[HawaiiEV]

We bought solar couple years ago and I jumped on the RAV4 Prime for the wife since her Camry Hybrid was getting older. The prime has been awesome, super practical EV and ultra efficient hybrid in one, ultimate transition vehicle. Now obviously I want to replace my truck with the Silverado EV also because it’s the new avalanche. I put down a deposit on the Aptera. I think it’s supercool they went all the way with the efficiency thing and I can run for free from its own solar panels. I’m a big motorcycle guy so maybe the aptera will technically be like a motorcycle EV that runs for free.
What EVs do you all have or want other then the Silverado? I could see replacing the wife’s RAV4 Prime with a Bronco EV or possibly Tahoe EV.

 

[bbrriiaann1973]

The experience of GM vehicles is what I want to hear about.

 

[JRT]

2021 Mustang Mach E, Premium, RWD, Std Range 12k miles, 1st EV. It has been a great EV, but the Ford Service has been terrible. This is not an EV terrible, they were terrible when we had a Flex 3 years ago. Only Service I've had is recalls and SW updates to fix OTA failures. The std range is why my next has to be 300 miles or more. Charging infrastructure has been an issue for my travel area.

 

[tsuintx]

Maybe in the distant future when GM has had their EV full-size SUVs out for a while and they start to become available in the secondary market I can see myself buying one for the wife. Will be a while, though, as I won't be buying new.

I was kind of interested in testing out a used Leaf (range sucks) or Volt (yes, not 100% EV) etc. before used vehicle market exploded and then the price of gas skyrocketed. Now people think they're worth their weight in gold. Maybe once the market cools down a bit I might try to source one to scoot around and eventually flip.

 

[bbrriiaann1973]

Maybe in the distant future when GM has had their EV full-size SUVs out for a while and they start to become available in the secondary market I can see myself buying one for the wife. Will be a while, though, as I won't be buying new.

I was kind of interested in testing out a used Leaf (range sucks) or Volt (yes, not 100% EV) etc. before used vehicle market exploded and then the price of gas skyrocketed. Now people think they're worth their weight in gold. Maybe once the market cools down a bit I might try to source one to scoot around and eventually flip.

What would keep you from buying a new Bolt? They start at 29k 30k

 

[tsuintx]

What would keep you from buying a new Bolt? They start at 29k 30k

I don't buy new vehicles, nor do I really need a Bolt or a Leaf or a Volt. I just have a habit of flipping cars in the 5-10K range and tend to buy what kind of catches my eye (purchase price has to also make sense, of course!) and Leaf/Volt kinda did that before all hell broke loose in the market.

 

[HawaiiEV]

Im sure the bolt is great if you need it. But I personally don’t want a Korean car with shoddy batteries that catch on fire. I hope with ultium being designed and built under GM here we should end up with a better product.
I’ve heard good things about the Mustang Mach E, I’ve always appreciated Fords independence and outside the box thinking. I liked the Flex a lot too. I would consider an F-150 with a real bed, but I’m not going to buy a truck with a garbage hauling bed, I need to be able to fit real work.

 

[Solar1]

Started my EV Expierence recently with a Ford Mustang Mach-e

 

[Solar1]

It will hold me over until a EV Pickup is delivered ered in 23 or 24.

 

[NutsnBolt]

I have a Chevy Bolt with 12K miles. Bought it new for about $21K. Excellent vehicle and fun to drive. And fuel is "free" most of the year since I installed a solar system. Range is 260 miles and it does everything I need it to do.

Also get a new warranty when the original traction battery is replaced, which I'll delay as long as possible.

 

[supchrgamx]

2016 volt with 145000km and 2017 volt with 95000km
saving a shit load of cash with the price of gas
my chevy truck was using 85 dollars every 4 days back and forth to work to fill truck, 4 years ago, parked it when i got the volt
neighbour wanted the truck, sold it to him, filled the tank to see how much it took,200 dollars now
long story short with the 2 volts i could make 1600.00 a month payments and break even, compared to driving 1 gas truck

 

[Snogoer]

My daily driver is a Hummer EV I bought in Feb '22. It has enough technology and features to keep me intertained. Range is exceeding my expectations (350+ miles on a charge) and it's a very functional utility vehicle. I've had only 1 problem (a dead 12v battery) which was resolved immediately by my dealer. I charge at home, at night. I'm going to have a difficult decision to make when my Silverado EV RST arrives!

 

[ChargedSilvE]

My daily driver is a Hummer EV I bought in Feb '22. It has enough technology and features to keep me intertained. Range is exceeding my expectations (350+ miles on a charge) and it's a very functional utility vehicle. I've had only 1 problem (a dead 12v battery) which was resolved immediately by my dealer. I charge at home, at night. I'm going to have a difficult decision to make when my Silverado EV RST arrives!

