The branch office of General Motors in Brazil has conducted an experiment with a Chevrolet Bolt EV equipped with its standard 68-kWh battery, The electric car has managed to cover nearly 902 kilometers, or 560 miles, before running out of power.
As Autoevolution rightly points out, though, the test was conducted in ideal conditions and cannot be considered indicative of the real-life performance of the car. Per the EPA ratings, the Bolt EV has just about enough juice in it to put 400 km (248 miles) behind it in a real-world use scenario.
But let’s get back to the experiment by GM. The company let the car cruise along a profiled oval circuit, which eliminated most of the need for power steering and minimized energy losses on steering in general – all the driver needed was to keep the wheels as straight as possible from bend to bend. Tire friction and the ensuing resistance could also be minimized in this manner, a luxury you cannot afford in daily urban driving. And if all of the above wasn’t enough, consider that the record-breaking run was performed at an average speed of 35 km/h (slightly below 22 miles per hour).