Bolt miles/kWh

Discussion in 'Bolt EV' started by Kevin C, Jun 1, 2018.

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  1. Chris Thoreen

    Chris Thoreen New Member

    I live in central oregon and my daily commute is up a hill with a 1000' elevation gain. I do this trip twice a day and my total miles driven is nearly always ~52 miles/day. I also use a charge point app to track my kWh used to charge. This time of year I always precondition in the morning and keep track of that separately. For the month of February so far my average is 3.10 miles/kWh without preconditioning and 2.92 miles/kWh with preconditioning included. Temperatures this time of year in the high desert are generally in the mid 30's to low 40's during the day and mid teens to mid twenties at night.
     
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  3. RobLeabeter

    RobLeabeter New Member

    Just to add complication to your calculations, here are a couple of numbers from Canada, a couple of hours north of Toronto. Summer temperatures can raise to 30 degrees Celcius and down to -20 C over the winter. Last summer over an extended period I clocked 13.4 KWH per 100 Kms with pretty careful driving. Over the winter, the average dropped like a stone to 25KWH per 100 Kms. Totally dependent on temperatures as far as I am concerned. Converting that to US measures 13.4= 4.6 Miles per KWH, and 25= 2.48. We use a lot to heat and condition the battery when it's cold. Air conditioning does not hit the numbers too hard up here in God's country.
     
  4. NeilBlanchard

    NeilBlanchard Active Member

    Temperature is a big factor, for certain. Minus 20C is about -4F and that is very cold. Cold temps affect several things - aero drag is greater as the air temp drops, because the air is denser. This affects all vehicles, by the way. (ICE vehicles are affected by cold because they warm up much more slowly, and they require being fully warmed up to lean out the fuel/air mixture, and the oil gets really viscous, which increases the friction.) Electric motors "like" the cold, and don't lose efficiency when stone cold.

    But the battery does need to be warm enough to have a greater charge, so they have to be warmed up in extreme cold. This can be done when it is plugged in, to minimize the energy use from the battery.

    But elevation change, and travel speeds, and the driver's right foot, all are also important factors.
     
  5. GetOffYourGas

    GetOffYourGas Well-Known Member

    Wow, I wish I got 2.48 miles/kWh at -20C! I am seeing 1.8-2 miles/kWh at those temps. What speeds do you typically drive up there? I see less than 2 miles/kWh at 65MPH (105 km/hr).
     
  6. NeilBlanchard

    NeilBlanchard Active Member

    Is there snow and ice on the road? What tires are you using? The worst consumption I have seen in our 2017 is about 2.7 miles/kWh - about 9F / -13C with strong gusting winds, four adults in the car, at highway speeds.
     
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  8. GetOffYourGas

    GetOffYourGas Well-Known Member

    There is almost always snow and slush on the roads here. They do a decent job of keeping the roads safe, but that includes a lot of salt and sand to melt the ice. It will often snow for days on end (thank you, Lake Effect!), so you end up with a snowy/slushy mess. I have Michelin XI3 winter tires. They are marketed as lower rolling resistance, but they certainly aren't as efficient as the stock tires.
    I have no eco mods to the car, I do have roof rails permanently attached, although those only account for a difference of maybe 0.25miles / kWh. I use cruise control set to the posted speed limit (typically 65MPH). I also have a child in a car seat, so cannot rely solely on heated seats. We keep the internal temperature set to a balmy (to us) 65F. Plus with 5 people and a dog breathing inside the car, I don't know how hard the A/C is working to keep the windows from fogging.
     
  9. NeilBlanchard

    NeilBlanchard Active Member

    Snow and slush is a big drain of energy - pushing all that mass out from under the tires adds up quickly, and it is effectively like driving up a slope - and there is some slippage. These 3 factors will easily subtract a fair bit from the range.

    Running the heater and/or defroster is the main thing, though - it takes 2-5kW so every mile you drive with the heat on is a big deal. The heat alone can dry things out - the A/C is for when you need to do it quickly, but if the outside air temp is frigid, then any temp above freezing will hold the dew point down enough to avoid fogging, most of the time.
     
  10. GetOffYourGas

    GetOffYourGas Well-Known Member

    There are certainly times when the windows fog up with the heater set to 65F on auto. I have to bump it to "max defrost" for a minute to clear things up again. Don't underestimate the amount of moisture produced by 6 mammals breathing in a small space.

    But you're right about the slush resistance. Certainly that does not help my efficiency. Of course, the only thing I could do about it is move somewhere dryer, but that isn't going to happen.
     
  11. Tim Miser

    Tim Miser New Member

    I drive pretty fast and go over jumps now and then and in the summer I get about 4 and the winter about 2.8.
     
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  13. Mark Richards

    Mark Richards Member

    48,000 miles in Denver. 3.2mi/kWh lifetime average. Cold weather hurts the bolt bad. Probably no more than any other EV, but this is my first real EV. I know people in warmer climates are getting over 4.0 sometimes way more.
     
  14. GetOffYourGas

    GetOffYourGas Well-Known Member

    The Bolt lacks a heat pump, which means cold hurts it more than any EV that has one.

    The heat pump in my Mini SE seems to be more efficient than the Bolt's resistance heater down into the teens (F). Here in Syracuse, it only dips below 15F for a total of maybe 15-20 days a year. Other than those 20 days, the Mini is hurt less by cold than the Bolt.
     
  15. Dave Shiels

    Dave Shiels New Member

    Running AC in Arizona I am getting 3.6 - 3.8 per trip.
     
  16. NeilBlanchard

    NeilBlanchard Active Member

    Over the last 22K+ miles, the four drivers (all of us) driving our 2017 have averaged 4.7 miles / kWh. That is well over a year, so it includes our New England winter.
     
  17. Mark Richards

    Mark Richards Member

    I have 49,000 miles and have a lifetime average of 3.2mi/kWh. I guess I drive it like a race car

    Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk
     
  18. NeilBlanchard

    NeilBlanchard Active Member

    Our average has decreased to 4.6 miles / kWh.

    One of the things we do, is put it in neutral to coast, when possible. This moves the car along essentially for free.
     
  19. TonyInGA

    TonyInGA Member

    According to the meter under the Speedometer, my Avg mi/kWh varies quite a bit.

    I've been as low as 3.2, and as high as 6.1. Yesterday, I'm sitting at 5.2 (up from 4.3 a couple of days earlier; all while driving in D, and using the Regen Braking Paddle as much as possible; for me, driving in L (e-Pedal) results in lower numbers).

    Though, the most accurate (or, so I'm told (not by a GM Engineer); but personally, if the "Last Full Charge" has been months ago, is it really more accurate?), is to use the Energy icon, and divide the total miles/by kWh used.
     
  20. June Barton

    June Barton New Member

    Easy to do lol


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  21. June Barton

    June Barton New Member

    I use the Charge Point charger on my 2020 Bolt. It tells me how much each month I spend on electricity from Duke Energy (I only charge at home). In August it was $17.
    It’s the only car I drive but when the weather gets bad I will drive my 2020 Buick Encore GX that shifts into all wheel drive.





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  22. rgmichel

    rgmichel Active Member

    The Chargepoint charger tells you how much energy is used to charge the car, but not how much energy the car uses to drive around. The difference between the two is the efficiency in charging the car. You can monitor the Chargepoint numbers, and write down the car numbers just before you charge to obtain the difference. I found the difference between the two is about 8% for my Bolt. I probably posted these numbers somewhere else on the site back in 2018.
     
  23. rgmichel

    rgmichel Active Member

    My average efficiency over a typical year is around 3.8 to 3.9.
     

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