Does Everyone Need A Fast Charging EV? 2022 Bolt EUV 0-100% DC Fast Charge Test

I public charge my Bolt at our 50 kW max speed DCFC. 800 mile road trip. No problem. I free charge alot. Total spent $615 to drive 60,000 miles.

The problem with the Bolt EUV is the dealership network. By the time you add the 3-4k the dealers are demanding for the Premium trim, you could buy a base Model 3. I don't like Tesla or Elon but they have superchargers...for the same price.

I want to bring a point about Chevrolet Bolt EUV nobody mentions: the car is among last subcompact EVs to be sold in North America - a very useful sized one for urban parking and with enough range for most commutes. After Bolt and Leaf is discontinued no cars like that in size will be on North American market unfortunately. All car market in the USA and Canada became dedicated to suburban life and I bet even Korean and Japanese manufacturers will eventually discontinue sedans altogether leaving full domination of SUVs starting from compact sized ones. For some drivers like my wife to have available a subcompact vehicle for commute commonplace in Europe is a must even on North American market. Alas Bolts, Leafs, Konas, Niros are going Dodo bird way on American market unfortunately.

so how long does it take a bolt to go from 20 to 80 & on a tesla 8kw charger ???

I fast charge maybe once every 6 months. If I am going on a trip that takes more than one charge, I am going to switch cars with my husband and drive the gas car.

I found this interesting as well. Oil Companies are buying up all of the proposed available infrastructure and properties to keep the charging stations from being built so that way it will continue to frighten drivers from getting into the electric arena...

As an EUV owner, I just wish they'd open up the curve to actually charge at 50kw for way longer.. The 20kw bs over 65% is BS.

Recently did a moderate-length trip (just over 500 miles round trip) in our 2021 Bolt. Used A Better Route Planner to space out the charges. At no point did I spend more than 45 minutes at a charger, and most were 20-25 minutes. Got home with about 50 miles range. Now, I stayed around 65mph for cruising speed, and used climate control (AC) as necessary. Yes, could have been less charge time if DC fast charge was quicker, but overall the trip took no longer than a train on the same route (which I've done plenty of times).

Not sure I'd want to take this car all the way across the country, but so long as you plan and aren't in a major hurry, it works fine.

I have a question. When the car is at 94% and is receiving 6 kW on the dc charger, if you were to unplug and plug into a 11kw level 2 charger would it still only except 6 kW? Just curious.

this is a very big problem for people who cant rely on a second gas car for long trips or cant charge at home , now i understand why they cant sell more than 20k/y , they refuse to solve a simple problem like a cable size , if its not an engeneering issue , why , just , why.

oh snap muted half of vid?

I can tell you why they decided to not upgrade the charging — the bolt has little to no margins when sold ( Mary Barra, GM’s CEO, said a sub 30K EV isn’t profitable), but they’re a greedy company that’s used to SUV/Truck margins, and cars just don’t give enough revenue.

I would love if you did this same thing with the Kia Niro EV. Great content, you do a great job and thank you.

I think we now know GM not redesigning the charge system. They are completely redoing the Bolt to use GM'S battery platform system. Can't wait to see what develops. And...yes I so have a 2022 Bolt premier and really like it. Maybe even trade it in for the new Bolt when it comes out.

Oh my god. 2 hours? Not that anyone would plan for that, but still.

At least when I buy a used bolt I'll know the battery wasn't abused as hard as it could be from super fast charging.
With the large battery there's less need for fast charging, less need to run it low, more room for degradation.
It's great as a first car, or an only car.

People who don't drive very much only need a 110 outlet (like myself).

Around here, these Bolt drivers clog up the 350Kw dispensers for hours, while drivers with cars capable of charging at >150Kw are stuck using the 150 Kw stations...if they're lucky and don't have to sit for extended periods waiting for a dispenser.

Every time I DCFC, there's at least one Bolt sitting at a 350Kw dispenser, and it's still there when I leave.

