Top 3 Reasons We Switched to Electric & Cost of Michigan - Florida I-75 2023 Chevy Bolt EUV Charging
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- Опубликовано: 12 апр 2023
- We list our top 3 reasons why we decided to switch to an electric vehicle and we break down the costs of what we paid for our highway charging sessions on our March 2023 Michigan to Florida I-75 cross country trip in our new 2023 Chevy Bolt EUV.
I'm a retired engineer and have been driving electric for 7 years, the proud owner of a 2019 Bolt, and a reservation holder on a Blazer EV to replace my Fusion Hybrid. This was a nicely presented video that appealed to my engineering instincts. There are only a few corner conditions currently where ICE vehicles make sense over electric (like towing, pee-in-a-bottle road trippers, apartment dwellers without easy charging access) but for everyday driving, EV (with home charging) is the superior solution.
Older the driver gets further away gets from pee in the bottle scenario trips requiring frequent stops thus being incline to use an EV especially being retired and trying to enjoy the the trip rather than making it a marathon.
@jettcity Thanks so much for your comment!
@nev co We are definitely "about the journey" types too!
Wait till charging cost 10x as much as gasoline 😂😂😂😂
@jettcity A Blazer EV? I was just at my local Chevy dealership to see if they had any Bolts or Bolt EUVs (they didn't) and learn what I could about the Silverado EV that is coming in 2024.
They didn't mention that an EV version of the Blazer is in the works.
I'm retired too but I'm not an engineer. I've owned my 2022 Bolt EUV for about 9 months now and I love it. My road warrior days are over and if I make a long trip now it will be with one of my kids. I've had Toyota hybrids for a decade and a half and decided that it was time to go all in. Those Toyotas have been given to my kids and I've traded their cars. It's been good for them and me. So cheerio to you all for now.
RUclips recommended your channel because I have been watching Chevy Bolt EV related videos (I just got one) and I have to say, I love your videos. Very informative videos and your voice is very clear
Thank you so much for the compliment! We're working on another Bolt video and hopefully it will be done in about a week or so.
I have little criticism of your vehicle choice or trip home. The Bolt is a great car and I'd have one myself if I were in the market. Your average charging speed was only 29kW though. On any future road trips you definitely would want to go deeper into the range to maximize the charging speed which begins to taper off steeply from the listed 55kW after about 45% SOC.
Up in Genesee County outside of Flint and travel once or twice a year to Florida. I picked up my '23 Bolt on 10/5 so I've had it less than 48 hours at the time I watched this video. I'm planning on using this car as a daily commuting car, to get the house electrical ready to support charging multiple cars, and to gain experience on charging. However, my wife and I will be taking her hybrid Rav4 on our driving trips to Florida and Disney. We're DVC With AKL Kidani as our home resort and our next trip is a long weekend in December. I was also looking at a hybrid Maverick or the upcoming GM electric offerings but couldn't justify waiting longer. Looking forward to learning the ins and outs of charging and I respect how you and your husband jumped into the deep end with an immediate long distance trip.
Thanks for watching and for your comments. The GrizzlE does sell a box with 2 charger cords but we don't have any experience with it so we don't know the details on it. We're really glad we bought our Bolt EUV when we did. The writing really seems to be on the wall these days!
Bought my KIA EV6 9 months ago! love it and just got it before the politicians got involved in changing the rebate qualifications. Very well made car and lots of unexpected extras. I had to order it and it only took 2+ months.
Very clear and informative, awesome video!
Thank you; I appreciate your comment!
Very awesome video! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for watching and your nice comment!
In sept 2022 I sold my '19 awd-e Prius for more than I paid for it new, and I ordered a '23 bolt euv Lt the next day -- getting it early march '23. The prius was an excellent car, but I realized I loved driving on battery, and was disappointed every time the engine started. I didn't want supercruise, don't trust gm sunrooves, and I'm too cheap to buy the premiere, so the Lt with driver assist and comfort packages it was :) I knew I'd like the Bolt, but I didn't realize I'd love it so much that I don't want to drive a combustion car again.
In Vancouver Canada, reg gas is forecast to hit $9.80/us gallon or higher this summer, and residential electricity rates are soon changing to be $0.095/kwh at night.
@@tooltime9260 -- Would be nice, but the roads here aren't made for bike commuting, except in a few cities; commuting to work where I am by bike would be dangerous at the best of times (no shoulders in places), and would be insane in the winter. The Finnish do it, but they have a cycling culture.
