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A long road trip in an all-electric car is still a novelty, even if Tesla and its expanding Supercharger network are making it more of a realistic possibility-for those who can afford a Tesla, that is. For those outside that exclusive club, today's crop of more affordable EVs doesn't offer much road-trip potential, with even the best among them allowing just over 100 miles of range, or barely enough to get from New York to Philadelphia before you need to recharge the batteries.
GM is thus rightly proud of its new Bolt EV and its 238-mile EPA-rated driving range. No matter how you look at it, that's a big step forward for electric cars. To quell any skepticism about the accuracy of this number, Chevy sent me and a few other journalists on a good-old American road trip in preproduction Bolt EVs.
The route from Monterey to Santa Barbara, California spanned approximately 235 miles. Sounds perilously close to that EPA range number doesn't it? But Chevrolet representatives, especially Bolt chief engineer Josh Tavel, seemed confident that we'd easily make it to the final destination.
Conflicted about whether I should employ hypermiling techniques to get the most out of the car, or just drive it more spiritedly to fully test the impressive claim, I chose to do a bit of both. As per Tavel's suggestion, my first move was to use the Bolt's electronic shifter to put the car in "Low" mode, enabling the most aggressive level of regenerative braking to recapture more energy. This allowed me to essentially control the Bolt's speed using only the right pedal, with the brake pedal being entirely unnecessary for the majority of the trip. The EPA tests range in the standard "Drive" mode, which has less-aggressive regen, meaning that I was already increasing the potential to beat the official range number.
During the first part of the route on scenic Highway 1, I wasn't able to push the pace much because of a fair amount of tourist traffic, and cooler temperatures meant that I was comfortable leaving the air conditioning off. This combination of efficiency-boosting factors meant that the indicated range number-which had started out at 225 miles-didn't budge for the first half of the trip. After driving around 100 miles to our lunch stop, the indicated range remaining was still hovering just below 200 miles.
After transitioning to the straighter, flatter, and faster Highway 101, the temperature had started to climb, so I turned on the automatic climate control to 72 degrees. Right off the bat, the main range number dropped by around 10 miles (the Bolt's instrument cluster also displays a maximum and minimum range number). Driving the Bolt EV at highway speeds, between 65 and 70 mph, also caused the number to begin dropping more quickly. Using the car's regenerative capability less frequently at speed, the range display indicated a downward trend as a yellow bar stretched from the main number toward the minimum figure.
The final challenge was a long climb up mountainous terrain on Highway 154 approaching Santa Barbara. During one extended uphill stretch, with the air conditioning still turned on, the indicated range crept below 50 miles and the battery remainder display changed from green to a slightly alarming shade of orange. I had used about three-fourths of the 60-kWh battery's capacity at this point (as in most other EVs and hybrids, a buffer zone on the battery charge capacity prevents complete discharge of the battery pack, to prevent damage). According to Tavel, the switch from green to orange doesn't correspond with a certain battery percentage or remaining range number, instead being decided by an algorithm that takes into account many different energy-use factors. Proving his point, the display changed back from orange to green when we found ourselves on an extended downhill section that allowed the Bolt to recapture plenty of electrons from its regenerative braking system.
As it turned out, there'd been no reason to worry. When I arrived in Santa Barbara, having driven 237.8 miles, the Bolt's display showed 34 miles of range remaining. I had used 50.1 kWh of total energy, making for an average efficiency of 4.8 miles per kWh. Impressive numbers all around that clearly show the Bolt is capable of far surpassing the official EPA range figure. It's not hard to imagine a more urban commute, with lower speeds and more opportunities for regenerative braking, could stretch the total past 300 miles in some cases.
Some current EV owners may argue that outright range is not the singular metric for an electric car's capability. Even shorter-range EVs are perfectly usable as commuter cars, especially for drivers who can charge up at work. But the Bolt EV seems poised to expand the electric car's appeal beyond those early adopters who are willing to adjust their lifestyles to suit the abilities of an electric car. Its outstanding driving range makes the Bolt into an EV that could work for those with longer commutes, those who aren't able to charge up as often, and even those who enjoy whiling away hours cruising the open road.
Read more on Car and Driver.