2700 Miles in a Bolt (Days 4-9)
We spent days 4 through 7 visiting my parents. During most of this time the Bolt sat in the drive way connected to the Chevrolet supplied level 1 charger.
The charger had some complaint about the outlet and would occasionally say there was a problem with the ground. After a while it would reset itself and charge more. (Dad said he may have connected the ground and neutral together, but I don't think he did. I think its just an old outlet in a damp environment.
We did take a few trips. One day we went to Galax VA (about 55 miles round trip). We drove into Sparta NC and back a couple of times (about 16 miles each trip). And one day we drove to Wildcat Rock in Doughton park (about 57 miles with driving around).
The level 1 charger caught up sometime along the second night we were there and of course kept up with that small amount of driving.
Before we left on Day 8, I set the target charge level to 90% because I knew the first drive could be "down the mountain".
On day 8 we left Mom and Dad's house and header for Saluda NC where we would stay at the Orchard Inn. The real purpose of this stop was to go zip lining at "The Gorge".
Heading out from Glade Valley we went down Roaring Gap Mountain which I described in the last post. We started down with about 90% charge. It was cool watching the GOM increase the estimated mileage as we went down the mountain. In all we gained about five miles dropping 2000 feet.
First we went on a little side trip to Charlotte to visit the Lodge Cast Iron factory store there (about 90 miles from Glade Valley). After the store we went to a nearby BP station and charged. It was another 100 miles to the inn and I wanted to be able get to Ashville if the charger at the inn turned out to be a bust. So, even though I had more than 50% SOC we went ahead and charged back up to 75% or so. We picked up 14 kWh at a cost of $9.33 or about 67 cents per kWh, once again finding that EVgo was an expensive charge location. It was billed at 30 cents a minute, so a lower SOC may have gotten me a better price.
We then drove the 100 miles on to the Orchard Inn in Saluda. The days total mileage was 191. The days purchase of energy was just 14 kWh, but we started full.
I found the Orchard Inn by looking around Saluda using Plugshare. They had level 2 chargers (one Tesla and one J-1722, which they referred to as "universal"). They even "reserved" the charger for us so we would be sure to have it available. They have one pet friendly cabin and a number of dogs and cats in residence. The inn was relaxing, quite, restful. It had walking trails and excellent breakfasts (included with the room). They fixed a nice table for us on the porch so we could keep our dog with us. Their restaurant was not open, except for breakfast, while we were there (a Tuesday and Wednesday), but otherwise it was really nice. It was more expensive than any other place we stayed, but we enjoyed it a great deal.
The charger looked fairly old and was of ClipperCreek brand. It had the longest cord I have ever seen on a charger. I did not unroll the whole thing to see how long but I bet it was 50 feet. Charger worked great and charged at the Bolt's max rate.
After we got settled in to the inn we went to a nearby town (Hindersonville) and had an excellent dinner at a restaurant named "Postero".
The next day we went zip lining at "The Gorge". This has little to do with Bolt EVs, but here are some pictures.
Do I look like I'm having fun?
Have you ever seen anyone look so happy about jumping off an elevated platform?
After the zip line tour we had lunch in Saluda and went back to the inn. Sky took a nap (I don't do naps they make me grumpy) so I went up to the main building at the inn and got a beer from the bar (the bar was open whenever anyone was there and they could find the key). I sat on the porch, read a little, enjoyed the scenery and, alas, took a nap.
We went back to Hendersonville and had dinner at a little sidewalk café named "Shine".
The next day we started on the drive back. More on that in the next report.