[ToeKnife99]

Hello,

Interested in Bolt EV owners thoughts on the cruise control. Does it hold speeds nicely? How does it handle large hills, as the car only has one gear I would imagine that it does a nice job keeping the speed you set it to.

Your thoughts and experience?

Thanks
Mark

 

[Jim Fallston Md.]

Hello,

Interested in Bolt EV owners thoughts on the cruise control. Does it hold speeds nicely? How does it handle large hills, as the car only has one gear I would imagine that it does a nice job keeping the speed you set it to.

Your thoughts and experience?

Thanks
Mark

It keeps the speed within a mile or two if you stay in L otherwise it will add coasting taking you well above speed.

 

[max]

Holds speed great. Impressive to have regen while going downhill in cruise control...

Edit: I only drive in "L"

 

[ai4px]

Aggressively stays within 1mph even when going downhill when in L mode. No coasting for this car in L mode! Also, I use the regen paddle as a cancel button on the cruise.

 

[Tokodave]

Ditto. I'll also use the regen paddle to cancel cruise, and depending if I'm needing to slow down a bunch, might keep the regen paddle doing the braking.

 

[Packard V8]

The Bolt has one of the most accurate cruise controls you'll ever use.

The instant torque of the electric motor and one speed transmission means it just holds the set speed up hill and down. Much more relaxed than some 9-speed turbocharged ICEs which start up a steep hill, let the speed drag down too much, then downshift, rev up and try to struggle back up to speed.

With the Bolt, no noise, no drama; just quiet steady progress.

jack vines

 

[ToeKnife99]

The Bolt has one of the most accurate cruise controls you'll ever use.

The instant torque of the electric motor and one speed transmission means it just holds the set speed up hill and down. Much more relaxed than some 9-speed turbocharged ICEs which start up a steep hill, let the speed drag down too much, then downshift, rev up and try to struggle back up to speed.

With the Bolt, no noise, no drama; just quiet steady progress.

jack vines

That sounds fantastic! On the steering wheel controls, does it go up and down by 1 or 5 mph?

Thanks
Mark

 

[SGW]

As someone who drives exclusively in "L," I had to train myself not to turn off cruise by simply tapping on the brake as I do in our gas vehicle. Tapping on the brake pedal at high speed in "L" results in pretty hard deceleration if you're not already on the accelerator. The sensation is a little disturbing and could easily catch trailing vehicles off guard.

 

[psyflyjohn]

One mph...

 

[Sean Nelson]

One mph...

...and 1 km/h for those of us in metric countries - an even finer level of speed adjustment.

 

[GregBrew]

...and 1 km/h for those of us in metric countries - an even finer level of speed adjustment.

Showoff! (Coming from a US citizen who is a metric-phile.)

 

[quirkySquirt]

I don't know about everyone else using L mode, but in default D mode, even when going down a roughly 10 deg downgrade the cruise holds perfectly. When I cancel cruise I start gaining speed. Regen is doing a great job maintaining cruising speed down hill as I can see on my regen meter I'm gaining 7-10 kW in battery.

When I head down a 25 deg grade, the regen is unable to keep up and I think I've seen it go as high as 50 kW, though, I was more concerned with driving downhill. I set a 40mph cruise and was upto 50+ mph at the bottom of the hill. I have tried using the max regen paddle before and noticed no difference, so most likely was actually regen'ing the max of 70 kW but again, my eyes were focused in front of me while doing this rather dangerous experiment.

Going up this same 25 deg hill, cruise is aggressive and as I start climbing the bottom off the hill, I've seen my energy usage jump from 10 kW to as high as 70 kW. I'm setting cruise to 40 mph like before but as I go up, it drops to 39mph, climbs to 40mph as I stop changing pitch, as I start cresting the top of the hilll, the energy usage drops and my speed stays at 40mph.

This is all while in D mode.

 

[wesley]

...and 1 km/h for those of us in metric countries - an even finer level of speed adjustment.

Mine adjusts in 2km/h steps. Is there supposed to be some sort of a setting for this? Even the manual says it works in 1km/h increments, so I'm not sure why it's like this on my Bolt EV.

As for the cruising speed consistency, I've observed a maximum of 1km/h overspeed occasionally, and that's about it. Very accurate.

 

[Sean Nelson]

Mine adjusts in 2km/h steps. Is there supposed to be some sort of a setting for this?

Not that I'm aware of. What model year is your Bolt? Mine is 2017. It's possible that there's a model year difference or that the software for the Korean model is different somehow.

 

[Dimitrij]

I don't know about everyone else using L mode, but in default D mode, even when going down a roughly 10 deg downgrade the cruise holds perfectly. When I cancel cruise I start gaining speed. Regen is doing a great job maintaining cruising speed down hill as I can see on my regen meter I'm gaining 7-10 kW in battery.

When I head down a 25 deg grade, the regen is unable to keep up and I think I've seen it go as high as 50 kW, though, I was more concerned with driving downhill. I set a 40mph cruise and was upto 50+ mph at the bottom of the hill. I have tried using the max regen paddle before and noticed no difference, so most likely was actually regen'ing the max of 70 kW but again, my eyes were focused in front of me while doing this rather dangerous experiment.

Going up this same 25 deg hill, cruise is aggressive and as I start climbing the bottom off the hill, I've seen my energy usage jump from 10 kW to as high as 70 kW. I'm setting cruise to 40 mph like before but as I go up, it drops to 39mph, climbs to 40mph as I stop changing pitch, as I start cresting the top of the hilll, the energy usage drops and my speed stays at 40mph.

This is all while in D mode.

I am almost sure the cruise control works in the same way in both L and D. I am not certain, though, what would the cruise control do when the car is going downhill with a very full battery (in which case for example the one-pedal driving doesn't work in the usual way) - does it have the capability to engage the friction brakes if need be?

 

[wesley]

Mine adjusts in 2km/h steps. Is there supposed to be some sort of a setting for this?

Not that I'm aware of. What model year is your Bolt? Mine is 2017. It's possible that there's a model year difference or that the software for the Korean model is different somehow.

Mine is 2018.

 

[Edchris]

That sounds fantastic! On the steering wheel controls, does it go up and down by 1 or 5 mph?
Thanks
Mark

It moves in increments of 1. In the USA, it will be 1mph, In Canada, 1 kilometer/hr. If you glance at the DIC, as you click the Cruise control up or down, you will see a message, "Cruise Control Set to XX mph,(kph).
It's pretty good going up hills, you will just see the Power Meter go up. unlike an ICE, you have full torque all the time, so there is no "lugging" of the engine.
I have found, even in D, you need a fairly steep grade, & a decently long one before the speed creeps up. D will give you appx 16Kw of Regen.

 

[GregBrew]

I am almost sure the cruise control works in the same way in both L and D. I am not certain, though, what would the cruise control do when the car is going downhill with a very full battery (in which case for example the one-pedal driving doesn't work in the usual way) - does it have the capability to engage the friction brakes if need be?

That's an interesting scenario! It's *supposed* to be able to panic stop itself, but that's not something I'm willing to test. This would seem to indicate access to the hydraulic brake system. But whether GM would be willing to (by design) risk burning up the brakes on a long decline is another question.


Since I do The Grapevine a couple times a year, I'd be interested to know, too.


Edit to add: ...and there's talk of putting a couple DCFC up at the Summit, too.

 

[thursda]

Cruise control all day!

I find myself using cruise control all the time, as the Bolt can hold it so well, even at relatively low speeds. The only concern is the weak ICE cars that cannot maintain their speed going up hills that get in the way!

 

[Bob Armstrong]

better than any car I've ever had.