The Chevrolet Bolt EV

A few months ago, we reported on how the all-electric Chevy Bolt EV has the opportunity to take away VW Golf GTI’s “hot-hatch” crown based on impressive performance in the segment.

GM seems up to the challenge and invited us to test it out at an autocross event last week.
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The Chevy Bolt EV is now officially available in every state and it helped GM deliver a record 2,052 units last month – about 100 more electric cars or 5% higher than in July.
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On Friday, GM sent out a message to some early Bolt EV owners warning them they are recalling a few battery packs after detecting an issue that could cause them to shut down inexplicably.
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Today, LG Electronics announced plans to establish a new U.S. factory for “advanced electric vehicle (EV) components” in Michigan.

The Korean electronic manufacturer made the announcement after it saw its revenue from vehicle components grow 43% to more than $1.5 billion, which they attribute “in large part to the successful collaboration with General Motors on the popular Chevrolet Bolt EV.”

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Maven, GM’s own car-sharing and mobility platform, has a special rental service called ‘Maven Gig’ just for ride-sharing drivers, like Lyft and Uber drivers.

The all-electric Chevy Bolt EV is already an important part of the program, but they are now expanding the vehicle’s presence as they expand Maven Gig across the US.
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GM’s autonomous driving division, Cruise Automation, announced the launch of the beta version of its autonomous ride-sharing app currently being used by employees in San Francisco, where they operate a fleet of autonomous Chevy Bolt EV test vehicles.

The new service is called ‘Cruise Anywhere’ and the company claims that it is already becoming the primary mode of transport for some of its employees.
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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. 
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A little nugget of information came our way while reading a Reuters report on UAW and their reaction to a car sale slump at GM.

GM is reviewing whether to cancel at least six passenger cars in the U.S. market after 2020, including the Chevrolet Volt hybrid, which could be replaced in 2022 with a new gasoline-electric crossover model, Reuters has learned from people familiar with the plan.

Gosh it is hard to believe how slow the auto industry is compared to others like the electronics industry. Can you imagine Apple’s iPhones in 2022? Who will be President then? Will we have a civilization on Mars?

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GM is trying to get some traction behind its Chevy Bolt EV as sales have been mostly flat for the first half of the year and now inventories are piling up.

In a bizarre press release about the vehicle today, GM pitches the Chevy Bolt EV by favorably comparing it to a 45-year-old lunar rover.
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GM has confirmed that its Orion plant, where they build the Chevy Bolt EV, will see an extended shutdown as part of the automaker’s broader effort to reduce inventories.

It is sending mixed messages about the all-electric vehicle program.
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Albeit slowly, GM’s Chevy Bolt EV sales are still growing – reaching a new high of 1,642 units in the US last month.

It brings the total delivered of the new all-electric vehicle in the US to 7,592 units since the beginning of the year and just over 8,000 since its launch in December 2016.
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A lot of folks have a big problem with the $30,000 base price (after $7500 incentive) of the Chevy Bolt when compared to ICE cars of the same class. I’d argue that comparing a Chevy Bolt to $20,000 Honda Fit or Ford Fiesta or Volkswagon Golf or even Chevy’s own Cruze hatchback isn’t fair. After all, the Bolt has 200 electrified horses under the hood with torque to match and at the very least, the Bolt should be compared with more expensive “hot hatch” versions of those cars which usually run about $10,000 over their base counterparts.

In a drag race this week, the Chevy Bolt was pitted against the reigning king of the Hot Hatch genre, the Volkswagon Golf GTI…

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I’ve now had my Chevy Bolt for about 3 months and I’m still love with the car with every new day. However, there are some things that either have irked me from day one or that I’ve found bother me over time. In a lot of ways, the Chevy Bolt EV just works exactly like it should. Plug it in at night, you have 238 miles of range every morning. But like everything else, there are a list of areas that could use some improvement.
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Great news for current and future Chevy Bolt EV owners and GM: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) just released the results of its safety test of the vehicle and it earned the top safety rating.
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Earlier this year, GM announced that it is growing its fleet of autonomous Chevy Bolt EV prototypes for its ‘GM Cruise’ startup.

Now the automaker announced the completion of the first batch of 130 prototypes at its Orion Assembly Plant located in Orion Township, Michigan.
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The cost of battery packs is still believed to be the main barrier in bringing down the overall price of electric vehicles.

GM managed to bring to market the first electric car with a reasonable price (<$38,000 before incentives) with a large battery pack (60 kWh), but it’s not yet making a profit on the vehicle.

Again, the battery pack was believed to be the main out of  control expense and now we get one more indication that it is the case based on the newly disclosed list price of $15,734.29.
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While deliveries of GM’s all-electric Chevy Bolt EV remain slow throughout the rollout, the automaker has announced that it accelerated its plans for nationwide availability by one month.

All authorized dealerships nationwide can now order the $37,500 all-electric car for deliveries in August instead of September.
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Earlier this year, we reported on the Pope being offered a free electric car. He was given the choice between a Nissan Leaf and a Tesla Model S. The Pontiff decided to go with the more modest Leaf.

Now we learn that the Pope is expanding his EV fleet with an Ampera E, the European version of the Chevy Bolt EV.
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As we previously reported, GM has been struggling to ramp production and deliveries of the Chevy Bolt EV since its launch in December, but they now seem to have a good trend going over the past two months.

GM’s Chevy Bolt EV deliveries last month rose to 1,566 units, which is still below the rate needed to achieve its target, but it’s still a significant increase.
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I’ve had my 2017 Chevy Bolt for over a month now and have been pleasantly surprised about how much it has to offer. Like I really, really love this car even months after our review.  While I still prefer my twice as expensive 2013 Tesla Model S overall, there are a number of areas where the Bolt beats the Tesla – and I mean the 2013 Model S but also in many cases Tesla’s new/upcoming models as well. Some of these things Tesla could choose to fix, but most are inherent design decisions.

Also I should note before y’all head to the comments that we love all EVs here at Electrek and before a Tesla vs. Bolt fight breaks out remember that we’re all on the same “Team EV” here. 

And with that, let’s look at some advantages of a 2017 Chevy Bolt EV…
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