Chevrolet Bolt EV Range Can Dip Up To 100 Miles In The Cold, Lawsuit Says
19
Sponsored Links
A lawsuit filed by a South Dakota man in state court alleges his 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV’s range dipped by as much as 100 miles in the midwestern state’s cold winter months.
The plaintiff’s legal team is seeking class-action status in South Dakota court to go after General Motors on behalf of those who bought Bolts in North and South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and Montana, according to the Des Moines Register.
The lawsuit accuses GM of fraudulent misrepresentation and selling a vehicle with manufacturing and design defects, among other things. GM says the Chevrolet Bolt EV has a range of 238 miles, but the filing claims the range can dip by up to 100 miles in extremely cold temperatures.
GM is seeking to have the lawsuit thrown out, as the vehicle was not sold to plaintiff by GM itself. The 2017 model year vehicle was purchased from Billion Auto in Iowa City, Iowa.
The automaker also says the official literature for the vehicle “repeatedly discloses that the vehicle’s ‘actual range may vary based on several factors including temperature, terrain and driving conditions.’”
“For example, on the Chevy Bolt’s website, the language appears as a disclaimer that appears when a visitor clicks on any reference to charge or vehicle range,” the automaker’s motion to dismiss the suit said.
A ruling on GM’s motion to have the lawsuit thrown out is currently pending.
A study from AAA conducted this year found that in 20-degree Fahrenheit temperatures, electric vehicles could lose as much as 41 percent of their estimated range. This seems to vary from car to car, however, with some Bolt owners reporting large dips in range in winter months and others reporting a less dramatic effect.
Subscribe to GM Authority fore more Chevrolet news, Chevrolet Bolt EV news and ongoing GM news coverage.
Source: Des Moines Register
Sponsored Links
People need to smarten up.
Internal combustion engine vehicles lose efficiency in cold climates too. Just not as drastic with modern engines. Battery tech will improve, and one day may not be susceptible to the cold at all.
If your iPhone can go from 100% to dead in 20 minutes in the cold you can sure bet an EV will see reduced capacity
Tell me about it.
In my old 2008 Ford Escape V6 I used to get about 18-19 MPG avg per tank (mostly city driving), but during December, January, and February I would average 14.3 for the same situations.
Isn’t this already well known? Doesn’t GM, and every other automaker who makes EV’s, have disclaimers that say that actual mileage will vary upon thermal conditions, road, and terrain?
Just like with conventional ICE vehicles, was anyone NOT under the impression that the MPG ratings were obtained under controlled laboratory conditions that don’t exactly represent real-world driving conditions that would reduce ones MPG (eg; tow loads, AC, hilly roads, stop and go, etc.)?
Disclaimer,
In extremely hot conditions the radiator that cools your engine coolant will become less efficient. excessive strain on your engine such as but not limited to driving or accelerating aggressively. Going up hill at extreme speeds or with a huge payload or trailer may cause your engine to puke it’s guts out with or without the air conditioner in use.
Your damage may vary!
Autoline.TV did a report on how cold weather effects battery range especially when the vehicle passenger(s) turn on the heater because unlike a gas powered vehicle, turning on the heater in an EV will use up battery power and therefore reducing overall range.
A lot of people above know a lot about cars. Most people don’t. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Everyone has different areas of specialty knowledge.
That’s why when someone sells a product they better make sure the customer is aware of a major shortcoming, or typically (think Amazon) it will be sent right back. Since cars don’t have such easy returns the dealers better make sure they warn you of things before you actually make a purchase.
Nissan Juke. Cute car right? Did you think ‘no arm rest’ ? If you did, you have specialty knowledge. If you didn’t the salesman might want to point it out. It’s a little thing unless you RELY on armrests and then it’s not little at all.
I got in a Chevy Spark once and the salesman made it clear up front the seat sucked. And it did. You might as well. Get the customer a car they not only like at first but will like even more over time.
These things matter. Sue them silly, plaintiffs.
There is an inherent amount of knowledge that a consumer needs to bring to the table, not having this knowledge or common sense isn’t a crime, but you don’t need to sue the manufacturer over your own shortcomings.
Stupid a$$ lawsuits like this doesn’t fix stupid, it congratulats it. And you can sure bet a lot of people apart of this class action already knew range would be diminished and are jumping on the modern American dream of “sue to succeed”
I remember something like 15 years ago a person sued McDonalds US because their coffee was hot and won a ton. Years later a similar lawsuit cropped up in Canada, can’t recall the exact details, the details weren’t why it made headlines, the judge not only threw it out, by ordered the person to pay damages or undergo education courses related to whatever it was.. example if hot coffee is hot, and hot can burn, don’t touch. Court ordered common sense classes.
I had no idea the Bolt could lose such range in such conditions. It’s not common sense. It’s specialty knowledge.
Two of the most classic movies of all time were directed by the same director. You’ve heard of these movies and likely seen both of them. It’s not Kubrick, Spielberg, or Hitchcock. Name the films and director.
