Disassembling a BRAND NEW Chevy Bolt EV replacement battery pack for the DeLorean!

This is episode #7 for Project Lightning - converting my 1981 DeLorean into an electric vehicle. In this episode I remove the BRAND NEW replacement battery pack for the donor vehicle, and then disassemble it down to the battery sections.

[@BillCarlson]

THANKS EVERYONE! This video has finally put my channel over 1,000 subscribers!!

[@michael47lamb]

Where ever you got that wreck, they REALLY screwed up selling it to you. That new battery by itself is worth over $16k! Even though the rest of the wreck is pretty much scrap. Thanks for the look at your new project, I am sure I will never attempt it! You are my hero!

[@BillCarlson]

Thanks, I really appreciate it! I bought the car at a salvage auction! Though I will say that I got a great deal on it, even that included. Lots of them were selling for $14k at auction back at the time (which was only a few $k off of used prices)

[@PraiseYAyoupeople]

just got my battery replaced today on 2017 Bolt .... Could not believe I found this video. These batteries suppose to last 26 years up to 300-400K miles

[@BillCarlson]

I don't see any reason they won't last that long. There were/are examples of Bolts with 200k+ miles on them, so barring another wide scale manufacturing defect I think the replacement batteries are going to last hundreds of thousands of miles typically.

[@W4rH4wkXX]

wow great job! can wait for the retro fit!!!

[@seattlesnook]

Great job, Bill. These are super interesting to watch.

[@t3ck3r]

This looks so much easier than what Superfast Matt had when he disassembled a Teslas pack. Great job !!!

[@pjtdg1782]

Great content,thanks for doing this!)

[@jeremythesmith]

Methodical work. It would be interesting to see a video of how you keep track of and organize all the parts and remember how to reassemble things.

[@BillCarlson]

Thanks Jeremy! The trick is lots and lots of plastic bags. :) For all big components I use a label maker and for connections I use a paint pen. I'll see if I can cover this in a bit more detail in my next couple of videos as I strip down the Bolt.

[@nortoncomando1975]

What a great video! I am now hooked on your project! I'm a Bolt owner. Getting my brand new pack today! Just a note: In my Bolt they are "Heating Plates", this time of year. People seem to forget it's a Thermal Management System.

[@BillCarlson]

Thanks for joining! And yes, that's definitely true, they are used for both heating and cooling to maintain consistent temperatures.

[@vinitpanse]

Wow.. So interesting... Thanks for sharing 😊

[@asp1345]

Nicely done

[@jeremywitham9335]

Congratulations on your first 1000 subscribers! Thanks for the detailed video! I'm so jealous of your shop/garage space and lift...

[@BillCarlson]

Thank you! The shop space makes this whole thing possible. We moved from the suburbs of Seattle out to Ellensburg a year ago, and the housing differences let me have a shop and get the lift.

[@PaulBarwick]

Bill, you really lucked out with that battery swap. You should have stopped and picked up a lotto ticket that day too. I am really enjoying this channel. You are a good story teller. I live on the other side of the mountains from you, over in Centralia, WA. with my 2020 Bolt and find your project fascinating. I am looking forward to watching your future episodes.

[@BillCarlson]

haha, I agree! I'm happy that it worked out the way it did. I really didn't think I'd end up with a brand new pack.

[@Digikidthevoiceofreason]

You’re insane! 🤣 However I hope this works out well for you.

[@BillCarlson]

Thanks, I'll take that as a compliment! :D

[@Digikidthevoiceofreason]

@@BillCarlson it was. 👍🏻 The people is history that were insane, crazy or even dared to do something so out of this world are the ones that change human history.

[@ParhelionMedia]

So you bought a salvage yard Bolt, probably for a song, and GM gave you a FREE new battery (probably worth ~$9k-15k) for it...smart.

[@BillCarlson]

Yep! Total price to get the salvage Bolt was roughly $13k (delivered), which is just a tad higher than the cost of a new battery... but of course I also got all the other components (motor!) with it!

[@MistahHeffo]

I wanna see the look on the mechanics face when that thing drove onto the ramp to have the battery swapped.

[@MendicantBias1]

Nice video!

