![]() ![]() ![]() The next full charge was only about 90% on the meter and the regen worked as expected. I then changed the Hill Top Reserve setting to On – Home Only. I noticed this upon leaving my house on a full charge and both the L shifter setting and the paddle regen had no deceleration affect. Interestingly the Bolt seems to charge the battery to 100% and there is no room for regen energy with a full charge. Several times I was able to get 50 miles electric only in the Volt and my lifetime average efficiency for the Spark at 35,000 miles is 4.6 miles per kWh (or 21.7 kWh per 100 miles). The effect of this was that I could get routinely more range than was advertised for each car. I believe that first four miles of downhill allowed me capture that regen energy and charge the battery to a higher level than the software would allow from the charger. This meant the when I left my house with a full charge there was room in the battery for additional energy from regeneration. The system only allowed the battery to be charged to something less than 90%. The Volt and Spark both used the battery conservatively to be sure there would be enough charge cycles to maintain initial range for the warranted life of the battery. I have also worked in physical, electrical, and computer/software design and testing fields so I have an understanding of those areas as well. While not a professional, I have been setting up and driving race cars and high performance street cars for over 45 years so I have an understanding of vehicle dynamics and what makes things work (or not). Also it was raining for most of the time. The temperature conditions this last week have been unusually cold for So Cal, with lows each morning in the low 30s and highs in the high 50s. I am large at 6'1" with a 52 coat size so take into account on my comfort reviews. This condition has an impact on range which varied for each of the cars and has an interesting effect on the Bolt. The 15 mile commute to my home office consists of a 1,000 foot total elevation drop, and a 600 foot drop in the first 4 miles. My daily commutes varies from 30 to 70 miles round-trip. I live in Southern California and the Bolt is my third electric car after a 2011 Volt and a 2014 Spark EV. I got my Bolt Premier will all options (MSRP $43,905) one week ago, I have driven it about 500 miles so far and it's time for the first review. ![]()
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