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Reading percentage charge

2000 Views 38 Replies 16 Participants Last post by MichBolt, 2 mo ago

gregew

Discussion Starter · 2 mo ago

We just got our 2023 Bolt EUV and with all this discussion about the best range of % charge to stay within for best battery health, maybe we’re missing it, but where in its display does it show % charge? I see something called Battery Conditioning, which I suspect might be related, but that’s not even defined in the owners manual.

It seems like GM is a bit slow on giving owners the best tools to understand charging. I’m actually getting a bit tired of having to go to YouTube videos, 3rd party websites and forums to piece it all together. EV owners fully able to learn and understand (as evidenced by these intelligent forum discussions), so why not, GM, put out a nice ”Everything You Wanted to Know About Your Bolt Power Charging System” chapter or stand alone booklet?

21 - 39 of 39 Posts

PhilipD

· #21 · 2 mo ago

gregew said:
missed the point of my question.

I did for sure. And I still don't know exactly what you are seeking. I'm pretty good at answering questions such as, "What should the tire pressure be set at?", or, "What is the top speed of the Bolt?"

GJETSON

· #22 · 2 mo ago

gregew said:
knowing how to maximise the life of my lithium-ion battery is strong enough that I’m willing to go the extra yards to learn how to do that. My frustration is with the lack of information directly provided by GM to its new EV owners to help them do that.

Check out the Subaru Solterra manual. It has over 50 pages about charging! Anybody who gets through that minefield of cautions, and scary warnings, and still wants an EV, is a real environmentalist.

Loading…

cdn.subarunet.com

ARCowboy

· #23 · 2 mo ago

gregew said:
We just got our 2023 Bolt EUV and with all this discussion about the best range of % charge to stay within for best battery health, maybe we’re missing it, but where in its display does it show % charge? I see something called Battery Conditioning, which I suspect might be related, but that’s not even defined in the owners manual.

It seems like GM is a bit slow on giving owners the best tools to understand charging. I’m actually getting a bit tired of having to go to YouTube videos, 3rd party websites and forums to piece it all together. EV owners fully able to learn and understand (as evidenced by these intelligent forum discussions), so why not, GM, put out a nice ”Everything You Wanted to Know About Your Bolt Power Charging System” chapter or stand alone booklet?

Food for thought, my ICE vehicles never gave me a % of fuel remaining. Why do you want that granularity with an EV ?

I personally like the amount of information the Bolt gives me. Seems like a really good intro EV.

GJETSON

· #24 · 2 mo ago

ARCowboy said:
Food for thought, my ICE vehicles never gave me a % of fuel remaining. Why do you want that granularity with an EV ?

Simple. We live in the middle of nowhere. There are two gas station within 2 miles of our home. There are six, just 8 miles down the road to the west, and two, 6 miles down the road to the east, and two just 8 miles to the north, and....you get the idea.

Voldar

· #25 · 2 mo ago

GJETSON said:
Simple. We live in the middle of nowhere. There are two gas station within 2 miles of our home. There are six, just 8 miles down the road to the west, and two, 6 miles down the road to the east, and two just 8 miles to the north, and....you get the idea.

You are lucky. Others live in the middle of nowhere for real, the gas station is 50 miles from their house.

GJETSON

· #26 · 2 mo ago

Voldar said:
You are lucky. Others live in the middle of nowhere for real, the gas station is 50 miles from their house.

The vast empty plains, in the middle of North America, are made for trains, and small planes. I remember, as a kid, on one of our annual family car camping trips, in our Rambler station wagons, going to a grocery store miles from anything. No phones out there. The local rangers would call in their orders on their radios, and drive the 10 miles out the trail from their house to the road, and then another 30 miles to the store, to pick up their order.

Then I watch our neighbor in her big SUV make the 16 mile round trip to the store, the second time today, to pick up that can of tomato sauce that she found the coupon for.

