[chemeguy]

Hey!

Just got a Bolt here about a month ago in the Salt Lake city area. LT with CCS, Comfort and Convenience, and driver confidence. I also opted to get the all season mats throughout after the costco auto coupon.

Anyway, I already have 5000 miles on it by traveling 180 miles round trip daily for work. Wondering if there are others doing that amount of mileage and what speed and mi/kw they are getting?

 

[wonderbolt]

Wow! You do drive that car! Welcome to the forum and congratulations on joining the rapidly growing "Bolt owners club".
I have had mine 6 months and just have 5,200 miles on it now. Love the car and enjoy driving it , just don't have the opportunity to drive near as much as you do. How do you like it so far? what have you learned about it in your first 5K?

 

[chemeguy]

Love it so far! Certainly zippier than my wife's leaf. And certainly more inexpensive/safe/convenient to run than the old Subaru outback that it replaced (300k miles on that car). It's also sooo much better in stop and go traffic in 'L' mode than even the Leaf in its 'B' mode. I couldn't be happier about the car, but of course i have some nits such as the seats and stereo that loves to turn itself on.

 

[prunieprune]

Congrats! I've had mine since the beginning of the year and I have over 16,000 miles. While I don't drive every day, I do have a commute of 160 miles round trip. So far it has held up well. When I'm driving, I generally get about 4 mi/kw (try not to drive above 70 too much, limit use of heater). Do you charge at work? With your commute I'd have a bit more range anxiety....

 

[just frank]

We just crossed 1000 miles after 17 days. We picked it up at the dealer and took a 220 mile round trip a hour later (for Thanksgiving).

I think we hit 4.0 mi/kWh when it was warm (which is thrill after the 3.7 max figure for the smaller LEAF).

 

[chemeguy]

Thanks! Yea, right now i'm going 70 to 75 mph the entire commute (all highway miles, with only two yield signs all the way). Heater on as its 15-25F outside and getting around 2.8-3.2 mi/kw daily. Not great. When it was warm i was getting 3.5-3.8 mi/kw which is more what I had hoped for. Didn't realize that the bolt didn't have a heat pump like the leaf.

My work does have level 2 (sorta, 15 Amps..) charging which makes range anxiety a non-issue which is really great. I usually pull about 25 KW at work throughout the day which basically replaces the energy that I use to get there. I also have access to CCS chargers on the last leg getting home if there is a problem.

At 16,000 miles have you had any maintenance problems or warranty claims? My biggest concern at this point is that im going to go past their rather lowly 36k mile warranty in the first 9 months of ownership.

 

[wonderbolt]

My biggest concern at this point is that im going to go past their rather lowly 36k mile warranty in the first 9 months of ownership.

Remember 3/36 is bumper to bumper
5/60 is powertrain, 8/100 for the Battery

 

[jostafew]

I've got over 20,000km (12,000mi) on mine since March. My range has been on par with what others are seeing. Summer months with minimal HVAC and mixed driving I'm doing better than EPA rating, in the winter that's knocked way back.

 

[chemeguy]

Remember 3/36 is bumper to bumper
5/60 is powertrain, 8/100 for the Battery

Fair point. I guess I'm just nervous because its a first year car and i'll be outside of warranty rather quickly at least on the bumper to bumper.

 

[wonderbolt]

Fair point. I guess I'm just nervous because its a first year car and i'll be outside of warranty rather quickly at least on the bumper to bumper.

I hear you, It's OK to be nervous, just not to worry unnecessarily ;-)

 

[discodanman45]

I will be over 20,000 miles this week, bought the car in late March. I commute 130 miles a day during the week. I average 4.0 miles per kWh and I drive 80% of my mileage over 65 mph. The car says I average 47 mph, but I have no idea how they do this calculation... I guess it is from traffic slowdowns and driving 30 mph in the city. I wouldn't worry to much about the warranty. The 60 kWh battery is warrantied for 100,000 miles, which will bring me to year 4.

 

[gaulfinger]

Voltstats.net has a Bolt EV page that shows several drivers already in the 40,000 range!

https://www.voltstats.net/BoltEV

 

[rgmichel]

Bolt EV is likely to be reliable

Fair point. I guess I'm just nervous because its a first year car and i'll be outside of warranty rather quickly at least on the bumper to bumper.

You can take comfort in the fact that the Bolt EV is likely to be pretty reliable.

 

[rawb]

I'm in a similar situation. Just picked up a Bolt a week ago, only 1000 miles so far. I usually drive 35,000 - 45,000 miles a year, around 150 miles a day.

