just wait until solid state batteries are ready for prime time, that should be a significant jump....probably wouldn't be able to upgrade an old car to use that though 🙂
I charged my son’s 2020 Bolt too 100% two different times and both times the mid # was 285 miles of range and the max # was also 311 miles of range. Keep in mind that the car was advertised as having 259 miles of range. This is the original battery pack.
That number depends on how you have driven. On my bolt, I rarely take it on the highway, so with the new battery I usually see over 300 when its fully charged. This is different from other EVs (I think mostly Tesla) that sticks with the EPA range rating.
@TheMrDudiness pretty obvious you have no idea what my original comment was even about. Talking about the GOM which adjusts its estimate of how far you can go on the remaining charge based on how you drive. It does change based on how you are driving, how much heat or ac you are using, the outside temperature and a few other things. Remember this test was done in cold weather so the batteries are going to go about the same distance. They should have done this in 65+ degree weather, aka perfect EV weather.
omg the "center exhaust" tips are hysterical, I love it. 🤣 btw that's a nod to Corvette enthusiasts, and is a beloved feature the faithful are raving about on the new 2023 Z06's that are being delivered to customers as we speak.
18:50 There seems to be some issues with the BMS catching up to the new capacity, which is reflected in both the energy used and efficiency displays. I've been having a bear of a time resetting my BMS with the new battery, which is still reporting the identical capacity as the last test I did with the original battery.
I’ve had the battery for a few thousand miles, I’m not sure if the BMS will calibrate itself much further. Its pretty interesting that we both are having unexpected results from our energy efficiency and usage.
well stop screwing with it guys with the idea that you're "magically" going to fix it (or it will fix itself) and take it back to the dealer. everyone in the Auto Industry knows at this point this is a $1 Billion dollar WARRANTY recall.
@@phillyphil1513 I already unplugged the 12 V battery for a couple of days, and that appears to have reset the system. I still have to confirm, but really, I'm not concerned that anything is wrong with it. I have far better range than before the recall. It's reported as efficiency rather than energy, but the range improvement is real.
I have 2018 Ampera-e (original battery) with ~110k miles, was able to get 55.2kWh from 100til0%. Its nice to get comparisom with you guys, really apraciate it. 💪
@@seanplace8192 No Actually at 70mph (5mph exceeding our speed limit of 65) It gets about 220-230 miles of range. Which is still efficient. In city it gets 4- 4.7 miles per kWh in summer here and highway usually about 3.5 so it’s actually still very efficient..
@@wetzel82 If it's a perfect 70 degrees outside, with climate control off, you can do even better than that. Under perfect conditions, I've logged efficiencies as high as 6 mi/kWh with city driving, and 4-4.7 mi/kWh doing 60 mph on the highway (efficiency at 70 mph is a bit lower).
Yup, this might explain some efficiency loss, but I think very little on the highway. Stop and go was very rare on this test, we drove the same roads, and the Bolt has brake blending.
With my 2022 Bolt EUV (same battery as the replacement for the older Bolts) I was able to get 63.2kwh from 100% to 0% when the vehicle shuts down (with about 12k miles on it). Seems like the Bolt with the replacement battery still needs some more relearning of its battery capacity
Our 19 Bolt battery was replaced at 41,160 miles. I estimated we lost about 5-7% of capacity using EngineLink to measure the pack and the range test I ran right before I took it in for the replacement. The new pack read 62.18 kWh after pickup and jumped to 64.29 kWh a few days later. After about 5K miles of driving it was at 62.38 kWh. Now about a year later and 12K miles since replacement, we are at 61.21 kWh. Still a noticeable improvement in range compared to our original pack.
@@iggyfan66 It depends on your use case. If the Bolt will be your only car and you need or want to make long trips, the answer might be no. I feel like the Bolt can handle trips in a 200-mile radius in our area if needed. The Bolt is my wife's daily driver and it's perfect for that use case. We have a Tesla Model 3 for longer trips. As a local/regional car at the right price it's a fantastic option.
@@epcalderhead thanks Edward, we have a Mazda CX9 for long trips but my old Honda just literally broke at the sub frame. So I’m looking for a good second car. Our daughter lives about 75 miles away and my sister in law lives 130 miles away. The bolt seemed perfect, or a Hyundai Kona EV.
@@iggyfan66 The 130-mile trip would be testing the range of the Bolt, especially in cold weather. The Kona looks to have similar range as the Bolt. If you can charge at her house or have reliable fast charging on the route you would probably be fine. L1 charging is ~5 miles per hour so 8 hours to overnight is ideal. I'd let price/value dictate that purchase, but the Kona will charge a bit faster using DC fast charging over the Bolt. Good luck on the hunt!
@@epcalderheadhey can I ask a question for work I drive 36 miles to and 36 miles back so I’ll be driving at least 78 miles a day will that be okay for a Chevy bolt? Also I’m worried about the battery and when it will have to be replaced, I don’t wanna go bankrupt cause it seems rlly expensive especially if the warranty has ended before that time. Do u know what people should do or what their options will be for when its time to replace the battery?
Video is no longer true! Chevy has decided that the 2020-2022 models will only get a software update. It will limit the charge to 80% and monitor the battery for 6,200 miles, and if it detects a problem it will alert you to make an appointment to replace the battery. If no problem is found, it will automatically remove the 80% charge limit. This means that my 2020 that just had this software update, when combined with the previous update that limited the charge to 80%, will result in approximately 2 years of being limited to 80% charge limit. Thanks a lot, Chevy! No new battery, no reset of battery warranty, not even a free Chevy T-shirt.
I saw a disassembly video of a 2017 Bolt EV battery. He confirmed the capacity as 57+/- kWh, not 60kWh as many claimed. He added up the kWh values printed on each of the ten modules. Eight with 10 cell packs and two with 8 cell packs.
