[Coulomb]

Thinking of trading in my gasser for a Bolt.

I can park in my garage at home and can put in Level 2 there. I have a commute that is 38 miles each way, mostly freeway. At work I park outside in an unprotected lot. There is no EV charging reasonably available at my workplace (just at nearby hotels not within walking distance). I sometimes stop on the way home for a couple of hours somewhere (churches/schools/groceries), again no EV charging reasonably available.

This is in Minnesota where we have a -20 F morning most years and can pretty much count on at least a week or two of mornings in the low teens.

Is a Bolt going to get me home or should I just go buy an Impala or something?

 

[Meatchicken]

You shouldn't have any problem, ASSuming you can plug in at home at least every few days or so in that winter weather .... I doubt you would have a problem even going a couple of weeks without charge, provided you have a decent % charge in the car ... People have posted in the past about leaving the bolt in an airport parking lot for a couple weeks in freezing weather without problems ....

 

[PhilBo]

I get 150 miles per 100% charge when temps are in the single digits. If you have 240V level 2 charging you will be fine.

 

[Coulomb]

I can park inside at home and can put in Level 2 (240v, 32a)

The problem is outside at work - 38 miles each way - with no place to plug in

 

[PhilBo]

No problem with level 2 charging at home. You will gain 25 miles per hour. Even with only 4 hours charging you will gain 100 miles per night and if you charged to 100% every night you would be starting every morning with ~150 miles of range.

 

[Packard V8]

I park outside in an unprotected lot.

While the above is not definitively clear, is it workday parking you're referring and that you can charge at home overnight? If so, based upon my experience, you could make two round trips on a full charge.

However, plug it in at home every night and precondition the cabin and batteries for twenty minutes in the morning, you'll have a toasty ride in and never any worries.

jack vines

 

[Coulomb]

While the above is not definitively clear, is it workday parking you're referring and that you can charge at home overnight? If so, based upon my experience, you could make two round trips on a full charge.

However, plug it in at home every night and precondition the cabin and batteries for twenty minutes in the morning, you'll have a toasty ride in and never any worries.

jack vines

Thanks, I updated the opening post after realizing that I wasn't making any sense.

Anyway, yes, outside at work, charge at home overnight. Do you believe two round trips would indeed be feasible at that temperature -- 38 miles each way so 76 miles for each round trip? Other threads indicate about a 50% capacity loss at -10 F plus some losses for preconditioning.

 

[Eriamjh1138]

You’ll Be fine. The Bolt will be fine. At the end of a cold day, you’ll have some limited power and regen due to cold, but that’s fine.

 

[Coulomb]

I did get a Bolt and have been driving it to work in the cold. I believe the coldest day I drove it was about -15 F.

I find that in these conditions I have an effective useful range of a little over 100 miles if any stops are made e.g. stopping for supper somewhere or running an errand. When the car sits long enough that the cabin cools off it takes a good deal of energy to heat it back up. This with a freeway commute at usually 70 mph.

The GOM tends to overestimate remaining miles in this weather, by about 10%.