GM's journey from Volt to Bolt

[jasongraygits]

By some measures, the Chevy Volt was a flop, but it set GM on a path that culminated in last month's launch of the Chevy Bolt, a battery-powered car that presages a future with self-driving vehicles that consumers might share rather than own.

[Chris V]

Originally Posted by jasongraygits

By some measures, the Chevy Volt was a flop, but it set GM on a path that culminated in last month's launch of the Chevy Bolt, a battery-powered car that presages a future with self-driving vehicles that consumers might share rather than own.

The Volt wasn't really a flop, it was simply never really advertised and when it came out there was a lot of political backlash by oil companies and conservatives (who are in the pockets of oil companies).

I owned a '13 Volt for a few years and it was a great car, quick comfortable and fuel efficient (Other than a couple long trips, that the Bolt really can't do, I rarely used the gas engine to generate electricity). I found that I was almost always within the 45 mile all electric range the Volt had, and rarely drove it on long trips (took two trips to CT from here in Baltimore, and one up to Maine).

I'd definitely look into a Bolt, though I really don't need the 250+ miles of range it has in the real world. Most people don't need more than 50-100 miles of range, when the car can charge at home overnight and start out each day with a "full tank."

[towjoe42]

What is the battery voltage rated at? Could a flexible Solar panel be afixed to the roof and run it through a charge controller to keep the battery charged on long trips in the daytime?
I have a small tow company in Southern California and get lots of cars and trucks that do not get reclaimed. I have gone on craigslist and offered to trade a car or truck for an Electric vehicle. No one responded yet. If they do I'll expirement with using solar to charge the electric car. I have 30 solar panels on my house and 10 on my garage workshop and use them on the shop to charge batteries through a Tristar 60 solar panel. It works good at charging and the batteries last longer.

[bernteck]

350 Volt battery in the in the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV. The 32 amp wall mounted level 2 charger will charge the battery each hour for about 25 miles of driving. a full charge range about 238 mile range. commercially available charging stations are capable of charging the battery in 30 minute for a range of about 90 miles ? 1 hour charge about 80 % or 160 miles