I bought a 2017 Bolt yesterday. It seems to be in great condition with a little over 40,000 miles on the odometer, and it’s a huge upgrade over the Volt I was driving before.
My one concern is that when I picked up the car at the dealership, it appeared to be charged to 80+ percent, but the range indicator (guess-o-meter) estimated I had only 135 miles of range. That would imply a total range of under 170 miles.
I figured the most likely explanation is that the car was sitting at the dealership, where they were using a lot of energy for the air conditioner without driving it, which lowered the predicted range. But I want to make sure I didn’t get a lemon. I have 5 days or 250 miles to return the car, no questions asked. (At this point, I have 4 days, 190 miles left.) What can I do within that time/distance to test the range?
Here’s a little more info. I tested out the fast charging at an EVgo charger last night. The charger said the battery went from 61% to 86% in 32 minutes, with 14.8 kWh delivered. That implies a 100% charge would be just under 60 kWh, which would be normal, right? Can I trust those numbers?
The car’s efficiency history says I’ve been getting a little under 4 mi/kWh for the past 50 miles. (Those were all miles I drove, mostly on freeways around 70 mph with the a/c on.) The display also says the car has gone 69.5 miles in 21.5 kWh since the last full charge, which is only 3.2 mi/kWh. That includes the time it spent at the dealership, which I think supports my theory that the dealer ran the A/C a bunch without driving it.
Currently, the gauge says I have about 80% charge left, and it estimates I have 139 miles. My current plan is to drive 100 miles on freeways without charging and see how much charge I have left. I’ve heard the gold standard is to charge the car up to 100% and drive it to nothing, but if I do that I would exceed my warranty miles.
I understand the range estimator can be inaccurate, which is why people call it a guess-o-meter. But is it normal for the guess-o-meter to get this low, or does that suggest something is wrong?
Thanks for your help and for reading a long post, and I apologize if this kind of question gets asked all the time.
My one concern is that when I picked up the car at the dealership, it appeared to be charged to 80+ percent, but the range indicator (guess-o-meter) estimated I had only 135 miles of range. That would imply a total range of under 170 miles.
I figured the most likely explanation is that the car was sitting at the dealership, where they were using a lot of energy for the air conditioner without driving it, which lowered the predicted range. But I want to make sure I didn’t get a lemon. I have 5 days or 250 miles to return the car, no questions asked. (At this point, I have 4 days, 190 miles left.) What can I do within that time/distance to test the range?
Here’s a little more info. I tested out the fast charging at an EVgo charger last night. The charger said the battery went from 61% to 86% in 32 minutes, with 14.8 kWh delivered. That implies a 100% charge would be just under 60 kWh, which would be normal, right? Can I trust those numbers?
The car’s efficiency history says I’ve been getting a little under 4 mi/kWh for the past 50 miles. (Those were all miles I drove, mostly on freeways around 70 mph with the a/c on.) The display also says the car has gone 69.5 miles in 21.5 kWh since the last full charge, which is only 3.2 mi/kWh. That includes the time it spent at the dealership, which I think supports my theory that the dealer ran the A/C a bunch without driving it.
Currently, the gauge says I have about 80% charge left, and it estimates I have 139 miles. My current plan is to drive 100 miles on freeways without charging and see how much charge I have left. I’ve heard the gold standard is to charge the car up to 100% and drive it to nothing, but if I do that I would exceed my warranty miles.
I understand the range estimator can be inaccurate, which is why people call it a guess-o-meter. But is it normal for the guess-o-meter to get this low, or does that suggest something is wrong?
Thanks for your help and for reading a long post, and I apologize if this kind of question gets asked all the time.
