It is a limitation of the battery. The actual upper limit is about 55kw but good luck ever seeing that. The problem with Bolt fast charging in general is thermal management. The pack is heated and cooled but via a limited thermal plate so the cells are prone to get temperature gradients and also cannot remove heat fast enough to do 150kw charging. Now, I said the pack is heated and cooled, this is true. But, GM also doesn't preheat the battery before fast charging in the dead of Winter so if you pull up to a charger in Winter you're likely to see more like a 20kw upper limit. They *could* preheat the battery as all the hardware is there. GM has a terrible problem with software. Prior to this year they refused to write basically anything themselves so they had to rely on their suppliers to write it. So, they can't easily add stuff after the fact like Tesla can. Well, they probably can more easily now but time will tell if they'll bother.
They designed the system back in like 2015 when 50kw seemed pretty fast. CHAdeMO only supports 50kw so GM thought they'd be OK. The problem is, they then didn't upgrade their battery tech until the 2024 model of their vehicles. Even now, most of the new GM vehicles only support 150kw charging. GM is making affordable EVs but I still don't think their hearts are really in it. On Thu, Sep 26, 2024 at 8:47 AM EV List Lackey via EV <ev@lists.evdl.org> wrote: > On 25 Sep 2024 at 18:11, (-Phil-) via EV wrote: > > > Bolt [DC fast charging] is around 50kW > > Is that a limitation of the Bolt's battery? Or something else? > > Many recent EU EVs can typically charge at 150-350kW, but quite a few > older > EVs are limited to the same, around 50kW. I've read that the > manufacturers' > owner surveys showed that most charging was and is done at home, where > it's > cheaper. But that seems more like an excuse than a reason. > > David Roden, EVDL moderator & general lackey > > To reach me, don't reply to this message; I won't get it. Use my > offlist address here : http://evdl.org/help/index.html#supt > > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > > When I was born, I was black. When I grow up, I'm black. When I'm ill, > I'm black. When I die, I'm black. But you - when you're born, you're > pink. When you grow up, you're white. When you're ill, you're green. > When you go out in the sun, you go red. When you're cold, you go > blue. > When you die, you're purple. And you have the nerve to call me > colored? > > -- Malcolm X > > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > > _______________________________________________ > Address messages to ev@lists.evdl.org > No other addresses in TO and CC fields > HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/ > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20240930/88cea2f8/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ Address messages to ev@lists.evdl.org No other addresses in TO and CC fields HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/
