2022 Bolt EUV Initial impressions

Thanks for asking. I'm very happy with it.

Comfort:
In some ways it's better than the Prime. I LOVE the ventilated seats. Ergonomics are pretty good. The seat bolsters, though, are far enough apart that I often find myself leaning to one side and need to straighten up. It's not uncomfortable, but I imagine it could get that way if I didn't straighten up. So far, our longest drive was about 1-1/2 hours each way. I never felt uncomfortable. One nice improvement is that I don't need a 4" pad on top of the driver's door armrest in order to use the armrest as an armrest. The power driver's seat and adjustable steering wheel made it pretty easy to get the right angles and positions, so that's a tie with the Prime. Getting in and out is a little easier. Hopefully, the mother-in-law will feel the same way about the back seat.

Driving experience:
For one thing, the Prime rides and handles somewhat better. In fact, I think it's outstanding for the type of vehicle it is. But I'm told the the EUV is considerably more comfortable than the EV, which is part of why we chose it. Still, the ride and handling are not bad at all, imho.

No range anxiety. I got the Prime because the PiP would occasionally run out of battery and start the ICE just as I pulled into the driveway. But, the Prime didn't have enough battery for all my around town trips, so there was often a feeling that I wanted to get as many miles per charge as I could. Now, with an estimated 250+ miles showing on the GoM with an 80% charge, I can go anywhere I want around town and not have to think about my range.

WAY better acceleration!!! But I contain myself since I don't want to burn off the tires too fast. But it sure made it easy to take advantage of a short passing window the other day and get around a driver going 10 under. I could have made it in the Prime, too, but the Bolt did it with much more authority.

I've gotten pretty used to one pedal driving now and really like it except for one little thing. When I release the cruise control, I need to kind of pre-stage the accelerator pedal or it will decelerate hard and I still haven't mastered finding the accelerator position that mimics cruise release when driving in D. So lots of times, as soon as I engage the CC, I switch from one pedal to drive.

Until earlier this week, I was really annoyed that there's no way to turn off the radio without turning off the entire infotainment system. You could only mute it. I finally found in the owners manual (RTFM!!! ) that, in the sound settings, there's a maximum volume on startup setting. All I had to do is slide that to zero, and now I don't have to mute the radio every time I start the car and don't want it on. If I do want it on, I just turn the knob. YESSS!!!!! It actually has a volume knob. What an amazing idea they came up with. It also has volume buttons on the steering wheel and over on the other side are station selector buttons. When you use the selector buttons, the driver information center (DIC) briefly shows what station I selected and a few others that are available if I keep tapping buttons.

Apple Car Play is nice, but I could have lived without it. Especially, since it sometimes pops open on the infotainment screen unbidden. I suspect that's a bug in iOS. I imagine that I'll use it more on long trips since it will put my EV route mapping apps on the infotainment screen. (If we ever do a long trip with it.)

 

Driving experience addendum: The steering feels much lighter in the Bolt EUV than in the Prime or my wife's Gen 4 even though the Bolt has wider tires. I'm still adjusting to that feel because it feels slightly twitchy. I think I read somewhere that the Bolt has adaptive steering that varies according to speed, but now I can't find that info. If so, it's not very pronounced. It's not scary, but it doesn't feel nearly as planted as the Prime. I haven't driven it in very windy weather yet so I'll have to wait and see on that.

 

More about the experience.

I don't think I mentioned yet that a week or so after getting the Bolt, it developed a light to moderate rumbling sound between 45-55 mph. I chased it down the the plastic shield on the bottom that runs from the motor area to the front couple feet of the battery.

Two weeks ago today, I took it to the local Chevy dealer. They said it needed a spacer in there and that there was a TSB on it. They ordered it and said it would arrive in 7-10 days. I called today and it's still not there.

But, ever since that visit, the noise has been getting louder and louder. Today I took matters into my own hands and took a look under the car. I had to search for about two seconds to find a suspect. One of the bolts holding the back end of that panel was sticking down about a quarter of an inch. I tightened it down and the noise went back to its previous level. Gotta watch those guys every second!!!

I'm thinking about making my own spacer to put in there temporarily and take it back out when they get the part. That noise in such a silent vehicle is really aggravating.

BTW, we took a trip up to Brooksville today, 65 miles round trip. We used 13 kWh and got 5 m/kWh. So that 65 mile trip at 3 cents/kWh cost us 39 cents or about 6/10 of a cent per mile. (Three cents is what the electric company pays for our excess solar electricity production.)


On the way home, we stopped at Sam's Club to pick up some prescriptions. Here's the mob at the gas station trying to save a few pennies.

 

I'm about to get some more impressions.

We've been planning for some time to take a trip from home in the Tampa area up to Michigan to see my niece who just moved there from southern CA. We were going to see good friends along the way in TN, but they won't be available. Then down to Ohio to spend most of a week with my wife's mom for her 92nd birthday.

