The Bolt is Mine

So the words a lot of you guys following my blog have been waiting to see: I got my Bolt!!

On Sunday, I got the call from the truck driver saying he would be stopping in my area in the evening for delivery. I had to meet him at a parking lot near a big box store a couple of miles from my house, since his truck would not be able to drive into the residential area I live in. No problem! I took a Lyft to the meeting area (whatever happened to those rumored Lyft Bolts they were supposed to get first? Whatever).

Upon arriving in the parking lot, I could see a huge transport truck with a bunch of cars on it. As I got closer, I made first contact with my Bolt in Maryland!

There's my Bolt!

The driver, Max (not Brandon, it turned out), hopped out and told me it was a long drive from CA. He encountered plenty of rain and snow on his trip, and I could tell as my Bolt was covered in road grime and dust. Aside from being a little dirty, my Bolt had made it to Maryland unscathed. The unloading process was pretty cool to watch, as Max needed to raise up the vehicles on the 2nd level via hydraulic lifts in order to drive my Bolt off the trailer.



After doing a walk around inspection and finding no damage, I signed off on the delivery papers, handed Max 600 bucks, and wished him luck with his other deliveries. I had complained a bit about the shipping process in earlier posts, but it got to me roughly within the original time frame, so I really have no complaints about the shipper. Most people also aren't able to track their vehicles with an app, so a lot of the angst was self-inflicted.

Dirty but arrived safe and sound.

I hopped in my Bolt for the first time, and noticed right away the range was very low (not a surprise since the dealer said they couldn't charge it before my shipper showed up). The GOM said 32 miles of range. After a few miles of driving, the range estimate hit 25 and I hit Propulsion Power Reduced mode, which triggers when the battery state of charge drops to under 10%. Despite being in PPR, I was still able to squeal the tires at a stoplight. 😊

First destination? A car wash! My Bolt was filthy, and that grime needed to be washed away ASAP!
I went to the Exxon a few miles down the road, and had to go into the store to pay for a car wash since I couldn't purchase one at the pump (can't buy a car wash without buying gas!). Made for a good photo op I just couldn't pass up.

Won't see many Bolts at gas stations like this

After washing off all the road grime, I parked my Bolt at home to feed it some much needed EV-juice and also get acquainted with my Volts.

Bolt, meet Volt. And other Volt.

I plugged the Bolt in overnight with my Clipper Creek LCS-25. It is rated at a max theoretical output of 4.8 kW, but I found that it only reaches a rate of around 4.5 kW while monitoring the charging status with my JuicePlug. No biggie, as the Bolt will rarely be fully depleted, and even if it is, an overnight charge of "only" 180 miles or so will be plenty for everyday driving.

The next day, I took a day trip to Baltimore! Stopped by the science center, and afterwards recharged MY batteries with some Shake Shack. Finding street parking is always a hassle in downtown Baltimore, but I managed to find a spot my Bolt squeezed in. A larger car would not have been able to park in the spot, but the Bolt was no problem with its small footprint. The 360 degree birdseye camera coupled with the rear vision camera + front camera made parking a breeze.

Squeezed into a tight spot in downtown Baltimore no problem

Shake Shack! nom nom nom

For those of you with kids, I took a few shots of the back seat with two Graco Turboboosters in the rear. I found that my 6', 190 pound self had room to squeeze in the middle, though I wouldn't want to do that for a long period of time. Still MUCH better than my 2017 Volt's "middle seat" though. Very similar space in the rear to my old, larger C-Max Energi. Moving one of the boosters to the middle would likely make a trip much more comfortable for an adult.

Love that foot space

Still a tight fit for an adult in the middle, though at least it's a real middle seat.

Here's a shot of my Bolt almost 100% fully charged. As it seems my Bolt spent a lot of time on while sitting idle during the shipping process, that number will surely improve towards the EPA figure (and likely above) once it gets used to my driving style.



That's it for the time being. Now that I actually have my Bolt, I'll soon be able to post more detailed hands-on experiences.  😊

p.s. here is the route my Bolt took to get to me in Maryland. 5,401 miles in all of travel before I could drive a single mile, from the train ride out west to the truck ride back east.

Would have been a much simpler trip direct from MI to MD, eh?