First production Chevy Bolts to begin rolling off Michigan assembly line this week

The Chevy Bolt assembly line began putting together customer cars today in Orion Township, Michigan according to the AP.  Unfortunately for most of us, the cars will only reach California and Oregon in 2016 before a wider rollout next year…

The AP post is decidedly negative about the Bolt’s prospects using the following quotes:

in an era of $2 per gallon gasoline, the Chevrolet Bolt probably won’t do a whole lot to shift America from gasoline to electricity.

General Motors has started making Bolt hatchbacks on a slow assembly line at a factory in Orion Township, Michigan

IHS predicts that GM will sell just under 30,000 Bolts in the first year, which won’t add much to the roughly 235,000 electrics now on U.S. roads

I’m more positive on the Bolt except when Chevy/GM starts saying things like this:

Not all of GM’s 3,000 dealers nationwide will be certified to sell and service the Bolt, although the company isn’t sure how many yet. Around 2,000 can service the Bolt’s plug-in cousin, the Volt. GM says that should be a big advantage over Tesla, which doesn’t have service centers in every state.

GM of course has been lobbying lawmakers to enact “Tesla Laws” to keep the automaker out of many states including GM’s home court of Michigan. As we’ve said many times here before, it isn’t a zero sum game with EVs, and Chevy should take its fight to the ICE world.