I wonder about this, like nearing the end of the 8 years, how are they going to switch the battery? That's why I think the newer battery for the 2026 bolt might be able to be housed in the older ones.
My Tesla Model S has 110,000 miles and my Bolt has 71,000 miles. Both cars still charge well over 90%. Battery degradation is not a worry right now if you have a car with active thermal management. You have a much higher risk of your car getting totaled in an accident than your battery getting under 80%.
@@newscoulomb3705 I doubt that 80% even happens at 200,000 miles. Original owners like us are the true beta testers for the Bolt's battery packs and there have been very few instances of battery degradation. Battery failure is much more likely than 20% degradation IMO. If larger lithium batteries follow trendlines of smaller capacity batteries we should expect quicker degradation in the beginning, leveling off with very small degradation for a long time, and then eventually the battery will have a much quicker degradation for its third phase. Once you get to the point that 80% degradation happens the battery life should continue that more rapid degradation loss. From the Bolt forums and looking at older Model S cars, I think the Bolt could remain above 80% even after 300,000 miles. Especially the people like me that use hill top reserve and only use level 2 charging. I don't think mileage is the issue, but the one unknown is how time will affect the battery.
@@dc48664 Yes, that's certainly possible. The 80% at 200,000 miles would be based on fully cycling the battery each time, which few people would do. I noticed a drastic decrease in the rate of battery wear when I stopped charging to 100% every day.
Thermal management is important, but so is having a large battery, to reduce unnecessary wear, by being able to keep the battery at voltages at levels conducive with significant life extension. The Spark EV has a thermally managed pack using liquid, like the Bolt and many others, but has suffered significant degradation due to full cycling by its owners. Many 2015/16 Sparks with an 18kwh useable battery when new, are at 13kwh useable presently.
Maybe better put, thermal management is essential for longer life, but so is having top and bottom capacity buffers, whether self implemented or manufacturer imposed.
The battery capacity calculation doesnt work on my 2019. It shows -8.9 kwh all the time. Regarding the recall, I own a 2020 Hyundai Kona Electric, and it had a similar recall slightly before the Bolt did for the same reason (battery fires). My understanding is that the battery used in the Kona and the eNiro is very similar to the Bolt battery, also made by LG Chem in Korea. Hyundai/Kia had a technical service bulletin out for a BMS update for at least 6 months before the recall was issued, and in that TSB, they called for inspection of the battery, checking for cell voltage variation. They also said that in the software update that coincided with the TSB, they significantly tightened the specification for allowable cell voltage variation. It was reduced by like a factor of 10 if I remember correctly. Basically, instead of replacing any battery that may be faulty, they are increasing the BMS sensitivity for triggering a fault code for cell voltage variations, hoping that the vehicle itself will flag the faulty batteries (hopefully before they catch fire) rather than just replacing any that may be faulty out of caution. I suspect GM will end up doing the same.
That sounds right. I didn't realize that KIA also had the same recall. I know that they were getting at least some of their batteries from SK Innovation instead of LG. What I've heard is that Hyundai's new tolerance is
I admit, your updates made me feel so much more comfortable purchasing my 2020 Bolt. In ~ 1 year, I have ~ 13k miles with only three trips requiring fast charging. Hoping for a lonnng battery life. Thank you for all the posts!
We just bought a 2020 Bolt, Brand new it had 7 miles on it (Mar 2021). It was made July 2020. Meaning no one even test drove it for 6 mos. Our first drive and we were sold. GM knocked 12K of the price and gave us zero percent for 7 yrs. This car is amazing. Not as big as a Tesla but much more affordable. Today we are at 450miles on the clock. So far we are avenging around 4KW/mile @ our .08/KW (Duke energy) rate that's just $0.02/ mile. We just don't understand why everyone doesn't get a electric car. Oh and the other day we smoked a hot looking Camaro off the light. wasn't even close....lol
I think your confusing the label that LG chem puts on the battery with usable capacity. Yes LG Chem put 57KWh on the battery. But GM has stated the variance is how the capacity is measured. Supposedly LG chem measures capacity using a higher discharge rate leading to higher internal losses (commonly used in the electronics industry). GM uses a discharge rate that is more typical in an automotive application which on average is less and giving a more realistic usable capacity for the Bolt EV.