[@BillCarlson]

Thanks!

[@gdogrun]

Since GM bought back my 2017 Bolt back, I will have to watch your progress and see how it goes for you! I have to admit that using the new Bolt battery pack on a DeLorean is a stroke of genius. Best of luck to you on your journey!

[@BillCarlson]

Thanks, I appreciate it!!

[@averysnow984]

Bill, you're a master! Great technical and mechanical work, but also very skillful storytelling and video editing. I also have a 2019 Bolt with a Ochang battery pack, but my dealer is scheduling replacements out to May.

[@BillCarlson]

Thanks, I appreciate your kind words! Good luck on the battery replacement, I hope that by then the dealers have it all smoothed out. It SHOULD be a fairly simple process for them once they do a few.

[@Hamid-ro2ej]

Great video! Looking forward to project lightning and your future videos

[@JerryRigEverything]

I'm no expert, but you should have leather gloves on over the rubber gloves. Rubber gets sliced/cut easy, which exposes your bare skin to whatever you're working on. You need physical protection over the electrical protection.

[@BillCarlson]

Thanks Zack! Love your channel - been following your Hummer EV conversion closely. :) You're absolutely correct - I was supposed to get leathers to go on top. The ones I ordered online didn't fit over the rubber ones. :/ For assembly I will be sure to use both.

[@JerryRigEverything]

@@BillCarlson looking forward to seeing the rest of your project!

[@scottcarr3264]

Considering how complex the cooling plates system is, I will be waiting to see how you accomplish cooling for your disassembled packs throughout your DeLorean. This could be interesting.

[@BillCarlson]

I will have a video covering the cooling system in the future! I have all of the parts for the build, but will have to do a LOT of aluminum welding to put them together.

[@dr.projectx5142]

This is very neat. Great project. And also excellent for road trips espacialy whe you have the ccs on the DeLorean. Thst is going to be very awesome.

[@BillCarlson]

Thanks! Yes, I'm going to really put the CCS to use, too. My work is roughly 115 miles away, and that's cutting it close to be able to drive in one charge, so I'll likely have to do a short stop somewhere along the way.

[@dr.projectx5142]

@@BillCarlson if you manage to get 3.5 mi/kwh and use 58 kwhrs out of the battery looking at 203 miles. That's pretty good. Excited to see how it does on the road and how much it's consuming on mi/kwh for your trips. On EA units maxes out to 55kw on charging. And also add better cooling to your pack you should be good and also using the 2kw and the 7kw cabin heater and the app torq pro to view the coolant temp and the battery temperature. And a switch to warm the battery quicker during cold seasons using the 7kw heater will be great.

[@yunodiewtf]

Hey man, great vid! As I can see GM opted to cheap out on cooling on v2 battery as well. Have you considered adding some cold plates on top of the battery packs to maybe mitigate fast DC charge swelling? I'm considering buying a Bolt for myself and this thermal (in)consideration is holding me back. If adding top heat exchange is possible I'd consider getting one.

[@beforebefore]

Got the HV under-gloves too? Need something JUST IN CASE you unknowingly puncture the outer gloves. Nice expensive HV insulated screwdrivers and sockets... but not so the magnet used to pick up the nuts ;-)

[@BillCarlson]

I do! When I shot this video I had received the wrong sized over-gloves, but now I've got the correct sized pair for additional safety. :) I'll see if I can find a HV-safe plastic wrapped magnetic stick... no promises! haha

[@user-fj8wr8jh4e]

7:24 i threw my cat at my TV

[@BarryDorfman]

Wow! I really appreciate you doing these videos on the Bolt battery. There is a discrepancy here though. At time 13:04 you label the battery modules (1-10). This labelling doesn't agree with the labels we can clearly see in your video "Chevy Bolt Battery Pack - Battery Section / Modules" where we see that module 5 is the smaller module on the passenger side. I would appreciate knowing the correct module numbering.

[@BillCarlson]

Yes, good catch, this video has them incorrectly labeled. The video labels them starting at 1 on the positive side (front-most module on the driver side), whereas the Bolt EV technical manual starts at 1 on the most negative side (front-most module on the passenger side).