Got a '23 EUV in July and have driven it for over 6,200kms (3,875 miles) now. Used a 50kw fast charger 3 times during that time, twice for 20 minutes and the 3rd time for 50 minutes. The rest was charging at free level 2 chargers in town and a bit at home utilizing a fairly large solar array. So the overall cost for "fuel" so far is ridiculously low. But for my last longer trip, around 1,150kms (~712miles) I used my wife's Hyundai '21 plug-in Ioniq which got about 56 miles to the gallon on that trip. I could have done it in the Bolt but I didn't want to deal with different charging networks since I traveled through different Canadian provinces and had to cross into the US. Most of my driving is in my home province of Nova Scotia on rural roads and the range has been anywhere between 370kms to 450kms which is enough pretty much most of the time. So yes, fast charging is really not an issue at all especially when there is another very fuel efficient car available for the occasional long distance trip.

Being a 2016 Chevy Spark EV owner, the Bolts longer charging time doesn't bother me, in fact if the Spark had a realistic highway range over 120miles I wouldn't be looking at anything else. Obviously I don't take many long road trips so my needs would be satisfied with the Bolt and its slow charging speeds but since the updated Bolts are a 1-2 years away yet it seems the Volvo EX30 might be the next logical step for me unless GM shocks us with an LFP, 100kW fast charger with NACs connector by mid-2024.

I guess I don't understand the problem. For most people who do not need fast charging, but only use it 2 or 3 times a year for longer trips, the charging time isn't an issue. I usually stop for a food & stretch break every 200 miles when I travel. With my 24kw Leaf, I put $50.00 a month in a kitty (that I save on gas) so I can rent a car 3 or 4 times a year for trips.
I plan on a longer range car in a year and am looking forward to the Toyota solid state battery before the end of the decade that is cheaper, charges to 80% in 10 minutes and has over 700 mile range. GMs new Ultium system should be interesting too with 300 to 600 mile range.

My thought before buying mine was that I only do half a dozen trips per year or less that would exceed out and back range. I just drove 496 miles. It wasn’t bad at all for me. The time I save overall not stopping for gas and getting oil changes over the course of a year more than should make it up in the extra time on road trips. It just means accepting longer rest stops.

I wonder if charging at a lower DC fast charge rate has any benefit at all? Does it extend the life of the battery pack? From what was said in the video about the wiring from the plug being the limiting factor, I bet the system could just not take the higher rates without damaging something or catching fire again.

Charge over night. Use the EV around town. When traveling a distance, have an ICE vehicle. or rent one!

Americans are in too much of a hurry, that's why we have the Worst life expectancy rates in the world!! LOL

Lol on a long road trip right now not enjoying

It does matter

I love my Bolt but if I could only have 1 car I would drive a hybrid. But since we have 2 cars I absolutely love my Bolt!

I can’t agree more.👍. I got the 2023 Chevy bolt and on highway speed at 70 and driving during winter I loose about 60 miles of range . A2z Tesla adapter already preordered, and can’t wait to use Tesla superchargers, if Tesla owners are able use ccs chargers , now soon ccs vehicles be able use Tesla’s.

Can an ev shop upgrade your cabling to the battery to speed it up?

Here's the deal breaker for anyone that might consider an EV that isn't doing it for environmental reasons. At 95% you got 211 range for $21.08 cost. That range is equal to 7 gallons of gas in my Mazda 6. At 3 dollars a gallon that's 21 dollars of gas in 5 minutes. Maybe you'll save money charging at home, but certainly not much using the infrastructure. It would make zero sense to drive an electric car if you have to use the charging stations over the pumps. You'd be devolving.

I have a Bolt and can't charge at home (condo). So I rely on public chargers. Because it takes so long, I pair my Bolt with an electric scooter to ride off while the car is charging. Been doing it over a year.

So I should buy a more expensive car so I don't hold up other drivers that want to get to the charger quicker?

You killed the 2023 bolt like a savage. They will bring a new bolt for 2025.

