[Mac Culver]

My car is usually charged where I sleep with a L2 EVSE. I have taken several 500+ mile trips and have used many EVGo 50 kW stations in route because I have the $500 promotional credit. The advantage? These slower DC fast chargers are usually empty - I am usually the only car charging.

On a trip from Florida to Virginia the EA Walmart stations were usually mobbed with a waiting line. Vexingly there were many BEVs charging to 100% by locals because they have unlimited free charging.

Here I am In Cary, NC on a beautiful fall day all by my lonesome as usual. Maybe having a lower maximum charge rate isn't that bad for those of use who do it infrequently.

 

[VoltoBolt]

Back in 2017 when the Bolt EV was the first non-Tesla to have a capacity of greater than 200 miles per full charge, and most other EVs topped out at 80-100 miles:

We were the “bad guys” hogging the DCFCs for so long compared to the others!

 

[The Other Tom]

The advantage? These slower DC fast chargers are usually empty - I am usually the only car charging.

Good observation. I never thought of it that way.

 

[wesley]

Back in 2017 when the Bolt EV was the first non-Tesla to have a capacity of greater than 200 miles per full charge, and most other EVs topped out at 80-100 miles:

We were the “bad guys” hogging the DCFCs for so long compared to the others!

It was not just the first non-Tesla to do that, but doing so under the $40,000 sticker price. I would consider Bolt to be the first EV to crack open the long-range affordability nut, broadly speaking.

Still, it now feels like Bolt EV/EUV is becoming the Nissan Leaf of our times. Innovative for the time of its introduction, sold well, but ultimately getting long in the tooth and overstaying its welcome with no timely next-level successor. Hopefully the last point would be addressed by GM this year.

 

[Bretsuaz]

I always look for the slower DCFC chargers first. Most others pass them by. I think they are usually more reliable.

I wish they would stop putting the chargers in prime areas with prime parking spots which encourages people that have no need to charge to plug in just to get a good parking spot. And stop giving free charging with new vehicles.

 

[kendallg]

These slower DC fast chargers are usually empty - I am usually the only car charging.

I suspect geography has something to do with that. Empty DCFC are a thing of the past in CA in my experience (aside from the isolated Walmart parking lot Electrify America type station). Can't count the number of times we drove up to a station when we had our Bolt and had to wait, or move on, because they were in use. Enjoy that ease of access while you can!

 

[Sean Nelson]

These slower DC fast chargers are usually empty - I am usually the only car charging.

To be fair, a fast-charging car can find a free slow charger to use just as easily as you can. But a slow-charging car can't get the benefit of a fast charger when you really want it.

 

[Voldar]

… But a slow-charging car can't get the benefit of a fast charger when you really want it.

Sure, after 20 minutes or more of waiting for another fast charging car to finish charging. So, in a nutshell, you wait and charge in the same amount of time you would charge on a 50 kW output DCFC.

 

[Sean Nelson]

Sure, after 20 minutes or more of waiting for another fast charging car to finish charging. So, in a nutshell, you wait and charge in the same amount of time you would charge on a 50 kW output DCFC.

Ah, but at an idle charger you know you can start charging immediately. The time for a busy charger to become free is (usually) not known. Certainty has a worth of its own.

 

[VoltoBolt]

It was not just the first non-Tesla to do that, but doing so under the $40,000 sticker price. I would consider Bolt to be the first EV to crack open the long-range affordability nut, broadly speaking.

Still, it now feels like Bolt EV/EUV is becoming the Nissan Leaf of our times. Innovative for the time of its introduction, sold well, but ultimately getting long in the tooth and overstaying its welcome with no timely next-level successor. Hopefully the last point would be addressed by GM this year.

Actually the base sticker price in December 2016 was $37,495 so that they could market it as "under $30,000" with the $7,500 federal tax credit.

That led to their horrible decision to make the DCFC port "optional" to keep that price point, but everyone had to add that option for about $750 as I recall; except for a few suckers who did not know better and got one without DCFC jammed down their throat by dealers forced to take their allotment.

I leased on 1/3/2017 figuring that 3 years from then I would want a "newer, better" EV; but in 2019 that was still the Bolt EV and I purchased one. Now my daughter is shopping for EV and she will enjoy the newest technology, but at a price.

It's not overstaying, it is still the best "economy EV" available.

As for as "ultimately" it is the new GM Ultimum EV releases coming soon!