I agree with you on the unnecessary gadgets. I also definitely don't want a sunroof because I am 6'7" and it cuts down on headroom.
Thank you for a very well done video. I've had my 2022 Bolt EUV for almost 2 years now (since June 2021). For the first year of ownership I was using local DCFC chargers just a couple miles from home and only a couple cents more expensive than charging at home (this gave me an easy way to track the charging costs). Over the last year it has cost me $0.00 to keep my car charged (Free DCFC charger located 6 miles from home). Hard to pass up a free charge.
Thank you for your comment! Lucky to get free charging 👍
Is it a Volta charging station by any chance? (I happen to live less than 5 miles from one of their AC Level 2 stations at a Kohl’s.)
Hi John, It's not a Volta charger - I live in Florida and this particular charger was installed by Duke Energy. Just a guess on my part but I think they are using it to try to determine how much EV DCFC charging is being used in this area. I've been using it for almost a year now and I've only ever seen one other vehicle there in all that time. I keep expecting them to start requiring payment for use of the charger but I'm going to keep using it as long as it's free. They also have another DCFC charging location that's only 4 miles from home that I do have to pay to use but the rate is the same as home charging and I do like the record keeping so I can separate the charging costs from my regular home electric usage. I used that one for the first year I had my Bolt EUV until I discovered the free one on the opposite side of town.
Awesome video!
Thank you; I appreciate your comment!
Very clear video.
Thanks for watching!
Charging at home is definitely less than charging on the road.
A person can can go farther than they think. Regeneration has something to do with that. Getting used to driving an EV is an experience that can increase confidence in how far you can go.
I have driven my Leaf to turtle mode several times and either made it to a charging station, or home just in time.
Now that's an adventure.
When my gas tank gets below half I get range anxiety. Either way I have anxiety.
Great video.
Thanks for watching and thank you for your comment!
Thanks for this rational, fact based explanation of your choice to purchase an EV.
Thanks for your comment and for watching the video.
I bought a 2023 Bolt 36 days ago and I remember it fondly. The heater broke almost immediately and I put it in the shop 19 days after I drove it off the showroom floor and I haven't seen it since. The Chevy dealership never calls me and on the rare occasion that I can get ahold of them they claim that they're working on it and have no idea when they will have it fixed. I should have bought another Toyota
That sounds like a terrible experience. Hope it's resolved soon.
Bolt is a fantastic vehicle. I’ve been driving 2020 Bolt EV and just upgraded to 2023 EUV. It’s a shame that GM has discontinued them in favor of more expensive and bulky SUVs
We're really glad we got ours when we did.
GM will continue and new generation Ultium battery
Great videos - thanks. It would also be instructive if you indicated total time for your Buick drive to Michigan compared with your return trip with the Bolt to home. Our son had both a Toyota Prius hybrid and a Tesla BEV. they were driving to our Illinois home from their El Paso Texas home. That 1,200 mile trip only required two gas station stops which they needed anyway with two kids on board. But they had calculated before the trip that they would have required five EV charging stops to avoid unexpected circumstances and avoid range anxiety - all in all, five hours saved for energy fill ups.
It was 2.5 days with our Buick (ICE) and 3 full days with the Bolt EUV. We stayed in a hotel for 2 nights on both legs of the journey because we don't like being on the road that long. Thanks for your comments and for your interest in our video.
It's a shame GM never gave the Bolt better DC charging speeds. Every competitor with a similarly sized battery is getting at least 80kW while the Bolt barely hits 55kW. What's worse is that it has no battery pre-conditioning. So if you plug in with a cold battery, the charging speed will be halved.
Aside from the charging issues, the Bolt EV is a great car! I switched to a Model Y recently, but my 2017 Bolt EV is still in the family; My father-in-law has it now.
Thank you for showing the costs to charge and for disclosing your costs with your ICE Buick. I'm not surprised that the Level 3 fast charging was more expensive than gasoline/gallon. IMO EV America seems to gouge and/or have higher costs than other networks. (Shame on them!) Tesla is opening some of their charging to the CCS standard, and from my experience their rates are more competitive. Good luck.
You're welcome and thanks for your comment!
I use my Model Y to drive Lyft in the central coast wine area of California. I do this to educate people about the convenience and use ability of an EV. I have been driving electric since 2013. I encourage everyone to look to an EV if possible. Especially is they have more than one vehicle. Once they replace one ICE vehicle with an EV, they will find that they choose the EV more often. I don’t talk down ANY alternative EV, but I do point out why I like my Tesla. As anecdotal evidence, I had a couple that owned a ICE BMW and purchased a Model 3. Now they race to see who can get to the Model 3 first.