"When I finally parked it(Bolt) at my home charging station, it had gone 322 miles on a single charge. Not bad for a car rated at 238 miles per charge. Even more impressive was the fact that I didn't really try very hard to get that many miles out of it. I spent plenty of time in traffic, which helped, but there were a few sections that I was moving along at 65-70 mph as well. No matter how you look at it, 322 miles out of a Bolt is pretty impressive." - Ed Hellwig Edmund's
Different routes, different temperatures, different traffic. There’s a ton of variables that go into total range. With good weather conditions, I’ve found I get around 220 miles at 70 mph.
From the sound of the Edmund's review, he spent a lot of time in traffic, probably going 20-50MPH. EV's get way better efficiency at these speeds compared to a 70mph range test.
Sometimes one Bolt was in “L” while the other was in “D”. I feel a difference, even when applying the accelerator, between two drive modes. This could account for some of the range results.
Speaks to the question I just asked. I'm shopping the Bolt currently, trying to gauge its honest capabilities. I would probably always drive in L for one-foot regen battery performance, wondering if this makes a difference on highway driving. A 200mile range at 100% of battery use is not that impressive considering that Chevy rates it at 259miles, even considering external factors, imo. Curious to hear other's perspectives.
Thanks for reviewing both the new and old Chevrolet Bolt EV batteries. I just recently took purchase of a used 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV Premier on Black Friday. I hope to one of these days get the new 66 KWH battery pack myself.
I thought the battery used for the recall were the same as the ones in the 2023 Bolts, but it seems like they aren't. I've seen 2023 Bolts with an estimate of over 400 miles of range. Crazy variances with these Bolts.
I was expecting the new battery pack to get +20miles more and truly not the case. Guess the original battery(despite being in use for +20k miles) has held up well. I would like to get a new Bolt but we have +2year wait here in Montreal, Canada so I will be looking for a used one. Thanks Guys.
I have a Bolt. They're great cars. Winter hurts range though but if you do a double preheat then it'll be ok. Still, don't want to take long highway trips in winter with it
You can get bolts for 15k at auction houses, thats what I did and got a 2018 with 30k miles and new battery pack. After ev tax credit it'll cost me $11k which is absurd
As the car market crashes I think it’ll be prudent to pick up an old, high mileage bolt without the battery upgrade, run it into the ground (park it outside) and just as it really ages, swap in a new battery for essentially a better than new range!
Right but you know from testing the new battery that you could get 66kwh right? You did that test. This battery swap is clearly not the new battery pack.
@@darrenorange2982 good point! I don’t remember what I got out of the newest fresh installed pack but i recall more than this - Think it’s the same battery with a bigger software buffer or a totally different pack?
@@KyleConner If I recall you did see 66kwh. I don't know what they are doing here we would have to look at ODBII data, there is no buffer at the bottom in the Bolt so it would have to be at the top. But 6kwh is a massive difference. The old pack seems correct from my personal experience. The cut off is low voltage so lower C rate can make the car go farther.
What are the protective measures that GM is/has taken for the new batteries? Are they monitoring the health of the battery through onstar? Should I keep onstar?
Only other side note, climate does affect your range attributed to the different sizes of the batteries. An optimal weather you would see a slightly bigger gap and range. Say 220 vs 230 or so.
You're variance difference is a little due to software. The new battery pack puts back slightly more for degregation purposes than the old unit. Beside from that, the weight difference does affect it slightly.
Ryan/Max as someone else in the comments noticed (not that it makes much difference) but you guys forgot to mention what Model Year those 2 Bolts were...? 17, 18, or 19...? "Talk to me Goose..." (Tom Cruise/Maverick voice)
Good work fellas! I'm curious if Ryan has done any 100% to 0% drawdowns on his new pack prior to this test (BMS recalibration in mind). I definitely want to get a used Bolt once the prices settle.
I think that the range driven was very much affected by speed driven towards the end of the test. The old battery pack car was driven slower, and driven down right to the "I ain't movin' no mo" point. If the new pack car was driven slower at the end of the highway portion of the test, and was driven to the ragged edge of capacity you would have gotten at least 1 more kWh out of it and 5 to 10 more miles. All Chevy range test are hampered by GM not giving detailed information on state of charge and remaining miles at low SOC. The only way to effectively test a GM product is by using an OBD2 dongle and torque pro software on an android phone or the equivalent software on an Apple phone.
Definitely, differences in driving speed at the end of the test have an effect. I had an OBD in the new battery, it indicted less than 0.7% until it bricked. There was maybe 1-2 miles and 0.3 kWh left, but it’s not really “usable” range. You need to nearly floor it just to go over 30, which isn’t good for the battery at low SOC. Around 13:45 is a similar point in the old battery (195.1 miles and 55.6 kWh). It seems like the new battery is still slightly less efficient
great video! Pathetic range at 70 miles per hour and less no air con on less 200 miles! Then what how long to charge to 80% at DC charge?? Looks like I will be buying a KONA with the Turbo engine! I love in LA and could not even make it to VEGAS!
At the end of the video one of the cars is asking if the driver wants to switch to "low power mode" But I thought all the juice was gone with nothing left to power the car. Is it because you had just plugged in to the charger and have a tiny amount of new juice that this prompt appeared?
Did you use a csr or seat heater? Temps set to 70 perhaps? Radio usage? Do nights draw much for headlights? You have a nice base number, now, do it at 30-40 degrees at night using heaters, lights, radio. Yall certainly drained them. I'd hate being on the road and get that low. And take a trip, say 600 miles, for total time including charging. I just can't imagine wasting all that time charging.
Even the 6-mile difference matters, unless you are willing to WALK those 6 miles. I may be mistaken, but the new battery on my 2019 Premier seems to take longer to charge, even after my everyday trip along the same route. I don't know if that could be attributed to the updated software or the new battery itself, but it is what it is.
It’s mostly firmware - even on the old batteries Bolts with upgraded firmware had less aggressive charging rates to maintain safer battery conditions after the fires on a few units.
@@iMaxPatten Are you saying that those "new" batteries are nothing but the same old battery with more capacity and slower charging rates? I thought I heard them talking about a different battery chemistry...