Picked up a 2023 Bolt EUV after extensive research on EV’s and for 2024 it was by and large the best value imaginable. We still have a Mazda CX-7 that we use for roadtripping, but most of our “roadtrips” actually fall within the Bolt’s range and it’s pretty easy to find level 2 charging solutions during overnight stays, so it hasn’t been an issue.

Best part is I’ve been averaging just under 5 miles per kilowatt-hour so even charging to 80% the guess-o-meter shows me a range greater than the full EPA range of the car. Very happy with my 1st EV purchase.

I have a Bolt EUV and I love it but I also have a Volt for longer trips. It is ironic because the EUV is a really comfortable car and mine has many options that would make it great for road trips. I still feel like the mess that is CCS charging is more of an issue than slow charging times. My wife is driving 1800 miles round trip in a couple of weeks. She does not have much experience with DC fast charging so while I think the long charge times would not be an issue for her, there is no way I can recommend that she takes the Bolt because the charging infrastructure is still so wonky. Even in the best possible case where all of the chargers work (which is rare), I can't predict what apps she will need for all of the chargers along the way etc. I know that the long charge times would drive Kyle crazy but a lot of us make pretty long stops anyway. It is amazing how quickly 40 minutes goes by when you have kids to wrangle back into the car etc. When I make the 900 miles one way trip in a gas car, the fastest I have done it is 3 stops and 90 minutes over the initial gps predictions so 30 minutes average per stop.

To bad the stupid car reports and send everything to the Insurances companies and in return the insurance goes up. NYTs had a report on a guy driving one of this only to have his insurance go up like crazyyyyyyy. Hope Auto spects can address this issue now

I'd like to see a Cannonball EV Run event where only Free Public Charging Stations are used.
In many cases I find Level 2 Chargers more appealing on road trips as they allow more time for a relaxing nap or tour of the area.

I'm enjoying my Ioniq 6 charging experience. 😊

Kyle...Just let me know when you need to run one across the country. If I have the time, I will set it up from Jacksonville to San Diego! I have put about 35,000 miles on my Bolt in just over a year and will be taking a short road trip this weekend. My charging curve is a lot better than what you got on this one. But then again, I live in a warmer climate. Give me a shout out and let me know!

Even without the Bose sound system, it still sounds good

The peak current is one issue, but a separate issue is how soon it starts tapering off. That has nothing to do with cabling, and I think it's inexcusable.

There's another elephant in the room that makes it all somewhat irrelevant for me, because it affects every EV equally: fast charging is ludicrously expensive. It's ten times the price of home charging where I am. At fast charging prices, my Bolt would actually cost more to drive than a gas car.

love my 2020 bolt ev. I drive maybe 8 to 15 miles a a day. once a year I do a trip that is 100 miles, I charge from the level 1 they give you with the car. Im a renter so no level 2 at home. it fits well in our life :)

Another important thing to mention. The Chevy Bolt EUV is a VERY common EV rental car. I rented one, not knowing how horrible the charging curve was. Never again. WOW. Chevy single handedly turning every EV renter against EVs. HUGE fail by Chevy!

We just got a used 2022 premier sound and sun package. No supercruise, tho. Beautiful little car, nice heavy doors and a terrific price @ 19,000. I’m fine without the supercruise and so far quite happy with the vehicle.

I'm getting a Bolt hopefully soon and I will be road tripping it like crazy. I don't care about the time. I'm not like society that's always in a rush to do things. Also when it comes to charging while people are waiting isn't my problem. If I'm paying for it then I have every right to be there. I don't care if that makes me an ass hole. Bolt owners have every right to be at level 2 and fast chargers. Also fast charging doesn't harm the batteries like everyone thinks. I used to own a Chevy Spark EV which is either the same or older tech as the Bolt and I drove that like crazy. Everyone kept saying you can't but I did and no issues at all. Things happened financially so I had to sell it. I miss it like crazy. I can't wait to get a Bolt.

In late 2024 did a 2550 mile trip from Washington to California and all over but thanks to the new nacs adapter I proudly didn’t clog up a single charging station