MichBolt

· #27 · 2 mo ago (Edited)

gregew said:
...knowing how to maximise the life of my lithium-ion battery is strong enough that I’m willing to go the extra yards to learn how to do that. My frustration is with the lack of information directly provided by GM to its new EV owners to help them do that...

So I hate to be the one to give you this bad news, but there's a good probability that nothing you do will have a noticeable impact on your battery's longevity. I use the word "noticeable" rather than "measurable" - because the issue is actually variability among batteries.

You could have Andrew who faithfully keeps the state of charge within 40-60%, never uses DCFC, keeps it in a temperature controlled-garage when parked, and drives so cautiously that power consumption and regeneration never exceed 40 kW. You could also have Betty who always uses DCFC and charges to 100%, waits until the instrument cluster turns orange (15%) before recharging, keeps it parked out in the blazing sun, and drives like she stole it with massive swings in power consumption and regeneration.

They could end up with the same battery degradation, or Andrew could end up with even more battery degradation than Betty. The reasons have to do with natural variation in battery cell balance when these packs are manufactured, and the fact that one of the most significant factors in battery degradation is simply calendar age.

I wouldnt mind having to go to a GM website page where comprehensive Bolt-specific information, both technical and lay-person directed, that go beyond what’s in the Owners Manual, were provided so as to help its customers learn as much about the care of their batteries as they do about checking fluids and the air pressure in their tires.

You mean a website that provides information about driving and living with an EV, along with opportunities to video chat with a live EV specialist to answer questions? Something like:

evlive.gm.com

GM EV Live | Virtual Showroom

Learn more about all things EV by join our 1:1 EV Live sessions with a specialist or navigate yourself through our helpful EV information.

evlive.gm.com

Edit:
That's not to say we should never do things to take care of our battery. However, those things will probably fall in the "it can't hurt" category, rather than the "it will definitely help" category.

Edit 2:
And I would also encourage all new members to read their welcome message, which points to the stickied thread in the New Member section that talks about range, efficiency, and in particular, the state of charge display on the instrument cluster.

www.chevybolt.org

New Owner PSA — The Range Display and Your Bolt's...

If you've just become a new owner, congratulations! There are some questions (and misconceptions) that seem to come up over and over. In general, before asking about something, it doesn't hurt to search the forum (or check out the other Bolt FAQs that exist, such as this one on reddit.) One...

www.chevybolt.org

www.chevybolt.org

Edit 3:
Dang, you can tell I'm a grouchy old geezer with my use of "Andrew" and "Betty" as example names. 🤣

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Reactions: 3

PhilipD

· #28 · 2 mo ago

MichBolt said:
Dang, you can tell I'm a grouchy old geezer with my use of "Andrew" and "Betty" as example names.

I'm surprised you didn't use Dick and Jane. Don't forget Spot.

Reactions: 2

ARCowboy

· #29 · 2 mo ago

GJETSON said:
Simple. We live in the middle of nowhere. There are two gas station within 2 miles of our home. There are six, just 8 miles down the road to the west, and two, 6 miles down the road to the east, and two just 8 miles to the north, and....you get the idea.

I get the idea, but I don't run my truck down to the last 1/2 gallon because gas stations are plentiful.

I also don't run my EV down to the last 10%, even on multi DCFC trips. Knowing the exact percentage wouldn't change anything for me, the little tick bars are more than sufficient for me.

Reactions: 1

jefro

· #30 · 2 mo ago

What does app say?

MichBolt

· #31 · 2 mo ago

jefro said:
What does app say?

That's a good point. Chevy has delegated some information / functions to the MyChevrolet app, which can be accessed on the infotainment screen via Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. That includes the exact state of charge in 1% increments.

Bolticus

· #32 · 2 mo ago

Not to bump an old thread (I just saw it...) but I hate that there isn't more granularity on the display for how much charge you have. It is just silly. GM could have done it but chose not to. Yes, you can get it from their slow app (if you have a current subscription) or from OBDII but why not put it on the display somewhere. I believe Tesla does this. I certainly want that feature.

