[Balloondoggle]

OEM, original equipment 12V batteries are 2-4 year propositions in practically any car. At 5 years, you're living on the edge

Here's an invalid data point for you: my 1995 Geo Tracker went 11 years on the OEM battery. Of course, the power demands on such a basic vehicle were minimal - I bought it new without so much as a radio and there were no electric gizmos. The battery was genuinely only asked to start the engine and run the lights. I really miss that car....

 

[Cehjun]

Have you left your Bolt plugged in when not in use, or just when charging?

I prefer plugged in when not in use where safe to do so. My Bolt is not used regularly.

According to this post when the vehicle is plugged in, "Battery Maintenance Mode" provides
-more frequent checking (every 6 hours) of the 12V battery as opposed to 4 days if vehicle is left unplugged
-longer 2-3 hour period of maintenance charge as opposed to 45-90 minutes unplugged
-less restrictive threshold of 12V resting voltage for maintenance charge to kick in

 

[jefro]

If my 12V goes I'll probably buy a LiFePo4 replacement. In theory it could last longer.

I've never had much luck with the OEM batteries I've owned on new cars and trucks.

 

[SpaDogs]

I prefer plugged in when not in use where safe to do so. My Bolt is not used regularly.

According to this post when the vehicle is plugged in, "Battery Maintenance Mode" provides
-more frequent checking (every 6 hours) of the 12V battery as opposed to 4 days if vehicle is left unplugged
-longer 2-3 hour period of maintenance charge as opposed to 45-90 minutes unplugged
-less restrictive threshold of 12V resting voltage for maintenance charge to kick in

Thanks. Wonder if this has been updated for the 2022.

 

[Kbecker]

I bought a LiFePO battery for one of my motorcycles in 2011. I never put it on a tender, and as my health declined I rarely rode that bike. Sitting is usually deadly for AGM batteries, but the LiFePO didn’t lose charge while parked so that is less of an issue. It was still going strong when I sold the bike in 2019. They really are great, but weird. In cold weather they need load to warm them up before they give full voltage. Would this cause havoc in the Bolt? I don’t know.

 

[jefro]

Maybe, I have read about cold weather charging for things like heavy use deep cycle camper/rv use.
The Bolt has such minimal current load I doubt it can get that depleted but the LiFePo4 can be used down to a much lower voltage. Some sites claim 2 to 4 times the use over lead acid. Like a 50ah is 100ah lead.
BMW has been installing them in some of their models so I'd think we'd have heard something.

 

[NortonCommando]

If my 12V goes I'll probably buy a LiFePo4 replacement....

Only the APM that provides the 12V bus when the car is powered up has a de-sulfation cycle where small AC bursts go to just the 12V battery to improve its life.
This AC may play hill with the 12V LiPo's built in BMS. And what about really cold temps some of us have?
How are factory cars dealing with really cold weather with a LiPo?

 

[mattbatt]

Mine was made in Germany... GM shipped a lead brick from Germany for these cars.

 

[ProfessorBolta]

Been talking to the dealer - stock is out everywhere, all suppliers GM and off brand don't have it. And in the meantime, he said another Bolt came in this morning with the same problem. He's doing some research to see if a different battery will work, maybe a slightly bigger one. Don't know what people are going to do, we have a second ICE car until we can replace it with a suitable BEV, but it's been a problem with the Bolt down. Really been missing that little zip mobile.

EDIT: Lucky us, he found what he thinks is the last off brand battery on the West Coast. Car will be ready today.

This has been so odd, we're used to the Bolt just working. Not having to worry about gassing it up (we've been hitting the pump with the ICE van!), brakes, oil or the inevitable take it in and find something leaking ...

 

[lexcyn]

I had mine replaced for free under the previous software "fix" - one of the conditions was if the 12v was not to their spec, they would replace it before doing the software update. My dealer did it reverse and updated the software then gave me the replacement 12v, but I should be good for another few years at least. Maybe then we'll get a good quality lithium model.

 

[GJETSON]

I had mine replaced for free under the previous software "fix" - one of the conditions was if the 12v was not to their spec, they would replace it before doing the software update. My dealer did it reverse and updated the software then gave me the replacement 12v, but I should be good for another few years at least. Maybe then we'll get a good quality lithium model.