@@amenhotepavoskin1307 No I'm saying the slower charging behavior has more to do with firmware than battery. As shown in our test there is both more net and gross capacity in the new batteries; but the efficiency gains aren't as big as you might think due to that cautious firmware.
Yes, it’s the job of the BMS to allocate that reserve. We’ve seen multiple EV’s change their net capacity after manufacturers learn how their batteries behave in the real world. I’m not seeing the distinction here?
@@iMaxPatten 2020 got the bigger battery hence why I asked. Actually the 19 has slightly updated software. Notice heat and AC are separate on the infotainment screen
@@eurosteve50 Yes, all Bolts are getting new batteries. In the 2020 model year, the battery capacity was upped to 66kw from the factory. The 2017 - 2019 models are getting that battery, hence the upgraded range.
2017-2022 models were recalled. You can pick up a used one for around $20-25k. I’d definitely recommend also checking out getting a new bolt which are around $27-32k. It will qualify for some of the federal tax incentive, there’s an Uber credit, and there may be incentives in your state as well. Here in Colorado, it’s possible to qualify for over $13k in incentives.
So the 66kwh Bolt is rates for 259mile range, but in this test it was only able to barely squeeze out 200miles? Would driving in L and utilizing regen help this? I'm a bit surprised by the lack of range here...
@@alleyoop5185 haha! I actually bought a used 2020 Bolt since my post. I love it. The simplicity reminds me of driving an old air cooled VW. I embrace the range anxiety and find it to put me in touch with my driving and efficiency, a conscious awareness people should tolerate and learn from instead of fearing. Also, I read a ridiculous story in the New Yorker just yesterday about excess pollutant emissions from EV because of supposed tire wear and brake pad wear. Also absurd since if one drives by deceleration instead of braking, regardless of car type, that solves all sorts of energy consumption and waste issues. Again, EV instills conscious awareness of driving habits. I love my Bolt, been driving it 90% of the time since November. I also have a diesel truck - driving my bolt most of the time is a total financial wash long term even with added tabs/insurance considering long term fuel/oil savings.
If you literally tested with a new battery, you can't do that. You need several cycles for the car to learn the battery's capacity before it will report and use it properly. Plus you can use OBD2 to see the exact numbers, which tells you what the learned capacity is, the estimated Ah, and range. Mine went from ~170Ah to ~190Ah and then up to ~205Ah after a couple of weeks. So I saw, like others comment anecdotally after some time, about a 20% increase in usable capacity.
For the love of God, stop hyping the battery fire thing. The statistics are so low. Statistically, every other car on the road is just as likely to catch fire, some even more so.
@@ryankassel5691 of course. But there is also a big difference between taking your vehicle in for recall service and fearmongering about that recall subject matter. This recall was only given as much attention as it was because it involved an EV. No parking garages are actively banning ICE vehicles with a recall that involved a fire risk or at the very least, not anywhere near the same extent as the Bolt was. That is the BS I'm talking about. Stop hyping stuff that doesn't need to be hyped. It attracts lopsided negative attention and makes people fear something much more than the facts warrant.
Might do ‘Truth in Lending’ in the Title - 2020 and newer Bolts will NOT get a larger battery, and MAY get a SLOWER charging curve. GM would like everyone think they’ll get a big upgrade. Us newer Bolt owners (35% of total, longest waiting) may get less performance if charging curve gets lowered.
In the Netherlands we get a 64 Kwh battery pack instead of the old 60 Kwh (gross) Question: was the tire pressure the same? Did one Ampera-e (Bolt) have the AC on and the other didn't? In short: was this comparable?
Tire pressure was the same; we calibrated to 38 psi on each set of tires just before charging. The AC & heat are both off/on in the 2017 bolt, Bradley's newer 2019 Bolt let me discretely operate themk but to match Ryan's I turned AC and heat on. The biggest flaw is I was in L (higher regen) while Ryan was in D (less regen); but since we were mainly at highway speed, doing the same roads, and the Bolt has brake blending, even this difference should be very minor. This is about as comparable of a test as I've seen done; we did the same roads at the same day and time - only slightly changing driving towards the very end as our respective batteries were dying at different rates.
This is sorta click bait. Not all bolts got new batteries. My buddy and his wife just bought 2 21 bolts and they only had a software fix non new battery. The batteries are limited to 80% charge for 6k miles then can go back up to 100%.
Does anyone know for sure how the battery warranty works under the recall battery rules? ( for example if say a 2019 Bolt LT has 50K odometer miles when the new battery is installed under the new recall rules): does the new battery come with a warranty only as good as the original odometer or does it get it's own warranty that is separate? which of course would be weird because battery's don't have built in odometers , so how could the new battery get a warranty time frame that exceeds the odometer miles? (unless the battery is just getting a standard new 8 year warranty regardless of the odometer miles, ???)
As I understand it, the battery warranty restarts at 100k/8 years. Now considering I saw somewhere that up to 40% degradation is considered normal, I don't know if it covers anything other than self conflagration.
Why did one of you use D and the other use L? The one using the low regen D got 3.5 m/kwh and the one using the aggressive regen L got 3.4 m/kwh. Also, climate control used 6% in the Bolt on L with the bigger pack and only 4% climate control in the Bolt on D using the old pack. I'm a Bolt and Tesla owner BTW
The Ultium battery packs are not in the Bolt; they were introduced with GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriq. Next year we'll supposedly see a lot more vehicles using them but the Bolt, which first launched in 2017, was before GM went all in with that battery architecture.
