The Burtness EV Experience: Our Journey Begin

Burtness EV Experience 

May 31st-Today we are kicking off the Burtness EV experience. We have decided to purchase a 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV with purpose of experiencing EV life and be able to better explain to our customers what real life both good and bad is like driving an EV daily. We are giving every employee from the sales staff to office to the detail crew the opportunity to drive this EV for one week and we ask in return that they document the experience of what  life is like in an EV. After kicking this off today we have had many employees reserve their week so that they can take on a family vacation. I have already heard that it will be making a trip to the East coast and another going to the state of Georgia. These far travels will give us a better understanding of using public chargers and the real life struggles this presents. We are hopeful that no one pushes it too far that it ends up on a tow truck to a charger. Stay tuned as we post each week these individual experiences. If anyone reading this can remember “Flat Stanley” this is what we are hopeful for—Where will the EV go??? 

I wanted to share with everyone what I normally drive daily. This is a 2024 Silverado HD High Country with the diesel engine. This truck for me averages just over 20 mpg on my daily commute and I am spending approx. $100 per week on fuel. I am hopeful as I begin my EV journey that this will work in my daily life and I could almost make the monthly payment on the fuel savings alone. I think that I will have a hard time plowing snow or towing our car hauler with the EV but we always have extra trucks for those tasks. 

 Here is my new ride for the new few days—2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV RS. 

 Today I started my adventure with almost a  full charge (77%) and headed for my home. This is my first real trip other than driving around town. Holly cow was I impressed with the ride and space inside the vehicle. It has all the top technology including adaptive cruise (it did not have super cruise which would have been a plus). The touch screen is easy to see and use very similar to the Tahoe and the seats were super comfortable. I made a 41 mile drive my first adventure and my charge started out at 77% and ended at 63%. That seemed reasonable.  

Saturday—Today I have some simple errands to run—starting at 63% off I went to Janesville. Making a quick stop at Sams the cargo area was filled with basic stuff and load of peanut butter and jelly for our PB&J drive. While doing my errands I am noticing a singing coming from the outside of the vehicle only when going less than 10 mph. when I say it is singing it sounds like some sort of instrument playing. I have to admit this was starting to annoy me. I inquired to one of our employees about this sound and he informed me that this noise is an ADA compliance.  The singing is meant for people who are blind walking across intersections so they can hear the sound and know that a vehicle is near. Boy do I feel like a complete jerk for thinking this noise was annoying.  

I continued today to do some basic running and have headed for home. Upon returning home I have now put 114 miles on the vehicle and my charge is down to 40% and 110 mile range. I am thinking that I need to put a charge into this vehicle so that I can make it all the way through tomorrow and back to the office on Monday. The only charging ability I have at my house is a normal 110 outlet. I drag an extension cord out to the driveway and plug into the provided charger & hook to the car. This is where it gets interesting. I open the door to confirm that it is charging and across the screen it says “your charging will be complete on Tuesday at 2pm”. Tuesday are you kidding me it is only Saturday night I have a full day tomorrow and make it to the office on Monday. I sure hope that indicator is wrong.  

On Sunday morning I am excited to go look and see what kind of charge I got overnight—I gained 6 miles. Yes you read that correct 6 whole miles. I have to admit panic (range anxiety) is setting in slightly. I do not have tons of driving to do today but I promise you I don’t want to be the first employee to bring the EV back to the dealership on a Flatbed because I did not plan my charging well enough. I told myself that every chance I get I am going to have it hooked up because 1 or 2 miles may make the difference in me making it back. 

Off to our farm I am headed to get some grass cut. Yes I hooked it to the outlet at our farm. Like I said 1 mile could make the difference. 

Charging at the farm I gained that 1 mile which I hope I don’t have to use. I make it back to my house and have a 72 mile range to make it back to the office tomorrow morning. I have to admit that I now know I will make it back to the office tomorrow morning without any issues but I still hook it to the charger overnight. Tonight was the first time I have noticed while charging the front and rear lights are pulsing back and forth. See the video below. It seems like some sort of space ship but it does look pretty cool as well. 

 Now back to work on Monday morning. Range is not an issue as I pull into the dealership with over a 30 mile range remaining. There was a time over the weekend where I was a little nervous that I would not make it to this point. I put the Blazer on our high test DC charger at the office and within 2 hours I have a complete charge but at my house it was going to take over 2 days. 

For the next 2 days I simply drive this car back and forth to work. I am able to make it back and forth with no issues on the charge in fact I probably could have went a couple of days without charging but I did not want to risk having range anxiety again. 

 Going into the EV journey I was skeptical at best but my opinion changed quickly The ride, handling & quietness is incredible and it has all the technology of the high-end Tahoe’s & Suburbans. Cargo space in the back was plenty of room for golf clubs and a shopping trip to Sams and it has the ability for the rear seat to fold flat. You could very easily take 5 people to dinner and have legroom for all. I am a tall guy at 6’1” I had more than enough leg room. GM knocked it out of the park in the styling as I got more comments on how good looking it was. I did have one of my neighbors ask to drive it Sunday night and he was very impressed, especially considering he has another manufacturer EV in his garage. 

In the end I was very impressed at this Blazer overall. I do wish that I had a faster charger installed at my house as this would have solved all my range anxiety. I think after driving the last few days I can not  see this replacing my truck as I don’t expect Western snow plows to come out with an EV Blazer mount but I do see this Blazer being  the perfect commuter vehicle back and forth to work. It was very nice not having to swipe my credit card for $100 every 5 days as well. I did not get the chance to experience using a public charger or traveling over a long distance.  I look forward to hearing about some of my employees taking this on longer trips and the ease or pains that come with that experience. 

I hope you continue to follow our EV journey over the 10-12 months as we expect to have 50 plus people drive this vehicle. 

Brian Bowditch