How about a rebuilt battery? I would go with this in a heartbeat, if ours went bad. The Bolt is our only car.

ACDelco® LN1AGM - Professional™ AGM BCI Group LN1 Battery

Professional™ AGM BCI Group LN1 Battery - Part Number LN1AGM by ACDelco. Amp Hour Capacity: 50. Cold Cranking Amperage: 560. Reserve Capacity: 80. Terminal Location: Top Post.

www.carid.com

 

[Smallblock]

Here's an invalid data point for you: my 1995 Geo Tracker went 11 years on the OEM battery. Of course, the power demands on such a basic vehicle were minimal - I bought it new without so much as a radio and there were no electric gizmos. The battery was genuinely only asked to start the engine and run the lights. I really miss that car....

I miss my Tracker too. But I think my left leg is still bigger than my right from pushing in that VERY stiff clutch pedal!

 

[lexcyn]

How about a rebuilt battery? I would go with this in a heartbeat, if ours went bad. The Bolt is our only car.

ACDelco® LN1AGM - Professional™ AGM BCI Group LN1 Battery

Professional™ AGM BCI Group LN1 Battery - Part Number LN1AGM by ACDelco. Amp Hour Capacity: 50. Cold Cranking Amperage: 560. Reserve Capacity: 80. Terminal Location: Top Post.

www.carid.com

That's the model they gave me when they replaced mine.

 

[NY-Rob]

Have never understood why the OEM's don't just draw literally a few amps from the huge traction batteries through a stepdown circuit to provide 14.6v DC to the car? What is the down side?

 

[ProfessorBolta]

Have never understood why the OEM's don't just draw literally a few amps from the huge traction batteries through a stepdown circuit to provide 14.6v DC to the car? What is the down side?

You have to boot the electronics first before that. Kind of like needing a BIOS to boot the main computer, it's a - literally called - bootstrapping problem. Electrically there's other issues too, best way to think of it probably is the 12V is a buffer.

 

[NY-Rob]

^ A simple tap off four of the traction batt cells will give you the 12-14v needed to boot the system and activate the electronic buck converter for the main 12V power.

 

[GregBrew]

Have never understood why the OEM's don't just draw literally a few amps from the huge traction batteries through a stepdown circuit to provide 14.6v DC to the car? What is the down side?

Interestingly, the 1997-1999 GM EV-1 all had a button under the passenger side of the dash that would provide some "jump juice" to the 12V aux battery from the traction pack, for just these circumstances.

GM not doing the same on the Bolt was clearly an economic decision as opposed to a technology decision. Same thing with the on-demand pedestrian alert warble (via the brights) on both the EV-1 and Volt. I miss that feature, too.

Don't get me started on the deletion of the door handle buttons on the rear doors of the '21 Bolts, as well.

 

[ga2500ev]

Have never understood why the OEM's don't just draw literally a few amps from the huge traction batteries through a stepdown circuit to provide 14.6v DC to the car? What is the down side?

That's exactly what EVs do. I think the question you are asking is why isn't that the only circuit to provide 12V power? The primary reason is safety. The contactors in the main traction battery isolates the high voltage battery from the rest of the vehicle. Having that DC-DC circuit connected 24/7 exposes the high voltage battery to the outside world at all times. So the 12V battery functions as the power system when the HVB is offline. The 12V is then recharged by the DC-DC powered by the HVB. It's the reason that when the 12V dies, the EV is inoperable.

ga2500ev

 

[jefro]

The OEMs are online at everywhere I looked.

The Bolt and no car that I've ever heard of has high frequency charging.

 

[ProfessorBolta]

Got it back with a Napa Autoparts Bolt battery. Can't tell you how nice it is to have her back and with confidence these odd startup problems are (I hope) finally solved. Didn't realize how much I've come to depend on the EV just always working, like any other electrical appliance. I laugh at how apparently traumatic this has been, remembering to the bad old days and the constant problems with our ICE cars (oil, brakes, leaks, head gaskets, starter motors, BATTERIES, plugs, and so on).

But the settings reset, and of course the mechanic didn't think to turn the hill top reserve back on The front office guy we worked with - who was really good, did say they're ready for working on the recalled traction batteries.