Things I've bought for my new Bolt

MichBolt said:

What else should a new owner of a Bolt get?

• 240V 14-50 outlet in the garage ($600 with 30% IRS tax rebate)
• Juicebox 40 EVSE ($600 from Costco with $500 rebate from electric utility)
• NEMA 10-30P to 14-50R adapter (EVSE Adapters)
• NiteHowl LED pet necklace to use as a charging port light ($10)
• Car cup holder phone mount ......... Etc.

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I love your list (though more robust than mine needs to be) and the question.

I would add "Two cans of fix-a-flat."
Yes, the tires are supposed to be self sealing... But you might still need some additional air pressure even if the built in sealer works.
Similarly...A small portable 12volt compressor/tire inflator.
such as 12V Tire Inflator and Repair System .
A tire repair kit of the plug type such as
https://www.autozone.com/tire-repair-and-tire-wheel/tire-plugger-kit .

Alex

shrox said:

An inverter, you can run things in your house if you lose power.

Amazon.com

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Hmmm.🤔

Looks like that inverter would be connected directly to the 12 V battery. And that’s a pretty wimpy battery. It’s not clear whether when the car is off the main battery would keep the 12 V charged?

Or on the other hand if you’d have to keep the car turned on in which case that’s not ideal as the trains a bit of power just to keep it in standby mode.

And that inverter supplies a maximum of 1.5 kW, which is better than nothing when the power is down (could run some lights, one refrigerator maybe...but a tiny fraction of when you could run in the house on a fully charged Bolt if there were a way to do that More directly off the main battery.

MichBolt said:

Yes, you'd have to keep the Bolt on using car wash mode or something similar. EV Extend even has a kit with accessible power connectors attached to the Bolt:

EV Extend - Inverter Kit for 2017-2021 Chevrolet Bolt EV

EVExtend.com is a maker of electric vehicle solutions for personal and commercial use. Our emergency power backup kit designed for the Chevrolet Bolt EV provides wiring for up to 1000W of power with 3000W surge when you need it. Paired with an inverter, this solution provides quick reaction...

www.evextend.com

....

It's tempting. I actually have a small 1600W (2000W peak) gas generator / inverter....

At 1500W, the Bolt could handle those loads, and it's a lot easier to hook it up in the garage than setting up the generator outside in a beach tent during a storm. .....

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Yeah, I actually have a 7000 watt generator/inverter. As you say it's a PITA to set up, fairly noisy, and with manual pull cord starting at my age (my arms aren't as strong as they were when I was 50), so for a short blackout for modest use (refrigerator, chargers, a few lights, the cable modem, and just a small bit of wattage to allow the gas central heater furnace to be able to run) tapping into the up to 66 kilowatt hours of stored, quiet, power supply easily sounds pretty tempting.
I wonder how much power the Bolt itself draws when just on in "idle" or carwash mode. (Guess that's easy enough to check on the dashboard.)

(BTW: At ]EV Extend - Inverter Kit for 2017-2021 Chevrolet Bolt EV
there are four kits. Oddly two appear identical by differ in price by $30.)

Alex

MichBolt said:

The $30 difference is the remote switch. If you don't need the quick connect hardware, an inverter itself is less than $300:
Amazon.com : 1500 watt inverter pure sine wave

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Wait , wait.....
The quick connect is to quickly connect to the 12 volt battery without having to attach to it's terminals with a wrench?
And the remote switch is to turn the inverter off and on without opening the hood of the car?

Alex

"...Aootf License Plate Screws Anti Theft - Stainless Steel - if you live where this sort of thing happens...."

Reminds me of a sign in Fresno California parking lot:
"Lock your car.
This is Fresno, no Fairyland."

Alex