We had another trip to Victoria this last week for the largest electric vehicle show on Vancouver Island that was part of the Creatively United for the Planet Earth Day festival at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria.
This trip we travelled via Nanaimo, first taking a ferry from the Sunshine Coast to Horseshoe Bay and then a ferry to Nanaimo. From Nanaimo we drove to our destination in Victoria.
On the way back we caught the Swartz Bay ferry and then travelling to Tsawwassen and onward to the ferry at Horseshoe Bay.
This trip Buddy wanted to use the cruise control as well as seeing how the regenerative capacity worked on the Malahat. This trip we were not concerned with charging instead we wanted to see what was left in the battery we got home.
We started the trip with 1111 km on the odometer and the battery reading at 410. In the last few weeks Buddy has been reading lots of on the Chevy Bolt forum as well as practicing the one pedal and regenerative braking techniques here on our local hills.
The Chevy Bolt cruise control is simple to use: the cruise control system is located on the left-hand side of the steering wheel and setting or resetting speed is a touch of button. A white indicator comes on in the instrument cluster when the cruise is turned on. Buddy used the cruise control driving the flatter stretches of highway.
Having been a truck driver by occupation familiar using Jake brakes, the one pedal driving was easy for Buddy to familiarize himself with. His driving style was conservative going uphill and heavy on the “regen” coming down.
The Malahat Drive climbs to a summit of 356 m or 1,1156 ft by shifting into “Low” the Bolt’s aggressive level of regenerative braking captures energy. By controlling the speed by only using the right pedal, anticipating intersections and stops, Buddy did not have to use the brake pedal. We were able to feed the battery coming down hill making up energy lost.
We arrived at our destination across from Beacon Hill Park with 1242 km on the odometer and our battery reading 323.
On Sunday we returned home to Gibsons after spending an inspiring weekend meeting many individuals eager to learn about driving electric. The odometer read 1364 km and we had 178 left in the battery.
This proved to us there are no range anxiety issues for us to visit Vancouver Island.( I wonder if Buddy's mom will read this!)
