Chevrolet Bolt & Bolt EUV

This is what I thought. I wonder if that will change in the future with the new GM battery factory.

In Canada the MSRP is so close to a standard range plus MSRP that most people just pass them by without seeing how much they can beat out of the salesman. If that policy of high initial MSRP changes someday they will probably do better in the BC EV marketplace. Right now we still have brand new 2019’s on the sales lots although from what I gather, those who are willing to get into that old school haggle game can find a deal on those. I think more and more people are warming up to the Tesla shopping experience of sitting down with a glass of wine and clicking on “buy now”.

Cheers.

LeftieBiker said:

Question. I know the Bolt is assembled in the US. How much of the car is pre-assembled in Korea. I have heard various opinions on this but can’t find anything on the web on it.

Click to expand...

IIRC, the drivetrain is Korean and the body and most of the interior is American. (The guy who designed the seats is Korean-sized, though.) The batteries are, until GM opens their battery plant, also Korean.

Click to expand...

A lot of the Bolt comes from LG: https://media.chevrolet.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2015/oct/1020-bolt.html. You can see a lot of made in Korea units under the hood.

I can't speak to 2020 Bolts as I don't have a window sticker of it or a pic of it handy but my 2019 Bolt window sticker says US/Canadian parts content is 18% and lists only one country for major sources of foreign parts content: Korea 64%.

Final assembly is in https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/company_info/facilities/assembly/orion.html (sticker mentions Lake Orion, MI). For country of origin engine (motor) and transmission (electric drive unit), both say Korea.

I recall seeing some bits from Yazaki (high voltage wiring under the hood), power pig cabin heater from Germany and 12 volt battery from Germany. The expansion valve for the battery cooling system is from Mahle (https://www.mahle.com/en/products-and-services/commercial-vehicles/air-conditioning/), a German supplier. I thought I recall some bits visible under the hood from Poland.

2020: 24% from US & Canada. Orion Assembly, Lake Orion, MI, UAW Local 5960.

I saw a German starter battery in a 2017, mine was Korean.

Michelin tires: Canada.

Windows: Asian company made in USA. (I thought that was interesting.)

Steering wheel and shifter are standard GM products but I don't know where they're made.

Paul

What is the tire width on the Bolt? 215 205?

215/50R17.

paulgipe said:

Windows: Asian company made in USA. (I thought that was interesting.)

Steering wheel and shifter are standard GM products but I don't know where they're made.

Click to expand...

Indeed. The glass on my Bolt seems to come from Fuyao, a large Chinese company (https://www.fuyaogroup.com/en/ and https://fuyaousa.com/). Didn't notice where it was actually made though.

I saw Fuyao on my Bolt at purchase time but wasn't familiar with the company until I saw this excellent Netflix documentary, American Factory: https://www.netflix.com/title/81090071, https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/09/10/759152615/why-we-should-all-watch-american-factory and https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9351980/.

IMDB synopsis is:

In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a factory in an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.

Click to expand...

Judging by what the American managers saw when they visited Fuyao's factories in China, I can see where Elon's coming from in the quotes at https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/31/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-china-rocks-us-full-of-entitlement.html. I haven't listened to that podcast yet. The Chinese workers were working very fast compared to the American factory, and for peanuts in salary in comparison.

Automotive News publisher Jason Stein, who conducted the interview, asked Musk, “How about China as an EV strategy leader in the world?”

Musk replied: “China rocks in my opinion. The energy in China is great. People there – there’s like a lot of smart, hard working people. And they’re really -- they’re not entitled, they’re not complacent, whereas I see in the United States increasingly much more complacency and entitlement especially in places like the Bay Area, and L.A. and New York.”

Click to expand...

Yeah, the steering wheel is definitely standard GM. It seems like bunch of the switch gear like the power window and power lock switches are standard GM.

DougWantsALeaf said:

What is the tire width on the Bolt? 215 205?

Click to expand...

Hint: If you ever want to find out the OEM tire size on an automobile, usually you can find it by searching for tires for that vehicle at https://www.tirerack.com/.

cwerdna said:

LeftieBiker said:

Question. I know the Bolt is assembled in the US. How much of the car is pre-assembled in Korea. I have heard various opinions on this but can’t find anything on the web on it.

Click to expand...

IIRC, the drivetrain is Korean and the body and most of the interior is American. (The guy who designed the seats is Korean-sized, though.) The batteries are, until GM opens their battery plant, also Korean.

Click to expand...

A lot of the Bolt comes from LG: https://media.chevrolet.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2015/oct/1020-bolt.html. You can see a lot of made in Korea units under the hood.

I can't speak to 2020 Bolts as I don't have a window sticker of it or a pic of it handy but my 2019 Bolt window sticker says US/Canadian parts content is 18% and lists only one country for major sources of foreign parts content: Korea 64%.

Final assembly is in https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/company_info/facilities/assembly/orion.html (sticker mentions Lake Orion, MI). For country of origin engine (motor) and transmission (electric drive unit), both say Korea.

I recall seeing some bits from Yazaki (high voltage wiring under the hood), power pig cabin heater from Germany and 12 volt battery from Germany. The expansion valve for the battery cooling system is from Mahle (https://www.mahle.com/en/products-and-services/commercial-vehicles/air-conditioning/), a German supplier. I thought I recall some bits visible under the hood from Poland.

