[Boltsport]

I just bought a new Bolt a month ago, and the dealer never mentioned the need to "condition" the battery.
I discovered "conditioning" in the Bolt manual--which apparently should be done if the temperature goes above 90 F or drops below freezing.
We've had a few 90+ days here in SE PA so far this summer. Out of the sun in my garage, the dash readings were in the 80s. I didn't do any conditioning, and have not noticed anything abnormal. I don't drive much, and generally top off the battery for a few hours with level 1 charging.

I am, however, concerned about the winter, when the temperature at night can drop into the teens--certainly below freezing in my unheated garage.
Should I plug in the level 1 charger all night--every night--when the temperature is below freezing?

Tonite, temperature around 65 F, I plugged in the charger, and after 6 hours, the miles went from 221 to 244. Still charging at 4 green dots.

My energy readout before I started charging said "conditioning 0%". What does that mean?

It's about 11 pm now, and I'm going to keep the charger plugged in until the morning. I've read here it will turn off automatically after a full charge.
But what about conditioning? Can the battery be conditioned at 65 F? How do you know if the battery is conditioned? How frequently do you you have to condition?

 

[XJ12]

I parked my car at the golf course today when it was 104F. On the way home the car went up to 3% battery conditioning. It does it on its own. Nothing you can do but plug it in and the car takes care of the rest. Like the manual says, plug it in if over 90F or below 32F if you can. Like me, can't plug it in while I'm at the golf course so it just conditions when it is started.

 

[Vertiformed]

Should I plug in the level 1 charger all night--every night

If it's convenient, why not. A common routine for many people is to get home at night and plug the car in and then unplug it when you drive it the next day. It's similar to what you probably do with your cellphone.

But what about conditioning? Can the battery be conditioned at 65 F? How do you know if the battery is conditioned? How frequently do you you have to condition?

Don't worry about it. The car will do it all automatically.

The basic rules the car follows are these:

1. If the car is plugged in, keep it in a “ready to drive” state. That means keeping the battery in a good temperature range for normal operation (i.e., driving).
2. If the car is not plugged in, keep the car “safe”. That means keeping the battery at a temperature where no harm will come to it, but it may need to be warmed or cooled to ideal operating temperature if you get in and drive.

The car can only do No. 2 above if the battery has a decent amount of charge left (above 30% I think). At low state of charge (a) it doesn't want to spend the limited energy remaining on conditioning, and (b) the battery is in a pretty safe state anyway.

 

[Sean Nelson]

...I'm going to keep the charger plugged in until the morning. I've read here it will turn off automatically after a full charge.
But what about conditioning? Can the battery be conditioned at 65 F? How do you know if the battery is conditioned? How frequently do you you have to condition?

Just plug the car in every night and unplug it in the morning. It'll take care of itself.

 

[sparks]

I would never rely on my dealer for anything concerning an EV. They are GM blessed too.
My faithful vehicle, POWERED by ODIN, has n e v e r battery conditioned according to the TV screen. And it is the smartest appliance that serves me. So it doesn't bother me and vice versa

 

[neutrondrip]

As others have said, just keep it plugged in and let the car do what it wants to. On really cold nights I've heard the heating loop running to keep the battery warm, but only when plugged in using the OEM EVSE.

 

[Boltsport]

Thanks to all. I have a clearer picture now. The dealer sales guy never talked about any of this. I haven't driven much the past month--maybe a couple hundred miles, and so it didn't matter. But it might this winter.

It's still plugged in this morning. After 16 hours or so, it's reading 290 miles and about 95% of full battery on the green indicator. I haven't checked conditioning. It was at 0%. I guess 0% is good? That means it hasn't needed any conditioning?

Why 290 miles? Does that indicated my driving is very efficient--getting more miles out of a kwhr than average?
I'm driving strictly in the L mode.

 

[RichCapeCod]

...Why 290 miles? Does that indicated my driving is very efficient--getting more miles out of a kwhr than average?...

When fully charged I've seen over 300 miles on the GOM (Guess-O-Meter). At 75%, it's around 215 miles. What you'll see on the GOM will depend on a bunch of variables; how fast you drive, the ambient temperature, even if its raining or not.