Over night charging at home is super simple with a Juicebox 40 charger. Less hassle and less smell and less wasted time than dealing with gas stations.

Temperatures here have been -5 to 20 deg. F the past week. Surprising to see how this affects range and economy. Despite driving carefully and not-too-fast, I see max range around 160 miles (150 miles with hilltop reserve charging), and 2.5 mi/Kw-Hr or so average. Ouch! Very much looking forward to summer and over 200 mile range.

Still, I'm happy with the purchase and I plan on racking up many miles quickly. I only have to adjust my winter daily schedule to include an hour at one of several available, close, and free level 2 charging stations. That seems a fair trade-off for driving 150 miles a day in the winter.

 

[hatchy]

180 a day.. dang. How much is your electric fuel cost versus the monthly gas cost on your old car?

 

[surgeonFWW]

The average ICE vehicle gets 24 mpg. Although they vary widely by location and time, gas prices can be "figured" at $2.40 per gallon. This is 10 cents/mile and you can slide up or down if your mpg is < or > 24. Electricity prices vary also by location and time of day (IF your location supports ToD pricing). If electricity costs 10 cents per kWh, or $6 (10 x 60) to "fill the tank" which moves you 240 miles, you are spending 2.5 cents/mile. This is 1/4 the cost of gasoline which is a commonly seen multiplier (or divisor). This is how the Bolt gets labeled as achieving a 120 mpge (miles per gallon equivalent).

180 miles per day should cost you in the range of $4.50/day for electricity, but this is still far less than $18/day for gasoline.

 

[chemeguy]

SurgeonFWW has it nearly on. My old car was usually around 22 MPG and required 88+ octane which brought the gasoline to $2.55 typical in my area. So at my daily minimum of 180 miles per day, i was spending $21.00 A day on gas. I Typically did that 250 days a year, which brought my yearly consumption at about $5,250 on gas alone.

Right now, i am usually consume about 30 KW a day at my home at $.12 a KW/hr on average (although i have net metering and that whole setup which complicates things further, but i digress) and get the other 30 KW at work for a flat rate of 15$ a month. So total electricity price assuming i use 60 KW a day comes to $1,080 on electricity costs.

What this does not include was the 40$ a month ($480, yearly) that i spent on oil changes alone, in addition to other ICE maintenance costs. Though, those savings are partially offset by more expensive tires and what I expect to be a higher rate of wear on those tires with this car.

 

[discodanman45]

SurgeonFWW has it nearly on. My old car was usually around 22 MPG and required 88+ octane which brought the gasoline to $2.55 typical in my area. So at my daily minimum of 180 miles per day, i was spending $21.00 A day on gas. I Typically did that 250 days a year, which brought my yearly consumption at about $5,250 on gas alone.

Right now, i am usually consume about 30 KW a day at my home at $.12 a KW/hr on average (although i have net metering and that whole setup which complicates things further, but i digress) and get the other 30 KW at work for a flat rate of 15$ a month. So total electricity price assuming i use 60 KW a day comes to $1,080 on electricity costs.

What this does not include was the 40$ a month ($480, yearly) that i spent on oil changes alone, in addition to other ICE maintenance costs. Though, those savings are partially offset by more expensive tires and what I expect to be a higher rate of wear on those tires with this car.

The $1080 might be a tad high, once summer comes along your efficiency will go way up. The net metering will definitely bring down your cost. With costs of electricity, make sure to multiply by 1.1. There is 10% loss with charging, so to add 60 kWh to your battery, it would take close to 66 kWh in electricity.

High commuters will save a lot of money with the Bolt. Lets say after all the subsidies the Bolt cost you $30,000. After 7 years of driving the Bolt will be essentially free compared to your old car. That is if the battery can hold up for 300,000 miles, which having charging at work and home that should be no problem. I calculated that if my Bolt lasts 10 years, it would have a 10 year cost of ownership of about $40,000. This is including the subsidies I received back, level 2 charger installation, maintenance, electricity cost, taxes I paid, interest on my loan, registration fees in the future, etc... Compare that to an ICE car and a $25,000 car would have at least a $60,000 10 year cost of ownership.

 

[stanwagon]

That is the first I have seen of that 10% loss figure. Of course, we will still call it 4 mi / kwH, since that is important for understanding 240-mile range. But this is clearly important for the cost analysis.

 

[prunieprune]

After 16,000 miles we've had no issues or fixes needed. It's been great. Really sad I have to take the ICE minivan on a road trip tomorrow, but with 3 kids and a ton of stuff not sure I want to deal with the more cramped space and current charging infrastructure.