I had so much trouble understanding your user name. I thought the 2 meant "two" not "to" for a bit. I wondered what the two big thighs were addicted to 🤔. 😅
Unfortunately, this test wasn’t too scientific. They should have traveled the same distance then compare. Also, the new battery pack car showed 6% climate setting usage vs. 4% in the old. Maybe due to longer driving at slower speeds? New battery avg MPK after 203.3 miles: 3.39 Old battery avg MPK after 197.9 miles: 3.54 Handicap the the climate setting difference, the new battery avg MPK is close to 3.46. Lower than the old battery. Feel free to peer review this…
The driving speeds at the bottom of the battery pack is definitely a variable. It would have been great if we could have just stayed at 70 until each car died. I pulled in to the charging station only about 10 minutes after Max, so I think there might be something else also affecting the climate usages, I’m not entirely sure what, though. When we passed the charging station the first time, Max had 27 miles indicated and about 14-15% left in the battery. I had 34 miles indicated and 17-18% battery left according to the OBD2 scanner. It’s not a perfect comparison with BMS sway, but the difference is still a bit smaller than expected. It leads me to believe that the new battery is just slightly less efficient.
It’s true! Over a million vehicles from ford and hyundai/Kia were recalled for fire risk just this year. Regardless of ICE or EV, you should definitely take your vehicle in for a recall service if it’s a fire risk!
It's pretty normal for EV's to get less charge in our 70 MPH highway range test; these conditions are much more brutal than stop and go traffic for a single reduction gear electric motor. 200 miles at highway speed is actually pretty good and closer to the "average" car range than some EVs!
Another commentor actually pointed out it isn't! Newer cell chemistry so it's ever so slightly lighter. Tire pressure was calibrated to 38 psi (Chevy's reccomendation) like Ryan mentioned.
Please tighten up these videos. 6 mins in that could have been condensed to 1 min or less; even use the description. There is just too much ad-libbing. Write out an outline and follow the structure. This could be a 5 minute video.
I have a question that you have never checked, it was a guy who checked the radiation that occurs when you charge the batteries, the value showed over 3000, when the limit value is around 300 as a maximum, isn't that important to know?
So how can the average working family financially justify buying an ev knowing in 3-5 years at about 100000 miles they will get a $10000-20000 repair while they are still paying for the car and this repair will not be under warranty the ev future is in a scrapyard they are not viable as used vehicles.
They can’t. This is a toy for rich old people or rich young kids. It’s cool and neat. No doubt. But a normal working family on a budget is not gonna go after this. Why would you. What’s the selling point other than “gee! Look at me”
Guys is this a monty python's flying circus...Drive that car immediately for a replacement, you can set someone's property on fire, or even worse, a shopping center or similar facility.
At 77k miles on my original pack, mine went from 53.9 to 64.3 kwh usable - almost a 20% increase with the new battery. Gotta like that!
ooff makes me even more excited for a 2017 I'm looking to get with a new battery in 2022!
I always choose my car reviewers based on who stretches their arms farthest apart in the introduction. Ryan seems legit.
Hahaha. That’s great
😅
😂😂
18:56 The new battery is actually ~15 lbs lighter than the original battery despite having 10% additional capacity,
Thanks for the clarification!
In the Netherlands we get a 64 Kwh battery pack instead of the old 60 Kwh (gross)
So 8% more range in theory...
Super interesting! Gotta love new cell designs.
My drivingstyle got me an extra 25ish kilometers of range with the new battery.
just wait until solid state batteries are ready for prime time, that should be a significant jump....probably wouldn't be able to upgrade an old car to use that though 🙂
I charged my son’s 2020 Bolt too 100% two different times and both times the mid # was 285 miles of range and the max # was also 311 miles of range. Keep in mind that the car was advertised as having 259 miles of range. This is the original battery pack.
That number depends on how you have driven. On my bolt, I rarely take it on the highway, so with the new battery I usually see over 300 when its fully charged. This is different from other EVs (I think mostly Tesla) that sticks with the EPA range rating.
@TheMrDudiness it’s not. But believe whatever you want. I have a bolt, doesn’t sound like you do 🤷♂️
@TheMrDudiness pretty obvious you have no idea what my original comment was even about. Talking about the GOM which adjusts its estimate of how far you can go on the remaining charge based on how you drive. It does change based on how you are driving, how much heat or ac you are using, the outside temperature and a few other things. Remember this test was done in cold weather so the batteries are going to go about the same distance. They should have done this in 65+ degree weather, aka perfect EV weather.
omg the "center exhaust" tips are hysterical, I love it. 🤣 btw that's a nod to Corvette enthusiasts, and is a beloved feature the faithful are raving about on the new 2023 Z06's that are being delivered to customers as we speak.
Is that a 3D sticker or actual exhaust tip pipes? Where can I get that for my bolt?
Digging Ryan's exhaust 😊👍
Just needs more Bosozoku now.
18:50 There seems to be some issues with the BMS catching up to the new capacity, which is reflected in both the energy used and efficiency displays. I've been having a bear of a time resetting my BMS with the new battery, which is still reporting the identical capacity as the last test I did with the original battery.
I’ve had the battery for a few thousand miles, I’m not sure if the BMS will calibrate itself much further. Its pretty interesting that we both are having unexpected results from our energy efficiency and usage.
well stop screwing with it guys with the idea that you're "magically" going to fix it (or it will fix itself) and take it back to the dealer. everyone in the Auto Industry knows at this point this is a $1 Billion dollar WARRANTY recall.
@@phillyphil1513 I already unplugged the 12 V battery for a couple of days, and that appears to have reset the system. I still have to confirm, but really, I'm not concerned that anything is wrong with it. I have far better range than before the recall. It's reported as efficiency rather than energy, but the range improvement is real.
I have 2018 Ampera-e (original battery) with ~110k miles, was able to get 55.2kWh from 100til0%. Its nice to get comparisom with you guys, really apraciate it. 💪
Bolts are crazy efficient. In summer in cali city driving gets you 320 miles of range pretty easily
That's only with city driving. They're horrible on the highway due to poor aerodynamics. Once you get above 68mph, efficiency falls off a cliff.
@@seanplace8192 No Actually at 70mph (5mph exceeding our speed limit of 65) It gets about 220-230 miles of range. Which is still efficient. In city it gets 4- 4.7 miles per kWh in summer here and highway usually about 3.5 so it’s actually still very efficient..
