GM delivers record ~2,000 Chevy Bolt EVs – bringing total to over 10,000 all-electric cars

Today, GM confirmed having delivered a record number of Chevy Bolt EVs in the US last month: 1,971 units. It brings total delivered since the launch in December last year to over 10,000 units and 9,563 units since the beginning of the year.

While it’s a few hundred more than last month, GM is still lagging behind its original projections and inventories are increasing. 

Ahead of production, GM was reportedly planning for a capacity of 25,000 to 35,000 units during the first year of production.

With fewer than 10,000 in 2017, the automaker is significantly lagging behind expectations and there’s nothing expected on the horizon that could meaningfully change that – other than maybe selling the car in Europe?

The encouraging thing is that Bolt EV deliveries have been slowly but consistently trending up over the last 5 quarters.

Here’s a chart of US deliveries since the launch in December 2016:But the increasing inventories are more worrying.

Last month, GM confirmed that Bolt EV inventories increased from 104 days to 111 days in June.

The automaker has temporarily shut down its Orion plant, which should help with the soaring inventory, but GM also said that the Chevy Bolt EV is supposedly going “nationwide” this month with availability in all states. Though the vehicle is already available in almost all of the country’s most populous states.

The good news is that the increasing inventories have resulted in discounts for buyers.

Though the inventories are not exactly well distributed. It can still be difficult to get your hands on one in certain markets, while in other markets, like California, there are decent inventories and some customers have been getting away with paying less than $25,000 after incentives due to discounts. You can always check with your local dealers for inventory and see if you can find a deal.

Electrek’s Take

GM also shipped a few hundred Bolt EVs in Europe, but it barely made a dent in the demand for the vehicle there. Small crossovers, if you can call the Bolt EV a crossover, are more popular overseas than in the US.

Thousands of people reportedly placed reservations for the Bolt EV, known as the Opel Ampera E, in countries like Norway, Germany, Austria, and more.

But GM, which closed its sale of Opel to PSA this week, only allocated a few hundred units per country for the entire year, despite having increasing inventories in the US.

After announcing the sale of its European brand earlier this year, the automaker said that it wouldn’t change its plans for the Bolt EV in Europe.

Maybe it could change them now? What about sending the cars to Europe? No ZEV credits for them there?