Your EV mode percentage?

It varies depending on my drive. In the city I sometimes get over 60% EV time, but on longer highway drives it can be under 10%.

I used to obsess about EV mode but over time I've learned to not let it bother me. The Prius isn't an EV - the battery and electric motor are only there to provide power under the conditions when the Atkinson-cycle engine would otherwise have to operate in a range where it's not very efficient. When you're not in EV mode it's generally because the designers have concluded that under those conditions EV mode is less efficient.

And don't forget that all the juice for EV mode comes from - yes, the gas engine. So when you're in EV mode you're just burning "fuel" that was created by burning gas. There's no "free ride" when you're running on those gas-generated electrons.

All of which is why I'm planning to buy a Chevy Bolt next year. I want to get off of gas, period. Hybrids are a great transition technology, but they're not the ultimate solution, IMHO.

 

I like what I have read about the Bolt in terms of cost with the rebates and the range. But read on the insideeevs article that came out two days ago:

Those who’ve been following development of the Chevy Bolt over the past year know that the car will be offered with the CCS DC charging port, just like its sister car the Chevy Spark. DC charging dramatically reduces charging time and will allow the Bolt to quickly recharge for high mileage drivers and those on long distance trips. But when it comes to DC charging, GM is oddly silent.

Go to the official website for the Bolt (click here to check it out), and what you see is a very prominent message stating “Full charge in 9 hours”. No mention of rapid DC charging anywhere. It’s as if that DC charging port doesn’t even exist."

This is a big omission and it raises a legitimate question: Does GM actually want to sell the Bolt?

The average person who has never driven an electric car will very likely see that message – 9 hours to charge – and keep on walking. It will be a deal breaker. Auto makers usually focus on exciting features that help sell cars. 9 hours is not one of them. 9 hour charging stops do not figure into the dreams and aspirations of the average driver planning a summer vacation or annual trip to visit family for the holidays.

We could speculate why GM has left out this very important detail. Perhaps they’ve dropped the DC charge port from the final design? Doubt it. Perhaps they haven’t yet calculated charge time on 125 or 200 amp DC chargers? Inconceivable. Perhaps GM is concerned about uneven rollout of DC charging stations across the country? Unlikely. In fact, early this year GM stated they would not get involved in setting up or promotoing DC charging infrastructure. So perhaps they don’t understand that DC charging will be essential for mass adoption of EVs? Or perhaps they do.

Just a few days ago news stories announced that VW is planning a 300 mile EV that will charge in 15 minutes. This is a car that is years from production, and who knows if it’ll actually get built. But for all it’s faults, VW gets it: charging speed is important. And it really doesn’t need pointing out, but yet I will, that Tesla’s extensive, reliable, worldwide Supercharger network is a huge selling point for their cars.

 

GM has been pretty late publishing the ordering information for a car which is supposed to start production next month. And this development shows why that is - they've clearly decided to change the DC fast charging offering at the last minute, probably because they want to keep the car competitive with what all the other manufacturers are promising to deliver on their "vaporware" cars which won't be available for a year or more. For example Volkswagen has said that they'll deliver a long-range EV with 100KW charging capability, twice the spec that GM has been claiming for the Bolt.

It's anyone's guess as to when the final specs for the Bolt will be published and what they will be. But my guess is that they will either make DC fast charging a standard feature (it was formerly said to be an option) or that they will increase the maximum charging rate.

Given that the Bolt is supposed to start production around a month or so from now and that dealers still need to place their orders, I'd expect that we're going to find out sooner rather than later.