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Testing the EV at Its Limits - 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,315
edited April 2017 in Chevrolet
imageTesting the EV at Its Limits - 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV Long-Term Road Test

We took our long-term 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV to the test track to see how it handles itself at the limits. You might be surprised how it did under pressure.

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Comments

  • kirkhilles1kirkhilles1 Member Posts: 863
    Seems like an incomplete post. If you're going to be "testing an EV at its limits", how about revealing those limits? What was the range drop during these runs? Any over heating or any other issues come up?
  • devsiennadevsienna Member Posts: 70
    The comment "the brake pedal is entirely hydraulic, which means no regenerative braking." is incorrect/inaccurate. With a fully charged battery, it is true that you are purely relying on hydraulic-only braking. Once the battery has been depleted down to a certain level, full regenerative braking at upwards of 70 kW is available. There needs to be a certain of headroom in the battery to employ regenerative braking.

    Chevy helpfully provided a "Hilltop Reserve" mode that charges the battery to about 90% for those folks who live at the top of a hill and want to have regenerative braking available immediately when leaving home. A number of owners use that mode to avoid fully charging the battery in order to help preserve future capacity of the battery pack.
  • jelfalanjelfalan Member Posts: 14
    devsienna said:

    The comment "the brake pedal is entirely hydraulic, which means no regenerative braking." is incorrect/inaccurate. With a fully charged battery, it is true that you are purely relying on hydraulic-only braking. Once the battery has been depleted down to a certain level, full regenerative braking at upwards of 70 kW is available. There needs to be a certain of headroom in the battery to employ regenerative braking.

    Chevy helpfully provided a "Hilltop Reserve" mode that charges the battery to about 90% for those folks who live at the top of a hill and want to have regenerative braking available immediately when leaving home. A number of owners use that mode to avoid fully charging the battery in order to help preserve future capacity of the battery pack.

    We aren't saying the Bolt doesn't employ regenerative braking, in fact it has the most aggressive regen of any production EV we've driven, so much so that you can often drive using only the accelerator. Regen in the Bolt happens every time you lift off the accelerator, and you can vary the amount by driving in "L" mode and/or using the max regen paddle the steering wheel. However, once you touch the brake pedal, you're using the hydraulic brakes to slow down. The brake pedal has zero effect on the amount of regenerative braking in the Bolt.
  • roperldroperld Member Posts: 1
    Drive a CBEV in D mode and step on the brake pedal. You will see negative kW power (regen) on the screen in front of the steering wheel.
  • nhboltdrivernhboltdriver Member Posts: 1
    "Even if it doesn't generate impressive acceleration numbers". Why do I keep seeing comments like this from the automotive press on a car that does 0-60 in 6.5" and has a 45-65 passing time that is equal to or better than many German luxury cars and hot hatches? Note to anyone considering buying a Bolt who is reading this - the Bolt DOES generate impressive acceleration numbers.
  • thxbohnsting_1236thxbohnsting_1236 Member Posts: 1
    :s
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