It really depends. My Bolt EV specifically had over 59 kWh usable, which I could verify from the Energy screen. I have heard of some Bolt EVs that drove off the lot with less than 58 kWh usable, but that's just variance among batteries. The 57 kWh sticker that LG put on the battery case was the guaranteed minimum capacity for the battery. The typical capacity was ~60 kWh, and that's what GM registered on the EPA filing documents.
Thanks for the update. 56kWh is great after 130,000 miles, especially since you fast charge most of the time. If one wants to prevent the battery capacity from dropping fast, it sounds like it's more important not to charge to 100%, rather than avoid fast charging.
You also can't rely on testing by driving. Too many variables. At 135k miles on my Bolt I get between 56.5kWh and 57kWh. Temperature definitely makes a difference in usable able in the battery.
Yes, there's going to be some variance no matter what the testing methodology. I'm really just looking to track degradation over time. We have very similar miles on our Bolt EVs, but one thing that might have worn my battery faster is the overall size of many of my cycles, where I would regularly go from 100% to
@@newscoulomb3705 agreed, on my round trip across Canada last month, my typical charging cycle was from 5% or less to 55% or 67% for fastest travel. At hotels I set the charge to finish at 100% at the same time we planned to leave again. I'm still very happy with the degradation as I have over 900dcfc on it so far
I went from salt lake city to las Vegas driving through canyon all the way on my 2021 chevy bolt I only got around 150 miles per charge at around 90% charge is that normal with the air conditioner on most of the way
one of the thing love about the bolt is when I went to Vegas I was going 90 miles an hour up hill I used to drive a gas car and it would only go 70 up hill the chevy bolt is alot better on going up hill
No. No maintenance or repairs other than tires, wiper fluid, cabin filter, etc. I'm still on my second set of tires (they need to be replaced soon) and the original brake pads.
Eric, I know you don’t have home charging. Did you take your 2017 in for the recall update or are you just self limiting your charging to 90%? I decided not to do the recall and just program my 2019 to stop at 90%. Most of my charging recently has been at a level 2 as we haven’t done any road trips since March due to the pandemic.
Right now, I'm in Northern California, so I do have access to home charging. I still haven't done the update yet. That's partly due to time, but it's also because I don't feel that it's a solution to the issue. The update might be able to test for the issue, but until GM releases an actual fix/plan, I'm not going to bother with the update.
Yes, I initially saw readings over 60 kWh, but I can't actually verify that. They were within the ~1 kWh variance I commonly see when testing capacity, so I can only verify that I had at least 60 kWh from factory.
Hey I have 2017 bolt ev I was just wondering where or what type of rims you have on your bolt ? I’m still riding on the stock LT rims and want to upgrade and keep my stock rims for winter tires thanks
i think 17 to 19 are Korean packed..hence the recall for a software update to artificially limits ur full charge to 90% from firing. the 2020 models are assemble in the Sttates so no recall on this yrs
Pop your VIN into the NHTSA recall site: www.nhtsa.gov/recalls. If there's no open recall for your car, as some 2019 owners have found, you most likely have Holland, MI-assembled packs.
How accurate is Torque Pro's assessment of the Battery Capacity compared to the onscreen display on the Energy Details screen in the Bolt? Are they both reading the same information? It is so important to know exactly how much energy is left in the battery when you're pushing the limits on your trips. I would imagine that weather conditions play a roll in that overall reading, cold weather measurements vs warmer conditions. One of our Bolts has the recall update while the other charges to 100% capacity. When I am driving across the desert in-between charging stations it would be nice to know exactly how much battery power I have left. I see in many of your videos that you drive with that Detail Screen displayed. Tips?