Indeed, on a gas car it is hard to measure exactly how much is in there with it sloshing around, but this is a case of GM having the info and choosing to not display it. My take.

jreddington

· #33 · 2 mo ago

Bolticus said:
Not to bump an old thread (I just saw it...) but I hate that there isn't more granularity on the display for how much charge you have. It is just silly. GM could have done it but chose not to. Yes, you can get it from their slow app (if you have a current subscription) or from OBDII but why not put it on the display somewhere. I believe Tesla does this. I certainly want that feature.

Indeed, on a gas car it is hard to measure exactly how much is in there with it sloshing around, but this is a case of GM having the info and choosing to not display it. My take.

You mean the electrons don’t slosh around?

Bolticus

· #34 · 2 mo ago

jreddington said:
You mean the electrons don’t slosh around?

Well I have noticed that my SOC can sometimes rise a tiny bit after being parked a bit so I suppose the electrons can settle after sloshing

I want SOC percentage with a decimal place!

Reactions: 1

MichBolt

· #35 · 2 mo ago

Bolticus said:
Not to bump an old thread (I just saw it...) but I hate that there isn't more granularity on the display for how much charge you have. It is just silly. GM could have done it but chose not to. Yes, you can get it from their slow app (if you have a current subscription) or from OBDII but why not put it on the display somewhere...

You can see your state of charge in 1% increments on the infotainment display, and you can also create a route that will show any needed charging stops based on your current state of charge on the infotainment display. For better or worse, GM has delegated those functions to the MyChevrolet app, which is accessible on the infotainment display via Android Auto / Apple CarPlay.

Reactions: 1

Bolticus

· #36 · 2 mo ago

MichBolt said:
You can see your state of charge in 1% increments on the infotainment display, and you can also create a route that will show any needed charging stops based on your current state of charge on the infotainment display. For better or worse, GM has delegated those functions to the MyChevrolet app, which is accessible on the infotainment display via Android Auto / Apple CarPlay.

So if you plug your phone into the Bolt over the USB port, start up MyChevy App, Ill be able to see charge in 1% increments? Do I need a current connection plan or does the data go over USB? If the data isn't going over USB, wouldn't the updates be slow?

I take it you have to run Android Auto and then start the MyChevy App within Android Auto to see this? I have never tried this.

MichBolt

· #37 · 2 mo ago

Bolticus said:
So if you plug your phone into the Bolt over the USB port, start up MyChevy App, Ill be able to see charge in 1% increments?

Yes

Do I need a current connection plan or does the data go over USB?

I don't pay for any OnStar services and it works for me. However, I'm still under the free 5 years of "Connected Access" that came with the Bolt.

If the data isn't going over USB, wouldn't the updates be slow?

I don't know if the app communicates directly to the car, or via the OnStar infrastructure. Either way, it should update in a few seconds. 1% SOC is about 0.6 kWh, so you'd need to be using 216 kW for 10 seconds to use up 1% SOC (Bolt's motor can only put out 160 kW).

I take it you have to run Android Auto and then start the MyChevy App within Android Auto to see this?

Yes

Reactions: 1

Booboo

· #38 · 2 mo ago

Wanted to see %'s and other stuff just for fun, got an OBD2 and Torque Pro app for about $15 total.
Yay, a new confusing toy for my confusing toy.

MichBolt

· #39 · 2 mo ago

Booboo said:
Wanted to see %'s and other stuff just for fun, got an OBD2 and Torque Pro app for about $15 total.
Yay, a new confusing toy for my confusing toy.

Hopefully, you've already seen this website that gives pretty good directions:

Chevy Bolt OBD2 PIDs – All EV Info

allev.info

And the ODB reader can be set up with an app like ABRP, too:

www.iternio.com

FAQ | Iternio

Frequently asked questions. Why can I not plan a route / does my plan fail? How can I link my vehicle for live data? How can I report a bug? I am missing a vehicle, how can I request it be added?

www.iternio.com

www.iternio.com

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