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Chevy Bolt: the First Practical, Mass-Market Electric Vehicle

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Re: Chevy Bolt: the First Practical, Mass-Market Electric Vehicle

#41

Post by mach5 »

maxxxxx wrote: post #19
mach5 wrote: post #7

we own one, can agree that its great! it's my wife's daily driver, and with my own trips in it, i can't even imagine getting another ICE when the time comes to get a new car for myself. the L mode itself is almost a new driving experience, controlling the car fully through just one pedal and trying to eke out every last drop of kinetic energy back into the battery, and making it a challenge to never use the brakes. i…

Nice! Maintenance is a pretty big cost a lot of people forget. How is the recharge situation when you are on a trip?

not as good as the supercharger network, obviously, but there are level 2's everywhere there are dealerships nowadays and there will only be more chargers as time goes on. for long trips we use my diesel 3-series.

Re: Chevy Bolt: the First Practical, Mass-Market Electric Vehicle

#42

Post by CaliforniaKarl »

The question I have to ask: Has anyone here gotten an EV and successfully gotten a charger setup going in an apartment garage?

For where I live, I'd say we have 100-150 parking spaces, all underground. There are two spaces that have chargers, which are first-come-first-served, I don't count them.

So, the idea would be to get my own charger. I already have a safe place to put it: There is a wide-but-not-deep storage unit at the back of my parking space, with concrete behind it. I could have a charger properly mounted to the concrete wall, and I don't use the storage space, so I could keep it open when charging. The annoyance then is having to get a little electrical conduit run to the nearest place where a meter can be installed. That's likely going to be all the way across the length of the garage, and then up a level.

As for work, there are charge points on Stanford's campus, but they are not free. Assuming I take a charging slot for the entire workday, I'd be paying around $3,400 per year, for charging fees and a parking permit.

Re: Chevy Bolt: the First Practical, Mass-Market Electric Vehicle

#43

Post by matt_wulfeck »

coolspot wrote: post #25
hedora wrote: post #20

We just managed to sell another flagship GM vehicle, and the software was so bad, it was nearly a deal-breaker. (Most years of this model had software bugs that were so bad, they could literally kill you — for example, the exhaust system could overheat, and burn the car down). Also, basic electro-mechanical things, like seat belts and the FM radio started to die after 3-4 years. This is with light use in CA. Even whe…

Elon, you are using wrong account.

He knows his targets are ripe for takeover. The car industry is stuck in the past.

Re: Chevy Bolt: the First Practical, Mass-Market Electric Vehicle

#44

Post by greglindahl »

samcheng wrote: post #10
mach5 wrote: post #7

we own one, can agree that its great! it's my wife's daily driver, and with my own trips in it, i can't even imagine getting another ICE when the time comes to get a new car for myself. the L mode itself is almost a new driving experience, controlling the car fully through just one pedal and trying to eke out every last drop of kinetic energy back into the battery, and making it a challenge to never use the brakes. i…

Be careful, Tesla drivers discovered that never using the brake, particularly in areas that use salt on the roads, results in expensive corrosion. Automotive brakes haven't been designed with one-pedal driving in mind... https://cleantechnica.com/2016/05/24/8500-new-tesla-model-s-... Recommendation: consciously use the brakes in a firm deceleration once a week.

If you read the article, the owner didn't go in yearly to have things inspected. One thing they do at every yearly inspection is to look at the brakes.

Re: Chevy Bolt: the First Practical, Mass-Market Electric Vehicle

#45

Post by arkades »

abduhl wrote: post #40
hedora wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Case in point. I thought I read bolts (volts?) sometimes put themselves into reverse and accelerate while off+charging. I wanted to paste a link, but found this article instead. It looks like this safety issue is by design. (Also, CR says the handling is “choppy” on uneven pavement, which matches my old lemon): http://www.chevybolt.org/forum/#/topics/7778?page=1 “On this rainy morning while turning to park in a stall…

your case in point is that someone who wanted to park decided not to use his brakes? is removing your foot from the accelerator instead of using the brake a standard learned behavior amongst bolt/volt owners?

Yes, because that’s how regenerative braking works. This was discussed at length in the linked article.

Re: Chevy Bolt: the First Practical, Mass-Market Electric Vehicle

#46

Post by s0rce »

erik_seaberg wrote: post #23

Hours per week charging is better than hours per day, but still only practical for people who can run heavy wiring to a private garage. I keep wishing gas station battery swaps were happening.

I've seen people charging bolts and plug in hybrids on my street with the wire run across the sidewalk (ie. from their home to the car parked on the street out front). Its a low-traffic residential area (East Bay) and I think this should be legal as it allows many people who have homes but no driveways to own and charge EVs. Maybe there should be a special rubber wire cover to protect the cord and so people don't trip. I hope someone doesn't trip and fall, sue the owner and ruin it for everyone.

Re: Chevy Bolt: the First Practical, Mass-Market Electric Vehicle

#47

Post by CaliforniaKarl »

taneq wrote: post #38
brightball wrote: post #12

You can get a 1 year old Volt for about 15-17k. Best deal out there IMO.

That's a pretty big drop, any idea why it goes down so much?

Used car prices have been dropping in general. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15076441 from two months ago.

Re: Chevy Bolt: the First Practical, Mass-Market Electric Vehicle

#48

Post by rdl »

I wonder if it makes more sense to lease vs. buy now (since self driving, electric, etc. technology is progressing quickly) -- it seems like lease discount/money factor isn't going down as quickly as it should with these cars. (I've never bought a new car, and never leased as a car, but probably will get a new EV as my next -- an S, 3, or Bolt.)

Owning is great if you keep the car for 8-12 years like I've done, but I can't imagine any EV sold today being competitive in 5-10 years, even with software upgrades.

Re: Chevy Bolt: the First Practical, Mass-Market Electric Vehicle

#49

Post by mach5 »

matt_wulfeck wrote: post #43
coolspot wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elon, you are using wrong account.

He knows his targets are ripe for takeover. The car industry is stuck in the past.

can't take over the car industry when you can barely deliver 14% of what you promised: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/20/jpmorgan-slashes-its-tesla-m...

Re: Chevy Bolt: the First Practical, Mass-Market Electric Vehicle

#50

Post by KGIII »

bane wrote: post #32
KGIII wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> plus interest ... > I paid cash. How are you paying interest if you paid cash?

Well, I'm not, but somebody is bound to call it out for people who finance.

I get it now. Thanks. I was curious as to how that might come about.
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