@@wetzel82
If it's a perfect 70 degrees outside, with climate control off, you can do even better than that. Under perfect conditions, I've logged efficiencies as high as 6 mi/kWh with city driving, and 4-4.7 mi/kWh doing 60 mph on the highway (efficiency at 70 mph is a bit lower).
@@ab-tf5fl For sure! I run Ac even im winter at 65 because i’m always but it’s a sacraficing i’m willing to keep making lol
One of them has the new 66 kWh battery AND the Quad Tip Sports Exhaust!!!!!
+5 hp
Kum & Go nice, is it next to an in and out?
The new battery Bolt looks to be in L one pedal driving and the old battery Bolt is in regular D with low regeneration.
Yup, this might explain some efficiency loss, but I think very little on the highway. Stop and go was very rare on this test, we drove the same roads, and the Bolt has brake blending.
With my 2022 Bolt EUV (same battery as the replacement for the older Bolts) I was able to get 63.2kwh from 100% to 0% when the vehicle shuts down (with about 12k miles on it). Seems like the Bolt with the replacement battery still needs some more relearning of its battery capacity
Who came up with Kum and go? I think they need a new marketing dept
it sounds like futurama joke and i quite like it hehe
Our 19 Bolt battery was replaced at 41,160 miles. I estimated we lost about 5-7% of capacity using EngineLink to measure the pack and the range test I ran right before I took it in for the replacement. The new pack read 62.18 kWh after pickup and jumped to 64.29 kWh a few days later. After about 5K miles of driving it was at 62.38 kWh. Now about a year later and 12K miles since replacement, we are at 61.21 kWh. Still a noticeable improvement in range compared to our original pack.
I'm thinking of buying a used Bolt, do you recommend getting one?
@@iggyfan66 It depends on your use case. If the Bolt will be your only car and you need or want to make long trips, the answer might be no. I feel like the Bolt can handle trips in a 200-mile radius in our area if needed. The Bolt is my wife's daily driver and it's perfect for that use case. We have a Tesla Model 3 for longer trips. As a local/regional car at the right price it's a fantastic option.
@@epcalderhead thanks Edward, we have a Mazda CX9 for long trips but my old Honda just literally broke at the sub frame. So I’m looking for a good second car. Our daughter lives about 75 miles away and my sister in law lives 130 miles away. The bolt seemed perfect, or a Hyundai Kona EV.
@@iggyfan66 The 130-mile trip would be testing the range of the Bolt, especially in cold weather. The Kona looks to have similar range as the Bolt. If you can charge at her house or have reliable fast charging on the route you would probably be fine. L1 charging is ~5 miles per hour so 8 hours to overnight is ideal. I'd let price/value dictate that purchase, but the Kona will charge a bit faster using DC fast charging over the Bolt. Good luck on the hunt!
@@epcalderheadhey can I ask a question for work I drive 36 miles to and 36 miles back so I’ll be driving at least 78 miles a day will that be okay for a Chevy bolt? Also I’m worried about the battery and when it will have to be replaced, I don’t wanna go bankrupt cause it seems rlly expensive especially if the warranty has ended before that time. Do u know what people should do or what their options will be for when its time to replace the battery?
On the Bolt with the old battery you where running both the heater and AC that will drain the battery fast as they are working against each other.
Video is no longer true! Chevy has decided that the 2020-2022 models will only get a software update. It will limit the charge to 80% and monitor the battery for 6,200 miles, and if it detects a problem it will alert you to make an appointment to replace the battery. If no problem is found, it will automatically remove the 80% charge limit.
This means that my 2020 that just had this software update, when combined with the previous update that limited the charge to 80%, will result in approximately 2 years of being limited to 80% charge limit.
Thanks a lot, Chevy! No new battery, no reset of battery warranty, not even a free Chevy T-shirt.
The older bolt used 4% as opposed to 6% on the newer battery for climate settings despite having the ac on with the heat.
Excellent video! Nice to see the difference between the two.
I saw a disassembly video of a 2017 Bolt EV battery. He confirmed the capacity as 57+/- kWh, not 60kWh as many claimed. He added up the kWh values printed on each of the ten modules. Eight with 10 cell packs and two with 8 cell packs.
"When I finally parked it(Bolt) at my home charging station, it had gone 322 miles on a single charge. Not bad for a car rated at 238 miles per charge. Even more impressive was the fact that I didn't really try very hard to get that many miles out of it. I spent plenty of time in traffic, which helped, but there were a few sections that I was moving along at 65-70 mph as well. No matter how you look at it, 322 miles out of a Bolt is pretty impressive." - Ed Hellwig Edmund's
Different routes, different temperatures, different traffic. There’s a ton of variables that go into total range. With good weather conditions, I’ve found I get around 220 miles at 70 mph.
From the sound of the Edmund's review, he spent a lot of time in traffic, probably going 20-50MPH. EV's get way better efficiency at these speeds compared to a 70mph range test.
@@JamesKirk1988 20-30% over EPA is not uncommon. Just look at.thr comment section of every Bolt review.
Sometimes one Bolt was in “L” while the other was in “D”. I feel a difference, even when applying the accelerator, between two drive modes. This could account for some of the range results.
Speaks to the question I just asked. I'm shopping the Bolt currently, trying to gauge its honest capabilities. I would probably always drive in L for one-foot regen battery performance, wondering if this makes a difference on highway driving. A 200mile range at 100% of battery use is not that impressive considering that Chevy rates it at 259miles, even considering external factors, imo. Curious to hear other's perspectives.
A great comparison. Thanks everyone!
Thanks for reviewing both the new and old Chevrolet Bolt EV batteries. I just recently took purchase of a used 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV Premier on Black Friday. I hope to one of these days get the new 66 KWH battery pack myself.
Ryan 👍 max 👍 nice job.