I've found Torque Pro to be fairly accurate, though there are two different SOC readings. One matches the car pretty closely, but I found that the other didn't. I can't remember what that PID was, and I don't think I have it loaded still.
@@newscoulomb3705 Are you an Android guy or iPhone?? I couldn't find Torque Pro for iPhones. Torque-OBD 2 & Car Pro? Sound about right? Or is it just Torque with an upgrade inside the app?
@@newscoulomb3705 I found OBD2 Torque app for iPhone and bought a bluetooth OBD2 transmitter. I'm curious what the battery capacity is going to read out after the recall update.
TPMS light? There are 3 Pouches to a cell. The voltage variance: my question: is it the cells or is it the measurement system? Mine looks very similar. Maybe 2020's got a better measurement system?
Yes. I'm running on spares in the rear right now, so the TPMS will stay on. The cell groups are each 3 cells in parallel, yes. The 2020 Bolt EVs got better everything, from what I can see. First was an improved BMS, which allows for a charging taper rather than stepdown. The next is better battery chemistry. But over all, it just looks like the packs were assembled better all the way around.
No, not that I've seen. The Bolt EV will attempt to balance the cells when the battery is full, but it doesn't appear to effect the ~0.02 V variance in cell voltages.
@@newscoulomb3705 This Wisconsin weather, me being free with the heater, and taking mostly less than 5-mile trips has put me down to 1.9 - 2.6 kWh per mi, even with pre-conditioning the cabin while plugged in. Eh, what can you do?
Charging to 80% will reduce battery wear even more than charging to 90%. My recommendation is try to charge up to two day's worth of driving. If you can do that on 80% battery, then that would be preferable over 90%.
Thanks Eric, great presentation.... To measure within milliVolts of precision is quite impressive. Then comes the question of accuracy... And repeatablity.... But it is undeniable that battery degradation of 7% over 130K Miles, is quite impressive. Your contribution to our knowledge about BEVs is greatfully appreciated. Great efffort, thanks again.
It was removed, but I don't know that it was due to "erroneous data." It appears that GM didn't want owners checking their capacity with an app. I do agree that it's not always providing accurate information, but that might have as much to do with natural variance when testing batteries for capacity.
@@newscoulomb3705 I think it was more that GM didn't want owners reading erroneous data and complaining. It's pretty easy to see why they wouldn't want that...
Just wanted to throw this in the ring. My 2019 is not part of the recall and that plus the numbers on the pack would seem to indicate it has a Michigan built pack. But... my Torque Pro graph looks exactly like yours. Same higher and lower voltages in the same cell ranges. So I'm not sure if we can deduce that these predictable voltage variations have anything to do with the recall. The recall (and the few fires) may be related to a separate issue entirely.
Is the battery degradation rate linear or is it parabolic? If linear, you will only have 14% degradation after 260,000 miles. I had the 2017 Bolt and I currently have the 2020 Bolt. I like the bigger battery with the 2020 Bolt but it is too bad GM didn't make the seats more comfortable. By the way, have you replaced anything on the 2017 Bolt yet? How are the brakes holding up? Did you have to replace the coolant at 100,000 miles? How about the 12V battary? When I had the 2017 Bolt, the 12V battery died at the end of Year 2 ownership. Thanks for sharing the information.
Can you do a video about the maintenance experiences that you have had over the life of your Bolt. How many visits to Dealerships? How much money have you spent for maintenance? How much have you spent on repairs? Where there any repairs? Etc etc?
I would, but frankly, there's not much to tell. Most of the work on the car has been due to physical damage. The wear at this point is primarily in the tires. Windshield wiper blades, cabin air filters, washer fluid, and tires... that's pretty much the extent of the maintenance.
Maybe not so slim. If it's their most cost-effective option, they might. And if there's a fundamental defect to the battery, they might not have a choice. Keep in mind, this repair/replacement will at least partially be paid for by LG, so it's not as though GM is covering the cost by themselves.
