turned on the car to check the charging rate. When I turned on the car the charging station tripped off line.
We moved on to the next (and final) charging station. Since we were shooting the biggest gap back to our house in Arkansas we needed a full charge, so we had a pleasant picnic lunch while charging. First charging session was 47 min gaining 26.36 kWh for $10.47 ($0.40 per kWh) The second session of 47 min gained 23.62 kWh for $10.47 ($0.44 per kWh) third charge session was 46 min gaining 10.19 kWh for $10.24 ($1.00 per kWh) and a final session of 12 min gaining .67 kWh for $2.50 ($3.73 per kWh). Total kWh to go from 6% t0 100% was 60.84 kWh for $33.68 ($0.55 per kWh)
After that full charge, started the drive home. I chose to go 55 mph or the speed limit which ever was lower and run the air conditioning.
We arrived home with 27 miles left on the guess o meter, having driven 545 miles at 4.3 miles per kWh.
Total cost for the energy charged and cost for the trip home plus the trip into Chicago was around 145.7 kWh. Going by the % battery used for the trip into Chicago to calculate kWh used I came up with 20.4 kWh making the trip home itself take 125.3 kWh. Taking the 545 miles on the trip meter and dividing by the 4.3 miles per kWh efficiency gives 126.7, and that seems to be accurate from my other checks.
Anyway, the numbers are there if anyone wants to do more math for the trip home.
Over all the entire trip used 281.8 kWh costing me $92.49 for “fuel”. Over all that is about $0.33 per kWh. 1239.8 miles for $92.49 means 7.5 cents per mile. Even having two CCS charges to 100% (horrible $ per kWh ratio on a full charge) it was still cheaper to drive the Bolt EV than driving my fuel-efficient ICE car.
I am sick of typing at this point, so hope people like this post.
Later,
Keith
