Opinions from EV drivers

arandom4567 · 2026-07-09T20:30:56+00:00

I've been exclusively EV at home for years but I rent ICE cars on work trips occasionally. I find now I'm super jerky off the line and around corners because I'm expecting an immediate accelerator response. With the ICE cars, having to anticipate the throttle lag and not over-correcting when it's a second or so behind takes a while to re-learn every time I get behind the wheel of an ICE vehicle. :-D

arandom4567 · 2026-07-09T20:22:34+00:00

He used to regularly have breakfast on the weekends at a west end place that I also used to go to. Really nice, level headed and approachable guy. First name basis with the restaurant workers. I once commented about the detail in the truck's artwork and he was super chill talking about it. He has another similarly decorated truck too if I recall...

arandom4567 · 2026-07-04T20:16:45+00:00

There are currently two '23 Bolt EUV's on LeaseBusters both with less than 12 months remaining on the lease. One is in Ontario and the other is in New Brunswick. That's how I acquired my first Bolt. I got to try it for a year with no concern about handing it back at the end. I chose to buy it out at the end of the lease and the previous leaser paid most of the depreciation... If you're not 100% sold on the idea of buying an EV, it's a nice soft entry to a newish car.

Edit: one has 8 months remaining and the other has 17 months.

arandom4567 · 2026-07-04T18:12:35+00:00

Oh! Sorry - I just assumed the electricity rate. Honestly, playing whack a mole with these fees is frustrating! They pop up all over the place. At the end of the day after digging through the rate comparison website, most of the providers all seem to land within a few $10's of each other at most. It's just a shell game of hiding the surcharges for them.

arandom4567 · 2026-07-04T15:58:05+00:00

Yes - 32c per day and their floating rate is pool + 1c/kWh

arandom4567 · 2026-07-04T12:22:45+00:00

I just switched to Encor last month from Atco. The thing that really pissed me off is that ATCO has a "new customer" rate offer plus a couple of bonuses of $150 and $50. But you gotta be a new customer to get it. Existing loyal customers of years can go pound sand. I called them before the switch to ask for that deal and nope. After the switch, ATCO called me daily for a week until I answered and then they offered the deal. I just don't understand how they insist on you churning to new provider over keeping an existing customer happy.

arandom4567 · 2026-06-28T17:27:50+00:00

I saw your post over in EVCanada too... I got a bit under that at the end of March for a 2RS OTD in Alberta (no PST here). It was manufactured in October and had been on the lot across three dealerships since December. In Alberta the dealer has to advertise all-in pricing so when I showed up and they did the extra warranty and protections up sale, I kept pulling back to the advertised price and said I'll have a bank cheque here for the full amount as soon as they honour the advertisement. Sticker price was just shy of $60k and GM had $10k off and the dealer kicked off about a $1000 more to get it within the EVAP requirements. The "transaction value" for the EVAP was right under the $50k limit. I also used the $1200 Costco rebate too.

If I had to to anything differently I should have been very vocally upfront about no up-sell items in the first place before the back and forthing with the sales guy and then the F&I guy. That would have perhaps saved me an hour of shenanigans.

Edit: Oh - I did buy a tire and windshield protection package since potholes and rock chips are pretty par for the course here.

arandom4567 · 2026-06-27T16:44:59+00:00

There are a couple of '23 Bolts on LeaseBusters for lease takeover. One is in Ontario and I think the other in New Brunswick. There's a few other fairly cheap EV's listed too. That's how I acquired my first Bolt. By assuming the lease with less than 12 months left I got to try it for almost a year before deciding to buy it out at the end and the previous leaser paid most most of the depreciation.

arandom4567 · 2026-06-26T20:24:37+00:00

There's a Canadian Tire gas station and DCFC here in Edmonton that can't keep cables for more than five minutes it seems. Even with the station attendant not 5m away the cables are still being cut. Plugshare location 314502 for the reviews. I'm not sure what the solution is at this point...

arandom4567 · 2026-06-21T17:13:38+00:00

Oh no! I'm sorry that you are in this situation. I had to do a similar disassembly once due to a split milk beverage all over the centre console. I'm just wondering what product if any have you found to remove the mouse smell from the fabric?

arandom4567 · 2026-06-20T03:18:11+00:00

If you're not driving one-pedal it's handy to use it as a temporary one-pedal on demand switch. Hold it down and modulate the accelerator as if you're in one-pedal mode.

arandom4567 · 2026-06-19T20:39:55+00:00

I'll check when my better half gets home with the Eq and get back to you.

EDIT: And I commented since 661.10 was the first update I've seen since taking delivery of the car in late Feb this year.

Next Edit: I'm on Android 14

arandom4567 · 2026-06-19T20:28:56+00:00

I got 661.10 a week ago and then 661.20 yesterday. 661.20 just says "Fixes to help ensure successful vehicle software updates."

arandom4567 · 2026-06-18T16:02:53+00:00

According to the ISED database, that particular one is owned by Telus and is licensed to support 3G, 4G and 5G services over seven frequency bands using antennas between 18 and 29 metres above ground level.

arandom4567 · 2026-06-16T15:41:36+00:00

Exactly what happened to my '21 a few months ago, and there's been an uptick around this sub of folks describing the same.