Very interesting. I have a 30 kWh Leaf and at 30k miles I have lost my first battery capacity bar. As for thermal management it is a non issue here where we get maybe 4 days a year over 80F. I should get the Leaf spy app and check it out, but what use will that serve me and there’s nothing I can do about it anyways. So I just plug it in every 4th day on 110V house outlet and charge her up. I do really enjoy the Leaf.
It looks cold. You may have more usable capacity in the summer, so The battery may be in better shape than you think. Also, didn’t GM just block off some of the capacity to prevent fires (hopes GM)?
As an owner of a '19 Bolt with about 8k miles on it, I appreciated the long term update here as well as the overview of Torque Pro. Looks like these cars hold up well over time. Thanks
Thanks, and you're welcome! People have been asking about more information on Torque Pro... I'll probably give a more in depth update of it in the near future.
Thanks for the update - that is amazing especially since you fast charge your car a lot and 2017 battery technology. At this rate you could get over 200k miles before you were down to 80% of capacity, but wouldn't that still give you enough range to take trips?
Thanks for the data point. My experience with readings from my OBD2 port (I use Engine Link LE on my iPhone) have been a pretty large swing on Battery Capacity between the cold months and the warm months. I only have 39K miles. My readings have been as low as 57 and as high as 60, so I've always taken it with a grain of salt. The first time I looked at it was in the winter a couple of years ago and was surprised when it was around 57, but then it was back up in 59 or 60 in the summer. So taking more measurements and tracking over time would be interesting. Today it measured 57.5 kWh.
The fucking crazy thing is, after 130K miles probably more now, you're getting a new battery and starting fresh.
Yup. Even crazier, it will come with a full warranty.
I wonder about this, like nearing the end of the 8 years, how are they going to switch the battery? That's why I think the newer battery for the 2026 bolt might be able to be housed in the older ones.
Thank you!
You're welcome!
My Tesla Model S has 110,000 miles and my Bolt has 71,000 miles. Both cars still charge well over 90%. Battery degradation is not a worry right now if you have a car with active thermal management. You have a much higher risk of your car getting totaled in an accident than your battery getting under 80%.
The degradation will get to 80% eventually. According to the spec sheets for the Bolt EV's cells, it should hit 80% at ~200,000 miles.
@@newscoulomb3705 I doubt that 80% even happens at 200,000 miles. Original owners like us are the true beta testers for the Bolt's battery packs and there have been very few instances of battery degradation. Battery failure is much more likely than 20% degradation IMO. If larger lithium batteries follow trendlines of smaller capacity batteries we should expect quicker degradation in the beginning, leveling off with very small degradation for a long time, and then eventually the battery will have a much quicker degradation for its third phase. Once you get to the point that 80% degradation happens the battery life should continue that more rapid degradation loss. From the Bolt forums and looking at older Model S cars, I think the Bolt could remain above 80% even after 300,000 miles. Especially the people like me that use hill top reserve and only use level 2 charging. I don't think mileage is the issue, but the one unknown is how time will affect the battery.
@@dc48664 Yes, that's certainly possible. The 80% at 200,000 miles would be based on fully cycling the battery each time, which few people would do. I noticed a drastic decrease in the rate of battery wear when I stopped charging to 100% every day.
Thermal management is important, but so is having a large battery, to reduce unnecessary wear, by being able to keep the battery at voltages at levels conducive with significant life extension. The Spark EV has a thermally managed pack using liquid, like the Bolt and many others, but has suffered significant degradation due to full cycling by its owners. Many 2015/16 Sparks with an 18kwh useable battery when new, are at 13kwh useable presently.
Maybe better put, thermal management is essential for longer life, but so is having top and bottom capacity buffers, whether self implemented or manufacturer imposed.
10:00 Answer
I just bought a 2020 Bolt EV. I made that decision in part because of what I've learned from your videos. 👍
planning to get 2023 bolt EV.
