The first test drive proved that the Bolt could easily handle that and have plenty of miles of range left if driving was very conservative. Yesterday I did a second test drive with much less conservative driving. The resulting self-treatment greatly resolved my anxiety. With temps in even colder weather (10-22F), using the cabin heater set to 70F, using the steering wheel and the seat heaters as needed for added comfort, driving a typical mix of small towns and open highways, and with speeds mostly in the 60-65 mph range, the Bolt battery easily will handle the 150 mile round trip with 50 miles or more of range still in the battery.
Nice. A few comments....the warm battery pack from your workshop is likely playing a small role here. The Bolt battery is not thermostated to a given setpoint, it is allowed to passively vary when parked to stay within a range, with a lower limit of about 32°F. Unplugged, it is allowed to get much colder depending on the SOC (state of charge) but will self-heat to maintain a lower setpoint and not freeze. So, if you parked the car overnight in a cold location (e.g. at a destination) the range might take a hit. This will be factored into the GOM (guess-o-meter) range. Also, a cold battery will often only DCFC at max 24 kW, doubling your FC time.
IOW, cold soaking is safe for the car, and will not strand you, but will lead to some small, annoying surprises in range and charge speed.
I usually use the seat and wheel heaters liberally and the cabin heater sparingly, as needed, as it is more efficient.
Most importantly, the Bolt is a heck-of-a fun car to drive. A silent launch from a red stop light will leave almost any competitor in sight only through the rear view mirror. Maybe the next Chevy BEV will be named "Jolt."
Agree. I find myself doing things requiring a sudden burst of speed/accel/power to change my placement in traffic (like to get away from a bothersome driver). In my ICE cars, mashing the accelerator like that would (after a slow lag) spike the RPMs, make a obvious loud engine noise surge, jolt everyone's necks with a transmission shift, and generally be unpleasant to my riders and neighbors. In the BEV I can do the same maneuver with a smooth application of acceleration (reducing 'jerk', the time derivative of acceleration), and without a surge of noise pollution in my environment. So I DO.
Business opportunity: mobile DC fast charger equipped tow or service trucks to quickly breathe new life into exhausted BEVs stranded on the highway. This would pretty much eliminate any range anxiety. Might not be inexpensive, but neither is a tow truck for a vehicle breakdown.
I do not plan to ever run out of juice, just as I never ran out of gas, or got stranded in my LEAF with a 22 kWh battery. That said, there are options. Towing the Bolt is tricky....read the manual. If you put it in Neutral, it has a tendency to switch out to Park (e.g. if you open the drivers side door). If being towed, this will engage the parking brake and burn out the brakes. Also fun at car washes if you get out of the car. So the manual says...flatbed.
Another option is to tow it with the front wheels on pavement (forward or backwards), and to ride in the car in 'L' or strong regen mode. At normal driving speeds this will charge that battery at 20-30 kW (with out stressing the system), with the drag requiring an extra 20-30 horsepower from the truck. 10 minutes of that would get you 15-20 miles of range.
BEV accessory or standard equipment:
1) a 14-30r or similar type receptacle on the car so that the battery could be used for 120/240V uses, especially emergency backup power for a home in the event of a power loss, or
2) ability to plug into the charging port and draw DC power from the car to an accessory inverter to provide 120/240VAC power
The Bolt's 60kw battery is equivalent to 4+ Tesla 13.2kw Powerwall 2.0 batteries. That's a lot of emergency power.
Not standard equipment, but you can get a12V 1500W pure sine inverter from amazon for $150, cable it up with some old, heavy-duty jumper cables, and you are good to go. When the car is 'on' the DC-DC converter powering the 12V system provides up to about 130A sustained. After conversion this (cheapo) system can deliver 120VAC at up to ~1200W continuous (higher surge) at 50% overall efficiency.
As with the towing..the trick is getting the car to stay 'on' rather than automatically switching itself to 'P' (after two hours), deactivating the DC-DC, and leading you to rapidly pull down (and likely damage) the half-size AGM 12V battery the bolt uses as a 'starter'. The 'best way' is to, from 'Drive' (1) apply the parking brake manually (2) switch to N (3) clamber over to the passenger seat and exit that car on the right (opening the driver door switches to P). It will stay in N forever this way, with the DC-DC engaged. Downside....the pedestrian alert sound is engaged in N when stopped (but not in D or P), so if the sound going annoys you, you have to (4) pull the fuse that powers it, and replace it after the blackout is over.
The LEAF was much simpler....the DC-DC (and not the alert sound) ran in P when stopped, and it would just quietly sit 'on' in P forever (with the parking brake set).