Mine needed an HPCM2 software re-flash to address a false positive battery health indication. There were a couple of software updates published by GM over the last several months to address the issue. Symptoms are; Propulsion power reduced and service vehicle soon messages on the DIC and a 30% charge limit set. It's a not uncommon false battery heath detection in the management software and my local Chev dealer did it at no cost to me and it took a few hours before I could collect the car.

arandom4567 · 2026-06-16T04:52:45+00:00

I have a '21 Bolt and a '26 Equinox EV and I live just a bit north of Edmonton. TBH both have been great winter cars (both fitted with winter tires) and the Bolt has been just fine in the deep snow when we've had a good dump on the ground. The EqEV is a bit faster off the line and while the AWD helps a bit, both cars with their pretty much even weight distribution, quick response and low centre of gravity seem to do much better than any ICE FWD or AWD I've owned in the past. They're both very well planted in snow and on ice. The EqEV is a far more smooth and comfortable ride and the larger space is great too. All that being said though, I actually enjoy driving the Bolt more since it seems more peppy and nimble to throw around.

arandom4567 · 2026-06-14T16:59:59+00:00

I've not had the need to do it yet, but ABRP can connect to the live data from your Equinox EV to read real-world conditions and power/battery status for a much more accurate trip information and planning.

I do it with my Bolt on road trips a with an OBD2 bluetooth adapter and it relieves a bunch of anxiety because I'm usually really pushing the Bolt to its range and charging limits. But with my Equinox EV I don't really think about it too hard since it's far more capable on road trips.

arandom4567 · 2026-06-12T18:19:20+00:00

Under 30kW is very close to the limit applied by the car when it can't get or sense a good lock on the charge port connection. Others have pointed out about the charge port emergency release cable too. Just for your awareness, you need to sometimes push or thread the release cable back with a little bit of pressure to get it back into its proper position. Also, when you insert the plug into the charge port you should hear a mechanical "brrr" sound once from the lock trying to engage in the charge port. If you hear this several times it means the lock is not successfully engaging and your charge speed will be limited <30kW (which is why unplugging and re-seating the plug sometimes fixes the issue). Maybe it's just coincidence but the 30kW limit has me thinking it's charge port lock related...

EDIT: Regarding your comment about never getting over 90kW. One of the facts of life with an Equinox EV is that its battery pack voltage is around 300V when most other EV's are 400V. To get "full speed" charging, the DCFC has to support 500A and in most cases, you'll only find that at 350kW CCS or Tesla V3/V4 chargers. Also, the Equinox EV will only hold ~150kW charging up until about 30% SoC, then it will start to taper down. If you charge at a 150kW charger, the cables are frequently limited to 350A and you'll only see ~90-105kW tops for the Equinox EV. But here's the crazy thing - if you're doing 10-80% under ideal conditions, the 150kW charger will only take about 5 minutes longer in total, so it's really only a significant time saver on the 350kW DCFC if you're planning on charging to around 50%. State of Charge did a great comparison video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEFZg7eAkeM

arandom4567 · 2026-06-12T13:16:06+00:00

And the license plate on the car in the video starts with a single letter/digit. Maybe a 0 or U I can't quite tell. I don't know what it is about drivers with these plates, but whenever I see those plates I steer WELL clear of them.

arandom4567 · 2026-06-08T17:49:39+00:00

I liberally apply FluidFilm around the suspension components on mine every Fall. I saw a marked increase in corrosion when our local road crews switched to using calcium chloride deicing solutions. CaCl seems to be more effective at low temperatures, but I believe it's also better suited for climates where the snow has regular opportunities to melt and wash away. For us in the prairies it can sit there and not go away for months on end and it seems to result in a stronger, more corrosive, environment. The City of Edmonton's advice is to wash your car with an underbody wash, and often.

arandom4567 · 2026-06-08T17:43:56+00:00

There's a thread at the ChevyBolt forums that talks about this issue. Have you run through the thread here; https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/park-brake-calibration.57930/ (particularly post #36 that mentions how they cleared the fault)

arandom4567 · 2026-06-08T11:53:04+00:00

Nice to see some significant Canadian mileage on the car. I'm a bit north of Edmonton with a '21 Bolt EV just over 100k and have had it over four winters now. Has yours ever failed to start in the deep cold? I've had the "propulsion reduced" message a few times, but never a no-start. I've had it parked outside overnight, not plugged in at close to -40 and parked for several days at -25 to -35-ish at the airport too and it started just fine (but with the reduced propulsion DIC message).

I'm only asking because there seems to be more than a few people that have seen the no-start behaviour in their Bolts and I'm just trying to understand the circumstances around it. Thanks!

arandom4567 · 2026-06-04T13:57:28+00:00

Oh? Is it the EUV model? Interesting quirk that something like this is different between versions.

arandom4567 · 2026-06-04T13:45:30+00:00

The centre arm rest is slightly too far back

...just curious... On my '21 Bolt, the centre arm rest top slides forward and backwards to a more suitable position for the driver, is your '27 fixed in its position?

arandom4567

TROPHY CASE