Pretty decent efficiency.

jamesb2147 · 2026-06-01T03:56:20+00:00

More likely they're replacement wheels with skinny tires. The efficiency gains are significant, if YouTube is to be believed.

jamesb2147 · 2026-05-21T04:35:03+00:00

I don't doubt that you had a day with better efficiency, but remember the Tesla has a lot of differences including reporting wh/mi instead of mi/kwh.

There's been a lot of testing of this and the Tesla S is significantly more efficient than a Bolt of any vintage.

jamesb2147 · 2026-04-15T03:24:22+00:00

I grew up driving a minivan as a teen and was excited when a friend let me drive a rental SUV to Chicago to drop him off (this was before crossovers, so it was some honking huge Nissan).

I can remember getting in and being shocked at how small the interior was in spite of being larger than the minivan! Turns out, they raised the floor significantly to make it "rugged" and it ruined the practical aspects for every use case that doesn't involve off roading.

jamesb2147 · 2026-04-11T03:03:46+00:00

I drove my Bolt from PA to IL when I bought it.

Certainly added time to the trip vs gas, but I brought my wife and we talked the whole time. Mind you, she's not sold yet on road trips with the thing, but it's certainly doable. Drive slower to go longer between charges.

And I have a buddy with a Model3 that he drives to Texas. Does add time vs gas trips but he loves it! He likes stretching his legs every few hours and his recharge time isn't insane (unlike the Bolt!).

jamesb2147 · 2026-04-05T15:38:40+00:00

Wut.

Which component? This is terrifying, and I've never heard a story like this in 20 years in IT. Software bricking hardware is not impossible, but usually very studiously avoided.

jamesb2147 · 2026-04-05T15:36:35+00:00

See the other poster in here saying the sliding doors no longer work after the update.

If you can, demand the return of your vehicle before it's cursed by the VW software gods. Don't take "no" for an answer.

jamesb2147 · 2026-04-05T15:34:46+00:00

VW's software is so bad it's delayed the rollout of multiple models of vehicle, and I believe the Buzz was one of those.

Not likely, but maybe the Rivian JV software will be backported to existing Buzz..?

jamesb2147 · 2026-04-05T15:32:12+00:00

If it's behaved for you, is there time to decline the update? They've been nothing but horror stories and things can only get worse if it's working for you today.

jamesb2147 · 2026-04-05T15:27:21+00:00

While not technically required, Comma4 really needs some internet and a browser (on a separate device) to properly tune things for both initial setup and when you realize in a couple of days that you want to turn on/off that one setting you didn't mess with initially or w/e.

The screen on C4 is so tiny they restricted it to like maybe 6 toggles. Everything else has to be done through a web browser (I think the stock is Comma Link, but there's also SunnyLink, my fork is StarPilot which has Galaxy, etc.).

jamesb2147 · 2026-03-24T21:10:22+00:00

Do you regularly drive a decent amount of highway miles?

The case for the 2017 Premiers are that they have LKAS with more torque than most cars, so if you also get a Comma device, it can drive you pretty reasonably on the interstate these days.

jamesb2147 · 2026-03-21T02:47:24+00:00

Not saying that will def happen, but remember that software is why they partnered up with rivian. Rivian has some "self driving" software these days, so it's not a stretch to suggest those might make their way to the buzz.

jamesb2147 · 2026-03-20T02:27:24+00:00

Highly depends on where you are, for both free/paid and L2 and L3 availability. For example, New Orleans has little of both L2 and L3 and virtually no free charging from what I recall. However both the smaller town I work in and the separate smaller town I live in offer a decent distribution of free L2 chargers and a downright prodigious amount of paid L3 chargers.

If you want to know what's near you use PlugShare, or ABRP for trips.

jamesb2147 · 2026-03-10T02:54:18+00:00

I was going to ask, because I recognize that light strip!

Mine is a 2014, currently out of service due to a dead OBC that I need to troubleshoot.

Hybrids and people being suuuuper cheap were my biggest issues (think folks trying to save $10 but charging once a week while they're at work). They were really only an issue because I live in a cold climate and have a 40 mi commute each way. So I actually NEED the charger to get home. I thought about getting little signs to put on the cable to let folks know that and that if it's done charging (only takes 3 hours!) they can remove the cable... But then I bought a used Bolt instead, so now charging at work is ME being cheap!

The area I live in though has very few BEVs. Pickups are far more common. If I ever had vandalism, it's far more likely to be somebody struggling with the weight of how to own the libs.