Just from the bit of information you've supplied, it would appear you're not a "lead foot." Hence, you'll get somewhat better range in your Bolt. Some guys like to "drive it like they stole it," thus show less range available.

With moderate driving habits I believe you'll be pleased with the actual ranges you see available with your Bolt.

Rich

Here's my Bolt's GOM reading at 75%.

 

[XJ12]

It's still plugged in this morning. After 16 hours or so, it's reading 290 miles and about 95% of full battery on the green indicator. I haven't checked conditioning. It was at 0%. I guess 0% is good? That means it hasn't needed any conditioning?

Why 290 miles? Does that indicated my driving is very efficient--getting more miles out of a kwhr than average?
I'm driving strictly in the L mode.

If you plug it in, it won't show the battery conditioning on the energy usage screen. That happens only if it's on battery power. And only shows up if it's above 1% of energy used. My 3% yesterday has already dropped to 2% today, and might not even show up by the time I charge in a couple days.

Yes, your 290 miles at 95% state of charge (SOC) is an indication that you're getting good efficiency. This happens especially if you stay off the highway. I find all the back roads to take just for this reason.

 

[PhilBo]

A YouTube Tesla owner advises using the ABC rule; Always Be Charging.

 

[ZoomZoom]

Why 290 miles?

The guess o meter is just simply taking an educated guess at your range based on a few factors. Just drive the car, enjoy it, and with a little time you will develop your own instincts and intuition on what your range is really going to be.

 

[Boltsport]

When fully charged I've seen over 300 miles on the GOM (Guess-O-Meter). At 75%, it's around 215 miles. What you'll see on the GOM will depend on a bunch of variables; how fast you drive, the ambient temperature, even if its raining or not.

Just from the bit of information you've supplied, it would appear you're not a "lead foot." Hence, you'll get somewhat better range in your Bolt. Some guys like to "drive it like they stole it," thus show less range available.

With moderate driving habits I believe you'll be pleased with the actual ranges you see available with your Bolt.

Rich

Here's my Bolt's GOM reading at 75%.

I finally quit charging at 22 hours. The reading was 308 miles! Fully charged at 100%. Are those actually usable miles?
I've read one shouldn't charge to 100%, as it affects battery life. ? How do you set the battery charge limit?
I didn't see that on the "energy" menu. Is 80% OK?

 

[GJETSON]

I finally quit charging at 22 hours. The reading was 308 miles! Fully charged at 100%. Are those actually usable miles?
I've read one shouldn't charge to 100%, as it affects battery life. ? How do you set the battery charge limit?
I didn't see that on the "energy" menu. Is 80% OK?

Saying you shouldn't charge to 100% is like saying you shouldn't eat cheese burgers. Why would you eat them for every meal? But now and then will not be statistically significant.

Yes 80% would be great for the battery, if it gives you the range you need on a daily basis. As to where to find it, check page 125 in your manual. Mine's a 2017, but looking at the 2019 manual, it might be under charging mode options on the Charge mode status screen?

Yes, If you continue to drive as you have, those are real miles.

 

[Vertiformed]

I finally quit charging at 22 hours. The reading was 308 miles! Fully charged at 100%. Are those actually usable miles?
I've read one shouldn't charge to 100%, as it affects battery life. ? How do you set the battery charge limit?
I didn't see that on the "energy" menu. Is 80% OK?

Here's the menu showing the “Target Charge Level” setting:

When you got your your Bolt, it came with a small booklet (PDF) covering Bolt basics; this picture was on page 10.

Given that you've spend many thousands of dollars buying your Bolt, it might be sensible spending a little time getting to know it by at least reading through the small 16-page intro booklet and perhaps reading the actual owner's manual would be good too.

 

[wesley]

I finally quit charging at 22 hours. The reading was 308 miles! Fully charged at 100%. Are those actually usable miles?

If your driving pattern and conditions are kept more or less the same throughout your next 300 miles, then it would be actual usable miles.

I have posted 528km (328 miles) on the GOM at full charge in another thread:

Best/Worst GOM readings.