Absolutely Magnificent Review, Quite Entertaining
I thought the battery used for the recall were the same as the ones in the 2023 Bolts, but it seems like they aren't. I've seen 2023 Bolts with an estimate of over 400 miles of range. Crazy variances with these Bolts.
Great video! Hope to get the bolt ev soon.
I was expecting the new battery pack to get +20miles more and truly not the case. Guess the original battery(despite being in use for +20k miles) has held up well. I would like to get a new Bolt but we have +2year wait here in Montreal, Canada so I will be looking for a used one. Thanks Guys.
I have a Bolt. They're great cars. Winter hurts range though but if you do a double preheat then it'll be ok. Still, don't want to take long highway trips in winter with it
You can get bolts for 15k at auction houses, thats what I did and got a 2018 with 30k miles and new battery pack. After ev tax credit it'll cost me $11k which is absurd
@@PozzaPizz I'm in Canada, can you help me out?
Right now we live in a city just off of I-80 they have been working in the same section for the last 2 years.
As the car market crashes I think it’ll be prudent to pick up an old, high mileage bolt without the battery upgrade, run it into the ground (park it outside) and just as it really ages, swap in a new battery for essentially a better than new range!
Right but you know from testing the new battery that you could get 66kwh right? You did that test. This battery swap is clearly not the new battery pack.
@@darrenorange2982 good point! I don’t remember what I got out of the newest fresh installed pack but i recall more than this - Think it’s the same battery with a bigger software buffer or a totally different pack?
@@KyleConner If I recall you did see 66kwh. I don't know what they are doing here we would have to look at ODBII data, there is no buffer at the bottom in the Bolt so it would have to be at the top. But 6kwh is a massive difference. The old pack seems correct from my personal experience. The cut off is low voltage so lower C rate can make the car go farther.
better search for kona without recall batterys better larger car with driver aid
What are the protective measures that GM is/has taken for the new batteries? Are they monitoring the health of the battery through onstar? Should I keep onstar?
Only other side note, climate does affect your range attributed to the different sizes of the batteries. An optimal weather you would see a slightly bigger gap and range. Say 220 vs 230 or so.
That was a real fun and interesting test!
You're variance difference is a little due to software. The new battery pack puts back slightly more for degregation purposes than the old unit. Beside from that, the weight difference does affect it slightly.
Very similar, except one has quad exhaust!
Great test! Thanks for doing this.
After 11,000 miles on a '23 Bolt and the range is not measurably decreased. Using 80% charge except for longer trips.
Ryan/Max as someone else in the comments noticed (not that it makes much difference) but you guys forgot to mention what Model Year those 2 Bolts were...? 17, 18, or 19...? "Talk to me Goose..." (Tom Cruise/Maverick voice)
The new battery is a ‘17, the old battery is a ‘18, but there aren’t many differences between the two!
Bradley needs a swiffer
Good review - thanks
Good work fellas! I'm curious if Ryan has done any 100% to 0% drawdowns on his new pack prior to this test (BMS recalibration in mind). I definitely want to get a used Bolt once the prices settle.
Yes, the new battery has a few thousand miles on it. I’ve run it to zero twice before this
@@ryankassel5691and result in kWh was the same?
@@MRsLove999 between 60-61 kWh previously
Around how much do you spent at a fast charger when filing up on a bolt?
Great Video!
I'd like to see a drag race too see if the new battery helped
What is the year built on the two Bolts? Great video!
The faux exhaust pipes kill me. :p
I think that the range driven was very much affected by speed driven towards the end of the test. The old battery pack car was driven slower, and driven down right to the "I ain't movin' no mo" point. If the new pack car was driven slower at the end of the highway portion of the test, and was driven to the ragged edge of capacity you would have gotten at least 1 more kWh out of it and 5 to 10 more miles. All Chevy range test are hampered by GM not giving detailed information on state of charge and remaining miles at low SOC. The only way to effectively test a GM product is by using an OBD2 dongle and torque pro software on an android phone or the equivalent software on an Apple phone.
Definitely, differences in driving speed at the end of the test have an effect. I had an OBD in the new battery, it indicted less than 0.7% until it bricked. There was maybe 1-2 miles and 0.3 kWh left, but it’s not really “usable” range. You need to nearly floor it just to go over 30, which isn’t good for the battery at low SOC. Around 13:45 is a similar point in the old battery (195.1 miles and 55.6 kWh). It seems like the new battery is still slightly less efficient
I guess my 2023 Bolt already has the 65 kwH battery
Oh Ryan. Those exhaust tips. 😩
It’s the best $15 I’ve ever spent
great video! Pathetic range at 70 miles per hour and less no air con on less 200 miles!
Then what how long to charge to 80% at DC charge??
Looks like I will be buying a KONA with the Turbo engine!
I love in LA and could not even make it to VEGAS!
How long/how many minutes does it take to charge the Bolt EUV up to 80, 90, or 100%? I need to know this information! Thanks
At the end of the video one of the cars is asking if the driver wants to switch to "low power mode" But I thought all the juice was gone with nothing left to power the car. Is it because you had just plugged in to the charger and have a tiny amount of new juice that this prompt appeared?
How many miles can be driven with the flashing bar
“Kum and go” is crazy
Did you use a csr or seat heater? Temps set to 70 perhaps? Radio usage? Do nights draw much for headlights? You have a nice base number, now, do it at 30-40 degrees at night using heaters, lights, radio. Yall certainly drained them. I'd hate being on the road and get that low. And take a trip, say 600 miles, for total time including charging. I just can't imagine wasting all that time charging.
You only buy an EV for the gee whiz factor. They are cool but I don’t see the point. If I want a small crappy car just buy a Nissan Versa.
Excellent job
HELP!!. I can't find the link for the cat back exhaust.
Even the 6-mile difference matters, unless you are willing to WALK those 6 miles.
I may be mistaken, but the new battery on my 2019 Premier seems to take longer to charge, even after my everyday trip along the same route. I don't know if that could be attributed to the updated software or the new battery itself, but it is what it is.