[@BarryDorfman]

@@BillCarlsonThanks! Would you happen to know how the cells are numbered (as far as PIDS for extracting cell voltages)? Is cell #1-20 in section 1, or is it cell #1-10 in module 1, followed by 11-20 in module 2?

[@BillCarlson]

@@BarryDorfman Oh, that's a good question, I haven't dug into it, but the BMS "split" down the middle, so I would bet that 1-10 are module 1, 11-20 are module 2, etc. I bet that the technical manual covers the arrangement. If you haven't seen it yet, you can find a link to a Google Drive on a reddit thread.

[@BarryDorfman]

@@BillCarlson Thanks again! Great tip. You are correct. They’re done in module order. Cells 11-20 are in section 2.

[@jw1oon]

Super cool, did you consider fitting the existing pack into the Delorean or was disassembly the only way it would fit?

[@BillCarlson]

The pack is waaaaay too big to fit in the DeLorean! The only way to make it fit is to break it down into modules and stack them in a very particular way. The DeLorean is very small - the only places large enough to hold even a single module are the trunk, gas tank, and rear engine bay - and I'm using all of those to hold the pack. :) As far as I know, once complete this DeLorean will have roughly double the battery pack of any other electric DeLorean.

[@michaellippmann4474]

Yep I had to subscribe...waay too interesting! I have done a number of engine swaps in the past and am just accumulating electric components for a EV conversion of a 68 MGC GT. A different direction than what you are doing but you have a great idea there! Nice! Mike 🇨🇦 🍁 👍

[@jw1oon]

Hey Bill, do you have a link to the Chevy battery removal process? I recently purchased a Bolt with a replaced battery, then I noticed one of the rear seat latches was broken. The dealership I bought the Bolt from says you don't have to access the high voltage disconnect under the rear seats to change the battery, but a second Chevy dealership said the opposite. Just trying to get an official source, I would assume the high voltage disconnect would be a necessary step in the battery replacement process and the rear seat latch was damaged during the swap.

[@BillCarlson]

Yes, here you go: static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2021/RCSB-21V560-5618.pdf Technically it is not necessary to remove the rear seat first, though I'm not sure of whether its specified in the above document. You can drop the pack with it in place, but they would need to swap the manual service disconnect with the temporary cover piece on the new battery after. For safety reasons, though, I don't see why they would do it that way given that it takes about 30 seconds to lift the rear lower seat cushion and remove the MSD.

[@jw1oon]

@@BillCarlson thank you!

[@stevedutcher3875]

Actually I need the right side front end, hood, right fender, bumper, grill , condenser, a/c lines to name a few, do you have all those things?

[@BillCarlson]

Pretty much only have the front right fender from that list - everything else has been sold.

[@kylenorris9585]

What do you think would that pack fit in a old Chevy/Geo Metro?

[@BillCarlson]

@@kylenorris9585 probably not in the engine bay alone. Might fit if you use the backseat or cargo area?

[@Ryzac2]

Why does your battery housing labels show new stickers over an old stickers? Other photos I’ve seen on the new battery only shows one sticker on the new packs.

[@BillCarlson]

I don't know for sure - but my guess is that because this was such an early recall-pack that it was already labeled with the older info, and then got relabeled when the battery modules got installed.

[@MrChadr11]

Great video I’m curious how much was the salvage bolt with new battery? Thanks Chad

[@BillCarlson]

Hi Chad, thanks! The Bolt was bought at auction for a total delivered price of just above $13k. I've got a video going over the process and total list of fees and stuff here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4fEgqeaZbGEiKs It came with the original battery, and I had it replaced with a brand new one due to the recall.

[@paolotanedo1420]

Where do you learn all of this? This is exactly the kind of stuff I want to know.

[@BillCarlson]

Weber Automotive KZbin channel is a good source of knowledge! Otherwise, just lots of reading and searching online.

[@paolotanedo1420]

@@BillCarlson oh gotcha! Nice! Thank you! Your build is really cool because you do away with the original transmission entirely. The ones I've seen online are having to deal with adapters to connect the donor motor to the existing transmission. This is much more space and weight efficient! Bravo!

