The Chevrolet Bolt EV

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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Seth test drove the Bolt at CES last week and left the event quite impressed with GM’s new all-electric car. I don’t think it’s too farfetched to think the Bolt will be a popular car, especially when you consider that it has a MSRP ($37,500) equivalent to a Nissan LEAF, while the Bolt has twice the battery capacity (60 kWh vs 30 kWh) and likely around twice the range (~200 miles vs 107 miles). 
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At the 2016 Detroit Auto Show today, GM published all the specs of its upcoming Bolt EV (see below). The company finally confirmed that the vehicle will be equipped with a 60 kWh battery pack and that DC fast-charging will be available, but as an option.
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(Thanks to Zac Hall for images and video and checking out the back seats/CarPlay)

I have two electric cars at home – a plug-in Prius and a base model 2013 Tesla Model S. Yesterday, I drove the car that felt like their natural offspring: the compact crossover Chevy Bolt…
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We are kicking off the new year at Electrek with extensive coverage of everything electric vehicle related at CES in Las Vegas this week.

There might be a few surprises, but we made a quick list of the main events, especially the new electric cars debuting at the show, so you can have a good idea of what’s coming in the EV industry in the next few days:
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This weekend was the 19th anniversary of the first deliveries of GM’s all-electric EV1. With GM planning to release the Chevy Bolt in “late-2016”, it would coincide with the 20th anniversary of the EV1 launch. Although it’s doubtful the company will try to associate both releases considering GM is trying distance the Bolt from the image of a compliance car, it is nonetheless an interesting coincidence. 
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The first spy shots of the production version of the 2017 all-electric Chevy Bolt were released today via SpiedBilde and Autoblog. First impression is that the production version is quite significantly different from the concept car (as usual) unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this year. It seems to take more design queues from the Volt.
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GM executive vice president Mark Reuss was speaking at the LA Auto Show this week and he said that the company plans to unveil the production version of the Bolt at CES 2016 – almost a year to the day after unveiling the concept car at the 2015 Detroit Motor Show.
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Since the unveiling of the Chevy Bolt at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show, there’s been some scepticism about the planned nationwide availability of the all-electric vehicle, presumably due to GM’s track record of producing compliance cars when it comes to electric vehicles. The Chevrolet Spark EV is primarily available in CARB states in order to comply to regulations and the company recently confirmed that the 2016 version of the Volt will also only be offered in CARB states.

But GM says it will not be the case for the Bolt and the company recently reaffirmed its intention to launch the all-electric vehicle in all 50 states.
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