As Packard states, hypermiling techniques that apply to ICE vehicles go out the window in an EV.
Further, many of the more "extreme" hypermiling techniques, the same ones that can annoy other drivers and lead to dangerous situations offer little to no benefit in an EV, particularly "pulse and glide".
I think it boils down to essentials:
1. Moderate speed. this is especially true in the Bolt which has rather poor aerodynamics. But don't drive significantly slower than the flow of traffic especially if you're on a single-lane road.
2. Avoid the brakes, not to say don't brake when needed (safety first) but the more you can avoid situations where you need to apply the brakes the better. This means anticipating changes in traffic as much as possible, leaving a very healthy distance between you and the car in front of you and using the Bolt's excellent regen as much as possible. Most of the time I drive my car I don't need to use the brakes at all.
On point 1 I want to be clear that IMO driving more than 10% below the natural flow of traffic (what speed most drivers drive at) is considerably more dangerous than tailgating because in these situations you are forcing many/most of the other drivers to pass with each pass presenting another opportunity for a collision. Not saying that I encourage tailgating but being a "road hog" is absolutely positively dangerous. Thankfully on most multi-lane roads in the U.S. the right lane is the domain of "slow moving vehicles", mostly semi trucks. Perfectly fine to drive 55 in the right lane with the rest of the slow pokes but if the lane next to the right lane is going 70-75 you'd better not drive slower than 70 in that lane even if the speed limit is 65.
I do try to moderate my acceleration and attempt to keep my power usage under 20kW but I'm not actually convinced this helps in any meaningful way.
Pure "coasting" will be at best no benefit to an EV (unlike an ICE vehicle), there is some debate whether D mode or L mode is more efficient (in most driving situations L mode will be more efficient for sure but there may be limited situations where D mode is marginally more efficient). Also worth noting that in almost any halfway modern (made in the last ~20 years) ICE vehicle you only benefit from coasting if you're in gear, in neutral you're wasting gas.
As for traffic jams, actually these are great from a pure efficiency perspective, they keep the speeds down and regen helps you recapture most of your deceleration energy. My car between 4.8-5.0kMi/Wh on surface streets with stop signs and predictable traffic lights, but if I'm on the freeway doing 60-70 on a steady state it's close to 3.7Mi/kWh or 4.0-4.2Mi/kWh in traffic ranging between 15 to 70.
Further, many of the more "extreme" hypermiling techniques, the same ones that can annoy other drivers and lead to dangerous situations offer little to no benefit in an EV, particularly "pulse and glide".
I think it boils down to essentials:
1. Moderate speed. this is especially true in the Bolt which has rather poor aerodynamics. But don't drive significantly slower than the flow of traffic especially if you're on a single-lane road.
2. Avoid the brakes, not to say don't brake when needed (safety first) but the more you can avoid situations where you need to apply the brakes the better. This means anticipating changes in traffic as much as possible, leaving a very healthy distance between you and the car in front of you and using the Bolt's excellent regen as much as possible. Most of the time I drive my car I don't need to use the brakes at all.
On point 1 I want to be clear that IMO driving more than 10% below the natural flow of traffic (what speed most drivers drive at) is considerably more dangerous than tailgating because in these situations you are forcing many/most of the other drivers to pass with each pass presenting another opportunity for a collision. Not saying that I encourage tailgating but being a "road hog" is absolutely positively dangerous. Thankfully on most multi-lane roads in the U.S. the right lane is the domain of "slow moving vehicles", mostly semi trucks. Perfectly fine to drive 55 in the right lane with the rest of the slow pokes but if the lane next to the right lane is going 70-75 you'd better not drive slower than 70 in that lane even if the speed limit is 65.
I do try to moderate my acceleration and attempt to keep my power usage under 20kW but I'm not actually convinced this helps in any meaningful way.
Pure "coasting" will be at best no benefit to an EV (unlike an ICE vehicle), there is some debate whether D mode or L mode is more efficient (in most driving situations L mode will be more efficient for sure but there may be limited situations where D mode is marginally more efficient). Also worth noting that in almost any halfway modern (made in the last ~20 years) ICE vehicle you only benefit from coasting if you're in gear, in neutral you're wasting gas.
As for traffic jams, actually these are great from a pure efficiency perspective, they keep the speeds down and regen helps you recapture most of your deceleration energy. My car between 4.8-5.0kMi/Wh on surface streets with stop signs and predictable traffic lights, but if I'm on the freeway doing 60-70 on a steady state it's close to 3.7Mi/kWh or 4.0-4.2Mi/kWh in traffic ranging between 15 to 70.
