Chevy Bolt 2020
I bought used in 2023 from a dealer.

The warning says, "Propulsion power is reduced". And the AC stopped working.

• I read this could be cause by many different things. Is that true?
• Two nearby dealerships and a mechanic said that to diagnose it, it could take 3 days. Is this something I'll have to get used to when I want to service/repair an EV?
• Can you recommend a device that can give me some information?
  • I'm a technical person, so I could learn a new device/system - perhaps a "prosumer" level one that takes some effort to learn but doesn't expect me to become an expert.
  • Or is a consumer device just as good.
  • Ultimately, I want the option to gather some information on my own, when problems arise.

Thank you.

Yes. Generic messages and symptoms like these can ba caused by many different things.

This also could be caused by many different things such as workload at the shop, backlog at the shop, complexity of the issue, etc.

A code scanner might get you something, but this depends on what the problem is. It could be something proprietary as well. You could start with a cheap one from Walmart or similar, and see if that gets you anywhere. These are usually good for basic reliability stuff for ny OBD2 car. For the Bolt in particular, a lot of folks seem to be using various OBD2 Bluetooth devices and pairing them with TorqueOBD2 for Android.

Are there any lights on or other error messages on your car?

What is the current charge level?

How many miles on the car?

How many miles have you owned it?

What region does it live and work in?

What is the coldest temperature outside in the last couple of weeks?

Wonderful insight.

• I got in line to have a dealer diagnose it next week. All 3 dealerships (and one independent shop) in my area say the same thing: “Leave it here for days”.
• A red icon is lit up: a car with an exclamation point on top.
• The charge behaves the same way is always has. It’ll go up to 200+ miles and if I drive under 65 mph, that estimation turns out to be accurate. (When driving in traffic, the miles barely decrease).
• Miles: 45,000
• I’ve owned it for about 10,000 miles = 2 years. (It’* a Bolt 2020).
• Location: Los Angeles. No cold weather.

I want to get a scanner for the long term, and I expect to keep going to the mechanic whenever needed. But I see now that having an electric car is different; I need to learn a bit more. With gas cars, a novice like me can hear sounds, or notice changes in how it drives so that I can have a little information.
Therefore, I’ll get an inexpensive scanner and little-by-little try to learn something this year.

---Would you point me to a website where I can learn about “OBD2 Bluetooth devices” and “TorqueOBD2 for Android”? I’m ready to teach myself and buy these, and I’d like your take on a respected resource.

Thank you.

Aw shucks!

Like this on page 102 of your owner'* manual?:



That'* cool, but what is the actual level, like right now. Is it at 75% or 2% or 99% or ?

LOL it got cold there once, I was there for it! Down in the 40s, everything ground to a halt, then the rioters started an earthquake with their tornado and everything that flooded caught fire!

Torque OBD2 is available in the Android Play Store, and this site will probably be able to tell you just about everything you could ever want to know about it.

Yes, that is the icon.

The level: can I read that somewhere or do I do the math myself? This week the miles have gone from 150 to 100. So that'* about from 75% to 50%.

Temperature. Ha, yes, we'll get down to 45 on a February night. I'm preparing now.*
But of course it often got almost 100 this recent summer....

Thank you.

Okay so the battery is at least around half full. Yeah, I'd take it in to a dealership. The fact that they are being honest and saying that they'll need it for at least a few days tells me that these issues are somewhat strange and new to them as well. I know we haven't seen much from the electric cars here yet.

It'* a numbers thing though, and there just aren't that many yet.

I'm curious what they figure out. We need to start picking up knowledge on electrics!

I think you're on the right track wanting to look at codes etc, and since Torque comes highly recommended in the Bolt community from what I can tell, you should learn some good stuff! If you don't mind looping us in from time to time, we'd appreciate it!

Oh, goodness, I'd be honored to report back. My appointment is next week.

Thank you.

Looking forward to it!

Thanks!

Oh no! Good thing I scheduled the dealer.

- Now it says it’* fully charged at 98mph. Yes, this could mean the big battery is faulty.

- In the car’* app, when I raise the maximum charge, it reverts back to 98 after a second.

- I hear a quiet churning of liquid in the front, underneath, when the car is on and after I turn it off.

- Last week a mechanic replaced my 12V as he said it was nearing at its end. That didn’t fix the overall problem, but it was a concurrent issue worth fixing, I think.

- Nevertheless, I disconnected it for 15 mintues, as I read to try that. It changed nothing.

- Firmware is up to date already.

What’* odd is that for 4 days after getting the warning, “Propulsion power is reduced”, it was charging to 200+, like normal. Only when I let it go down to 60, did a full charge max at 98.

I bet it'* low on coolant. Maybe it'* not a big issue (except to find the leak). One question you should ask right up front is: What is the coolant level? I think I heard air pockets in the cooling system. That might get you out of a lazy diagnosis of "Needs a battery"