Adding up the minutes spent charging came out to almost 13 hours
That's only for road trips. For daily commuting, takes only a few secs to plug it in and let it charge overnight while you sleep.
Florida is a great state for owning an EV. They have a very large amount of public chargers vs many other states. Plus all the sun they get is great for solar.
Wondering after your road trip home from Detroit did you wish you bought a EV with faster charging?
Thanks for watching the video. No - we don't wish we had bought an EV with faster charging. Fast charging really isn't that important to us. We bought the vehicle that works best for us given our own personal wants/constraints.
Interested in that super cruise, is it similar to Tesla self driving?
I'm not sure. I've never driven a Tesla. The Super Cruise does the steering and braking for me on mapped roads. We don't have the version that changes lanes though. We really love it for long trips. We'll be doing a video on us using it at some point.
Differences in cost for Auto insurance? Higher or lower compared to your Buick?
It's not apples to apples because the Bolt is brand new so insuring a brand new vehicle may raise your insurance depending on its replacement value. But, if I had to guess, I'd say it's about the same as what we would have paid if we had bought a 2023 similarly priced gas vehicle. Our insurance didn't go up that much - about $500 for the entire year.
Damn there is a good reason to buy a Tesla.
They spent 12 hours charging to drive 1200 miles. DAMN!!!
What do you think of super cruise? I enjoy the blue cruise on our Mustang Mach E.
It really makes long drives not as draining. We're very happy to have it on our Bolt. I've heard about Blue Cruise but don't know what it entails. We'll be doing a Super Cruise video at some point.
Thank you for the update. I did notice on the chart that gasoline is less expensive on your trip compared to the California prices I pay on my long distance trips. When gasoline is $1.50 a gallon or more expensive, it makes the electric car shine brighter. Imagine paying $5.60 per gallon. And even higher in Barstow or Needles, CA.
Were you able to get the full $7,500 rebate? If so, did that not also make your choice cheaper than your other options you mentioned?
@June Hanzawa The Bolt actually didn't qualify for the rebate when we ordered it (in 2022) so it didn't factor into our decision.
It's not a rebate, unfortunately. It's
a smoke and mirrors scam-like tax CREDIT, to which most buyers won't qualify for because they won't owe/pay $7,500 on taxes. Say if your tax liability for the year is only $300.00, your credit amounts to $300.00. Thus you owe $0.00; there is no carry over to the next year. So, unless you pay a lot in taxes, that $7,500 credit is an empty promise for most EV buyers 😢.
@@charlesjack6571 many people can get the full amount by leasing, but that may not be the best option for some people, especially in the case of Tesla (no longer an option to buy out the lease from them). It is supposed to convert to a direct rebate later, but that’s still a few years away.
I'm in the market for the 2023 Bolt EUV, but I'm so scare of fire, because I live in a townhouse. 😶
Thank you for watching and for your comment!
This is why I like PHEVs, and drive one. You get the home charging and city benefits but when you go on a trip you have 10 minute stops and not hour long ones like on your chart.
And PHEV's come in all kinds of vehicles. I own a Jeep Wrangler 4xe. Benefits of EV driving to work, and I can flip open the top to enjoy the outdoors! 4x4 for bad weather, too.
Chevy Bolt is being discontinued, right?
Sounds like it - at the end of the year. We're happy we were able to get ours when we did.
I still wonder why they have not changed the cars at the Disney parks to EVs. Especially since they can charge at night. Sam with all the stunt vehicles in the entertainment spaces in Florida
I agree. It's probably a re-design PITA for the Speedway but the other vehicles should be easy to change out.
You forgot to add in the cost of 2 nights in hotels and how much extra food you bought because of that, So i would guess your costs were close to 400-500 for that trip.
I didn't include the hotel/food costs because they were the same for the trip up in a gas car as they were for the trip back in our electric car. For people who are interested, your estimate is accurate - we spent about $450 for hotels and food during both legs of the trip (so $900 total). We don't do the absolute cheapest hotels though - we stick to brands we have points with.
Those are DC fast charge times? I knew the bolt was bad, but yeah… that’s bad. It’s an around town car only.
I’m seeing a charging time of 45 minutes to over an hour….just to get a charge. When I travel long on the freeway, I’d rather not have to wait that long. I can gas up in five minutes and be on my way.
