EV Trip Reports
As the title suggests, this section is devoted to our experience driving an electric vehicle (EV). In late 2014, we leased a Nissan Leaf, a mass-market EV with an official range of 84 miles. In late 2016 we bought a 2017 Chevy Volt. When the lease expired on the Nissan Leaf in the fall of 2017 we leased a 2017 Chevy Bolt EV. We sold the Volt in the spring of 2018 when we downsized to one vehicle. We now drive electric only. In the fall of 2020 we returned the Bolt to GM at the end of the lease and bought a 2020 Bolt.
Electrify America EV Charging Payment SNAFU
By
Paul Gipe
It’s an EV driver’s nightmare. We were stuck in the middle of nowhere with an Electrify America charging station that wouldn’t charge our car.
Covid-19 Escape: Bakersfield to Dome Rock in a Bolt EV
By
Paul Gipe
As part of our weekly Covid-19 get-a-ways, we headed into the Sierra Nevada above Porterville toward scenic Dome Rock.
Another Covid-19 Escape: Chimney Peak Road to Nine Mile Canyon in an EV
By
Paul Gipe
We’ve been taking weekly day trips from sheltering in place during the Covid-19 pandemic. On 17 July we took our most ambitious route yet in the Bolt EV. We made a 220-mile loop through the Kern River Valley, up into onto the Kern Plateau, then down to the desert and back to Bakersfield via Tehachapi.
Bolt Backpack Redux 225 Mile Mountain Trip 25 Percent Charge Remaining
By
Paul Gipe
And, unlike the earlier adventure, (see Chevy Bolt 225 Mile Roundtrip with 21 Percent Charge Remaining), this trip required us to leave the paved road. The Jackass Peak trailhead was some nine miles from the Blackrock Fire Station and a good three miles of that was down a Forest Service dirt road.
Chevy Bolt 225 Mile Roundtrip with 21 Percent Charge Remaining
By
Paul Gipe
We’re a one-car family and our vehicle is a Chevy Bolt EV. So when friends decided to go backpacking in the Golden Trout Wilderness during the Covid-19 pandemic, social distancing required that we each drive separately to and from the trailhead.
Climbing the Elkhorn Grade in a Chevy Bolt EV
By
Paul Gipe
With bright sunshine, spring in the air, and a bit of cabin fever, we headed west out of Bakersfield to a remote site on the Carrizo Plains National Monument hunting wild flowers. Social distancing wasn’t a problem. Most of the time there wasn’t a human in sight for as far as the eye could see.
