Dashboard Deep Dive: Chevy Bolt

Basics

The dashboard of the Chevrolet Bolt provides many of the basic necessities that one would expect, including total vehicle mileage, time, and a speedometer. However, some unique features are also included. This is the dashboard when you're parked.

Behind the steering wheel lies a ton of information.

Let’s start on the left-hand side of the screen, where there is critical information about the state of the battery. The middle number on the left displays the current estimated range if the current driving conditions are maintained.

It's important to note that this number is an estimate based on the way you’ve been driving, and it may not represent the range you can expect on the rest of your drive.

On the same side of the dash, the upper and lower numbers represent the extremes, or the best-case and worst-case range based on recent driving conditions.

Unfortunately, on this dashboard, a digital readout of battery percentage is not available, but can be estimated from the green bars: white hash marks are at 0%, 25%, 50%, and 75% of battery capacity.

In the center of the screen, the trip meter lists total distance and the average efficiency in miles per kWh for the current trip.

Power Usage

On the right-hand side of the screen, the power output is displayed.

With the car ‘idling’, the power output is 1 kW. This means if we leave the car idling for an entire hour, we would use only 1 kWh of battery capacity.

Charging

When charging the vehicle, the power meter will indicate energy flowing into the battery with a green bar. The charge rate is displayed in kW, which is how fast the car is charging.

Driving

While driving the vehicle, the power meter will indicate that energy is flowing out of the battery with a yellow bar.

One thing that is missing from the dash is instantaneous efficiency, which would tell you how much energy you use to accelerate vs. drive at a steady state.

In addition to the dashboard, EVs typically contain additional information in the infotainment system, which also provides insights into driving style and how to improve range.