The Bolt is an early EV design and is one of the slowest charging EV's available. It's not really a great choice if you roadtrip often. EV's are being built now that can charge up to 5 times faster. On the other hand, how much time have you spent cumulatively for the last five years at gas stations and driving to gas stations for the privilege of pumping $4/gal gas for 5 minutes? Every few days, after completing my daily driving, when I arrive home it takes about 10 seconds to plug in my Bolt and allow it to recharge with $.08/kwh electricity.
38k not my choice for this price. That’s well over 40k not worth the money but great car. Nice choice.
Wait until the electric grid cannot keep up with all electric cars.
Switching one utility gas , diesel
For sky rocketing costs of electricity
Including the value of the Encore, i see an initial cost of @ $50,000 for the privilege. Then you spent 13 hours rewinding electrons in congested areas amid 100s of stinky, poorly maintained gas cars. Not inexpensive, efficient nor convenient, in my opinion.
In my little Chevy, equal in size to the BOLT EV, it's easily a two-day trip. I would only need to refuel around Cincinnati, Calhoun, Georgia and Lake City, Florida for about $120 total. The Sonic 1.8 is so efficient, 42 mpg, maximum range is 460 miles and you will have to sniff the tailpipe for stinky gas emissions. No coal feeds it. Electric power steering literally requires one finger, so babysitting Super Cruise is an unnecessary pastime. Manual transmission facilitates mostly one-pedal driving on streets, curvy back roads and Interstates alike. A 300-mile stretch in perfect comfort.
Initial cost, $5300 plus $200 for a new set of tires -- four years ago. No government handouts, only tire warranty. Maintenance since is simple, oil changes every 5k, $60, with free tire rotation, coolant flush, $60, and a battery $160. Drivetrain, AC and brakes all factory original. Never leaked a drop and never a recall.
The Sonic is 11 years old, traveled over 83,000 miles, and has cost me a total of $6320 plus fuel to own and operate. Efficiency and absence of payments deems gasoline prices irrelevant to me. Maybe one day, but no EV yet can compete with the total package of comfort, affordability and convenience I continue to enjoy.
Incorrect. Our Bolt EUV cost WAY less than $50K. Bolts start at $26,500 and that's before any rebates or credits. I have the sticker of a Bolt EUV in our Why We Switched to an Electric Vehicle video. I'm glad you're happy with your vehicle. We're really happy with ours too.
@@paradisetoday the window sticker in the video said $47k, and that wasn't even the bottom line. Who wants to make payments on that when everything listed on the stock market is ON SALE! Besides, charging still takes too long too often. An hour in a Walmart parking lot every 200 miles? Please.
@@paradisetoday and I'm not against EVs, just the chaotic and unpredictable charging infrastructure.
@Rick Mineer Actually that window sticker in our video was $37,885 including destination. Our Bolt EUV was even less. To each their own though - we're absolutely thrilled with our Bolt. We don't have a problem with waiting for our car to charge because we get so many other benefits and we knew going into our purchase what we were in for.
The purpose of our video is not to try to convince you to buy the same vehicle we bought. We are just sharing our experience.
I have a 2022 Chevy Bolt 2LT and I would skip Electrify America stations all together if I could. They have to have the worst charging stations I've ever charged at, half work if you're lucky and their customer service is the most clueless bunch I've ever dealt with. I don't see the electric vehicles popularity ever becoming much bigger than they are now, as nobody is building infrastructure for more electricity. And hopefully they find a better battery material than lithium.
www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/02/15/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-new-standards-and-major-progress-for-a-made-in-america-national-network-of-electric-vehicle-chargers/. Hopefully all of that translates to us seeing more charge stations popping up in the next couple of years.
Only a fool buys an EV to save money. EVs sell because, by every measure, they're better. Someday (probably sooner than later) that will be common knowledge.
I agree with you for the most part. I did an financial analysis to determine the economics of buying a Bolt EUV vs keeping my 2018 Honda Civic which gets over 40 mpg on the highway in the summer. It would take me over 10 years to break even (using 95% home charging) if I bought the bolt and sold the Civic, but in my case when I buy a new car I almost always keep them for 12-15 years so it would make financial sense - assuming that I won't have to replace an expensive battery at some point. I have sold the Civic, just waiting to see how much the new Equinox EV will cost since it has AWD available.
Why did you buy in Michigan? Aren't the taxes & reg fees lower in FL?
We checked with Florida dealers around us and they didn't have it available for order. We also checked in another state where we used to live to see if a dealer could order it and they said no. Michigan was the only one who would put us on a list at the time.