So does anyone find the information useful that pops up on the guess o meter? So far, it's been somewhat accurate, although I've never tried to actually see how far my Bolt can go on a single charge. My best readings so far, in almost a year of driving, have been Max, 375, Current, 321 and...

www.chevybolt.org

I was able to drive for more than 500km before needing to charge.

 

[Boltsport]

If your driving pattern and conditions are kept more or less the same throughout your next 300 miles, then it would be actual usable miles.

I have posted 528km (328 miles) on the GOM at full charge in another thread:

Best/Worst GOM readings.

So does anyone find the information useful that pops up on the guess o meter? So far, it's been somewhat accurate, although I've never tried to actually see how far my Bolt can go on a single charge. My best readings so far, in almost a year of driving, have been Max, 375, Current, 321 and...

www.chevybolt.org

I was able to drive for more than 500km before needing to charge.

The Bolt rested for 24 hrs. Mileage dropped to 306 from 308. Drove again this morning, and immediately noticed regen in L mode working normally. Mileage increased after going down hill, etc. After 15-20 mile trip (two stops), mileage had dropped to 297.
So why did regen keep working at 308 miles? I think because the battery was not 100% charged! The green charging lights when I stopped charging were blinking four times--not the solid light when charging is competed.
It was reading 100% charged on the green bar indicator on the dash, but I suspect there was still a bit more to go. That means my full charge miles were greater than 308.

 

[wesley]

The Bolt rested for 24 hrs. Mileage dropped to 306 from 308. Drove again this morning, and immediately noticed regen in L mode working normally. Mileage increased after going down hill, etc. After 15-20 mile trip (two stops), mileage had dropped to 297.
So why did regen keep working at 308 miles? I think because the battery was not 100% charged! The green charging lights when I stopped charging were blinking four times--not the solid light when charging is competed.
It was reading 100% charged on the green bar indicator on the dash, but I suspect there was still a bit more to go. That means my full charge miles were greater than 308.

If the green bars were full, that means the "displayed" battery charge is somewhere between 95% and 100%. Even at 100% displayed charge, the actual state of charge (SoC) is at around 95% to 96%. This headroom gives you a limited, but not full, regen capability in most cases.

 

[cwerdna]

Based upon https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/battery-conditioning.33279/#post-512173 and some of my observations (I posted one of them at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=564799#p564799), if the battery ends up above 80 F (sorry, don't have Torque to monitor battery temps), plugging it in even to L1 can cause the battery thermal management to trigger.

I've had it happen numerous times such as at the above incident and when I DC FCed a bunch away about 10 miles from home then returned home and plugged.

Since I have a '19, I can set my charge limiter to a lower level than what I have in the battery, unless I'm below 40% SoC. If I'm below 40%, I either need to leave the car unplugged or plug in and waste energy at home charging + cooling. (By waste, I mean that I have free L2 charging at work and a free DC FC near work I can sometimes use (if not in use). And, it doesn't even take me 10% of my battery to make it to work.)

 

[GetOffYourGas]

Saying you shouldn't charge to 100% is like saying you shouldn't eat cheese burgers. Why would you eat them for every meal? But now and then will not be statistically significant.

This is a great analogy for a question that comes up frequently among EV drivers. I hope you don't mind if I start using it...

 

[GetOffYourGas]

To the OP:
I live in Syracuse NY, where it stays below freezing for several months at a time. I don't really do anything special, and I have had my Bolt through two upstate NY winters. I actually don't often plug in overnight when it is coldest. My wife's EV gets the one plug we have (one-car garage), and I charge mostly at work. While I don't have TorquePro to give you numbers, it doesn't seem like the battery cools off incredibly quickly. It has a lot of thermal mass. Between driving and charging during the day, it has built up enough heat to be fine overnight. Maybe the nightly 2-3" of snow is helping to insulate the car all the more

The only "issue" I have had is reduced range on a cold battery. I hear that if the battery gets REALLY cold, you cannot drive until it warms up. But that only happens in climates like MN - places where you need a block heater for your ICE to run.