The Chevrolet Bolt EV

Today, GM officially announced the Bolt EV’s capacity for ‘one pedal’ driving with customizable regenerative braking settings. While the capacity to drive only or mostly using the accelerator pedal, commonly known as the gas pedal, is not entirely new in electric vehicles, GM is pushing the idea a little further in the Bolt EV with different driving modes to get the most out of the experience.

Regenerative braking, the ability to recoup energy during deceleration, is one of the coolest things about electric vehicles because it offers so many advantages. It’s great from an energy standpoint since you get energy from deceleration, which would generally be lost from friction on  your brake pads, but consequently, you are also preserving your mechanical brakes.
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Building on our report from last week about GM confirming that its Chevy Bolt EV is still on track for production in ‘late 2016’ despite prior reports to the contrary, Autonews says that it spotted a ‘production intent’ Bolt EV in Detroit – hinting at the imminent start of production.
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GM announced today that its European brand, Opel, will officially unveil the Chevy Bolt EV-based Ampera-e at the Paris Motor show next month. The show starts  October 1st, but automakers generally make their announcement in the week before the show officially opens to the public.
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As the first relatively affordable all-electric car with a range of more than 200 miles, the Chevy Bolt EV is a highly anticipated vehicle. Just like with the Tesla Model 3,  any confirmed delay would be big news, which is probably why several readers pointed me to this report from Cleantechnica (update: they have since issued a correction) claiming that pre-orders have been delayed and deliveries have been pushed to January 2017.

But the problem is that it’s not true. We reached out to GM and a spokesperson confirmed to Electrek that deliveries are still planned for “later in 2016”.
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We said it before, but it’s worth pointing out again now that the production is about to start. GM’s Chevy Bolt EV could have just as well been called the LG Bolt EV since the Korea-based electronic giant, LG, is making most of the components that make the Bolt an electric vehicle, including the battery pack, the electric motor and the power electronics.

And now we learn that LG is gearing up to ‘mass-produce parts’ for the car as early as this month – ahead of the official start of production at GM, which is expected in October.
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There are dozens of companies working to bring autonomous driving to market and as many timelines to make a system commercially available. Most aim for the end of the decade or early next decade. Now GM and Lyft have leaked a timeline for their own system, which is currently under development with prototypes in San Francisco and Scottsdale.

It looks like GM, which already confirmed that they want to first use autonomous driving for taxi/ride-sharing with Lyft, plans to have a fleet in operation by January 2019.
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Earlier this year, GM acquired self-driving car start-up Cruise Automation in an attempt to accelerate its self-driving technology program. Not long after the acquisition, the company equipped a fleet of Chevy Bolt EVs with its sensor suite and started testing the vehicles on the streets in the Bay Area.

Now we learn that Cruise and GM are expanding their test fleet to Scottsdale, Arizona.
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Some were wondering how Tesla is going to achieve a range greater than the Bolt EV’s (200+ miles) with the Model 3 (215+ miles), even though the company confirmed the Model 3’s battery pack will have a smaller capacity than the Bolt EV’s 60 kWh pack. Aerodynamic performance was the main suspect and now the Bolt’s lead designer, Stuart Norris, confirms it by calling the Bolt “a disaster for aero” with a drag coefficient of 0.32.
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Update: a GM representative contacted to us to clarify that Lyft will actually get the vehicle later this year and not at the launch of the Express Drive program like the press release seen below led us to believe.

GM has long stated that it plans to start deliveries of the Chevy Bolt EV by the end of 2016. It was since revealed in March that the all-electric vehicle entered pre-production on the Orion Assembly line. We later learned that GM is planning for the start of regular volume production of the 2017 Bolt in October 2016.

