Chevrolet Bolt & Bolt EUV

[evnow]

Production Bolt will debut at the 2016 CES in January.

Cool. Hope it does better than Focus EV that was revealed with much fanfare in CES a few years back.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

This is an interesting trend, to be sure. Although I'm not sure if I like the implications. It seems like automakers are thinking of EVs more as a mobile computer than of an actual car. I, for one, enjoy driving. I am concerned that GM will not be focusing on driving dynamics of the Bolt so much as "cool tech", which amounts to little more than "excessive distractions" in my experience.

 

[GRA]

This is an interesting trend, to be sure. Although I'm not sure if I like the implications. It seems like automakers are thinking of EVs more as a mobile computer than of an actual car. I, for one, enjoy driving. I am concerned that GM will not be focusing on driving dynamics of the Bolt so much as "cool tech", which amounts to little more than "excessive distractions" in my experience.

They're doing it because they can't find any other way to get the millennials to buy cars. Hopefully fully-autonomous driving will arrive at the same time, so the millennials don't wipe the rest of us out as they talk/text on their phones while 'driving'. Not that it's only millennials, but they make up the majority.

As a pedestrian/cyclist, up to about 2006 I figure I avoided being seriously injured or killed by inattentive or entitled drivers about once every two weeks. From 2006 on, it's more like once every 10 days, the difference being due entirely to the ubiquity of smart phones. Had two in one day just this week, although those fell more into the entitled category, of drivers making right turns at a signal just as soon as it changed to green, despite me waiting at the curb to enter the crosswalk, with the walk sign. I saw they were likely to do it so stopped short, but verbally expressed my opinion of their driving in a way they couldn't miss.

I'm not sure which gets me angrier, those people who feel that everyone else needs to get out of their way so they can save 1 second, or those driving blissfully along (usually one-handed) yakking or texting, with their attention anywhere but on driving the car. It's getting to the point where I'm semi-seriously considering carrying a hammer with me while walking, just to impose a cost on people's inattention. Replacing a busted headlight would be cheaper than paying for my medical bills or their increased insurance rates.

While I've always walked/ridden with the underlying attitude to behave as if every other person out there is trying to kill me, it does seem as if that's a lot closer to being the reality than in the past. It isn't paranoia if they really are out to get you!

 

[DanCar]

I' not sure which gets me angrier, those people who feel that everyone else needs to get out of their way so they can save 1 second, or those driving blissfully along (usually one-handed) yakking or texting, with their attention anywhere but on driving the car.

Your state should adopt California's law of making that illegal. I thought most states were that way already.

It's getting to the point where I'm semi-seriously considering carrying a hammer with me while walking, just to impose a cost on people's inattention.

Try steel toed boots. I once kicked a car that almost ran me over in a cross walk. Waited for me to cross, then practically ran over my heels. Seems to happen so often. Driver tip: instead of being courteous and waiting for someone to cross, get out of the way instead of running out of patience and then running over their heels.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

Your state should adopt California's law of making that illegal. I thought most states were that way already.

GRA's location is listed as the East side of the San-Francisco bay. I was under the impression that was in California...

 

[GRA]

Your state should adopt California's law of making that illegal. I thought most states were that way already.

GRA's location is listed as the East side of the San-Francisco bay. I was under the impression that was in California...

Indeed. What the law requires and what people do are two different things - I've seen a local cop yakking on his phone while driving. I even saw one of the local cops on downtown bike patrol doing this while riding (one-handed), the wrong way on a one-way street. Wish I'd had a camera with me to capture it.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

This is an interesting trend, to be sure. Although I'm not sure if I like the implications. It seems like automakers are thinking of EVs more as a mobile computer than of an actual car. I, for one, enjoy driving. I am concerned that GM will not be focusing on driving dynamics of the Bolt so much as "cool tech", which amounts to little more than "excessive distractions" in my experience.

They're doing it because they can't find any other way to get the millennials to buy cars.

Back to the topic at hand - if this were true, wouldn't they start to unveil most of their younger-driver-oriented vehicles in a similar fashion, regardless of the underlying power train? I mean the gas Spark and Sonic are also aimed at millennials. I don't see them advertising anything other than EVs at CES.

