Hi all... I've been contemplating donating our 2009 Prius to charity, selling my Fiat 500e city car.. and becoming a "one car couple." Am strongly considering the Bolt and looking for current owner insights before writing the check.

I currently do all my charging at home using Fiat's Dual Level 1/Level II portable charger from a 240 NEMA 14-10R outlet. Assume Bolt's portable charger will work with this?

I have never heard of a NEMA 14-10R outlet, but the Bolt’s GM supplied or optioned J1772 level 2 EVSE plugs into a 14-50R.

I also don’t know what EVWorldEditor means, but it would seem odd for an editor of the subject to refer to an EVSE as a portable charger. The Bolt’s charger is under the car’s hood.

 

Hi all... I've been contemplating donating our 2009 Prius to charity, selling my Fiat 500e city car.. and becoming a "one car couple." Am strongly considering the Bolt and looking for current owner insights before writing the check.

I currently do all my charging at home using Fiat's Dual Level 1/Level II portable charger from a 240 NEMA 14-10R outlet. Assume Bolt's portable charger will work with this?

Hi - welcome to the forum!

The standard EVSE for the Bolt EV is 120V Level 1 only.
The standard EVSE for the Bolt EUV is dual voltage 120 / 240, but the 240 pigtail uses a NEMA 14-50 receptacle. I've never heard of a NEMA 14-10R...?

 

Hi all... I've been contemplating donating our 2009 Prius to charity, selling my Fiat 500e city car.. and becoming a "one car couple." Am strongly considering the Bolt and looking for current owner insights before writing the check.

I currently do all my charging at home using Fiat's Dual Level 1/Level II portable charger from a 240 NEMA 14-10R outlet. Assume Bolt's portable charger will work with this?

I assume 14-10 is a typo? Maybe 14-20?

The Bolt originally came with a L1 cord (5-15 plug), newer models (2022+) either with the L1, or a dual voltage cord with 5-15 and 14-50 that only operates at 12A (120V) or 32A (240V). While there may be NEMA 14-20 plug adapters you can buy for this charger, it may be costly.

Since all vehicles now are used, there is no certainty what it will come with, if anything.

The Fiat charger should work, J1772 is a standard. But until you try, no assurances.

A good option is the Tesla Mobile Connector which offers plug adapters for just about any outlet, and auto-adjusts the current. This would require a Tesla to J1772 adapter as well, but that is good to have if you ever want to charge at Hotels on road trips (many hotels have Tesla chargers). The Tesla cord is relatively inexpensive, as are the plug adapters.

 

My bad... 14-50R or P....

 

My bad... 14-50R or P....

Yes, the EUV EVSE will work with 14-50.

 

Hi all...

Assume Bolt's portable charger will work with this?

Welcome aboard. Yours is one of the few, of many, older EV links on my favorites list that hasn't disappeared. Speaking of which, the EV Album founder is also a member, and his site has flickered off again. I am terrified I may outlast all of the early EV sites.

I don't know what year your Fiat 500e is, but make sure your circuit is good for the amps your Bolt will be requesting.

 

EV Album? Wow! He still around? 500e is 2016. Love the little car, but I'd like something than I can drive a bit further afield that the metro Omaha area, which the little Fiat is perfect for.

 

We're a one car couple - a 2022 Bolt EV 2LT is our only vehicle.
Well that plus 5 bicycles. But having one(or no) car is easy
to do here in the New York City area.

As much as we like and recommend Bolts; if you do a lot of long
road trips - other EVs might be a better option. But having said that;
we have done a few over 1,000 mile trips. Including a New York
City to Florida and back experience - over 2,000 miles.

 

We're a one car couple - a 2022 Bolt EV 2LT is our only vehicle.
Well that plus 5 bicycles. But having one(or no) car is easy
to do here in the New York City area.

As much as we like and recommend Bolts; if you do a lot of long
road trips - other EVs might be a better option. But having said that;
we have done a few over 1,000 mile trips. Including a New York
City to Florida and back experience - over 2,000 miles.

Thanks... we're not into long road trips anymore. Our daughter lives in Seattle area, so we fly nonstop.: 3 hours beats 3 days, even if the drive is spectacular! Most we drive anymore is to Des Moines or Lincoln, NE. Fiat 500e circuit is 40 amp. We have no problem at Level II on the Fiat charger.

 

Any particularly compelling reason to look at the EUV model if most of our driving will be local?

 

We have one of each, a 2023 EUV and a 2022 EV. The EUV rides a bit better due to the longer wheelbase and probably the additional weight too. The other difference is availability of options. If you want certain bells and whistles they were only available on the EUV, like ventilated seats for example.

Overall you won't be missing much with the smaller EV, and it's a bit more efficient and fun to drive IMHO. That's partly why I recently got the little Bolt, I missed our 2021. My wife would disagree on my last point because she prefers the way her EUV rides. Now we are both happy as clams. 😎

So, maybe check out both versions.

 

Yes. It's truly a tiny difference in length between EV and EUV.

 

We are a one EV couple and have been for years, first with a 2015 BMW i3, and now with a 2020 Bolt Premier. Had some range issues in the winter in the i3, with it's max summer range at 70 miles and winter hitting 45 miles - the DFW area is large. Our Bolt more than takes care of that issue.

 

Motorweek TV gave the 500e a good report.

I drove more than 65 miles a day when I worked. Most of the basic ev cars couldn't make it in bad weather.