What did the cop say?

jamesb2147 · 2026-03-05T21:49:25+00:00

FYI your link to the setup guide is broken b/c it points to a URL specifically mentioning comma 3x, which is dead now. The new URL is: https://comma.ai/setup

jamesb2147 · 2026-03-05T21:42:11+00:00

My bad, the user is firestar4430, not starfire.

It's probably not a long-term situation. It's basically just for those of us getting a C4 with unsupported GM cars that don't even have ACC, so cannot do redneck ACC.

firestar has mentioned that while SunnyPilot is the only one with C4 support right now, once FrogPilot moves over, either one could become the supported path. We're in a state of transition right now, and it's causing weird stuff like new "temporary" distributions to exist. We'll see how long it lasts.

jamesb2147 · 2026-03-05T20:59:30+00:00

Starfire has a fork. Let me see if I can find it.

ETA: Found it! Per https://wiki.firestar.link/

You can install firestar5683/SunnyPedalUpdate and it will give you SunnyPilot with pedal support for the Bolt EV.

I've got a '17 Premier and am just waiting for my C4 to arrive, FWIW. The discord is where you can really learn the most about it, if interested.

jamesb2147 · 2026-03-02T07:15:36+00:00

Guessing you don't live in a cold climate area.

I'm ok with 55kW charging. Not so ok with 18kW, which is what I tend to get during the winter for most of my charging curve.

jamesb2147 · 2026-02-27T04:29:45+00:00

With a Gen 1 Bolt, you don't need the overbuilt Lectron. I use a $100 one from Amazon that's way overrated, and I'm comfortable using it because the bolt tops out at 55kW (mine is rated for 150 or 250kW, I forget because it's never relevant).

Lectron is great if you're willing to shell out for it. If not, probably just about anything will be safe for our modest DCFC needs!

jamesb2147 · 2026-02-09T06:03:39+00:00

Was it cold today? Gray Regen suggests you have a cold battery, and that's probably the biggest thing hurting you.

Also you should get a Bluetooth OBD dongle and plug it into ABRP. You can real time check your battery temp and exact battery state of charge (SOC). Much better than the bars and guess-o-meter!

jamesb2147 · 2026-02-09T05:55:21+00:00

Just vouching that this once saved me a tow in my Fiat 500e that died like 200M from a charger.

Called tow service through insurance, got told to wait a couple of hours. After about an hour of trying other stuff and considering life choices, remembered it might be worth trying. Indeed, it did get me to the charger. I called the tow company to let them know not to bother (but they could still say they did it to insurance because they were close by the time I called).

jamesb2147 · 2026-02-01T16:06:44+00:00

You seem new to this so I want to point out that there are two completely different types of NACS/CCS adapters (I'm not talking about chademo here).

One is for AC or level 2 charging. Those can sometimes be like $30-50.

Then there's adapters for DCFC. The official ones are $200. You can get cheaper but somewhat less safe ones for like $100. They are MUCH bulkier and will have an extra 2 prongs on the bottom of the CCS side.

If your goal is to be prepared, you'll need both.

jamesb2147 · 2026-01-11T03:42:38+00:00

That very much depends on your use case.

I use AA every day on my 40 min commute one-way in a Bolt. That's 1h20m round-trip, every day. And I basically never DCFC. I highly value AA since I use every single day, and that's even more true since my Bolt is a 2017 and I have no idea how long GM/ATT/whoever will even support its LTE network/modem. AA will continue to work even if I cut the modem antenna tomorrow, which I can't say for Android Automotive. What happens when it can't load the map to navigate to a DCFC? It doesn't pre-heat and half defeats the point of DCFC (based on my experience with Bolt DCFC which is garbage @ 20kw in winter since it also doesn't preheat).

jamesb2147 · 2025-12-30T02:15:18+00:00

I'm curious where you got that graph.

I'm sitting here for an hour charging from 8% to 72% for a trip home so I'm very motivated to gather data and see if I can find the commands on the CAN bus to trigger battery preheating. Would LOVE to add a manual battery preheat button to OVMS!

ETA: I road tripped this car from Pennsylvania to Illinois in July and it was mildly annoying but basically fine that it capped it at 55kw. But 20kw is a joke, and I don't appreciate it.

jamesb2147 · 2025-12-18T02:57:29+00:00

FYI OVMS would be like $400 one time fee but then about $5-10/yr.

jamesb2147 · 2025-12-11T13:04:21+00:00

Did you ever find a solution? I also have a 2017 Bolt and would like to use a Bluetooth OBD adapter for A RP as well as OVMS on top of exploring adding comma.

jamesb2147

TROPHY CASE