My EV Journey

It was 12, maybe 14 years ago. Back then, I had a long commute, 40-ish miles roundtrip. We got a 3-year lease on a Prius hybrid to help with gas expenses and to get access to the carpool lane. When the 3-year lease was up we wanted more. So, we leased the first generation Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid. We put a charger in the garage and increased the amount of solar on the roof to better cover the greater electrical usage.

That first Volt only claimed 38 miles on electric but I never got close to that. 25-28 miles was about the best I saw. Not great on my 40-mile commute. After a year and a half, the gen 2 Volt came out with almost double the electric miles. The dealer offered me a great deal to turn in my gen 1 Volt with no early penalty on my lease. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse. I had the gen 2 Volt for the full 3 years of the lease. It claimed to have 58 miles of battery range, but I never made it to work and back on all electric. Once, I got a mile from home but more often, depending on temperature, wind, and side errands, I usually got 5 to 8 miles from home on electric only. It was a game trying to get more range out of it.

I wanted more electric and no gas! I wanted a full EV. These hybrids were just a tease. I longed to get a Tesla, but they were new, maybe risky being a start-up and very expensive. I don’t think the cheaper Model 3s were out yet. Enter the Chevy Bolt. In the Fall of 2018, my local power company had a great incentive deal on zero-emission cars. We turned in the Volt, at the end of its lease, and ordered a 2019 Chevy Bolt. They were in such high demand at that time, I had to order whatever color was available and then wait for almost 6 weeks for delivery. I drove our ICE truck to work during that time. It was excruciating and few times I forgot that I wasn’t allowed in the carpool lane. Opps! No fun!

After we took delivery, finally, I could get to work and back on all-electric. No more gas stations! I was in love. She’s not a color I wanted, charcoal, but I was lucky to get one in time to qualify for the power company incentive.  I call her Elsie, (L.C. for little car, but pronounced Elsie). Doesn’t everyone name their babies, um cars?  She is like the Tardis on Doctor Who; she looks small but seems MUCH bigger on the inside.

We leased Elsie for 3 years and when the lease was up, GM had the stop-sale on new Bolts because of the battery recall. GM allowed me to extend my lease for 6 months. When that was done the stop-sale was still on. I think we extended it again? Elsie was identified as part of the build group with the highest priority for the battery replacement. That was a tad alarming. We took her in right away. GM gave us an ICE loaner car. The process was smooth. Thanks, GM, you did the right thing! And bonus! We got a bigger battery with more range.

When the stop-sale was lifted we went to our dealership to trade in old Elsie for a new leased Bolt. 3-year leases worked great to keep me in valid carpool lane stickers which were also valid, in California, for 3 years and mine had expired for a while by then. However, there was no stock. GM had replaced customers’ batteries first. All the new stock on the lot still had the old batteries and couldn’t be sold yet. We looked at other brands, Kia, Hyundai, Nissan, Ford, and maybe some others. Anything affordable for us was out of stock.  Not willing to go back to an ICE car we told the dealer we wanted to buy Elsie. Confusion ensued. Could they sell her? What about the stop-sale? It had just lifted by a day or two. They didn’t know how to do it. It took the dealer hours and several calls to GM. Finally, they got GM permission to sell the Bolt to us. It was the first one they had sold since the stop-sale. (I kinda feel like I fostered a puppy and ended up adopting the grown-up dog!)

As time went on and I experienced friends’ Teslas, I appreciated the Bolt a lot more. I like the dash configuration better on the Bolt. The headroom and legroom are ample. She has been a great car. I got over my Tesla-envy. Shortly after we bought out the lease on Elsie, I was laid off and no longer needed a commute vehicle or the carpool sticker. 18 months later, all during COVID, I finally got a new work-at-home job. This put us in EV conflict!

For decades we have had His Car, My Car, and The Truck. We call them trucks but they were actually full-size SUVs. Vehicles we use for camping, hauling, etc. We had several Chevy Suburbans over the years and currently, we have a 2009 Toyota Sequoia. Decades ago, when Grandpa-EV stopped commuting and got a work-at-home job he got rid of His Car and he would drive the big gas-guzzler for short trips around town. When I, too, stopped commuting he assumed we’d just share the Bolt. NOOOOO! Now we fight over who gets to drive her. I have to readjust the seat and mirrors every time I drive her. He gets her dirty and leaves her full of tools and debris. Fortunately, the new Silverado EV, which is currently on order, should alleviate this glitch in our marital bliss.

Elsie has been a great car. We have taken her on one long road trip to Boise, ID. to visit friends. 649 miles each way.

That was a challenging trip. We used the paid verison of the ABRP app to carefully plan our charging stops. The best plan doesn’t survive contact with the ….weather! There was an unexpected late-season snowstorm and more wind than expected. At that time, there were not a lot of chargers out in the expansive wilderness (plains? prairie? high desert?)  between Winnemucca and Boise.

We had a long charge at a tiny town called McDermitt on the Nevada-Oregon border. While we were there a young family in a brand new Tesla Model Y, also going to Boise, pulled in. They had started very near our hometown in Northern California.  3 little girls under age 8 all piled out of the back. The parents hadn’t made a charging plan and it was painfully obvious, they didn’t understand how the car worked. EVs are, after all, big computers and they had no clue. They thought they could just jump in and go anywhere.  Winnemucca to Bosie is 266 miles. The only charger in that stretch was in McDermitt, 2 CCS stalls at a small convenience store. The store had a CCS to Tesla adapter but they couldn’t get it to work. I am not sure what that poor family did?. The only other option was a 120v plug at a tiny Indian Casino across the street. The next charger on route was all the way in the outskirts of Boise 183 miles away! Or backtrack to Winnemucca 73 miles. 

As I said, we had a LONG charge of 3 or 4 hours as I remember. ABRP told us we needed more than 90% state of charge to make it. We kept busy getting to know McDermitt. We hiked around the small town, read books, and hung out in the convenience store. It’s amazing how entertaining it can be to watch the hotdogs rotate while they cook and stay warm 🙃. It was getting dark when we got back on the road.

As it was, with the cold, snow flurries, winds and the uphill climb to Boise, we had a miserable leg of the journey. We had been on the road since early morning. It had gotten dark so we had to use headlights. We were running with no heat and freezing. We turned off the music/audiobook, unplugged the cell phones (there was no cell coverage anyway), and kept our speed at only 55 mph. Others flew past us doing 70 and 80 mph, honking and making finger gestures. We made it to the next charger with maybe 20 miles of range. It was tense, but we knew it was going to be an adventure when we planned the trip. We arrived at our friends’ house 5 hours later than expected. Fortunately, the way back was much better. The Spring temps were back in the 60’s with sunshine, and mild wind, and it is mostly downhill from Boise to Nevada. Shorter charging stops, one less than on the way up.

Other than that, we have not taken any long road trips that required more than one public charge stop with the Bolt, or any EV. Most of our long trips are in the ICE SUV because we are towing, hauling, have 5+ people, or the trip includes a high-center dirt road not suitable for a small car. We are hoping that with the addition of the Silverado EV, all of our future trips will be electric!

Grandma-EV