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from the it's-electric-woogie-woogie-woogie dept.
The Chevrolet Bolt is one of the most anticipated cars of 2016. GM's first long-range battery electric vehicle is due to hit dealerships before the end of 2016 and beat Tesla's Model 3 to market as the first mass-market long-range BEV. There has been speculation until now as to the Bolt's actual range; on Tuesday morning, Chevrolet confirmed that you can expect an EPA-estimate of 238 miles on a full battery.
We're still not entirely sure how much the Bolt will cost, but Chevrolet says the MSRP will be under $37,500 before any rebates or tax incentives are taken into account. Since its 60kWh battery qualifies the Bolt for the most generous federal tax credit ($7,500), you should be able to pick one up for $30,000—slightly under the average US car price of $33,000.
The race to dominate the mass-market electric vehicle segment is on.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Whoever on Thursday September 15 2016, @04:50AM
Musk realized that there is a chicken-and-egg problem with relying on other people to build charging stations and has built out the Supercharger network, mostly along highways.
GM has stated that they are not an infrastructure company and won't build chargers. But if you want to do a long drive, how can you do this without the chargers? So why buy a Bolt if you are confined to destinations about 100 miles away? Yes, there are DC chargers that the Bolt can use, but for the most part, they are in cities, since they have been built for the short range cars that everyone except Tesla has been selling.
GM needs to step up to the plate and develop (or strongly incentivize the development of) a network of DC chargers along major routes.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Thursday September 15 2016, @06:01AM
I would guess that like Nissan, you'd be able to stop at a dealer and charge up. I doubt there are many places where you can't get to a dealer in 200 miles.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by KilroySmith on Thursday September 15 2016, @06:22AM
Let me guess, you live on the East Coast?
I live in Phoenix. LA is at least 300 miles away to the West - although, conveniently, there's a Supercharger at the halfway point. To the South is Tucson, about 100 miles away, and after Tucson there's nothing for a long way. To the East...Well, there's nothing East for a long, long way. To the North is Flagstaff - 100 miles away. After Flagstafff, there's nothing N, E, or W for a long way again.
A Bolt simply isn't a cross-country car unless you're a 17 year old without a job who can deal with sleeping in the car for a couple hours every 3 hours on the road. Similarly, a Tesla is not the car that you'd want to use to explore back roads in Montana. Electric cars haven't caught up with 100 years of Gasoline car infrastructure, but it's exciting to see them catching up.
/frank
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Thursday September 15 2016, @07:49AM
Completely wrong guess. Pacific NW.
The last time I drove across the county, I was 19. If I had to cross the country, no way would I drive.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday September 15 2016, @02:17PM
You should drive. It's a big country with more beauty than most people ever know, and it's still full of wonderful, good, solid people that you'll never hear about in the media. Give yourself enough time, sure, and take a tent to keep lodging expenses down, but do drive instead of fly.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1) by BeaverCleaver on Friday September 16 2016, @06:02AM
They don't have electricity in Montana?
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday September 15 2016, @01:21PM
BMW and Nissan have both started building charging networks, too, having realized what Tesla had already figured out. GM should pay attention to that.
Washington DC delenda est.