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One of the big design flaws of the Chevy Bolt is the lack of a heat pump. Running the heater uses up significant energy and thus range. I noticed something near

One of the big design flaws of the Chevy Bolt is the lack of a heat pump. Running the heater uses up significant energy and thus range. I noticed something near the end of winter, pretty big discounts on bolts. Heater isnt a problem for me because often I dont drive long enough to ever heat up anyway. When checking https://abetterrouteplanner.com/ https://abetterrouteplanner.com/ and 400km range, you can get all the long distance places; but i think practical use of an EV isn't in that max range per charge. It seems to want to leave you in that 10% to 60% battery range for your long distance driving anyway. You arent really using your max range capability. The one disadvantage I found, charging speed on a bolt is 55kw; but on many higher end cars you can get 150-300kw. The new blazer EV can charge at 150kw and so you're getting triple the range per time period. Charging speed and curve seems far more important than range to me.

mikestew 1y ago
The Bolt is a, what, ten year old design, and it was built to a price. As it pertains to TFA, resistive heating and low-end charging unit don’t have much to do with battery chemistry.
- incomingpain 1y ago
  I was establishing what seems to matter and its not so much range from battery chemistry that matters.
nothercastle 1y ago
Range is important because charges are unavailable in much of the country still
- sharken 1y ago
  Absolutely, though charging speed is also hugely important. Anywhere where you don't have access to your own charger, being able to add 100 km of range per minute, makes it possible to make the switch to an EV.
  - nothercastle 1y ago
    Yeah I’d say priority 1 is having the charger at all and then ideally having a fast one. It sucks to show up to all these charging places and wait an hour because half of them are down at any moment in time and the are only 2-4 per location
- tzs 1y ago
  Yup. For long trips range determines: 1. Whether the trip is possible. You need enough range to span the largest gap between charge stations with an acceptable safety factor. 2. The number of charging stops you will need. Charging speed determines: 1. How long your charging stops will last. Trip time is the sum of: 1. Time actually on the highway. 2. Time actually charging at your charging stops. 3. Time transitioning from #1 to #2 and later back to #1. Let's call this overhead time. The total time spent actually charging is, assuming you started the trip fully charged: (Trip_Length - Range) / Charge_Rate That's because after you've used up your range from your before-trip charging every mile for the rest of the trip comes from charging during the trip. For long trips the time spent charging is usually much more than the overhead time. A fast charging short range EV will usually get there faster than a slow charging long range EV.
WorldMaker 1y ago
In terms of perceived heat per energy usage, heated seats are the biggest win. At least in my ancient Volt I can get things pretty efficient by focusing only on seat heating over cabin heating. The trade-offs are a lot of passengers get confused by that and some of them distrust it because a vent isn't blasting a bunch of air at them (which is hugely inefficient; but was "cheap" when ICE had so much free waste heat). Also, none of the models today focus on rear passenger heated seats, that's still seen as too much of a "luxury car" thing, which is weird (and inefficient). In the Volt it was a lot of fun to play these sorts of micro-efficiency games because getting to 40+ miles of range on an estimated 35 miles of range battery was always exciting. (ETA: The number of times I wished I could entirely lock passengers out of HVAC controls was quite high. Seriously what is it with some people and their wish to have loud obnoxious fans blast 70+ degree heat at them in winter? While they are in their winter coats? For a five minute drive?)
- Auracle 1y ago
  I can’t image that’d work well when child/booster seats are involved - which is probably why most cars don’t have rear heated seats.
  - WorldMaker 1y ago
    Seems like an engineering problem that could be fixed with smarter controls. The Jaguars I've been in don't turn on rear passenger seat heating automatically and instead it is an easy to find button for the rear passenger with long enough arms.
    - Auracle 1y ago
      I don't mean it turning on automatically, just that it's a waste of money when most people probably use their rear seats for children (or cargo).
- assassinator42 1y ago
  For my 2016 Volt I need to run the defroster to be able to actually see out of the window though. And that takes around 4KW on average. I can get less than half the range on cold days in the winter (65 MPGe) vs the maximum in the summer (140 MPGe)

mikestew 1y ago

The Bolt is a, what, ten year old design, and it was built to a price. As it pertains to TFA, resistive heating and low-end charging unit don’t have much to do with battery chemistry.

incomingpain 1y ago
I was establishing what seems to matter and its not so much range from battery chemistry that matters.

nothercastle 1y ago

Range is important because charges are unavailable in much of the country still

sharken 1y ago
Absolutely, though charging speed is also hugely important. Anywhere where you don't have access to your own charger, being able to add 100 km of range per minute, makes it possible to make the switch to an EV.
- nothercastle 1y ago
  Yeah I’d say priority 1 is having the charger at all and then ideally having a fast one. It sucks to show up to all these charging places and wait an hour because half of them are down at any moment in time and the are only 2-4 per location
tzs 1y ago
Yup. For long trips range determines: 1. Whether the trip is possible. You need enough range to span the largest gap between charge stations with an acceptable safety factor. 2. The number of charging stops you will need. Charging speed determines: 1. How long your charging stops will last. Trip time is the sum of: 1. Time actually on the highway. 2. Time actually charging at your charging stops. 3. Time transitioning from #1 to #2 and later back to #1. Let's call this overhead time. The total time spent actually charging is, assuming you started the trip fully charged: (Trip_Length - Range) / Charge_Rate That's because after you've used up your range from your before-trip charging every mile for the rest of the trip comes from charging during the trip. For long trips the time spent charging is usually much more than the overhead time. A fast charging short range EV will usually get there faster than a slow charging long range EV.

WorldMaker 1y ago

In terms of perceived heat per energy usage, heated seats are the biggest win. At least in my ancient Volt I can get things pretty efficient by focusing only on seat heating over cabin heating. The trade-offs are a lot of passengers get confused by that and some of them distrust it because a vent isn't blasting a bunch of air at them (which is hugely inefficient; but was "cheap" when ICE had so much free waste heat). Also, none of the models today focus on rear passenger heated seats, that's still seen as too much of a "luxury car" thing, which is weird (and inefficient). In the Volt it was a lot of fun to play these sorts of micro-efficiency games because getting to 40+ miles of range on an estimated 35 miles of range battery was always exciting. (ETA: The number of times I wished I could entirely lock passengers out of HVAC controls was quite high. Seriously what is it with some people and their wish to have loud obnoxious fans blast 70+ degree heat at them in winter? While they are in their winter coats? For a five minute drive?)

Auracle 1y ago
I can’t image that’d work well when child/booster seats are involved - which is probably why most cars don’t have rear heated seats.
- WorldMaker 1y ago
  Seems like an engineering problem that could be fixed with smarter controls. The Jaguars I've been in don't turn on rear passenger seat heating automatically and instead it is an easy to find button for the rear passenger with long enough arms.
  - Auracle 1y ago
    I don't mean it turning on automatically, just that it's a waste of money when most people probably use their rear seats for children (or cargo).
assassinator42 1y ago
For my 2016 Volt I need to run the defroster to be able to actually see out of the window though. And that takes around 4KW on average. I can get less than half the range on cold days in the winter (65 MPGe) vs the maximum in the summer (140 MPGe)