100 000km done, since conversion (140 000 Km on the Chevy Bolt powertrain).
Is I had problems or repairs in 4 years? No, it's an EV, so it's super reliable... no, I just kidding.
Here the news:
-VW related
Ball joints: No body will be surprised to know I had to change lower and upper ball joints in front.
Windows seals: we tried to change window seals because we were tired to have all those water ingress. We end by changing only the hatch door and sliding door seals because installing those seals is such a pain. Looking at rust who progress each day around the windows is frustrating.
Brake: I had to change the discs brake pads on 4 wheels. Considering the amount of regen braking we use during driving (we rarely touch the brake pedal) I was surprised to find worn brake pads last year. I used the GM caliper in the rear and I bet the small pads are working hard to stop this big van. Maybe it's not unusual to change brake pads after 100 000 Km.
Wheel bearing: I had to change front wheels bearings.
-GM related
Battery: there were a recall on the traction batteries of all Chevy Bolt (LG Chem fault), so I asked GM to change my Bolt battery. After having propulse two EV on 104 000 Km, the original battery was swap for a new one last year. A 3 hours job for me and the pallet jack. I'll spare you the boring details, but thank you GM because I have now a bit more range.
Powertrain problem: This one is funny. After 3 years without a single problem with the van, I had to pull down on the highway 4 or 5 times because the van was working as an erratic manner. Really, during those events I was feeling like a real Vanagon driver. Stop on the side of the road, open the motor compartment, unplug/replug 12V battery, look at the Torque Pro app if there is fault to clear...
Well, each time I was able to restart the van and go home. Not a single towing. The van was working perfectly fine except during those events. I looked at many wires/connectors, CAN signals, I rebuild some grounds wires, I verified some wire jumpers in the CAN loop, but nothing was the cause.
Finally, after months, when I was stall on the side of the road with all the family in the middle of nowhere trying to restart the van, I remark something; The van finally restart after I had play with the ground wire near the ABS module... man! there is a Yaw sensor inside this ABS module and this one was stopping the van because it detect that it's upside down or something like that. In short, the Yaw sensor is there to stop the powertrain in case of crash/car upside down and it was near the position to detect this kind of event. I moved the ABS module and the Van restart without any failure since. After all those adventures I remember I had move the ABS module few months before.
Accident: There is cruise control coming with this powertrain and we use it a lot because it's so enjoyable. But the ABS/traction control doesn't work. After almost 4 winters without accident, my wife forget 1 time to stop the cruise control in a weather where rain was slowly transforming in snow and the rear of the van had slip on the highway. Everybody is fine and damages are low (front bumper and rear panels).
Battery back-up on 4 wheels: Our van (360Vdc battery) can now powered the house in 120/240Vac. I added an inverter and solar panels on our house. This inverter have a solar input of 120-450Vdc, so I build a small set up to disconnect the solar panels and connect the van in case we need more energy. It was specially useful last winter when we lost electricity during 5 days after a storm.
That it. The van rust well, umm I mean the van work well since 4 years now and we like it a lot. Sometime we are tired to drive a old van with all those specific characteristics: Wind noise, loose direction, rust everywhere, leaking window seal, doors not closing easily.
Yes, we look at all that and are tempted to buy the new VW ID buzz van, but each time we calculate how inexpensive is it to drive our old electric vanagon we think twice at the small annoyances.
