While the big news surrounding the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV is its combined rating of 238 miles of range, the EPA has updated its database to include the finer details of what the vehicle is capable of.
First reported by Inside EVs, the EPA documents show the 2017 Bolt EV will go 255 miles in the city, 17 miles more than its combined rating. But, that figure drops drastically if highway miles are the Bolt EV’s sole roads traveled.
Thanks to clumsy aerodynamics (the Bolt EV manages a pretty lame .32), the 2017 Bolt EV will only manage 217.4 miles of highway driving before the batteries call it quits.
However, it’s not all bad news for the highway. The figures above do not include the Bolt EV’s regen on demand system, which harnesses wasted energy to increase range. Chevrolet stated owners can see an additional five percent added to the total range in various driving situations.
Comments
This is cool. I’ve found that my 2015 Nissan LEAF can get between 180km and 200km (124 miles) in city streets where I live. It’s not hard to tune your own driving technique to achieve more than 9km / kw. Just avoid motorways and stay on city streets. A trip might take 5, 10 or 15 minutes longer…..but you’ll use half the power to reach the same destination. That means less time charging….and it’s actually a lot safer, too, driving at lower speeds and being able to pull over pretty much anywhere and just walk around to see stuff. Being able to drive 200km / 124 miles around town is a lot of range. You’ll have trouble doing that in a day.
I think 217 Ev miles is quite remarkable, compared to less that 25 mpg we get with my wife’s SRX which will be replaced by a Bolt.