I just finished a road trip in a Bolt rental car. Went round trip from
Boston to Cape Code. I'm thinking some people would like to hear how it
worked to take a vacation (wedding and other activities) in a Bolt.
Overall, I was very pleased with the car. It was quiet, adequately
powerful, and the battery has plenty of range for that trip - about 100
miles each way.
There are no level 3 chargers in Cape Cod, so we had to find places to
leave the car for a few hours and do something else. Fortunately, there
were several level 2 chargers in Orleans, near where we stayed. I was
able to charge there several times while taking nature walks or eating a
meal. It worked out pretty well.
It would have been better if the rental agency had provided a 120V cable
as we could have charged at our accommodation. Next time I'll be
thinking about that.
The rental agency expects the car to be returned with 80% charge. That
was the real challenge. The Bolt fails miserably, as I think most people
know, at level 3 charging. It took about 1h20 to charge from about 25%
to 85%. That is substantially slower than most other contemporary EVs.
So, I think the Bolt makes a great car to take on short road trips but
probably not on longer ones, since you will need to charge for 1-2 hours
every so often.
The only other thing I would mention is the damned head rests. They
aren't reversible like in most cars. For me, they force my head too far
forward, which causes back slump and neck pain.
All in all, I'm pleased we drove an EV rather than an ICE. And our
friends enjoyed rides in it, too.
Peri
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