Has anyone bought a Chevy Bolt with a Buyback/Lemon title?

[neo von retorch]

Given where my breaker box is, I estimate easily $1000+ to run new wires to install a 50A outlet.

I spent $3500 to:
-upgrade from 150A breaker box to 200A, re-hooking each existing wire in the new box
-run two 240v lines through crawl space to dryer and stove

So not at all a comparable job at all, but maybe good for ballparking it.

Oof!

We do have a 200A box but... it's pretty full so I'd need an electrician to confirm if we can even add 50A.

Central air, water softener and well pump, hot tub has a 60A panel pulled off the 200A, electric w/d, dishwasher, range, fridge.

Presumably it would be doable. But it would be full length of basement, then up to garage... 9' basement - I think wires would be run in drop ceiling area.

[Bartlebooth]

I test drove one today and it is a pretty nice ride. 2019 LT with 35000 miles. I couldn't get any budge from the list price of just over $11k after tax credit, which is sort of inline with other prices in the area. But I think there is a little room for improvement. It has two patches of missing paint on the bumper and some rock putting on the hood.  Anyways, they gave me the hard sell of Best Price etc. I walked away and said give me a call if the price moves.

There was one 2017 that I looked at first and it was just destroyed on the exterior. I think it sat in the Florida sun for 4 years after buyback. All coating flaked off the roof rack, hood and roof completely oxidized and maybe cracked paint even, and rusted suspension parts. It's dirt cheap but looks like garbage.

[Holocene]

In the meantime, wondering what everyone is using for a home charging setup?  What charger, did you hard-wire or just plug in, etc?  Or did you even bother with a Level 2 charger at all?

Chevy paid for my Level 2 installation, which is the only reason I bothered to do it.  I definitely could've gotten by on Level 1.  And my electric company also had lower rates if you install a separate meter for the EV charging and charge at off peak times (ie. overnight and weekends).  And they gave a rebate for that installation.  My house only had 100A panel, so I was still limited in what I could install.  I had a ClipperCreek (now Enphase) 20A charger hard-wired.  If I'm remembering correctly, they used 6/3 Romex wire that would be capable of handling a faster charger, if the panel ever gets upgraded.

I went with ClipperCreek because they were early on in the EV charging market and they'll sell you the same products that are used commercially.  You'll often see them around places that offer free charging and they pretty much always work.  So they're robust and have a good track record.  I figured if they can handle the abuse of the public, they're probably pretty solid.  Enphase bought them out not long after I got mine.  I'm guessing quality is the same, but who knows.  They're on the pricey side, but I figured worth the cost to protect my much more expensive vehicle.  I wouldn't buy one of the cheap no name Amazon chargers, but there are a lot of decent options.  My dad got the Emporia and seems happy with it.

I went hardwired because I read enough about poor quality outlets that it just seemed like the better option.  And I wasn't sure if they'd allow me to put in a NEMA 14-50 on my panel.  It'd be easy to wire up a different charger or change to an outlet in the future if needed so I didn't really see any downsides to hardwiring it.

If you don't have any incentives/rebates to install a charger, I'd see how it goes just using a standard outlet.  If you get by, maybe you never need to install Level 2.  Hopefully you at least have a dedicated circuit in the garage that you can use to charge at 12A instead of 8A.

Anyway, congrats on your Bolt and glad to hear you're enjoying it so far!  You got an amazing deal on it!  I forgot some of the older Bolts didn't have fast charging.  But since you have 2 cars in your household and it was going to be a local/commuter car anyway, seems like not a big deal.

[Greystache]

I've only had my Bolt for a couple weeks but it looks like 120V level 1 charging is going to work for me. We have an ICE car for long trips and the Bolt is used for around town and short trips. I doubt we will ever drive it more than 50 miles in a single day and some days it never leaves the garage. I just use the charger that came with the car and plug it into the 20 anp circuit in my garage.

[Bartlebooth]

I ended up just paying what they were asking. $11.3k or $12.6k after tax and fee. There was no other realistic way for me to get a better deal given my time constraints and being 450 miles from home. 2019 LT with 36000 miles, pretty clean but definitely some wear and tear.

BTW that will be a real adventure tomorrow, trying to cover those 450 miles. I tested fast charging today and it was only charging at 24kW and stopped at 70%.

[AccidentialMustache]

I'm pretty enthusiastic about not having to deal with gas stations, oil changes, or emissions testing again.

Preach it. The best part of going EV is never having to stop at a gas station. Ignore that I did so yesterday because we were caravan'ing with a friend (didn't fit in one car) out to stargaze and they were at a quarter tank ... but at least I could just park and "idle" in the lot next door.

We'd have a bolt, except DW's post-childbirth hips don't agree with their seats, at least not from the earlier models. We did test drive one when we added the second car (which turned out to be the MME) and the front seats poked her in ways she found highly uncomfortable. My review of the center console/armrest thing wasn't much better -- set way too high and it wanted to eat my elbow if I tucked my arm next to my body.

If you or your loved ones are a bit oddly shaped, get some butt-in-seat time before you buy.

[Bartlebooth]

I ended up just paying what they were asking. $11.3k or $12.6k after tax and fee. There was no other realistic way for me to get a better deal given my time constraints and being 450 miles from home. 2019 LT with 36000 miles, pretty clean but definitely some wear and tear.

BTW that will be a real adventure tomorrow, trying to cover those 450 miles. I tested fast charging today and it was only charging at 24kW and stopped at 70%.

Made it home in 11 hours, and would normally be about 9 hours with kids so not too bad. Charged in Albany MN, Fargo, and Jamestown. 60-90 minutes at each.  The car is kind of floaty, doesn't exactly stay centered in the lane at higher speeds. Maybe alignment? It doesn't pull to either side--just doesn't point well overall. It is a nice ride for the price. The battery info screens are missing details I would like to see. The Android app is absolute garbage.