Would you be tempted to sell it before your Silverado arrives if its value increases enough?

 

[BZZZZT_Maine]

Had multiple Teslas when I lived in MA, but I ditched Tesla after moving to western Maine and realizing that 160+ miles to a service center is unacceptable.

So then I went with a Volvo XC90 PHEV....and because it's European, it's nice...but small. The infotainment screen was dogshit....

Sat in an F150 and realized that would work for us, so I went with the mild hybrid.

Now we have solar, so the wife is taking delivery of a Tuscon PHEV next month to hold us over until I can get the Silverado.

 

[Ch-EV-y]

My daily driver is a Hummer EV I bought in Feb '22. It has enough technology and features to keep me intertained. Range is exceeding my expectations (350+ miles on a charge) and it's a very functional utility vehicle. I've had only 1 problem (a dead 12v battery) which was resolved immediately by my dealer. I charge at home, at night. I'm going to have a difficult decision to make when my Silverado EV RST arrives!

Welcome @Snogoer! What would the Silverado have to be like for you to switch from the Hummer?

 

[Snogoer]

Would you be tempted to sell it before your Silverado arrives if its value increases enough?

Perhaps, if I find something else to pique my interest. I think the values are going down a little. I turned down offers over $250K, but that was before I had a chance to drive it for a while. I'm really enjoying it!

 

[Snogoer]

Welcome @Snogoer! What would the Silverado have to be like for you to switch from the Hummer?

Longer range, better towing capacity, looks, etc. I love the Hummer EV. Watts to Freedom and Crabwalk are mind-blowing. It'll be a tough choice.

 

[camaroz1985]

Our first EV was a PHEV, 2014 Volt. Was excellent for the 8 years we owned it. Only had one issue and that was actually with the gas engine, bad throttle position sensor (whole throttle body). Everything else was great. I could drive to work, charge there, and drive home without ever using gas. We used it for a road trip vehicle too until we had kids. Had 122k miles when traded in, about 25k of those were on gas.

Our first BEV is my wife's 2021 VW ID.4. It has been great, used it for a few trips and really got us used to trip planning and fast charging. It replaced her Atlas, and while smaller, is a great replacement. Have had some software glitches (all warning lights on when trying to start) that have required a sleep, shut down sequence, basically locking the car, walking away for 5 minutes or so and coming back. There have been no OTA updates as eluded to by VW, but it seems they may be on their way "soon".

We were going to use it for a recent family vacation, and needed more space so I added a trailer hitch to use a cargo carrier. We never got the chance to try that out because we got a surprise, and our Rivian R1T was delivered early (a year earlier than first estimate, and 2 months earlier than updated estimate). The Volt was traded in for the Rivian. It has been amazing in the couple weeks we have had it. There have been a couple quirks and issues (mainly the power tonneau cover stopped working on the first day), but the driving experience has been soooo good. It is fast and comfortable, range has been great, and fast charging is as fast as advertised. I had originally reserved a Silverado as a backup to the Rivian, and would have happily ordered one if the Rivian didn't exist. It looked like I was going to fall back on the Silverado when Rivian raised prices, but when they reversed that I was pretty sure I would stick with it and take delivery of the Rivian. In contrast to the VW, I have already gotten an OTA update on the Rivian, with refinements and added features. The software that it was delivered with was only about 4 weeks old, and looking back at the revision history it seems they are trying for updates every 3-5 weeks.

I am keeping my Silverado reservation active just in case, but mainly just because it was so early (11:30AM on Jan 5, 1.5 hours before they officially went live), and the dealer is a friend, so I wanted them to have the option to get an early allocation if they want. They only sell at MSRP, so if/when that goes through, maybe someone here can get an early jump at a good price.

 

[SilverDan]

We bought a Bolt EV top end trim with everything in 2017. Been a wonderful car we've loved and gently cared for. Finally got around to taking our first long road trip which was a breeze now that the US is blanketed with chargers.

For our second car I foolishly had the idea to get it (a truck) from sombody else, so didn't look closely enough at the Silverado. Anyhow finally put in my reservation as I've realized how much better it is than the competition.

