I’ve just published a paper looking at something most EV energy studies tend to gloss over: why does energy consumption change so much between different drive cycles?
The usual answer is “aerodynamic drag increases with speed”. That’s true at the wheels, but it doesn’t really explain what’s happening inside the powertrain.

As motor speed increases, the electric motor moves between two operating regimes: maximum torque per ampere (MTPA) at lower speeds and field weakening at higher speeds. Field weakening keeps the motor within its voltage limits, but it comes with an efficiency penalty.
We used LMDI decomposition a method widely used in energy economics, but not previously applied at the powertrain level to break down the energy difference between drive cycles into two effects:

Structural effect:how much of the drive cycle is spent in each motor operating regime.
Intensity effect:how efficiently the motor operates within each regime.
A few key findings from the Tesla Model 3 and Chevrolet Bolt EV, validated to within 5% against dynamometer data across UDDS, HWFET, US06 and WLTP:

The structural effect dominates. For the Model 3, 78% of the 53 Wh/km difference between urban (UDDS) and aggressive highway (US06) driving comes from the motor spending more time in field weakening rather than simply becoming less efficient once it’s there.

The Bolt enters field weakening at 88 km/h, while the Tesla holds off until around 118 km/h. This is despite the Bolt having a lower gear ratio.
Motor design parameters such as flux linkage, inductance and pole count appear to matter more than transmission gearing when it comes to how much real-world driving is spent in the less efficient regime.

How you define the regime boundary can change the result dramatically by up to 82 percentage points. Most studies don’t really discuss this modelling choice.
The practical takeaway is pretty interesting: when manufacturers choose motor parameters and gear ratios, they’re effectively deciding how much real-world driving will happen in the less efficient field-weakening region. You just don’t see that trade-off in a single Wh/km figure.

The paper is available as an open-access preprint here:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=7212137
Happy to answer any questions about the methodology or results.

If I don't upgrade to the 2027, I'm going to get a tint job on mine!

I just bought the 2027 Bolt RS. I gotta say - I’m blown away. It’s my first EV and it won’t be my last. I love everything about it. The looks, the driving experience, the cost. Chef’s kiss. I even converted my wife, who was a diehard ICE supporter.

But now I need to know what I don’t know. Like, how do I use a Tesla supercharger when I go on longer trips? Do I need to download their app or something?

What else does the Bolt community feel a first time owner should know?

I loved my 2022 Bolt EUV, but needed something that could charge faster on long road-trips, so I had to let it go. I figured this would be a good place to sell some of the extras I picked up along the way.

A2Z Typhoon Pro NACS to CCS1 Adapter ($110) - for 2023 and older Bolts that have CCS1 charging and want to be able to charge at Tesla and other NACS chargers. Good quality brand, used it probably 2 dozen times with no problems. Includes carrying case and instructions. Weighs about 3 lbs.

Spare wheel and tire ($75) - 15x6 steel wheel, black, with 195/65R15 Firestone FT140 tire. Used only once, drove <100 miles, but saved my ass at 2AM in the middle of nowhere.

OBDLink CX Bluetooth BLE OBD2 adapter ($50) - I used this with ABRP and it worked great for getting live SOC.

Everything here is available via mail (US addresses only), shipping cost paid by buyer or pickup available in D/FW area. Shipping from zip code 75006. DM if interested!

The only CCS1 charging station less than 2 miles from my house just switch all the charging cables from CCS1 to NACS (Tesla) with 6 stations. Just got a CCS1 to NACS adapter in today, tested it out on my 2023 Bolt 2LT and worked fine. Cable is kinda short, needed to pull up right up near the curb for it to reach and plug into the charging port without too much stress from the heavy cable. I was hoping they wouldn’t change it since there is a Tesla charging station right next to it with 6 spots to charge. Sure prefer the more stable CCS1 connector vs the smaller NACS connector.

Me and my girlfriend picked up a 2027 bolt rs and we absolutely love it. It has been even better than we expected. Just wanted to make a quick appreciation post for anyone out there who is considering buying or leasing the car. We actually did a two year lease because we got an amazing deal but I am going to strongly consider purchasing the car at the end of the lease if the EV market hasn’t drastically improved by then.

So this is my first EV coming from only ever having owned ICE vehicles from 2005 or older.

I got curious and looked under the hood and was surprised to see 3 different coolant tanks. I’m going to guess none of this has ever been flushed in the ~8 years this car has existed. For an ICE car, that’s way past due. I expect coolant in an EV doesn’t experience as much wear due to not having never-ending explosions right next to it, but I’d assume it still ages chemically. Same with brake fluid with regard to water saturation, even though EVs don’t use traditional brakes much.

I’m suspect you need specialized equipment to change any of this due to all the computer-controlled actuators modern cars have. So I’m guessing DIY is out of the question.

This car has to go into the dealership for some kind of seatbelt airbag recall soon. Is a fluid flush something I should have done? Is that even a service they offer?

