Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Chevy Bolt - 200 mile range for $30k base price (after incentive)

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Why would people drive an affordable 200 mile BEV any differently than a more expensive 200 mile BEV (such as the original S60)? I drive mine just as I would if I had bought an 85, I just take longer at the superchargers.
It's part of the tortured logic some here will go through to "prove" the Bolt is a viable competitor to the M3.
 
Video of a Bolt ride with one of the engineers:

At about 3:20, the person asks:
"Can the Bolt charge faster than 50 kw?"
Engineer: "Ummmmm...............*long pause*.........we're saying 50 kW for now."
The engineer then quickly changes the subject.

Combined with the multiple mentions of 80 kW, it seems almost certain the Bolt is not capped at 50 kW for fast charging. :p
The current CCS-charging infrastructure in the US only supports 50 kW fast charging.....so why should GM bother advertising a higher rate that no one can actually achieve now? I'm sure when Chargepoint's 125 kW CCS stations start appearing, GM will release something that says, "Oh, btw, the Bolt can actually charge up to 80 kW."
My guess is the wiring and connector is rated already for 200A (AKA 90kW at 450V or 80kW at 400V), but GM is not sure yet about the battery. The CCS connector was developed with 200A in mind from the start, so most likely the parts currently supplied support that (unless GM cost-cutted and went with 125A versions).
 
Why would people drive an affordable 200 mile BEV any differently than a more expensive 200 mile BEV (such as the original S60)? I drive mine just as I would if I had bought an 85, I just take longer at the superchargers.

Most likely demographics would be different. Fewer retirees. Fewer people able to take 1 month driving vacations.
200 class generic cars will be able to use more of the CCS infrastructure, which is not similar in layout to the Supercharger infrastructure. More CCS locations but with far less geographic coverage. CCS is plentiful in highly populated regions. It is virtually non-existent outside those areas.

So yes, I think the driving habits could be different than Tesla Motors products, and different than the existing 80-130 mile EV products out there.

But they might be the same. Who knows?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zoomit
Most likely demographics would be different. Fewer retirees. Fewer people able to take 1 month driving vacations.
200 class generic cars will be able to use more of the CCS infrastructure, which is not similar in layout to the Supercharger infrastructure. More CCS locations but with far less geographic coverage. CCS is plentiful in highly populated regions. It is virtually non-existent outside those areas.

So yes, I think the driving habits could be different than Tesla Motors products, and different than the existing 80-130 mile EV products out there.
But they might be the same. Who knows?

It seems rather tautological to argue that the lack of distributed chargers will cause different driving habits which mean you don't need faster charging networks...
 
  • Helpful
Reactions: SW2Fiddler
It seems rather tautological to argue that the lack of distributed chargers will cause different driving habits which mean you don't need faster charging networks...

Not knowing who will be doing the purchasing and for what purposes is hardly a redundant point. Statistics show that we don't NEED 80 miles of EV range for most commuters. Only 8% of commuters need more than 70 miles total roundtrip range. So why not buy a $15k EV, which will get the job done fine? Very few people do.

Will a significant portion be used by commuters with 1 way distances outside the range of existing sub 200 class? These only require metro infrastructure.

Will a significant portion be used for taxi, metro delivery, courier duty? At 70,000 miles a year average for a courier or taxi vehicle, this is one app where the 255 mile city range and low, subsidized pricing might make financial sense. These require no infrastructure, as fleets will most likely have shifts and their own charging.

While it would be sad in a way to have the Bolts relegated to commercial service or those who wish to spend their lives commuting, this does have the greatest environmental impact.

As has been said many, many, many times in this thread, nobody with any Fashion Sense would buy a Bolt. So the buyers will have to have some other reason for buying, which could be a LOT different than why folk buy Model S's.
 
From birth at factory gate, to death by crusher. It probable that most Sonic/Trax never drive more than 240miles in a single day.
Never, not once.

At some point, range becomes so large, that it is never exceeded between L1 charges, Tesla drivers are not Sonic/Trax drivers. GM Bolt probably is already beyond the range that fast charging is ever used for the majority of its drivers. Tesla is not there yet, even though their range is longer.
 
No. Very few public J1772 charging stations support more than 6-7 kW charging. Even Tesla only supported standard 11-12 kW AC charging recently.
Eh, they have supported 19.2 kW with the dual chargers and 17.2 kW with the 'high amp charger' the whole life of the Model S/X. Granted it is an option, but it is there for those that need faster AC charging and don't live near Super Chargers. And it is great for destination charging (for the few places that support 80/72A charging).
 
  • Informative
Reactions: SW2Fiddler
Eh, they have supported 19.2 kW with the dual chargers and 17.2 kW with the 'high amp charger' the whole life of the Model S/X. Granted it is an option, but it is there for those that need faster AC charging and don't live near Super Chargers. And it is great for destination charging (for the few places that support 80/72A charging).
Hopefully quick question: Isn't the 72A charger capable of 20kW? (72A*277V=19.94kW)