We are trying not to forget the Chevy Bolt EV in all the excitement around the Tesla Model 3 unveiling and today GM made sure to remind us of the vehicle’s existence with a quick video announcement that the long-range electric car entered pre-production on the Orion Assembly line.
With its expected availability in late-2016, the Bolt EV should be the first all-electric vehicle with over 200 miles of range for a starting price of less than $40,000. We had a quick test drive in the Bolt earlier this year and we liked it, but it has a few significant weaknesses.
The main one being its charging capacity. The details of the car’s DC fast-charging capacity have yet to be confirmed, but so far it is believed to be only optional and capped at around 50 kW. I also have my reservations when it comes to the car’s availability, but I hope I’ll be proven wrong.
Nonetheless, the Bolt should end up being an important competitor to the Nissan LEAF, Kia Soul EV and BMW i3.
GM is currently ironing out the assembly process of the car, which is made in partnership with LG. Here’s the video the company shared today:
https://youtu.be/9qt4iUjpjeU
As you can see in the video, GM is still advertising the Bolt with a starting price of *$30,000 after incentives, which is not a great way to do things since you have to make sure you can take advantage of the full $7,500 federal tax credit. It depends on your tax situation and ultimately, it has a limit of 200,000 units per manufacturer before starting to phase out. Though it shouldn’t be a problem for the Bolt for a few more years.
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