I just read all comments and it leads me to believe one could actually get 300-400,000 miles on one of these.
Realistically, you could do even more. I think it should be at least 80% capacity remaining even after 400,000 miles based on current degradation.
@@newscoulomb3705 I'm thinking about getting a EUV. I'm 6'2" 240 lbs I think the extra 6 inches should do it for me.
The battery capacity calculation doesnt work on my 2019. It shows -8.9 kwh all the time.
Regarding the recall, I own a 2020 Hyundai Kona Electric, and it had a similar recall slightly before the Bolt did for the same reason (battery fires). My understanding is that the battery used in the Kona and the eNiro is very similar to the Bolt battery, also made by LG Chem in Korea. Hyundai/Kia had a technical service bulletin out for a BMS update for at least 6 months before the recall was issued, and in that TSB, they called for inspection of the battery, checking for cell voltage variation. They also said that in the software update that coincided with the TSB, they significantly tightened the specification for allowable cell voltage variation. It was reduced by like a factor of 10 if I remember correctly. Basically, instead of replacing any battery that may be faulty, they are increasing the BMS sensitivity for triggering a fault code for cell voltage variations, hoping that the vehicle itself will flag the faulty batteries (hopefully before they catch fire) rather than just replacing any that may be faulty out of caution. I suspect GM will end up doing the same.
That sounds right. I didn't realize that KIA also had the same recall. I know that they were getting at least some of their batteries from SK Innovation instead of LG. What I've heard is that Hyundai's new tolerance is
Yes, on our 2020 Bolt that PID always reads -8.9 from a scrambled signal according to the techs on the forums.
I admit, your updates made me feel so much more comfortable purchasing my 2020 Bolt. In ~ 1 year, I have ~ 13k miles with only three trips requiring fast charging. Hoping for a lonnng battery life. Thank you for all the posts!
Fast charging doesn't really hurt your battery if you stop at 75 percent give our take 10 percent.
This. Is. Incredible. Results. Perhaps the least amount of degradation of any BEV produced recently. Thank you for making this vid.
Thanks, and you're welcome! Yes, the battery degradation seems to have slowed significantly since 100,00o miles.
does anyone know how far the battery degraded on torque pro it's says battery cap extermated is at 58.0 the battery size is 66 on my chevy bolt
I've personally found TorquePro's battery capacity estimate to be inaccurate and inconsistent, so it's not very useful for measuring degradation.
We just bought a 2020 Bolt, Brand new it had 7 miles on it (Mar 2021). It was made July 2020. Meaning no one even test drove it for 6 mos. Our first drive and we were sold. GM knocked 12K of the price and gave us zero percent for 7 yrs. This car is amazing. Not as big as a Tesla but much more affordable. Today we are at 450miles on the clock. So far we are avenging around 4KW/mile @ our .08/KW (Duke energy) rate that's just $0.02/ mile. We just don't understand why everyone doesn't get a electric car. Oh and the other day we smoked a hot looking Camaro off the light. wasn't even close....lol
Wow . Incredible battery
Eric, when the battery was new it did not have 60 KWh "usable". I believe the "usable" capacity is 57 KWh.
The usable capacity (from my last full to low test that I did on my 2019) is 59.7kWh. So the usable capacity really is 60kWh.
I think your confusing the label that LG chem puts on the battery with usable capacity. Yes LG Chem put 57KWh on the battery. But GM has stated the variance is how the capacity is measured. Supposedly LG chem measures capacity using a higher discharge rate leading to higher internal losses (commonly used in the electronics industry). GM uses a discharge rate that is more typical in an automotive application which on average is less and giving a more realistic usable capacity for the Bolt EV.
It really depends. My Bolt EV specifically had over 59 kWh usable, which I could verify from the Energy screen. I have heard of some Bolt EVs that drove off the lot with less than 58 kWh usable, but that's just variance among batteries.
The 57 kWh sticker that LG put on the battery case was the guaranteed minimum capacity for the battery. The typical capacity was ~60 kWh, and that's what GM registered on the EPA filing documents.
