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I just went on a 775 mile five day/four night vacation.
One decision we had to make was whether to take our Bolt or our second car (the Bolt's predecessor, a 2010 Golf TDI, with the emissions fix). I did some homework on the area and found that the charging opportunities were very sparse. Not a total DCFC wasteland, but close to it, with very little in the way of backup plans available if something doesn't work out well.
After weighing everything, we decided there were just too many ways things could go south if we took the Bolt, so we dusted off the Golf TDI. It hadn't been driven much at all over the last 18 months (a short errand or two every other week), so it probably needed the cobwebs blown out.
The most direct route from home to our destination is about 225 miles along some well-travelled freeways. Of course, that's not the route I'd go. In a lot of ways, I really do follow the Chevy slogan “find new roads”. While everyone else is following the car in front on a multi-lane road, I like to have open road stretching out in front of me, and it's fine if it has a few twists. If it climbs high and gives a vantage point on the land below, so much the better. This time, we took scenic 245 mile route that crossed over the mountains twice rather than the regular, far less mountainous freeway route. For our return trip, we took an even more circuitous route home today, 280 miles, but managing to drive on a Friday afternoon and basically entirely avoid a totally clogged freeway system (eventually sliding around and approaching home from the opposite direction with the getting-out-of-town-for-the-weekend traffic coming towards us). We also climbed to 6850 feet heading over mountains, whee.
While we were at our vacation destination, we took a 185 mile circuit (once again over mountains, but particularly narrow and windy roads with no guard rail or cell service), but fantastic views.
I also went and checked out where I might have charged had I taken the Bolt, chatting to a Bolt owner at the only DCFC station in the area, and taking some photos of a soon-to-open Electrify America location.
It was really weird driving the Golf TDI after 18 months of Bolt driving. Initially it felt really wrong — sluggish off the line, having to push the brake to slow, coming into corners at more-than-ideal speeds (because I hate to push the brakes if I can avoid it), vibration while idling, not-entirely-comfortable seats. Suspension doesn't feel better than the Bolt's (although in theory it should be) and road noise seemed significant too.
The trip computer for Golf claims it got 40.8 mpg for the whole journey. In my experience, it lies (or diesel pumps lie) by about 10%, so the actual mpg is more like 37.1 mpg. So the journey probably used 20.9 gallons and required that I stop to get diesel exactly once, costing more than $80 in fuel.
Let's look at how it might have been if I'd taken the Bolt:
For the journey out, I'd have had to detour slightly to hit the only usable DCFC station and charge for 53 minutes (to get from 29% to 80%). In the future, there will be an EA station on this route where I'd stop and charge from 33% to 80% in only 47 minutes (and cost $15.10). In both cases, I'd arrive at my destination with a respectable 16% charge which ought to be ample to handle the unexpected.
For the journey back, it wouldn't be great right now. I'd have to detour further from my desired route and charge twice. Because of my love of backroads, EA won't be that helpful in the (near) future either.
The other journeys we took would be entirely do-able if I had overnight charging at my destination.
I think we did make the right choice this time around, but I'm hopeful that in a year (or two!?!) the charging infrastructure will have vastly improved. Of course, perhaps it'll also be busier. But I'm eager to make trips like this one in the Bolt. I don't mind stopping for a while to charge, but I do want to stop somewhere worth stopping (i.e., have a place to eat or something to see), and I don't want everything thrown into disarray by a single broken charger or a couple of other EV owners being in the general area and needing to charge. Those are the aspects that aren't there yet but hopefully will be soon.
One decision we had to make was whether to take our Bolt or our second car (the Bolt's predecessor, a 2010 Golf TDI, with the emissions fix). I did some homework on the area and found that the charging opportunities were very sparse. Not a total DCFC wasteland, but close to it, with very little in the way of backup plans available if something doesn't work out well.
After weighing everything, we decided there were just too many ways things could go south if we took the Bolt, so we dusted off the Golf TDI. It hadn't been driven much at all over the last 18 months (a short errand or two every other week), so it probably needed the cobwebs blown out.
The most direct route from home to our destination is about 225 miles along some well-travelled freeways. Of course, that's not the route I'd go. In a lot of ways, I really do follow the Chevy slogan “find new roads”. While everyone else is following the car in front on a multi-lane road, I like to have open road stretching out in front of me, and it's fine if it has a few twists. If it climbs high and gives a vantage point on the land below, so much the better. This time, we took scenic 245 mile route that crossed over the mountains twice rather than the regular, far less mountainous freeway route. For our return trip, we took an even more circuitous route home today, 280 miles, but managing to drive on a Friday afternoon and basically entirely avoid a totally clogged freeway system (eventually sliding around and approaching home from the opposite direction with the getting-out-of-town-for-the-weekend traffic coming towards us). We also climbed to 6850 feet heading over mountains, whee.
While we were at our vacation destination, we took a 185 mile circuit (once again over mountains, but particularly narrow and windy roads with no guard rail or cell service), but fantastic views.
I also went and checked out where I might have charged had I taken the Bolt, chatting to a Bolt owner at the only DCFC station in the area, and taking some photos of a soon-to-open Electrify America location.
It was really weird driving the Golf TDI after 18 months of Bolt driving. Initially it felt really wrong — sluggish off the line, having to push the brake to slow, coming into corners at more-than-ideal speeds (because I hate to push the brakes if I can avoid it), vibration while idling, not-entirely-comfortable seats. Suspension doesn't feel better than the Bolt's (although in theory it should be) and road noise seemed significant too.
The trip computer for Golf claims it got 40.8 mpg for the whole journey. In my experience, it lies (or diesel pumps lie) by about 10%, so the actual mpg is more like 37.1 mpg. So the journey probably used 20.9 gallons and required that I stop to get diesel exactly once, costing more than $80 in fuel.
Let's look at how it might have been if I'd taken the Bolt:
For the journey out, I'd have had to detour slightly to hit the only usable DCFC station and charge for 53 minutes (to get from 29% to 80%). In the future, there will be an EA station on this route where I'd stop and charge from 33% to 80% in only 47 minutes (and cost $15.10). In both cases, I'd arrive at my destination with a respectable 16% charge which ought to be ample to handle the unexpected.
For the journey back, it wouldn't be great right now. I'd have to detour further from my desired route and charge twice. Because of my love of backroads, EA won't be that helpful in the (near) future either.
The other journeys we took would be entirely do-able if I had overnight charging at my destination.
I think we did make the right choice this time around, but I'm hopeful that in a year (or two!?!) the charging infrastructure will have vastly improved. Of course, perhaps it'll also be busier. But I'm eager to make trips like this one in the Bolt. I don't mind stopping for a while to charge, but I do want to stop somewhere worth stopping (i.e., have a place to eat or something to see), and I don't want everything thrown into disarray by a single broken charger or a couple of other EV owners being in the general area and needing to charge. Those are the aspects that aren't there yet but hopefully will be soon.