Couple of issues

1. $400 12V battery died early, just out of warranty. Apparantely a known issue. These EV 12V's get super lightly used, other cars have had the same problem, so there's some teething problems. Anyhow dealer found the last replacement in our area (since they've been in a bit of a demand - tons of Bolts around here) and it's been flawless. Issue: The battery being the culprit was hard to diagnose. As the car loses 12V it just kind of loses it's mind as sensors go offline and low voltage. That was annoying, seems like they should have better monitering of the 12V, but batteries are weird technology so maybe that's not easy.
2. $600 Side door sensor (for other cars I think) needed replacing. The error code was really weird, it indicated a drive train error, but the tech said no that error code gets used in a lot of places. He had another Bolt in the shop getting it replaced too, oh well.
3. Replaced two of the tires
4. ($10k but free!) Main traction battery. This was beautifully handled as far as I'm concerned. There was a mixup with the side sensor, as we thought it was the traction battery. GM Concierge was wonderful and we had a rental reimbursed, even though later it turned out to not be the traction battery. But somehow as part of all this our 'lot' came up for replacement (being an early car), and since we were on the dealers mind they gave us top priority, and it got replaced right away. Now we have more range and a new battery
   1. The battery coolant used to gurgle, now it doesn't. I suspect it wasn't completely filled from the factory. This has happened with other EV's, (in)famously with VW.
5. During the traction battery updates they added a new error code to detect certain battery conditions. That tripped for us, but turns out it was nothing, and found on the forums that it was tripping for others. Suspicion from GM is that it's due to hitting the accelerator and brake at the same time at low speeds, which was what my wife was doing at the time. Cleared it and hasn't come back.

So yeah, great car, happy with GM/Chevy for the most part

Disappointments

1. No OTA! We were given soft promises of this, they tried it once and had issues (customers got confused or whatever), and then seemed to give up on the idea. This is SUPER annoying, for example the early Bolt has not limit to charging, except the weird hilltop reserve 10% mode, which is better than nothing. They added it later, would be such a simple thing to give us, but nope. Not even after we installed new firmware about five times due to the traction battery recall.
2. Radio always turning on when car starts is stupid
3. Phone app stinks, and now it won't let me log in
4. On Star extra services kind of stupid. The turn by turn directions would be nice as built into dash, but it's rather brain dead. Have called them a few times though through the car which was handy, to get diagnostic codes remotely
5. The back storage cover broke pretty quickly (aftermarket upgrade)

Loves

1. Rear view mirror camera - I LOVE this, can't believe it's not more common. Looks like the Silverado will have it too which is GREAT
2. Physical shifter for L-D - VERY convienant for 'non jerk' parking. Unfortunately not on the Silverado it appears
3. Small thing, LOVE the keyfob. Hope it's the same
4. Steering wheel regen paddle. REALLY nice, I think we have it (the Hummer has a version)
5. Under promising and over delivering on range. We consistantly have greater range than they publish.

 

[SilverDan]

Otherwise, what I really appreciate about GM is the engineering. I'm an engineer and I appreciate good design when I see it, and usually put my money where my sensibilities are. For example I picked my grand piano largely based on the engineering, and I got to talk to the designer of it (and it is lovely).

Anyhow when researching the Bolt I dug into the design and found out that GM leads the pack. Tesla has the worst technical design, it's maddening to see these idiots on YouTube who don't know good engineering from a hole in the ground spout off. Tesla was designed for production costs, not sound engineering. What they are good at is marketing, they are genius at that. But GM on the other hand appears to be a company where Engineers drive the process (along with design), the way it should be.

For example, after the EV1 turns out GM quietly went along and the research lab kept on studying EV technology. I've read several papers, there was one in the 90's that determined that bar wiring is optimal for EV motors. Big surprise, right? You push tons of power through these wires, you'd want large gauge, and rectangular for tight packing to optimize the EM fields. Downside is they are tough to manufactur, but GM doesn't care. Go look at John Kelly's videos on YouTube taking a Bolt apart, and look at that motor, it's beautiful. But what about the competition, what does Tesla do? Magnet wire, a 100 year old design, you'll find in table fans from the 20's! Why did they do that? Cheap to manufacture, but a crappy design for a EV motor. But they still just push things, have a Plaid mode, and buyers don't care (and ignore the high repair rate).

Anyhow GM engineering is impressive, these guys are good. And it looks like they topped themselves with the Silverado

1. Drag coeff is going to be nuts
2. 400 miles in a truck, are you kidding? In reality given their history it will probably be more like 430-450 with bit of careful driving
3. Towing will likely be a treat
4. Wireless BMS comms, are you kidding me?
5. OK, I'm giving them a second chance, this Linux based software platform purports to have OTA and 3rd party apps - a first. I hope they come through on this time, appearances are they will but we'll see

Edit: Oh, and I'm really looking forward to ground clearance! It's stupidly easy to bottom out an EV sedan! They like to put them closer to the ground for aero (the Silverado is covered underneith front to back for this reason which is great, and also keeps it tidy which I like), and also probably for handling with all that battery weight. I will miss the Bolt handling, it's a fun zippy car to drive (well I still have visitation rights with my wife )