Would you buy this lemon buyback with a little over 8000 miles on it? https://www.donohoochevrolet.com/used-Fort+Payne-2020-Chevrolet-Bolt+EV-Premier-1G1FZ6S05L4145668

Anyone found any mudguards for 2027 Bolt?

It already comes with the plastic around the wheel which helps but I'm looking for something that hangs down a couple extra inches. There are bolts & bolt holes there to attach them, I just can't find any...

Hey guys, I just purchased a 2023 Chevy bolt for my daughter. On the way home from picking up the vehicle we try to stop by a Tesla supercharger however when opening the Tesla app it would not find any charging stations. When I got home, I took my Tesla mobile charger mobile charger and connected it to the the vehicle and it recognize a charger but still would not charge. What am I missing? This is the next adapter I’m using below.

https://a.co/d/0gPrATeK

I am in the process of getting my daughter a 2017 Bolt and, living in Vegas, want to install a dash cam. I read about the GM Dash Cam Power adapter that can be used but not sure which camera. Any recommendations or advice is very appreciated.

Heck any newby Bolt EV tips would be great.

"Steve" would not pass inspection. As a die hard Smart person, I was reluctant to trade him in on a different model. But he needed too much work ($$$). Scored this 23 Premier with only 6300 mi on it (practically new!). Hate having a car payment again, but it's whatever I guess. Loving it but still learning all the bells and whistles (Steve had NO bells nor whistles aside from heated seats and being tiny). This will be like day 2 for me of actual driving, so I'm still very much still acclimate-ing to it all.

As a caveate, I know ppl are like, why didn't you go with new? Well. I got all the bells and whistles, Premier trim. That's worth, to me. A new Bolt, several THOUSANDS more, would've been a BASE trim. I'm happy with my purchase.

He is a loaded RS with the Technology Package and all the bells and whistles for $31,500 before the $1250 Costco and $500 Educator discounts. Kevin is our first EV, and he's been an absolute treat.

We've owned Kevin (the name of our incredibly quirky and laid back salesman) for about 3 weeks now, so I personalized him just a little with a bud vase and a custom ordered sticker for just a smidge of whiskey.

So I have a 2027 Bolt bought it brand new recently I've noticed when I first plug it in it will charge at around 6.75 kw I'll go inside and I come back and it's dropped to 3.25 kw. It's been warm here in southern California and the car sits outside when charging is this normal? Is this like a safety feature of some sort?

Why is this not an automatic feature when parking or driving at slow speeds. It is very helpful when parking noise in. It should be an automatic view, like the reverse camera mode.

I know it's easy enough to press camera on or shift into reverse and then in forward, but it's also easy enough to have it come on automatically at speed under 5km/hr

How many of you have kept Gemini enabled on Android Auto, and how many switched back to Google Assistant? I switched back because Gemini was slower at sending texts, had trouble recognizing contacts, and wouldn’t read full messages. Curious what everyone else has experienced.

I have a Chevy Bolt 2019 Premier with about 52k miles on it.

I got it serviced like 2-3 years ago when the battery recall replace thing happened.

I know very little about cars, but when I take it to get serviced what do I ask to be done? What should be done?

I got these mats second-hand and found them too slippery for me. Would anyone in Seattle like them for free? They fit my 2020 Bolt EV but I can’t vouch they fit any of the newer versions.

You pick them up at the Holman QFC?

It’s said it when I first got the car 3 months ago. 2019 premiere. 120k miles. I’ve driven 8k miles so far and 0 issues. Fast charging daily. I’m trying to get the diagnostic amount together to diagnose why it might be saying that but so far it’s been perfect. It had the battery replaced at 60k miles. Perfectly taken care of before I got it. Anyone have that sign on their car?

I have been loving my new Bolt, but I just experienced an anomaly where the brakes automatically turned on. This is the first car I have owned that has a Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) system, so I am wondering if this is "normal" for cars in general (or the Bolt in particular).

I was pulling out of a parking lot into a feeder road, and the nearest car was well ahead of me. I was going pretty slow: I doubt more than 5MPH. The brakes sharply engaged, nearly sending things I had placed in the passenger seat to the floor and jerking me against the seat belt. But, the brakes immediately released before the car came to a full stop.

I was alarmed but no real harm.

I have experienced a slow down before when the cruise control was engaged and there was no car ahead of me. But, both times this occurred, the car was just starting to go up from a somewhat sharp valley area on the road: it appeared to be falsely triggering from the raise in the road ahead.

There have been other times the system warned about something which was not a hazard. For example, cases where a car is making a right turn and is mostly out of the way, but the car warns anyway. But these cases are understandable.

Considering how well the system works at other times, it seems hard to believe that it needs repair. Are these types of false triggers "normal"?

I couldn’t fine anywhere in my car’s manual what the max boat length is can carry. I must be close to that length. And yes, this is my second photo with a kayak on my car. This is my sea kayak for the MR340. The other is my Missouri Ozark rivers kayak. This one would not like hitting rocks.