[@stevedutcher3875]

Do you still have the body of your bolt?

[@BillCarlson]

Yes! All remaining 2019 Chevy Bolt parts kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3SpZpuGa86ngKs - I also have a post on the Chevy Bolt forum that lists the parts available for sale, feel free to email me for info (email is in KZbin About page)

[@scottcarr3264]

How many 10mm nuts were there?

[@BillCarlson]

I would say about 200 or so. I filled up a ziploc bag with all the fasteners from the battery. Another 3 bags from the "engine bay" and interior.

[@BigAL2212]

May I recommend that you subscribe to Weber Auto KZbin channel! Professor John Kelley has amazing videos on everything related to the Bolt. His battery disassembly video is 1-1/2 hours, and he follows every step of the service manual. And, he does everything from a wheelchair. He’s amazing. I’ve learned so much about my 2020 Bolt.

[@BillCarlson]

Oh, I've been subscribed to Weber Auto for multiple years now!! His videos showing the breakdown of the Bolt EV are what inspired me to choose it for my donor vehicle for the DeLorean.

[@stevedutcher3875]

Do you still have the front on your Bolt?

[@BillCarlson]

Yeah, I still have most of the parts. This thread has them all listed: www.chevybolt.org/threads/selling-all-of-my-non-needed-parts-from-my-donor-2019-chevy-bolt.41769/

[@ScrappyDoodad]

I don't see angled brackets on the legs of the bench Looks dangerous to me

[@BillCarlson]

They are there - metal L brackets in every corner

[@CreepyCharlie]

Why did you need to open it?

[@BillCarlson]

The DeLorean is very small - no where to put the fully enclosed battery pack. The modules are taken out and split apart, then put into redesigned battery boxes that go in the front and back of the DeLorean where they will fit.

[@kurtzxcvb3481]

I'm going to blame you if my bolt starts on fire because I can get a battery placement I have a 2017 been waiting 9 months now after they ordered it

[@BillCarlson]

Sorry, I still think you should blame Chevy for that one. :) Luckily, I haven't heard of a single fire since the recall got the first batch of high risk vehicles.

[@JohnSmith-yr6je]

Would you happen to think this would be a good idea for small business owner? Replacing battery packs

[@BillCarlson]

EV conversions are a good business - lots of people want to do them. Right now the cost is quite high, though. Lots and lots of design and fabrication work.

[@dipu10]

Would you be willing to sell me a bolt rim?

[@BillCarlson]

Sorry, that's one thing that I'm actually using! The rims happen to fit our other vehicle, so they've been repurposed for our winter set.

[@dipu10]

@@BillCarlson I'm glad, your project is super cool. Keep up the good work!

[@METALMAN4Wii]

Don't use GM's charging connector that was the problem.

[@BillCarlson]

I've seen some reports of burnt out charging connectors due to aftermarket chargers - but only one or two. The issue with the batteries catching fire was an internal issue with the battery cells, and my batteries are all replaced.

[@METALMAN4Wii]

@@BillCarlson LG's Batteries are in other EVs they didn't have problems it sounds like a voltage regulator or the connector to me. but not one will ever know because the government won't investigate them.

[@BillCarlson]

​@@METALMAN4Wii The Kona was also recalled for the same issue, and there is currently an NHTSA investigation for all other LG packs: www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2022/04/05/nhtsa-investigation-lg-energy-solution-electric-vehicle-battery-recalls/9467236002/ Further, GM and LG has been working with NHTSA since the first fires, which is what prompted recalling and replacing battery packs in every Bolt EV and Kona EV made. You can find pictures of the fires - they are not being started near the charge connector (which is just in front of the driver's door) and there is no "voltage regulator" in the pack. There is a DC-DC converter, but it's under the hood. All of the fires start from within the battery pack and vent smoke out of the backseat.

[@METALMAN4Wii]

@@BillCarlson Dam hope for your sake they fixed the problem I know Tesla has their own EV batteries.

[@BillCarlson]

@@METALMAN4Wii Me too! So far there have been no reports of similar fires with any replaced packs, so that is a good sign, but only time will tell!

[@stevedutcher3875]

Bill contact me through the forum my user name is Dutch