I bought my 2019 Bolt a couple weeks ago, in Dec 2019. A week later I installed the DrawTite hitch. Yesterday (24 Dec), it was 70 degrees here in Alabama, so I hitched up my small boat and pulled it around for an hour or so to see how manageable it will be. I was happy with the result. The big unknown for the data I show below is the weight of my boat & trailer. I apologize that I don't know it, but will try to get it weighed soon. The boat hull weighs about 250 lbs and the outboard motor weighs about 250 lbs. I don't know the weight of the (steel) trailer. I attach a photo of the car with boat, so you can judge the trailer load compared with whatever you may have.
Until now, I've been pulling my boat with a 6-cylinder Mercury Milan sedan (basically a Ford Fusion). The main difference I found pulling it with the Bolt is that the trailer was much louder within the Bolt cabin than in the Milan. I.e. I could hear every creak & squeak of the trailer and the ball/socket as I drove around in the Bolt. The hitch is bolted directly to the rear frame of the Bolt. But I felt the Bolt had plenty of power to pull my trailer, and I was very comfortable with the handling, and felt that I would be confident pulling the boat to our cabin about 85 interstate miles from home, at 65 MPH on the interstate and local highways. As I was accelerating up the ramp to the interstate, the Bolt showed 50 kW power consumption. Climbing a fairly steep hill on a highway not on my "test route", I saw max 75 kW consumption.
For the sake of science/sharing, I've established a "test route" from my home to the local airport about 14 miles away. The route is basically 4-5 stop & go city blocks to an interstate entrance, then onto the Interstate where I set the cruise control to 65 MPH and drive 13 miles to the airport. I loop through the airport departure lane and return home on the interstate at 65 MPH, then exit and do the 4-5 blocks back home. The route is mostly level, with light undulations on the interstate. I used the level on my iPhone to watch the road grade, varying with about +/- 3-4 degrees on the route.
I've done the trip 4 times under different conditions (night/day, clear/raining). Each time, I set my trip odometer to 0 when leaving my driveway. When I return, the odometer shows miles driven (28.1) and average miles/kWh - which I assume is averaged over the duration of my trip. I've tried to conduct each drive under similar car conditions, though I'm not sure if there might be some automatic climate control settings that change between trips. I've turned off the climate control and turned on the heated steering wheel for each trip. Here are my results:
22 Dec, 6 PM (dark outside = headlights on), raining, 52 deg F ambient temp. No trailer.
28.2 miles, 2.8 mi/kWh => 168 miles expected range
23 Dec, 8:30 PM (dark outside = headlights on), dry roads, 57 deg F ambient. No trailer.
28.1 miles, 3.6 mi/kWh => 216 miles expected range
24 Dec, 9:30 AM (sunny, no headlights), dry roads, 55 deg F ambient. Boat in tow.
28.1 miles, 2.4 mi/kWh => 144 miles expected range
24 Dec, 10:30 AM (sunny, no headlights), dry roads, 61 deg F ambient. No trailer.
28.1 miles, 4.0 mi/kWh => 240 miles expected range.
The main lesson I've learned thus far is that pulling my boat is going to reduce my range by about 40% - which in my situation is very manageable. The surprise is the reduction from driving in rainy conditions. The good news is that I usually don't pull my boat in the rain!
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