[boba]

Our second car is an 8 year old ice car ( Suzuki Grand Vitara). It has 34,000 miles on it and now travels about 1000 miles a year. Two warning lights come on more and more often as time goes on. My car guy says that rust on the brakes is the culprit and that the car should be driven more. The Bolt is much more fun so that is not an option.

Solution? Trade the Suzuki in on a second hand Leaf and use it for the 1000 miles per year. Why wouldn't there be the same rust problem with the Leaf? Experience says there would not be. I had a Leaf for 3 years and almost never used the brakes. No known rust problem. The bolt is using even less of the brakes.

What is the situation with the Leaf, Bolt and probably all ev's that does not allow the rusting of the brakes?

 

[quirkySquirt]

I forget the exact term, but the brakes on the Bolt and Gen 2 Volt were specially designed to not rust (or at least resist it). I wouldn't worry. If you look up posts by Gen 1 owners in the gm-volt.com forums, you'll find their brakes were pretty much new and barely worn.

I think most hybrid vehicles with regen braking have this too. I thought Prius owners enjoyed longer life brakes because of this.