Now it looks like the vehicle will be on the road sooner than anticipated and not necessarily in the hands of customers, but through GM’s partnership with Lyft, a popular ride-sharing company.
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Earlier this month, it was revealed that GM and Lyft are partnering to test a fleet of self-driving electric taxis sometime within the next year in an undisclosed city. Now we learn that the city in question is San Francisco as the first few vehicles, Chevy Bolt EVs with a sensor suite on top, have been spotted in the city.
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In March, GM announced that the Chevy Bolt EV entered pre-production on the Orion Assembly line. The automaker has since been running tests to tune the production process of the company’s first long-range all-electric vehicle and now we learn that GM plans to start regular production of the 2017 Bolt in October 2016 for deliveries later this year.
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According to a report today from The Wall Street Journal, GM and Lyft are partnering to test a fleet of self-driving electric taxis sometime within the next year in an undisclosed city. The pilot will reportedly take advantage of GM’s Chevrolet Bolt, a speedy compact crossover all-electric that we took for a test drive earlier this year…

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An interesting Chevy-branded concept debuted this week: A sporty, 230-mile-range, 2-door ELR-inspired EV coupe, said to be available by “late 2018.” Quick and attractive, it has much of what the Chevy Bolt will be missing once it is up against the Tesla Model 3. Like the Tesla, it will accelerate to 60 mph in less than six seconds, five to be exact. Like the Tesla, it will have automated crash avoidance safety features and fast charging.

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While the Ford Focus Electric may have been an interesting car during the latest generation of all-electric vehicles, along with the LEAF and BMW i3, the automaker has since been complacent about the upcoming new long-range wave of EVs. The company recently announced a $4.5 billion in investment in electric vehicles to close the gap, but it has yet to announce a competitor to the Tesla Model 3, Chevy Bolt or the next-gen LEAF.

During a conference call with analysts and reporters this week, Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields confirmed for the first time that Ford is “developing” something for the segment.
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While Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn had a welcoming reaction to the unveiling of the Tesla Model 3 and the subsequent storm of reservations for the vehicle, General Motors’ Vice President of Global Propulsion Systems, Dan Nicholson, is not as gracious as his colleague.

The GM executive was critical of Tesla’s reservation process, which requires a deposit and wait time for delivery, and he went as far as to imply financial troubles at Tesla as a reason for the deposits.
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During a media briefing at GM’s Alternative Energy Center this week, GM’s General Director of Electrification, Tim Grewe, said that Bolt prototypes have pushed past the 200 miles range that they were previously advertising. Coincidentally (or likely not), the news come just a week after Tesla unveiled its Model 3 and said that it is expected to have an EPA-rated range of 215 miles on a single charge.

Prior to its unveiling last week, Tesla was referring to the Model 3’s range as having a “minimum of 200 miles” on single charge, but at the event, CEO Elon Musk said that Tesla was expecting the vehicle to achieve 215 miles based on an EPA cycle.
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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.
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Tensions between US automakers GM and Tesla are now at an all time high. GM took a few swipes at Tesla at the unveiling of the 200 mile range Chevy Bolt earlier this year. The automaker published a promotional picture of the new all-electric car in front of Tesla’s headquarters in Palo Alto and CEO Mary Barra made the following comment during the CES launch:

“Unlike some EV customers, Bolt EV customers never have to worry about driving to another state to buy, service or support their vehicles.”

She is clearly making reference to the fact that Tesla is somehow still blocked from selling vehicles in certain states due to laws banning direct sales from manufacturers which force them to go through third-party dealerships. These laws are often from the 1950s when the US automakers would exert monopolistic control over the dealer relationships.  Tesla General Counsel Todd Maron went before the FTC to argue against these direct sales bans and directly called out Barra for her comment (see picture above), which becomes more relevant than ever now that we learn that GM has authored a new bill to ban direct sales in Indiana.
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Last week we reported on GM CEO Mary Barra announcing that the company’s European brand Opel will launch a version of the all-electric Bolt in Europe. Now we learn through a report from a German magazine (via Auto News) that the European version of the Bolt, the Opel Ampera-e, will be built alongside the Bolt in the US.
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GM Chairman & CEO Mary Barra announced this week that the company’s European brand Opel will launch a version of the all-electric Bolt. The new vehicle will be called ‘Ampera-e’, keeping up with the automaker’s naming scheme since the Volt is called the Ampera in Europe.
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