Our Bolt has arrived.
On Tuesday, we got the news that our Bolt had arrived at Carter GM North Shore. Buddy was in Vancouver to attend the VEVA (Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association) monthly meeting where he was making a presentation about our Bolt Across Canada low impact road trip, needless to say he parked our other vehicle and picked up the new Chevy Bolt.
So what were Buddy’s first impressions behind the wheel of the all-electric Chevy Bolt.
Driving: Buddy thinks driving the Bolt is more fun than our older gas guzzler. Buddy never says driving in Vancouver is fun! Car is very quiet and easy to handle.
One-pedal driving: One pedal driving is really cool. One-pedal driving can add up to 5 percent of range to the Bolt EV. Re-gen braking allows the driver to stop without using the brake pedal and it captures the energy lost from deceleration and sends the energy back into the battery pack. Buddy showed me how the one pedal driving works at several intersections and driving down School Road hill as a sometimes nervous passenger with my own “Fred Flintstone” brake, I can say there is no need for me to have my imaginary brake ready as the car stops on a dime. Buddy pointed out with his demonstration that one- pedal driving will save wear on the brakes.
Space: Buddy was with this friend “big” John who is 6 foot 4 inches when they picked it up. Both reported that it was roomier than they thought it would be. Big John had no problems getting into vehicle or with leg or head room. Buddy says we will have no problem carrying all the stuff we need for two months on the road.
Cameras: There are cameras on all sides of the car which give you a 360-degree view around you. Plus, with the flip of a switch you can turn your rear view mirror into a digital one. It uses the rear cameras to give you a full look behind you with no pillars or windows blocking things- this makes parking really easy.
Technology: There is a huge LCD centre panel display, loaded with charging information, entertainment options, and ability to display app information from a smart phone via USB plug. Buddy had his phone plugged in to the USB plug and the tunes on his phone where playing as we drove home. The panel does not seem to be distracting or something that driver seems to need to fiddle with. Not being tech geeks we will be reading and learning more about all the things the Bolt can do.
Plug in: Plugging in is easy and Buddy liked that the charge level was displayed as well as when the maximum charge is achieved on the dash board. When we are not road tripping, with the Chevy Bolt’s range for our normal driving in the Gibsons area we will only have to plug in once a week. It takes about 9.5 hours on our home charger for full charge which is easy to do plugging in overnight.
We would like to thank David Anthony Palermo, Joe Haley and Todd MacDonald and our friends at Carter and Haley GM for great advice, and great service.
The Chevy Bolt has said hello and it is here to stay.
