Charging info from the Blazer EV Owners Manual

obermd · Oct 5, 2023

Last night I decided to check the charging information for the Blazer EV. Below is a short list of what I found:

GM recommends not charging to more than 80% or letting the battery SOC go below 20%. So on a 300 mile EV, this translates to 180 miles of usable daily range. The manual does say to go ahead and fully charge if you need to for a road trip. There's a setting ior maximum charge n the infotainment system for max charge.
Regenerative braking is less effective above 80% SOC
Leave the vehicle plugged in during extreme cold (freezing) or hot (>100F) temperatures. The vehicle will pull power from the charger to maintain the battery.
Cabin preconditioning will pull from the charger if plugged in
"Home location" delayed charging settings the owner can set (I assume the home location is set in the mapping system)
- Estimated departure time - starts charging when needed
- Peak power pricing - avoids charging during user defined peak cost periods
- For those who have "smart" electric grids, the Blazer EV will not charge during utility signalled high load periods.
All charging defaults can be overridden on a charge session by charge session basis

One thing I did note and I think is a misprint in the owners manual. Maximum AC power is 240 volts 40 amps. This is only a 7.68 KW EVSE and we know the Equinox and other Ultium vehicles support 60 amps (11.52 KW, 48 amp draw) AC charging.

It wouldn't surprise me to see the same exact information in the Equinox EV's manual, since a lot of the underlying hardware and software is identical.

hellsop · Oct 5, 2023

So basically no surprises, then, for anyone that's owned a Chevy electric before.

M L · Oct 5, 2023

Could the "Maximum AC power is 240 volts 40 amps" be referring to charging with the included cordset? Because it plugs into a NEMA 14-50 receptacle, it is limited to 40 amps (80% of the receptacle capacity).

Nebula1701 · Oct 5, 2023

This, I think they were saying this for the included 32 Amp dual level mobile EVSE.

Nebula1701 · Oct 5, 2023

obermd · Oct 5, 2023

Nowhere in the owners manual. This is on the Blazer EV page at chevy.com.

obermd · Oct 5, 2023

I just pulled the owners manual down to review it in Adobe Acrobat vs. my web browser. One of the really nice things about the Volt is you can tell it to NOT charge during peak electrical price hours. It appears the Blazer will attempt to honor this request but if it can't get to the desired setting it will charge during those hours. What I can't tell is if the target setting for those sessions overrides the overall target charge limit or if it will only charge during peak hours if it needs to to reach your daily charge amount but then charge during off-peak to the overall maximum charge setting.

Nebula1701 · Oct 5, 2023

It will honor your off-peak times but if it can't reach your target charge level in off-peak it will charge in peak time as well. That is how it is done in the Lyriq.

Steverino · Oct 5, 2023

obermd said:
GM recommends not charging to more than 80% or letting the battery SOC go below 20%.

In a way, it shows how well designed the Chevy Volt was back in 2010. It had the 20%/80% battery charge protection built-in. Of course those were also hard limits set to pamper the battery for longevity. You never fully depleted the Volt's battery.

If applied to the Equinox EV, you would not be able to use the top or bottom 20%.

For our Bolt EV, we use its "Hilltop Reserve" option that limits charging to 80%. We can turn it off if planning a long trip of course.

Steverino · Oct 5, 2023

Nebula1701 said:
It will honor your off-peak times but if it can't reach your target charge level in off-peak it will charge in peak time as well. That is how it is done in the Lyriq.

Seems like someone decided your charge level intent takes priority over off-peak charging. That's the right call I think, Nebula.

MaybeFutureBuyer · Oct 5, 2023

The better call will be to have that as an option as well. Like an on\off digital toggle for "off-peak override charge level request"

mikebruce · Dec 18, 2024

I only charge it to 100% before a long trip.

Steverino · Dec 18, 2024

mikebruce, please update your account Signature (displays below your posts) and your account Vehicle Details (displays below your avatar) with your Equinox EV details. It's easy, see How to Add Your Equinox EV Details to Your Signature

Yup, that's the way to do it.

Charging info from the Blazer EV Owners Manual

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