[devbolt]

I'm from the Bay Area of California. I currently own a 2012 Plug-in Prius and hope to have a Bolt by early next year to replace the PiP. The PiP will be given to my wife who will use it to replace the Mini Countryman gasser that she currently drives. At that point, we will be driving nothing but EVs or (P)HEVs (we also have a 2016 Highlander Hybrid).

The Bolt is going to be used primarily for commuting for me, which is currently a 100 or so mile roundtrip. We do have workplace charging, but I prefer to not have to rely on charging at work. Also, I have solar on my roof, which makes my electricity costs to charge almost zero, and work charges $1 an hour. The 200+ mile range will easily allow me to get to/from work without having to charge, plus have plenty of range for running errands, etc.

If I start the day with a full charge, I should be able to go anywhere in the larger Bay Area and get home on a single charge.

 

[Oldguy71]

Welcome

Welcome to the forum. I've been here a few months and learned an aweful lot.

Sounds like your already way up on the learning curve with your prior experience.

Everybody here is friendly and helpful, so ask or answer as you see fit.

 

[Bazinga]

Welcome to the forum! The Bolt should have more than enough juice to get you to and from work. Maybe even exceed your expectations if you use regenerative braking a lot in city driving.

What charger do you use at home?

 

[Electro]

Welcome to the forums and glad to see your close to being a full out electrified family !

The bolt should definitely have the range for you though, I'm sure you'll be fine given what we know so far. Still waiting for some real world testing to get a better feel though

 

[leocal11]

i'm from the Bay Area also. looks like i'll see you on the road.

 

[devbolt]

Welcome to the forum! The Bolt should have more than enough juice to get you to and from work. Maybe even exceed your expectations if you use regenerative braking a lot in city driving.

What charger do you use at home?

I have a Nissan branded AeroVironment Level 2 30A unit. A friend had won it from a contest, didn't need it and sold it to me for cheap. Been using it for over 4 years with no problems. Overkill for the PiP, but I was tired of hauling the portable cord-set in/out of the car and plugging into the garage everyday. Didn't hurt to future proof the house because I knew I'd eventually be getting a pure EV.

 

[Bazinga]

Haven't come across it yet and saw that it's a 240 volt EVSE, so the Bolt will be fully charged in your garage in around 9.5 hours. Think that's fast enough for you?

 

[leocal11]

@devbolt
and everyone else. i ordered my Bolt today in the Bay Area.
i put down $1000 to place an order and will receive first pick when the dealer orders their allocation.
some things to note:
•final pricing not yet in the system, but they can place 'hold' orders.
•from this dealers' experience with timelines and delivery, he does not expect Chevy to meet the '2016' delivery date for consumers. maybe customers closer to the plant. but QA, travel time to CA, and the holiday factory shutdown he thinks will have an effect.

•its best to know what you want and have all the details in your head. even though the guy i was dealing was pretty fair and straight forward (i had already made conversation and a working relationship with him since April), he still tried to, or said a few things, that were car dealer speak i guess they can't help themselves or are trying to see if you do not know what your talking about:
•first option he presented was the DC fast charging
•wanted me to consider a charger from Chevy, said to make sure it was a new one at home, cause otherwise the charging time would be 2 days! (i laughed inside my head at that one)
i just relayed the info directly from Chevy about charging times, and heard nothing else from him.

Anyways, the whole process was pretty painless. If anyone wants more details, let me know and I’ll try to answer along.

 

[devbolt]

Haven't come across it yet and saw that it's a 240 volt EVSE, so the Bolt will be fully charged in your garage in around 9.5 hours. Think that's fast enough for you?

It's a standard 240V 30A EVSE unit delivering up to 7.2 kW.

9.5 hours should be fine, especially since I probably will charge every night, and my roundtrip daily commute is only a hundred miles or so, which means only about 4 or 5 hours to charge.

 

[devbolt]

What Bay Area dealer did you order from? Any wiggle room on price? I'm pretty sure I know exactly what I want, but it would be nice to know what the various option packages will cost for the two trim levels. No matter what I get, it must be in Kinetic Blue Metallic. I'm leaning towards the Premier with both option packages, and DC fast charging.

 

[leocal11]

Broadway

 

[devbolt]

Broadway or Boardwalk (in Redwood City)? I can't find a Broadway Chevrolet anywhere in the Bay Area.

I also can't reply to your PM because I don't have enough posts. :-(

I plan to get heated seats because even though it doesn't get all that cold all that often here, there's been times where I've gone out to my car at 6am after a really cold night, and really appreciated/needed them. Besides, the wife won't let me get a car without them.

