Having promised an affordable electric car at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show, Chevrolet has used this year's CES to deliver with a production version of the Bolt. With a claimed range of over 200 miles (322 km), the Bolt will slot into Chevrolet's lineup below the hybrid-electric Volt.
Although the big selling point for the Bolt is its US$30K price (after rebates) and range, its designers have worked hard to make sure the car is usable every day. Chevy says that room to seat five people is possible thanks to a 102.4-inch (2.6 m) wheelbase and its van-style roofline. There's also folding seats, and more bootspace than a Honda Fit or BMW i3.
The Bolt's center console is dominated by a 10.2-inch touchscreen which can be used in splitscreen, and Chevrolet has equipped it with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay for seamless smartphone interaction.
The integrated navigation system takes into account the location of charge points, so hopefully if you're pushing the range envelope you're not going to be left without a powerpoint to juice up your car again when it's almost flat.
Chevy has taken a leaf out of Volvo and BMW's smartphone-integration book by allowing owners to check the charge status of the battery, as well as turning on the air conditioning and remotely starting the car from their phone.
When you actually get into the car, your smartphone connects through a low-energy Bluetooth system designed to minimize drain on the battery, while there's a 3-month subscription to a data plan for the car's WiFi system included in the purchase price.
Moving away from that center console, the Bolt's interior can be optioned with a rear-view camera in place of a traditional rear mirror, offering up a touch of Le Mans tech to EV buyers. In keeping with this (admittedly tenuous) motorsports connection, the Bolt also has a flat underbody for improved aerodynamics and the range benefits that come with cutting down on resistance from complex engine and exhaust parts under the car.
You may have noticed there's been no mention of a powertrain yet. That's because details are fairly scant at this stage.
We do know it will charge in 9 hours via a 240-volt charging system, and that it should retail for around US$30,000, although Chevrolet points out that price includes a federal tax credit of US$7,500. In other words, this is a US$38,000 car that gets significantly cheaper when government rebates kick in.
Stay tuned for all the latest from CES, where Gizmag is on the ground covering all the action.
Source: Chevrolet
Systems where you swapped out your battery then had it couriered back to you never took off, because you'd have to wait for the courier to arrive.
I don't know why they don't make these systems with a smaller second bay that a robot could load a battery into. You pull into the battery station, do a 5 minute fast charge of say 10% on the main internal battery, while having a second battery attached underneath the car. You'd then drop off this second battery at your destination.
The Spark EV is 19 kWh with 82 miles range, the Nissan Leaf is either 24 kWh with 84 mile range or 30 kWh with a 107 mile range. The Volt is a plug in but uses a 18.4 for ~53 miles range. The BMW i3 is 22 kWh with ~100 miles range.
To achieve 200 miles on EV the Bolt would have to be closer to at least 40 kWh.
At least right now the Bolt looks like a better deal than the Nissan Leaf because the 107 mile leaf is already $34k so spending $4k more for a 200 mile Bolt is probably worth it for a lot of people. GM is also supposed to expand availability of the Volt this year to all 50 states vs the 2016 that I think was only made available in a handful of them.
I also saw some stuff estimating GM's battery cost is down to $145/kWh but I don't know how accurate that is. The other figures I have seen floating around are like $250/kWh but it changes fast. I don't know how much each figure is actually measuring in terms of components, packaging, circuitry etc. I think the lower figure is for the cell only but by full battery packs contain more than just the cells.
@gizmowiz: "Worthless." For you, but not for everyone. As I recall, Colorado is exactly 2% of the US states and has an even smaller percentage of US drivers—never mind all the other countries where the Bolt might be sold.
@zr2s10: "better looking car with no range anxiety is a no-brainer." For you. My EV has only about a 70-mile range at 70MPH, and I've been concerned about running out of power exactly twice in a year and a half. For daily use, that's been plenty, and I've saved about 75% of what I'd have paid to drive my previous car, a MINI Cooper S, the save number of miles. As for looks, that's so obviously a matter of taste that I'm surprised to see it presented as accepted fact. To my eye, the Bolt is "better looking" than several EVs already on the market, especially the even more expensive offering from BMW.
Hopefully GM sells tons of these. Just a few years ago we had no viable electric car on the roads (less than 100 Tesla Roadsters were made and sold at a price tag of over $100k so I would not call that viable). Now we have a bunch that are starting to become competitive, affordable and even practical. Good times. Good luck GM!