The Bolt is a great city car. I use it up to 300 mile trips but more than that I refuse to. Just too long of a drive.

There are a lot of good choices on market. Bolt is a bit older version of EV. Kinda basic. Only a few with limited super cruise.

Guess it may depend on your area for best prices. If they hate ev's there might get a better price.

 

Okay...followup. We took delivery of the 2022 Bolt EV today. Love it. Spent a couple hours sitting in the car familiarising myself with all the screens and buttons while the car charged from my Fiat Level 2 charger. Was disappointed the MyChevrolet App requires monthly subscription. Even more disappointing is that the battery at "fully charged" (steady green light) shows range estimate of 173 miles... way short of the 250 or so i was hoping for. Now I assume some of that may be due to driving style of the previous owner, but still it suggests to me there been more than normal degradation on the battery. The car has just 29,242 miles on it.

Anyone care to comment?

 

Even more disappointing is that the battery at "fully charged" (steady green light) shows range estimate of 173 miles... way short of the 250 or so i was hoping for. Now I assume some of that may be due to driving style of the previous owner, but still it suggests to me there been more than normal degradation on the battery. The car has just 29,242 miles on it.

Anyone care to comment?

"Fully charged" can be anywhere from 40% to 100% on later model Bolts. You can set the limit on the charge setting screen on the infotainment unit. How many green bars are showing on the left side of the DIC? 100% is 20 green bars.

As for the app, it never impressed me. Get an OBD II adapter and some apps to really know what is going on with your Bolt.

Chevrolet Bolt OBD2 PIDs

At long last, here is my work in progress! Please only share the link and not the values directly. I would like to make this a collaborative effort to discover and learn more about the car. I have included some basic recommendations and directions on how to get started for both Apple and...

www.chevybolt.org

Degradation of the replacement pack

How is your capacity? when I got the new pack installed (15-Jan-2022) my OLD read 57.2 kWh, while the NEW read 64.0. Now, after less than 10k miles I read 59.3 kWh. Only L2 charging at home. Some DC sessions at my local Chevy. Rarely reached 100% (maybe 10 times or less). Normally charged to...

www.chevybolt.org

 

I am basing my experiences of owning and driving a Fiat 500e rated by EPA at 84 miles. Usually 100% SOC can indicate upwards of 115-120 miles of range. Winter time closer of 90 miles. Of course, that's typically not what I'd actually get; all depends on where and how I drive the car: town vs highway, winter vs summer.

Interestingly, driving the Bolt home from the dealer, a distance of about 15 miles, the range "questimator" indicated 167 miles at the dealer and dropped to just 164 as I pulled in the driveway: a promising show.

Bottomline: I'll see how it does over next few weeks and I'll check that charge limiter mentioned above.

Understand, that while I have been "EVangelising" EVs for 25+ years and owned hybrids since 2000, the Fiat 500e is my first 100% EV experience and now the Bolt is my first "beyond the city" EV...so yeah, just a tad "anxious."

Be sure to follow us on EVWORLD.COM for news and views from the world of EVs: "The Future in Motion" since 1998.

 

I am basing my experiences of owning and driving a Fiat 500e rated by EPA at 84 miles. Usually 100% SOC can indicate upwards of 115-120 miles of range. Winter time closer of 90 miles. Of course, that's typically not what I'd actually get; all depends on where and how I drive the car: town vs highway, winter vs summer...

Here in SE Michigan, I have rarely seen the EPA rated 259 miles on the range display. It's usually less. In summer, it will get as high as ~240, and in winter, it can fall as low as ~160 when it's really cold.

It's all dependent on efficiency, as you know. The heating system can use a lot in winter (cabin heater up to 7 kW, battery heater another 2 kW), so short trips can result in worse efficiency / estimated range.

If you really want to measure battery degradation, you'll need a way to see the state of charge in 1% increments. Unfortunately, there is no built-in way to do this. You'll either need to use the MyChevrolet app with a subscription to see the Bolt's battery state of charge, or a bluetooth ODB2 reader with an app like Torque Pro (Android) or Engine Link or ODB Fusion (iOS). See allev.info/boltpids for instructions and the list of PIDs to import.

To measure battery capacity:
1. Charge to 100%.
2. Drive until the battery state of charge is very low, below ~15%.
3. Note the energy used in kWh on the Energy screen of the Bolt.
4. Divide the energy used by the difference in the state of charge, e.g. 52 kWh / (100% - 13%) = 59.8 kWh.

Note that you'll get different results depending on the weather / ambient temperature. Winter will show a lower capacity than summer, so the most "accurate" time would be summer. For example, my largest recent drive used 37.4 kWh going from 100% to 38.4%, which translates to roughly 60.7 kWh. The Bolt has a nominal 64 kWh capacity, but my first drive test after getting the replacement battery showed ~62.7 kWh (I received a replacement battery during the recall in December 2022).

By that measure, my battery degradation over the past 2 years is roughly 3%, which is pretty good. As always, YMMV.

 

Here's the Recurrent report on our 2022 Bolt EV 2LT(July '22 manufacture).
Not much miles though. We haven't gone as much road trips, as previous
years - I think we currently have under 15K miles. New York City area:

 

Heads up on the "One Car Couple" status. After my wife drove the Fiat 500e she found it "so cute and fun to drive" that she wants us to keep it...at least for now. Several other women at Earth Day also concurred. Give her freedom to roam when I am out with the Bolt.

 

and to you as well