Monthly Update for February 2017 - 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV Long-Term Road Test


Initial reports from our new 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV indicate that its astounding 238-mile range is readily achievable and utterly reassuring.
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Initial reports from our new 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV indicate that its astounding 238-mile range is readily achievable and utterly reassuring.
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My former Leaf reported its fuel economy this way also, and it's a handy analog to the US convention of reporting MPG, in that higher is better.
Except for the game of golf, Americans don't understand that lower is better in most metrics, particularly with fuel economy.
I'm not suggesting you use MPGe if you don't want to, but the miles/kWh is easily convertible to $/mile if you know the cost of your electricity.
EV makers do themselves a disservice to report fuel economy in an unconventional (to Americans, anyway) fashion. It only perpetuates the stereotype that EVs are weird science projects.
In addition to the range, the Bolt also has the domestic badge and attractive price that should put it on the radar of rural-based buyers such as my retired parents. The idea of never having to go to a gas station and never having to do much maintenance applies to this buyer group, too. My dad loves the idea of the Tesla and the Bolt, but he can barely work the apps on his phone and has a bare-minimum data plan and spotty data service. Even as I write this I'm visiting them in rural Gold Beach Oregon, and I've just seen a new Bolt bought by one of the locals here in town. They are starting to show up outside major metro areas.
As for me, just outside of the LA basin there are many places I go where cellular data is non-existent, and in my experience these places tend to be those in which I need a working map the most. The entire "No Signal" weekend I describe is but one example. Ironically, a recent Chevy-organized Bolt drive in the SF Bay area included a 15-mile stretch in the mountains just above Palo Alto (and Google HQ) where there was no AT&T signal at all. For many, built-in navi is necessary and will continue to be so until everyone has a smartphone and every square inch of the USA has 5 bars of LTE service.
These app-based nav solutions can only fully replace native navigation systems if: 1) you have a strong data signal on your provider's network where you are when you initiate or modify a route; 2) you have a good-sized data plan and are willing to use it, and; 3) you are willing to allow the car's CP/AA connection hijack your phone in a way that excludes the use of other apps, which is no trivial thing if the person with the connected phone is a non-driving passenger. The answer to 1) and to some extent 2) will vary in a given location depending on if you have Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, etc.
I, for one, depend on and use Google Maps on my iPhone. I don't think I'm close to being alone in this. (I have a Samsung S7, too, but for a variety of reasons, I keep defaulting back to the iPhone.) Anyway, Google Maps is not (and may never be) allowed a place on the CarPlay interface. And even if it does, I'll still want my car to have native navi so I can have navigation available everyplace I care to go. I know my dad certainly wouldn't have it any other way.
Twitter: @Edmunds_Test