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from the can-you-plug-me-in,-i'm-a-little-low dept.
Shad Balch, Manager of New Product and Public Policy Communications at GM, has told the nice folks at Autoblog that:
"It's very safe to assume that this car is going to be here sooner rather than later," Balch said. "We've also committed that it's going to be a 50-state vehicle at launch. That's to show our commitment to the technology. Our hope is that it becomes a high-volume-selling car, and that it's not just for the coasts, it's not just for a certain income level, but it is a long-range EV that anybody can get themselves into. ... [This is] a good alternative to the luxury long-range EVs that are available now. It's something that people can see themselves actually affording to get into. That's the message from this car."
If true, this is great. The Bolt is predicted to have about 200 miles of driving range and cost about $30,000 after incentives (so probably around $37,500 if we only take into account the federal tax credit, but maybe more if they're including some amount for the most common state incentives).
The Bolt is set to be released in 2017, but the article does not address how Chevy will get around the bottleneck in battery production other EV makers are facing.
(Score: 2) by Gravis on Monday November 09 2015, @07:14PM
it's the ugliest $40K car there is. did they hire a blind man for the job?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Wierd0n3 on Monday November 09 2015, @07:31PM
I dunno, i like that it's a passenger vehicle first. It's not so much ugly, as plain.
I personally can't understand why people spend money on a Lincoln or those awful Jeeps now. (to be fair, i thought the older styles were cool, now jeeps look like a 6 eyed monster face.)
now, you want ugly, scroll down to the bottom of the article, and see what BMW is trying to sell.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Monday November 09 2015, @07:48PM
I think the BMW looks better to me but that might be because of the two-tone paint job and the fancier bumper/grille design. The Chevy isn't that bad but the bumper/grille is a bit meh. Perhaps if they two-toned it or added some more curves to the front, it would look nicer.
Like everything else, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Though, my greatest concern will be its safety rating.
(Score: 2) by skater on Monday November 09 2015, @08:31PM
now jeeps look like a 6 eyed monster face
You know, one was behind me the other evening and I was noticing the 6-eyed nature of it. I thought the law was you could only have four forward-facing white lights... am I wrong here?
(Score: 2) by Gravis on Tuesday November 10 2015, @12:23AM
I thought the law was you could only have four forward-facing white lights
yes which is why they are required to be covered when on the road.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 09 2015, @07:31PM
Style varies greatly from person to person. There are plenty of cars I think are ugly, yet people drive them. This design isn't nearly as bad as some others, and the orange paintjob is probably adding to the jarring effect. Personally I like the hatchback body style, more compact yet more usable room.
(Score: 2) by K_benzoate on Monday November 09 2015, @08:08PM
I heard an interesting idea from someone once, obviously flawed but made me think, that car makers intentionally make hybrids/EV look "unique" for the purpose of virtue signaling. It's entirely possible to make a hybrid look just like a normal car, but those models don't sell as much as the outwardly "green" looking ones. People want to show off that they're being environmentally conscious; harder to do if your hybrid Honda/Toyota looks just like every other one except for a tiny hybrid badge on the back.
Climate change is real and primarily caused by human activity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 09 2015, @10:56PM
I heard an interesting idea from someone once, obviously flawed but made me think, that car makers intentionally make hybrids/EV look "unique" for the purpose of virtue signaling. It's entirely possible to make a hybrid look just like a normal car, but those models don't sell as much as the outwardly "green" looking ones. People want to show off that they're being environmentally conscious; harder to do if your hybrid Honda/Toyota looks just like every other one except for a tiny hybrid badge on the back.
Except for Tesla, a big reason why the Model S is so much more successful than other EVs is because it looks like a sports sedan in the class of a Mercedes or Jaguar and is quite powerful as well. The people buying them are the type who would be driving around this those cars instead, which also makes them the types who could afford something as high-performing as the Model S to begin with. It's a big part of why I see over a dozen different ones a week during my commutes but judging from vanity plates I'm seeing the same BMW i3 over and over again.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday November 09 2015, @10:56PM
Ugly?!? Beauty is subjective. More, why does that matter in the slightest? On the scale of importance, cleaning up the environment and saving the world from Climate Change is by far the most important consideration. After that, surely an efficient ride that doesn't sacrifice comfort is more important. Safety and usability are pretty important too. I can't think of anything less important than mere cosmetics.
Only things I care about with the paint color are practical considerations. I prefer a white car in a hot climate, and a black car in a cold climate. I dislike red because I have heard it is a higher maintenance color, fades and degrades faster in sunlight. Also, insurance companies may charge higher premiums on red cars, in the belief that drivers who prefer bright red are more reckless and accident prone. If I'm shooting for the lowest possible premium, then I'd go for a boring brown color. Other than that, I wouldn't care if the only colors it came in were fire truck lime yellow and lavender, if I thought it was the best ride, I'd get one.
I know one crazy guy who complained that vortex generators were ugly. I pointed out that no one cares about the looks of a truck trailer. They're totally unremarkable rectangular gray boxes. How could anyone care whether vortex generators were slapped on them? He maintained that they were ugly, he didn't like them, and that was that.
(Score: 2) by Gravis on Tuesday November 10 2015, @12:20AM
Ugly?!? Beauty is subjective. More, why does that matter in the slightest?
because fewer people will buy it. yes, the environment is important but it wouldn't be a problem if everyone actually cared. idealism only goes so far in a materialistic society.