Thanks for the update. 56kWh is great after 130,000 miles, especially since you fast charge most of the time. If one wants to prevent the battery capacity from dropping fast, it sounds like it's more important not to charge to 100%, rather than avoid fast charging.
You also can't rely on testing by driving. Too many variables. At 135k miles on my Bolt I get between 56.5kWh and 57kWh. Temperature definitely makes a difference in usable able in the battery.
Yes, there's going to be some variance no matter what the testing methodology. I'm really just looking to track degradation over time. We have very similar miles on our Bolt EVs, but one thing that might have worn my battery faster is the overall size of many of my cycles, where I would regularly go from 100% to
@@newscoulomb3705 agreed, on my round trip across Canada last month, my typical charging cycle was from 5% or less to 55% or 67% for fastest travel. At hotels I set the charge to finish at 100% at the same time we planned to leave again. I'm still very happy with the degradation as I have over 900dcfc on it so far
I went from salt lake city to las Vegas driving through canyon all the way on my 2021 chevy bolt I only got around 150 miles per charge at around 90% charge is that normal with the air conditioner on most of the way
That is a bit on the low side, but it is possible to drive 80-85 mph most of the way, which could drop your range by a lot.
I drove around 80 to 90 miles per hour
@@rueljensen8508 Yeah, so that's about right. You should only be seeing about 2.5 mi/kWh at those speeds.
one of the thing love about the bolt is when I went to Vegas I was going 90 miles an hour up hill I used to drive a gas car and it would only go 70 up hill the chevy bolt is alot better on going up hill
How about repairs? Any major costly repairs in 130,000 miles, if you don't mine sharing?
No. No maintenance or repairs other than tires, wiper fluid, cabin filter, etc. I'm still on my second set of tires (they need to be replaced soon) and the original brake pads.
Eric, I know you don’t have home charging. Did you take your 2017 in for the recall update or are you just self limiting your charging to 90%? I decided not to do the recall and just program my 2019 to stop at 90%. Most of my charging recently has been at a level 2 as we haven’t done any road trips since March due to the pandemic.
Right now, I'm in Northern California, so I do have access to home charging. I still haven't done the update yet. That's partly due to time, but it's also because I don't feel that it's a solution to the issue. The update might be able to test for the issue, but until GM releases an actual fix/plan, I'm not going to bother with the update.
I have 177.000KM (ca. 110.000Mile) 58kWh & Charge 5 ~ 6 times AC and 2 ~ 4 Times DC per Week.
The Ampera-e shipped whit ca. 62kWh.
Yes, I initially saw readings over 60 kWh, but I can't actually verify that. They were within the ~1 kWh variance I commonly see when testing capacity, so I can only verify that I had at least 60 kWh from factory.
@@newscoulomb3705 Our 2017 Bolt was delivered with more than 61 kWh and it had sat on a lot for several months too. ;)
Hey I have 2017 bolt ev I was just wondering where or what type of rims you have on your bolt ? I’m still riding on the stock LT rims and want to upgrade and keep my stock rims for winter tires thanks
In past videos he discussed how he got rims off of a Cruze (in Eco trim). They're somewhat lighter than stock Bolt wheels.
How can I determine if my pack was assembled in the USA or Korea?
i think 17 to 19 are Korean packed..hence the recall for a software update to artificially limits ur full charge to 90% from firing. the 2020 models are assemble in the Sttates so no recall on this yrs
Pop your VIN into the NHTSA recall site: www.nhtsa.gov/recalls. If there's no open recall for your car, as some 2019 owners have found, you most likely have Holland, MI-assembled packs.
How accurate is Torque Pro's assessment of the Battery Capacity compared to the onscreen display on the Energy Details screen in the Bolt? Are they both reading the same information? It is so important to know exactly how much energy is left in the battery when you're pushing the limits on your trips. I would imagine that weather conditions play a roll in that overall reading, cold weather measurements vs warmer conditions. One of our Bolts has the recall update while the other charges to 100% capacity. When I am driving across the desert in-between charging stations it would be nice to know exactly how much battery power I have left. I see in many of your videos that you drive with that Detail Screen displayed. Tips?
