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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 09 2015, @11:53PM
You may be interested in an "electric bicycle". They are scooter style, have a 48V Lead-acid battery. In the US they are limited to 750W, in Canada 500W (I can out-power the Canadian version up a hill).
I don't consider them bicycles because it (at least the model I tried) is impossible to pedal at more than a crawl. The pedals are simply there for classification reasons. Not being able to pedal causes some range anxiety.
(Score: 2) by WillR on Tuesday November 10 2015, @02:14PM
If you're willing to do a little tinkering, ordering a Chinese conversion kit (e-bikes and adding electric assist to conventional bikes are huge businesses over there) and putting it on a cheap craigslist bike is probably a better choice.
(Score: 2) by Daiv on Tuesday November 10 2015, @04:32PM
After doing all kinds of research, I'm convinced the absolute best, easiest add-on kit is the Ridekick http://ridekick.com/ [ridekick.com]
Everything else becomes so expensive or complicated, you might as well buy an actual e-bike. I'm also not sponsored or an owner (yet), but I have spent an absurd number of hours researching this.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 10 2015, @05:15PM
Looks like ridekick would not work well in snow.
One day while cleaning my rusting chain, I said: "should invent a bike with an pure electric drive-train".
It is like 10 years away (I have figured out it is not completely impossible).
(Score: 2) by Daiv on Tuesday November 10 2015, @07:31PM
I don't work well in snow, so I never even considered "must work well in snow" to be a requirement of any bike I've ever bought.
Thanks for bringing it up for me to think about.
Nope, still never going to be a condition I'll consider. Of course, you brought up one condition that affects nearly none of the potential users so sorry about your niche requirement. Good luck with your revelation and journey to bring it to reality.