I'm hoping that the Bolt allows the ability to pre-condition the cabin while plugged in. If it doesn't, then heated seats become even more important because any energy used to heat the cabin is energy that can't be used to propel the car. Cabin heating in an ICE vehicle is a byproduct of running the car normally. It's using waste heat that would otherwise be, well, wasted.

 

[DucRider]

What Bay Area dealer did you order from? Any wiggle room on price? I'm pretty sure I know exactly what I want, but it would be nice to know what the various option packages will cost for the two trim levels. No matter what I get, it must be in Kinetic Blue Metallic. I'm leaning towards the Premier with both option packages, and DC fast charging.

My guess (since option pricing has not been released):
Premier MSRP $40,905
Destination $875
DCFC $750
Infotainment Package $600 est
Driver Confidence II Package $495 est
Paint upgrade $395 est

Total Sticker Price: $43,930
Plus Tax, License, registration, etc.

 

[leocal11]

Apologies devbolt. i meant Boardwalk in Redwood City.

As for my message to you, here is some of what i wrote:

I placed my order at that specific dealer because the person i dealt with was the most responsive salesperson since i started sending emails to various dealers in the Bay Area way back in April/May. Name is Tim Boone, he is the Volt( and believe it or not, the Corvette) specialist there.

I ordered Kinetic Blue also, but will go for the LT, and most likely with none of the packages. I just don't see why i would need heated front and rear seats in California, and I don't care for leather. So i'm guessing that heated option would be most effective in the leather interior.
I'm a bit sad, cause i wanted the Surround View, but can't justify it.

Maybe some of you here can sway me.

 

[LightningBolt]

Well, the Premier trim does come with rear parking assist and traffic alert along with the surround vision. But, if you really don't need those features and you've already ordered a LT, then I don't see the need to change.

 

[DucRider]

Apologies devbolt. i meant Boardwalk in Redwood City.

As for my message to you, here is some of what i wrote:

I placed my order at that specific dealer because the person i dealt with was the most responsive salesperson since i started sending emails to various dealers in the Bay Area way back in April/May. Name is Tim Boone, he is the Volt( and believe it or not, the Corvette) specialist there.

I ordered Kinetic Blue also, but will go for the LT, and most likely with none of the packages. I just don't see why i would need heated front and rear seats in California, and I don't care for leather. So i'm guessing that heated option would be most effective in the leather interior.
I'm a bit sad, cause i wanted the Surround View, but can't justify it.

Maybe some of you here can sway me.

Kind of in the same boat in justifying the Premier.
I will, however, want the heated front seats and steering wheel (Comfort & Convenience). Probably $450.
Also will consider the Driver Confidence I if it comes in at $495
Paint Add (likely another Kinetic Blue taker) will likely be $395
And I will not own/lease another EV without Fast Charge. $750

My LT configuration will likely come in at ~$39,585

A Premier with paint add and DCFC would come in at $42,925, so ~$3,300 for Leather, Rear Camera Mirror, Surround Vision. Most of the other Premier add-ons (not added to the LT with Driver Confidence I & Comfort and Convenience) are nice, but not something I value enough to pay extra for. Ambient Lighting Piping on the instrument panel comes to mind.

“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” Heated seats work just fine with cloth . If you ever use any heat at all in your ICE, it's probably worth the ~$450 for the heated seats and steering wheel - both for efficiency and comfort.

 

[devbolt]

A price difference of only $3300 between the Premier and the LT is an easy decision. It's less than 10% more to get all the bells & whistles available. The extra features, to me, are worth it to get.

I just wish dynamic range cruise control was available. We have that on our Highlander Hybrid, and had it on our Sienna, and it was really nice to have. I had the option to get it on my Plug-in Prius, but the price difference between the Base and Advanced model was $8K (25% more), so I opted to pass on the Advanced model. Couldn't justify the cost.

I'm definitely going to opt for DC Fast charge, even though I probably won't ever use it. Might as well cover all my bases.

 

[devbolt]

I'll call Boardwalk and see what they can do to "order" me the car I want.

 

[leocal11]

I'll call Boardwalk and see what they can do to "order" me the car I want.

Mention me Leo, i get free floor mats....totally kidding!!! :laugh:

 

[DucRider]

A price difference of only $3300 between the Premier and the LT is an easy decision. It's less than 10% more to get all the bells & whistles available. The extra features, to me, are worth it to get.

That price does not add the Infotainment & Driver Confidence II, likely another ~$1K or so