I've found Torque Pro to be fairly accurate, though there are two different SOC readings. One matches the car pretty closely, but I found that the other didn't. I can't remember what that PID was, and I don't think I have it loaded still.
@@newscoulomb3705 Are you an Android guy or iPhone?? I couldn't find Torque Pro for iPhones. Torque-OBD 2 & Car Pro? Sound about right? Or is it just Torque with an upgrade inside the app?
@@scarletbegonias2359 I use Android. I guess Torque Pro isn't Apple compatible yet.
@@newscoulomb3705 I found OBD2 Torque app for iPhone and bought a bluetooth OBD2 transmitter. I'm curious what the battery capacity is going to read out after the recall update.
Looking to purchase a 2022 Bolt EUV. I live in Texas. Any suggestions on negotiating the best deal? The $7500.00 incentive is gone. Any ideas?
TPMS light? There are 3 Pouches to a cell. The voltage variance: my question: is it the cells or is it the measurement system? Mine looks very similar. Maybe 2020's got a better measurement system?
Yes. I'm running on spares in the rear right now, so the TPMS will stay on.
The cell groups are each 3 cells in parallel, yes.
The 2020 Bolt EVs got better everything, from what I can see. First was an improved BMS, which allows for a charging taper rather than stepdown. The next is better battery chemistry. But over all, it just looks like the packs were assembled better all the way around.
Eric - does a slow charge to 100% improve the voltage deficit noted in the 60’s vicinity cells - aka balance them?
No, not that I've seen. The Bolt EV will attempt to balance the cells when the battery is full, but it doesn't appear to effect the ~0.02 V variance in cell voltages.
Holy better efficiency than me! Did you find better kWhs per mile after switching to Chevy Volt wheels, or is it the wonderful Cali weather alone?
It's a combination of factors. Part of it is because this was 90% steady speed driving at ~60 mph.
@@newscoulomb3705 This Wisconsin weather, me being free with the heater, and taking mostly less than 5-mile trips has put me down to 1.9 - 2.6 kWh per mi, even with pre-conditioning the cabin while plugged in. Eh, what can you do?
I set my 2019 Bolt EV to a 90% charge. Is that ok, or do you recommend setting it to 80% for my home charge, to best preserve the battery?
Charging to 80% will reduce battery wear even more than charging to 90%. My recommendation is try to charge up to two day's worth of driving. If you can do that on 80% battery, then that would be preferable over 90%.
You should top off to 100 percent one in a while too.
Thanks for the video
Weird. I have a 2018 with 69k KM and torque reads 53.4kWh but that doesn't sound right to me.
Thanks Eric, great presentation.... To measure within milliVolts of precision is quite impressive. Then comes the question of accuracy... And repeatablity.... But it is undeniable that battery degradation of 7% over 130K Miles, is quite impressive. Your contribution to our knowledge about BEVs is greatfully appreciated. Great efffort, thanks again.
The PID is known to produce erroneous data. It has been removed on the 2019 Bolt.
It was removed, but I don't know that it was due to "erroneous data." It appears that GM didn't want owners checking their capacity with an app. I do agree that it's not always providing accurate information, but that might have as much to do with natural variance when testing batteries for capacity.
@@newscoulomb3705 I think it was more that GM didn't want owners reading erroneous data and complaining. It's pretty easy to see why they wouldn't want that...
Just wanted to throw this in the ring. My 2019 is not part of the recall and that plus the numbers on the pack would seem to indicate it has a Michigan built pack. But... my Torque Pro graph looks exactly like yours. Same higher and lower voltages in the same cell ranges. So I'm not sure if we can deduce that these predictable voltage variations have anything to do with the recall. The recall (and the few fires) may be related to a separate issue entirely.