It’s mostly firmware - even on the old batteries Bolts with upgraded firmware had less aggressive charging rates to maintain safer battery conditions after the fires on a few units.
@@iMaxPatten Are you saying that those "new" batteries are nothing but the same old battery with more capacity and slower charging rates? I thought I heard them talking about a different battery chemistry...
@@amenhotepavoskin1307 No I'm saying the slower charging behavior has more to do with firmware than battery. As shown in our test there is both more net and gross capacity in the new batteries; but the efficiency gains aren't as big as you might think due to that cautious firmware.
@@iMaxPatten OK. As long as it doesn't keep me from loving my Bolt as much as I do now... :)
wow they dont have a clue... theres no ”reserve” battery, just net battery set by manufacturers to protect battery.
Yes, it’s the job of the BMS to allocate that reserve. We’ve seen multiple EV’s change their net capacity after manufacturers learn how their batteries behave in the real world. I’m not seeing the distinction here?
It would help to know the model year of the cars
2019 on Bradley’s and 2017 on Ryan’s. Both pre ‘21 facelift and should be mechanically identical aside from the battery service.
@@iMaxPatten 2020 got the bigger battery hence why I asked. Actually the 19 has slightly updated software. Notice heat and AC are separate on the infotainment screen
Correction. The 2017 through 2019 Bolts are getting an upgrade. 2020 and up will not.
I don't think that's true. All Bolts are getting new batteries.
@@eurosteve50 Yes, all Bolts are getting new batteries. In the 2020 model year, the battery capacity was upped to 66kw from the factory. The 2017 - 2019 models are getting that battery, hence the upgraded range.
Nice video...
4% climate vs 6% on the 66 kWh.
I did not cash what years are involved in the recall. Also what year were these 2 bolts and what could you get one of these gocarts for nowadays?
2017-2022 models were recalled. You can pick up a used one for around $20-25k. I’d definitely recommend also checking out getting a new bolt which are around $27-32k. It will qualify for some of the federal tax incentive, there’s an Uber credit, and there may be incentives in your state as well. Here in Colorado, it’s possible to qualify for over $13k in incentives.
My range increase at least 20% with the new battery
So the 66kwh Bolt is rates for 259mile range, but in this test it was only able to barely squeeze out 200miles? Would driving in L and utilizing regen help this? I'm a bit surprised by the lack of range here...
Welcome to range anxiety:)🥺
@@alleyoop5185 haha! I actually bought a used 2020 Bolt since my post. I love it. The simplicity reminds me of driving an old air cooled VW. I embrace the range anxiety and find it to put me in touch with my driving and efficiency, a conscious awareness people should tolerate and learn from instead of fearing. Also, I read a ridiculous story in the New Yorker just yesterday about excess pollutant emissions from EV because of supposed tire wear and brake pad wear. Also absurd since if one drives by deceleration instead of braking, regardless of car type, that solves all sorts of energy consumption and waste issues. Again, EV instills conscious awareness of driving habits. I love my Bolt, been driving it 90% of the time since November. I also have a diesel truck - driving my bolt most of the time is a total financial wash long term even with added tabs/insurance considering long term fuel/oil savings.
GM say 66kwh, LG label the battery 64kwh
If you literally tested with a new battery, you can't do that. You need several cycles for the car to learn the battery's capacity before it will report and use it properly.
Plus you can use OBD2 to see the exact numbers, which tells you what the learned capacity is, the estimated Ah, and range.
Mine went from ~170Ah to ~190Ah and then up to ~205Ah after a couple of weeks. So I saw, like others comment anecdotally after some time, about a 20% increase in usable capacity.
The new battery has a few thousand miles on it!
@@ryankassel5691 Hmm that's very strange then. I'd have to see the OBD2 data to know for sure but something might be up with the new pack.
Maybe was the climate settings... 66kw car have 6% and 60kw car have 4%..
For the love of God, stop hyping the battery fire thing. The statistics are so low. Statistically, every other car on the road is just as likely to catch fire, some even more so.
Regardless of ICE/EV, it’s important to take your vehicle in for a recall service if there’s a fire risk!
@@ryankassel5691 of course. But there is also a big difference between taking your vehicle in for recall service and fearmongering about that recall subject matter. This recall was only given as much attention as it was because it involved an EV. No parking garages are actively banning ICE vehicles with a recall that involved a fire risk or at the very least, not anywhere near the same extent as the Bolt was. That is the BS I'm talking about. Stop hyping stuff that doesn't need to be hyped. It attracts lopsided negative attention and makes people fear something much more than the facts warrant.
Might do ‘Truth in Lending’ in the Title - 2020 and newer Bolts will NOT get a larger battery, and MAY get a SLOWER charging curve. GM would like everyone think they’ll get a big upgrade. Us newer Bolt owners (35% of total, longest waiting) may get less performance if charging curve gets lowered.
In the Netherlands we get a 64 Kwh battery pack instead of the old 60 Kwh (gross)
Question: was the tire pressure the same?
Did one Ampera-e (Bolt) have the AC on and the other didn't?
In short: was this comparable?
Tire pressure was the same; we calibrated to 38 psi on each set of tires just before charging. The AC & heat are both off/on in the 2017 bolt, Bradley's newer 2019 Bolt let me discretely operate themk but to match Ryan's I turned AC and heat on. The biggest flaw is I was in L (higher regen) while Ryan was in D (less regen); but since we were mainly at highway speed, doing the same roads, and the Bolt has brake blending, even this difference should be very minor. This is about as comparable of a test as I've seen done; we did the same roads at the same day and time - only slightly changing driving towards the very end as our respective batteries were dying at different rates.
I may have missed this but what years are these Bolts? Not sure it makes any difference but it would be nice to know the age of the cars... Thanks
The bolt with the new battery is a 2017, the old battery was a 2018. There weren’t any significant differences between those models years
@@ryankassel5691 Thanks! Good to know.