With those time constraints, we planned to take the Prius, but since our TN friends won't be there, that takes the pressure off. So we'll take our new Bolt from the Blue EUV.


First time DCFC charging to make sure it works, right after we got the car.

We're starting with 2,473 miles on the ODO. The plan is to leave after church tomorrow and drive to near Dothan, AL. Next day to Henry, IN (just north of Indianapolis). That'll be the longest part of the drive up. Then to Grand Rapids, MI.

Next stop will be an overnighter in Frankenmuth, MI because that's been on my wife's bucket list for years. From there to the Galion, Ohio area for more family time with the m-i-l and others.

Coming home will be a little more challenging since we just have one overnight stop in Chattanooga.

I have the trip up all mapped out on ABRP Premium and also have Plugshare ready to assist. Signed up for the Pass+ with ElectriifyAmerica and also have accounts ready with Chargepoint and Shell Recharge as well as the $500 of EVgo I got with the car and might not ever get to use since they are so scarce. (My RFID EVgo card just arrived this week.)

As always, I have the donut spare, 12V compressor, plug kit, and tool bag in the car. I'll be taking my OEM EVSE with the 240 and 120V connectors plus a heavy extension cord as well as my older 30A EVSE. Garmin GPS is freshly updated and our bags are mostly packed.

I think we're covered pretty well, but I admit to being slightly concerned about the possibility of finding necessary charging stations unavailable, but with the number of L2 stuff all over I'm pretty sure that the worst case would be a delay.

I imagine that someday soon this will be routine.

 

I was thinking it might be notifications. But when I get a text, it opens carplay and brings up the message. When I get an email, nothing happens (afaik). We do have both our phones paired. Sometimes my wife drives the Bolt. But it happens when she is with me or when she's not. It's definitely going to take some experimentation.

And carplay is going to be a nice feature on this trip so I can have the phone maps on the big screen.

 

We just got back from a 2,903 mile road trip in the Bolt. We went up to Grand Rapids, MI and then over to Frankenmuth. Then spent several days with family in the Galion, OH area.

One difference between the Bolt and the Prime on that long trip was that the Bolt sounds about the same whether it's going up or down those big long hills in southern KY.

The other was that the cost per mile was less than the Prime (about 3.2 cents/mile vs 5 cents) but, since we had several free charges, the cost probably would have been about the same if we'd had to pay for all of them.

As for comfort on long drives, it was pretty similar, but not quite as comfy as the Prime. The longest day was 579 miles home from Chattanooga. The second day going up was a close second at 545 miles but took much longer due to a couple traffic jams. We've done several 750+ mile days in the Prime. Felt about the same at the end of each. Not in tears like with the PiP.

The only charging adventure was our very first charge. Plug share said both chargers in Chiefland, FL were working. Wrong!! Neither worked. After wasting almost 45 minutes trying to get one to work, we went on to Perry, FL and charged there.

The trip took longer in the Bolt, but we didn't wait all that much for it and, in fact, it was often done charging before we were done eating. But there were several times we had to find something to do. Good time to get out and stretch your legs. Or tour a small museum. Or visit with other EV owners.

All in all, I think the criticisms of the Bolt being a slow charging car are not as big of a deal as they sound like unless you're just in a flat-out hurry to get someplace. We enjoyed it because we were relaxed (after that first charging adventure).

 

11,000 mile update:

Sunday, the car will hit 11k miles. Sooner if I have a surprise trip tomorrow. It continues to perform flawlessly.

The rumbling noise I mentioned in November turned out to be from a plastic panel behind the front bumper cover. That's where the adhesive spacer went in the TSB I mentioned. It's as quiet now as a mausoleum.

Apple CP still pops ups once in a while unbidden. But not often enough to gripe about.

Most local trips are about 5 mi/kWh, so it's incredibly cheap to drive, especially with solar power. Even a trip up to Silver Springs near Ocala was in that efficiency neighborhood and that was over 200 miles round trip. Still had 25% SOC when we got home. It came with a $500 credit for EVGo charging. EVGo is tied in with Chargepoint, so I can use CP with my EVGo card and it comes out of my EVGo credit. I got to do that today at a mall. It's was only L2 charging but it was enough to replace almost all the juice I used getting there (30 miles each way).

Also, I took a friend to a car museum this week and he commented on how comfortable (and quick) it was. But those Michelin stock tires are sadly lacking in traction, especially in the rain. FWD with 200 hp and 266 pound/feet of torque breaks them loose in a heartbeat.

One common complaint is the low mounted brake lights. I wasn't really worried about them, but I did add an additional brake light strip on top of the spoiler. I LIKE it!

Another little add-on is window vents which finally just became available in time for our first summer with the car.

I do miss all the data the Prime gave me, but this is just as comfortable, more powerful, and cheaper to drive. Plus the infotainment is light years better than the 11" display on the Prime. Time will tell how the reliability compares, but I've had none of the issues (except the rumble sound which isn't a reliability thing) that I've read about in the Bolt forum or Facebook group.