 

[VoltoBolt]

To be fair, a fast-charging can find a free slow charger to use just as easily as you can. But a slow-charging car can't get the benefit of a fast charger when you really want it.

To be fair: a fast-charging car will never save me the money that my 2019 cost me; $36,500 out the door, fully equipped and 67,000 miles later still going fine!

I'll let my daughter get a faster charging EV but she can afford to pay the premium; doing the commuting each and every day! I'm on a fixed income now.

 

[TheSorceress]

These slower DC fast chargers are usually empty - I am usually the only car charging.

I can definitely relate. Oftentimes when planning routes, I opt for areas that have a few slow DCFC in close proximity to each other. The Chargepoint 62.5kW DC fast chargers are my favorite because the Bolt can make full use of its 53kW charge rate, they have great reliability (around me at least), they usually come in pairs, and they are usually unoccupied.

EA is always hogged by ID4s and Mach Es charging to 100%...

 

[ProfessorBolta]

It was not just the first non-Tesla to do that, but doing so under the $40,000 sticker price. I would consider Bolt to be the first EV to crack open the long-range affordability nut, broadly speaking.

Yes, that’s exactly why I bought one of the first off the line, it had the price and the range.

Still, it now feels like Bolt EV/EUV is becoming the Nissan Leaf of our times. Innovative for the time of its introduction, sold well, but ultimately getting long in the tooth and overstaying its welcome with no timely next-level successor. Hopefully the last point would be addressed by GM this year.

Oh I don’t think so, as a GM guy said “not everyone wants a bigger car”. There’s a place for a small hatch.

But I think now GM is doing it again with the Silverado, it’ll be the first real towing EV IMHO so I have a reservation.

 

[wesley]

Oh I don’t think so, as a GM guy said “not everyone wants a bigger car”. There’s a place for a small hatch.

To clarify “timely” and “successor” part, I was thinking of an Ultium-based model that has similar dimensions as the current Bolt EV. Ultium anything has been pretty slow to roll out so far.

 

[Dimitrij]

The Benefit Of Owning A Slow(er) Charging BEV

There are more benefits than one that I can think of (using the Bolt as an example):

1. The Bolt is not going to get much more obsolete than it is now even in the next 5 years
2. Your friends, co-workers, and neighbors aren't going to gossip behind your back that you have way too much dough lying around
3. No-one would ever think that you bought your Bolt to impress your romantic interest
4. If it breaks down and turns out to be expensive to repair, you'll get a great excuse to buy something else.

 

[FlashBoltEUV]

On a Christmas Eve trip, I had to wait to charge at the only DC fast charger on my route, because a VW ID.4 decided to use a 62.5 kW charger to charge to full. It really depends on the quality of EV infrastructure in your state if faster charging vehicles don't use the slower chargers. EV infrastructure is very poor in New Jersey due to (who else) former Gov. Chris Christie who didn't believe in making investments in anything that would improve the state. It's been years now and we're still trying to catch up to neighboring states while we have a large number of EVs on the road.

 

[Lancho]

The Benefit Of Owning A Slow(er) Charging BEV

There are more benefits than one that I can think of (using the Bolt as an example):

1. The Bolt is not going to get much more obsolete than it is now even in the next 5 years
2. Your friends, co-workers, and neighbors aren't going to envy you, or think that you have way too much dough lying around
3. No-one would ever think that you bought your Bolt to impress your romantic interest
4. If it breaks down and turns out to be expensive to repair, you'll get a great excuse to buy something else.

You are absolutely right!
I will add to that list that you can do almost everything with the Bolt Ev.
We got the 2023 Bolt EV LT1 and is a pleasure to drive, we’re a family of 4 and we go on a couple long trips per year (600 miles round trip) and it’s not a problem to stop a couple times in a L2 charge point or a one time at a 50kw “fast charging”. Life is good.
I bought the bolt for my wife. I drive a 2013 Nissan leaf to commute between schools as a teacher and we are happy.

 

[jefro]

Locally EvGo's original stations are almost all broken. The next gen are under tarps still.

The EA 350kW new units let the fast charging cars zip in and out while I wait. And wait.

 

[SpicyBolt]

The EA 350kW new units let the fast charging cars zip in and out while I wait. And wait.

There's your benefit. You get to check out more EVs as they come and go.

 

[C W]

People that charge to 100% at DC chargers are MADDENING! !!! AARRRRGGGG