 

[GRA]

This is an interesting trend, to be sure. Although I'm not sure if I like the implications. It seems like automakers are thinking of EVs more as a mobile computer than of an actual car. I, for one, enjoy driving. I am concerned that GM will not be focusing on driving dynamics of the Bolt so much as "cool tech", which amounts to little more than "excessive distractions" in my experience.

They're doing it because they can't find any other way to get the millennials to buy cars.

Back to the topic at hand - if this were true, wouldn't they start to unveil most of their younger-driver-oriented vehicles in a similar fashion, regardless of the underlying power train? I mean the gas Spark and Sonic are also aimed at millennials. I don't see them advertising anything other than EVs at CES.

EVs are potentially the easiest to make fully autonomous, so naturally for something like CES the focus will be on them. You might want to check out the "Autonomous driving LEAF" thread, as I've posted some links there which include the ever growing use of car-sharing among millennials (seniors too), and once autonomy fully kicks in, a huge increase of mobility-on-demand services will almost certainly follow. We may in fact be looking at the last generation of cars that people choose to own, at least in cities, so the car business is likely to undergo massive change.

As it is, urban multi-car households are already a much smaller % than in the U.S. as a whole, with NYC leading the list (13.4%, versus 57% nationally). The number of multi-car households will continue to shrink as auto autonomy increases (and insurance costs for autonomous vehicles come down below those driven manually).

 

[JeffN]

Production spy pix prior to the official January 2016 reveal:

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1101216_2017-chevrolet-bolt-ev-production-car-spied-before-2016-ces-reveal

 

[NeilBlanchard]

Looks good!

 

[Valdemar]

Looks small

 

[Arlington]

[The spy photo of Chevy Bolt] Looks good!

Looks like a Leaf (or a Fit or Golf 4-Dr ) wearing Volt badges, which isn't a bad thing. I think it underscores Nissan's opportunity to make a "tall" model (the current Leaf shape) and a "low" model (sporty 4 seater with low CD and better highway efficiency) to "bracket" the competition

 

[jhm614]

Wow - the Bolt has made a nice transition from concept to production. Other than the logo along the hood line, I think this looks good. Funny, the black just behind the rear windows looks like Nissan's current design language in the Murano / Maxima. I could definitely see myself driving one of these (depending on price and how Leaf 2 looks... I like the IDS concept, too)

 

[LeftieBiker]

What is the price target for the Bolt, again? If they offer good leases on this car, I might think about it.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

The GCC article says $30k after tax credits.

 

[LeftieBiker]

The GCC article says $30k after tax credits.

Thanks. it will all depend, then, on how badly GM wants to get new customers with good lease terms. Think Nissan in 2013...

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

Also should trigger a price drop in these 2016 Leafs.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

Looks quite similar to the Fit, actually. Which is about perfect in my book.

 

[Arlington]

Also should trigger a price drop in these 2016 Leafs.

Yes and No.

Yes, the steady progress in all EVs has consistently meant that used EVs lose their value quickly--not because of physical depreciation, but because of technical and competitive depreciation. But the Bolt is a small part of that. If all EVs (BMW, Tesla, Volt, or Nissan) are getting better at 20% (as going from 24kWh to 60kWh between 2011 and 2017 on the "current" Leaf would be), it isn't surprising to see any EV (Leaf or otherwise) losing 25% of value per year)

No, because the Bolt is a 2017 Model which is just being shown off at CES in 2016. We don't really know when people will actually be taking delivery of Bolts. Could be anywhere between June '16 and January '17, by which time the Leaf could have a 60kWh battery crammed into the existing envelope.

And no because, just like with iPhones and laptops, manufacturers love keeping new list prices constant (in the $29k to $35k range) and just letting features "rise" rather than prices fall.

 

[GRA]

Looks quite similar to the Fit, actually. Which is about perfect in my book.

Or maybe a Focus hatch shortened by lopping a foot-long section from the area between the rear doors and the tail of the car. I agree, though, that the actual car does look pretty good, and better than the concept.