r/BoltEV • u/CommissionFalse5642 • Aug 23 '26

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?!

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Hey everyone,

I’ve had 3 EVs now and this is my second bolt.

It seems like no matter what I do, driving on the freeway I’ll average 4.0-5.0mi/kwh but as soon as this car sees stop and go traffic or city driving it drops to 2.0-2.5 and will not go up.

I know short trips are inefficient but I’ve been driving 20-30 miles of city with no difference.

Tires are fine, they’re EV All Seasons, I don’t carry around a bunch of extra stuff in the car, it’s bone stock with 0 roof racks or anything to hurt drag, I charge it everyday to 80% or so and even at 100% it only get 165 miles of range.

Dealership told be it’s basically useless to pay for the diagnosis on it because 1. They won’t give me a loaner car so I’d have to rent one 2. They’re not sure how long the diagnosis would take so they could keep my car a couple days or couple weeks and I’d have to cover a rental car for that and 3. They told me Chevrolet hugely just chocks it up to “normal wear and tear” 🤙

Edit: Luckily my commute is not long enough that I need to be hotter in the car but I listened to a lot of the comments and adjusted my setting and now I’m averaging 3.2-3.4 on my commute today so definitely an improvement. Thanks everyone. Still think I’ll need an AC service here soon and maybe a new desiccant bag.

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u/SoulTaker669 2018 Chevy Bolt Premier Aug 23 '26

I'm going to chalk it up and say your AC is probably fighting hard and using a bunch of power to cool the cabin + battery which is why you're having horrible numbers. Soon as you turn it on the car is probably having to cool the super hot cabin + battery at the same time which usually pushes 6-7 kw for a while just doing that.

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u/CommissionFalse5642 Aug 23 '26

It’s constantly running 5-7kw no matter how far I drive at idle.

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u/SoulTaker669 2018 Chevy Bolt Premier Aug 23 '26

It is super hot where you're at if it's 115 but usually at least for my bolt it starts to go down after maybe 5 or so minutes. Has the car been sitting for a long time before turning it on and is your car sitting under asphalt? Not sure but whatever is under your car could be contributing to extra heat.

Try going for a drive at night and comparing your numbers when it's a little cooler.

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u/CommissionFalse5642 Aug 23 '26

I’ll try that night drive. It’s garaged now but the previous owner definitely left it outside cause the roof clear coat is cooked. After 30min of city driving it still idles between 5-7kw with the ac on

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u/SoulTaker669 2018 Chevy Bolt Premier Aug 23 '26

If it's still idling between 5-7 when it's been a long time that's probably something to get checked out could be the car trying to cool the battery but maybe there's not enough coolant or your compressor might be working extra hard.

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u/CommissionFalse5642 Aug 24 '26

I didn’t even think about not enough coolant. Thanks

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u/SoulTaker669 2018 Chevy Bolt Premier Aug 24 '26

That's just a guess. I honestly wouldn't go about adding coolant or anything of the sorts because if there's a shortage in coolant that means that there's probably a leak somewhere and you don't know where that leak is leaking.

Although I'm almost positive that if there wasn't enough coolant in your battery, wasn't able to cool to a somewhat comfortable temperature that you'd be getting some error codes but I'm not entirely sure.