That is a ton of miles in just 3-4 years.
I do 90,000 miles a year. I'm buying a bolt this month. The gas savings will pay for the car in 30 months.
Is the battery degradation rate linear or is it parabolic? If linear, you will only have 14% degradation after 260,000 miles. I had the 2017 Bolt and I currently have the 2020 Bolt. I like the bigger battery with the 2020 Bolt but it is too bad GM didn't make the seats more comfortable. By the way, have you replaced anything on the 2017 Bolt yet? How are the brakes holding up? Did you have to replace the coolant at 100,000 miles? How about the 12V battary? When I had the 2017 Bolt, the 12V battery died at the end of Year 2 ownership. Thanks for sharing the information.
Great video! I sell Chevys here in Utah, and they are amazing cars, seeing this really impressed me! EV is the FUTURE!
Can you do a video about the maintenance experiences that you have had over the life of your Bolt. How many visits to Dealerships? How much money have you spent for maintenance? How much have you spent on repairs? Where there any repairs? Etc etc?
I would, but frankly, there's not much to tell. Most of the work on the car has been due to physical damage. The wear at this point is primarily in the tires. Windshield wiper blades, cabin air filters, washer fluid, and tires... that's pretty much the extent of the maintenance.
What are the odds that GM replaces the batteries in these older Bolts with the bigger packs from the 2020 Bolt? Slim I know, but I can dream.
Maybe not so slim. If it's their most cost-effective option, they might. And if there's a fundamental defect to the battery, they might not have a choice. Keep in mind, this repair/replacement will at least partially be paid for by LG, so it's not as though GM is covering the cost by themselves.
I'm from the future, and the odds are very good.
What was your "Bat Cap Est" as displayed by TorquePro? (I use EngineLink on my iPhone but I assume it;s available to you too)
Thanks Eric. You have given me the courage to adapt Troque Pro...
overall good numbers, thanks for sharing this!
Thanks for the update. Is the 0.02V variance enough for you to keep a closer eye on the cell voltages?
Very interesting. I have a 30 kWh Leaf and at 30k miles I have lost my first battery capacity bar. As for thermal management it is a non issue here where we get maybe 4 days a year over 80F. I should get the Leaf spy app and check it out, but what use will that serve me and there’s nothing I can do about it anyways. So I just plug it in every 4th day on 110V house outlet and charge her up. I do really enjoy the Leaf.
It looks cold. You may have more usable capacity in the summer, so The battery may be in better shape than you think. Also, didn’t GM just block off some of the capacity to prevent fires (hopes GM)?
Brother. My charging cable is not plugging in all the way. I can’t hear the click. It’s sucks I can’t charge my car right now.
Sometimes there’s a rubber gasket that slips out of place and prevents the plug from going in all the way.
As an owner of a '19 Bolt with about 8k miles on it, I appreciated the long term update here as well as the overview of Torque Pro. Looks like these cars hold up well over time. Thanks
Thanks, and you're welcome! People have been asking about more information on Torque Pro... I'll probably give a more in depth update of it in the near future.
If you treat the battery well you should expect around 55kWh capacity at 200k.
Thanks for the update - that is amazing especially since you fast charge your car a lot and 2017 battery technology. At this rate you could get over 200k miles before you were down to 80% of capacity, but wouldn't that still give you enough range to take trips?
Thanks for the data point.
My experience with readings from my OBD2 port (I use Engine Link LE on my iPhone) have been a pretty large swing on Battery Capacity between the cold months and the warm months. I only have 39K miles. My readings have been as low as 57 and as high as 60, so I've always taken it with a grain of salt. The first time I looked at it was in the winter a couple of years ago and was surprised when it was around 57, but then it was back up in 59 or 60 in the summer. So taking more measurements and tracking over time would be interesting.
Today it measured 57.5 kWh.
omg a few bolts caught fire! QUICK RUN TO THE GAS STATIONS!!! lol