This is sorta click bait. Not all bolts got new batteries. My buddy and his wife just bought 2 21 bolts and they only had a software fix non new battery. The batteries are limited to 80% charge for 6k miles then can go back up to 100%.
282wh/mi is more than my model Y P driven hard. You were very kind on the go pedal...
Does anyone know for sure how the battery warranty works under the recall battery rules? ( for example if say a 2019 Bolt LT has 50K odometer miles when the
new battery is installed under the new recall rules): does the new battery come with a warranty only as good as the original odometer or does it get it's own warranty that is separate?
which of course would be weird because battery's don't have built in odometers , so how could the new battery get a warranty time frame that exceeds the odometer miles?
(unless the battery is just getting a standard new 8 year warranty regardless of the odometer miles, ???)
As I understand it, the battery warranty restarts at 100k/8 years. Now considering I saw somewhere that up to 40% degradation is considered normal, I don't know if it covers anything other than self conflagration.
Must be the hybrid version!! 🤣
Oh when will they replace my battery😢
Why did one of you use D and the other use L? The one using the low regen D got 3.5 m/kwh and the one using the aggressive regen L got 3.4 m/kwh. Also, climate control used 6% in the Bolt on L with the bigger pack and only 4% climate control in the Bolt on D using the old pack. I'm a Bolt and Tesla owner BTW
Big buffer. Weight difference should not make that much difference.
Dudes why not look at climate settings being 6% in new and 4% on old one?
is that new battery the new ultimatum batteries I am hearing about?
No
The Ultium battery packs are not in the Bolt; they were introduced with GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriq. Next year we'll supposedly see a lot more vehicles using them but the Bolt, which first launched in 2017, was before GM went all in with that battery architecture.
I had so much trouble understanding your user name. I thought the 2 meant "two" not "to" for a bit. I wondered what the two big thighs were addicted to 🤔. 😅
The same as what my name means 😂
Unfortunately, this test wasn’t too scientific. They should have traveled the same distance then compare. Also, the new battery pack car showed 6% climate setting usage vs. 4% in the old. Maybe due to longer driving at slower speeds?
New battery avg MPK after 203.3 miles: 3.39
Old battery avg MPK after 197.9 miles: 3.54
Handicap the the climate setting difference, the new battery avg MPK is close to 3.46. Lower than the old battery.
Feel free to peer review this…
The driving speeds at the bottom of the battery pack is definitely a variable. It would have been great if we could have just stayed at 70 until each car died.
I pulled in to the charging station only about 10 minutes after Max, so I think there might be something else also affecting the climate usages, I’m not entirely sure what, though.
When we passed the charging station the first time, Max had 27 miles indicated and about 14-15% left in the battery. I had 34 miles indicated and 17-18% battery left according to the OBD2 scanner. It’s not a perfect comparison with BMS sway, but the difference is still a bit smaller than expected. It leads me to believe that the new battery is just slightly less efficient.
Fewer bolt fires per mile than the average ICE car, by the way.
It’s true! Over a million vehicles from ford and hyundai/Kia were recalled for fire risk just this year. Regardless of ICE or EV, you should definitely take your vehicle in for a recall service if it’s a fire risk!
So at highway speed the bolt will only get around 200 miles on a full charge..............
You can probably get a bit closer to 220 miles in warmer weather
It's pretty normal for EV's to get less charge in our 70 MPH highway range test; these conditions are much more brutal than stop and go traffic for a single reduction gear electric motor. 200 miles at highway speed is actually pretty good and closer to the "average" car range than some EVs!
@@iMaxPattenno it’s not. Can get 450 on a normal car in highway travel.
Your headline is misleading. Not every Bolt is getting a battery upgrade. 🤨 My new 2023 Bolt EUV already has the new battery upgrade from the factory.
🤣🤣those fake exhaust tips!!!
The new pack must be heavier!! 4.5% more energy per mile is not minor. Or the tire pressures are WAY different...
The tire pressures were calibrated, I think the difference in efficiency might be somewhere in the drivetrain. Or maybe it’s the quad exhaust!
Another commentor actually pointed out it isn't! Newer cell chemistry so it's ever so slightly lighter. Tire pressure was calibrated to 38 psi (Chevy's reccomendation) like Ryan mentioned.
@@ryankassel5691 Could the battery case be heavier aka more fireproof? (sorry)
@@zilogfan not that I’m aware of
Please tighten up these videos. 6 mins in that could have been condensed to 1 min or less; even use the description. There is just too much ad-libbing. Write out an outline and follow the structure. This could be a 5 minute video.
That’s not the goal. The longer the video the more ads loaded…
This seems extremely stressful. Probably fine for a daily driver, but don’t take this thing on a road trip.
I have a question that you have never checked, it was a guy who checked the radiation that occurs when you charge the batteries, the value showed over 3000, when the limit value is around 300 as a maximum, isn't that important to know?
Ah, the Russian oil propaganda trolls have found Out Of Spec Reviews
So how can the average working family financially justify buying an ev knowing in 3-5 years at about 100000 miles they will get a $10000-20000 repair while they are still paying for the car and this repair will not be under warranty the ev future is in a scrapyard they are not viable as used vehicles.
They can’t. This is a toy for rich old people or rich young kids. It’s cool and neat. No doubt. But a normal working family on a budget is not gonna go after this. Why would you. What’s the selling point other than “gee! Look at me”
Not the 2023.
Guys is this a monty python's flying circus...Drive that car immediately for a replacement, you can set someone's property on fire, or even worse, a shopping center or similar facility.
Ryan 👍🏼, Max 👎🏼
Sorry bro
Is this video paid for? Just wondering.
Gas car of this size could have gone 500 miles. EVs are a scam.
This confirms that Chevy has totally lied to all the Bolt owners about getting the new pack. Only 60kwh useable? That is terrible.
What about the BMS needing to recalibrate?
its such an ugly car
Every car is ugly once I get in, who cares?
@@FuncleChuck 👍 Unexpected comment! 😄 😎