I love my 2011 Volt, already over 100k on the odo, but in the winter the 35 mile ranges goes to 20 miles because of using the heater and heated seats. At least i have the gas as a back up. Pure electric is scary where there are 0 degree winters. That issue will have to be remedied before electric can go main stream.
Mainstream is where people buy cars. But GM is already betting the farm on electric and the CEO wants the government to mandate EVs. I guess she thinks I don’t intend to visit my kids in Minnesota in December. Looks like we might be forced to buy Asian whether we want to or not. Or maybe there is a big opportunity out there for Ford. Or maybe they are all drinking the cool-aid. Maybe Mary is right or maybe not, but in any case survival depends on the government staying out of it and letting the marketplace decide.
The decreased battery capacity in the. Old is the industry’s dirt little open secret.
That is one area even Musk will not bloviate about.
Cold robs energy be it batteries, ICE or even the human body.
This lawsuit is like the family of a new Ferrari owner went to court after he was killed his first day in the car. They claimed he was not informed of the high performance nature of the car. Note it was just a 308 too.
Wow could you believe some people think a battery car could do the same distance and summer and winter ,,
This needs to be thrown out like now. It doesn’t matter if you are a car person or not. This is common knowledge that cold reduces all kinds of things including gas mileage with ICE.
No matter how hard they try, companies just can’t design stupid out of the people buying the products.
-6 celsius and you loose half the range, you must drive pedal to the metal all the time, I live in canada with winter temp around -20C I only lost a quarter range going from 400km to 300km.
Hey Andy, I call BS on your statement. I live in Ottawa and was one of the first bolt owners, after my volt and ford focus ev. Mid winter ranges are about 210-230 km period. It may say 300 after charging in a warm garage, but if you use the heater and drive like a normal person you too will see the above range.
Move to real weather, I get 360 miles driving in town and 285 miles driving 65-70 mph on my 2017 Bolt. Love the vehicles, and get 72-75 miles on my 2018 Volt on EV in town driving, 42-43 MPG when in gas, so the key is how you drive, and real weather.
@Bob.
Not sure how to take your comment. Although I agree with you on the range you are seeing, the part I find interesting is how you tell people to “move to real weather” and “how you drive, and real weather”.
What does that mean? Where do you live (general area in the USA,etc)? Are you suggesting that everyone should move to a warmer climate in order to attain better range on an electric car? Hmmmm.
I personally live in Southern California now, but I grew up in Illinois. I’d move back to IL in a second if not for my kids. I’ll take the cold winter moths over living in L.A. area any time.
You’ve got to love the attorney speak: GM is seeking to have the lawsuit thrown out, as the vehicle was not sold to plaintiff by GM itself.
Can you imagine the fun either GM, if the lawsuit is thrown out based on this reasoning, or any buyer who will now see an open door to deal with both his vehicle, his warranty and his dealer?
I guess this is the result of science not being as important as “Bidzness” classes. The reality is that anyone with even a basic understanding of science would expect this to be the case. All these technologies be it internal Combustion Engines ( ICE ) as well as Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV ) all depend on chemistry, and energy in the form of heat always affects anything related to a chemical reaction as is the case in both ICE’s and BEV’s, but the BEV is so much more efficient than a ICE that there is not a lot of waste heat to be diverted toward the passenger compartment. The amount of time you are running an inductive heater to warm the air will dramatically subtract from your range that is available for the propulsion system.
The attempt to negate this is by heating the seats themselves which actually are in direct contact with the drivers and passengers body. This form of heat transfer is much more efficient that using the air to transfer heat. I saw no mention in the plaintiff’s complaint which method of heat they attempted to use.
This obviously will require an adjustment by the end users to dress accordingly to allow the body to contact the seats without lots of insulation in-between the seats and said passengers body. When I lived in a cold climate I was taught to dress in layers to allow some clothing to be removed when not needed, and later applied when needed. Simply said take your coat off when seated, and allow the heated seats to provide the warming effect to your body. I used to get stares from people when I drove a ICE vehicle, and took my coat off before entering the vehicle, or depending oh how cold it was remove it after entering and before driving off. I grew up in a rural area much further south than any of these states, and was taught this by an football coach, and when I later was in the mountains close to the Canadian Border this seemed to work equally well. Now that more and more vehicles are going toward heated seats this should quickly become second nature.
The whole problem can be summed up in a recent conversation I had with a friend of mine who lives in an oil producing state, and is just looking for reasons to hate BEV’s. He states that unlike myself, and other friends of his who are willing to adapt to requirements of owning an BEV currently, that he will wait until no such adaptation is required and they operate just like an existing ICE car does. People like this unfortunately usually believe we have unlimited fossil fuel resources, and global warming is a hippie conspiracy backed by China. Probably not much you can do to convince them that great progress is being made in the area of range so that the expected 41% decrease in range for what amounts to a very unusual situation that most car owners will not have to deal with. Don’t even try to tell them about the huge amount of DC Fast chargers being added every month will also reduce this range anxiety.