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.
EV Trip Planners and Trip Summaries with Chevy Bolt
By
Paul Gipe
I previously reported on my experience using three different EV trip planners. See Energy Consumption Estimators, Trip Planners, and the Chevy Bolt EV. Since then I’ve been experimenting with A Better Routeplanner (ABRP) and we’ve driven several new routes and revisited several destinations we’d driven to before. Consequently, I’ve updated my trip summaries to include estimates from ABRP and added summaries from the new routes.
Bakersfield to Death Valley and Return–500-mile Round Trip in a Chevy Bolt
By
Paul Gipe
We recently completed a round trip from Bakersfield to Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park in our Chevy Bolt. We’ve done this trip many times in a gasoline-powered car, but this was the first time in a battery-electric vehicle (EV).
Bakersfield to Ridgecrest and Return Trip Summary
By
Paul Gipe
We’ve now made the trip a few times in both the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Bolt. As with our trips to Kernville, actual consumption has varied for each trip and has varied with the results of four estimators: EV Trip Planner, Green Race, Chevy’s Energy Assist app, and A Better RoutePlanner (ABRP).
Bakersfield to Kernville and Return Trip Summaries
By
Paul Gipe
We’ve now done the trip several times and we can look at the variability in consumption relative to estimates by EV Trip Planner, Chevy’s Energy Assist app, and A Better RoutePlanner (ABRP).
Mud, Rocks, EV Capacity, and Flexibility
By
Paul Gipe
Our family car–our only car–is a Chevy Bolt. When we want to drive somewhere, we drive the Bolt. The Bolt is a battery-electric vehicle (EV). It runs on electricity. You can’t just pull up to a gas station and “fill it up.”
Mountains to the Sea: EV Road Trip Made Possible by a 60 kWh Battery
By
Paul Gipe
While a friend was visiting from Canada, we took her on a road trip from Bakersfield, California to the coast via Mount Pinos in the San Emigdio Range. This is an easy trip in a gasoline-powered car. But we drive electric and therein lay the problem, or as we think of it, the challenge.