Click to expand...

From the diagram on page 260 of https://my.gm.ca/chevrolet/en/content/dam/gmownercenter/gmna/GMCC/dynamic/2019/chevrolet/Bolt/en/2019-chevrolet-bolt-ev-owners-manual-english.pdf, modules 4 and 5 have made in Korea labels on them. The made in Poland part said iBooster, so I assume brake booster which I believe comes from Bosch, a large German company.

I looked at the orange wiring harnesses under the hood and most didn't seem to list a maker but did say "Assembly in Mexico" on them. I did see a thick cable/wiring harness from Yazaki that was black though.

While doing some digging, I came across https://www.autonews.com/article/20170801/CUTAWAY/170729771/suppliers-to-the-2017-chevrolet-bolt. You may be able to view the pic directly at https://s3-prod.autonews.com/CUTAWAY_170729771_AR_-1_JRKTCPRXDXRQ.jpg. Oh no! If any heater is supplied by Eberspaecher (https://www.eberspaecher.com/en/products/electrical-heaters.html), uh oh. They made the garbage water heaters in the '11 and '12 Leaf + Rav4 EV. Mine was made in Germany but it I couldn't find a supplier/vendor name on it. And, it looked physically nothing like the aforementioned garbage water heaters.

GRA said:

cwerdna said:

Will reply more later/tonight, I do agree about the hatch lighting. Leaf has the same issue. I wish they were brighter and had more light. That can be fixed via attaching/mounting your own battery powered lights.

Click to expand...

Of course there are work arounds (I used my headlamp), but I'm talking about improving the car.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what it is about car makers installing inferior interior lighting. I replaced all the inside lights in my LEAF as well as in both of my Teslas (AbstractOcean sells a nice set of direct replacement ultrabright LEDs to replace the dimmer ones Tesla includes).

jlv said:

I'm not sure what it is about car makers installing inferior interior lighting. I replaced all the inside lights in my LEAF as well as in both of my Teslas (AbstractOcean sells a nice set of direct replacement ultrabright LEDs to replace the dimmer ones Tesla includes).

Click to expand...

The Bolt manual has a specific warning about NOT replacing any of the factory incandescent lights with aftermarket LEDs: https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/a-warning-to-anyone-looking-to-replace-license-plate-bulbs-with-leds.34441/#post-527863. The OP of that thread ran into problems as he didn't RTFM or ignored it.

I think that at one point bright interior lights were considered a road hazard, because people do turn them on while on the highway.

IDK if this has been posted before, but here's a February comparo of the 2020 Bolt with the other sub-$40k 200+ mil BEVs.
MT:

2020 Chevrolet Bolt Review: Checking in With Our Former Car of the Year

We revisit the EV three years after its big win

Click to expand...

https://www-motortrend-com.cdn.ampp...v/2020/2020-chevrolet-bolt-first-test-review/

By not mentioning the seats being improved, they make me wonder if they ever did mention them.

Is this the year it gets TACC? I like the bolt but am amazed it still has dumb cruise control.

LeftieBiker said:

I think that at one point bright interior lights were considered a road hazard, because people do turn them on while on the highway.

Click to expand...

I don't think I can turn on either the trunk or frunk lights when I'm driving, so I'm don't think they are a hazard.

webeleafowners said:

Is this the year it gets TACC? I like the bolt but am amazed it still has dumb cruise control.

Click to expand...

IIRC, still no adaptive cruise control for model year 2021.

The Bolt EUV will offer Super Cruise (https://media.chevrolet.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2020/aug/0826-bolteuv.html), so finally something much better.

That is big news. Surprised it took so long.

One more issue I noticed with the Bolt. The rear bumper is kind of hidden by sheet metal, fiberglass or what have you, and has a sloping top. This is much less useful as a seat than on my Forester, where the bumper is exposed, flat-topped and in my car's case, the top surface is covered with an optional 'rubber' non-slip protective pad. I have flexibility issues that make it difficult for me to put on or remove shoes/socks/gaiters/crampons or even pants from my right foot, and being able to sit on a secure seat while doing so (and having the open hatch as a roof in bad weather) is a minor but very real advantage.

That the top of my car's bumper is level with the load floor also makes loading and unloading heavy or awkward cargo, like furniture or a bike, easier.

IEVS:

Chevrolet Bolt EV Reportedly Catches Fire While Parked In Driveway

Click to expand...

https://insideevs.com/news/450145/video-chevrolet-bolt-ev-fire-parked/


Video.

My #1 suspect is the guy who just read about Bolts catching on fire, and who likes to make YouTube videos.

Haven't looked at the above video but the below is a bit more concerning as I think this would make #4 or 5 now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W4NzUQffcE - learned of it from https://www.chevybolt.org/threads/us-investigates-fire-reports-in-chevy-bolt-electric-vehicles.36397/page-4#post-565645.

It most definitely is the European version of the Bolt, the Opel Ampera-e. Anyone who's had a Bolt would recognize the vehicle and what's on the dash besides the wheel and shape of the car. I haven't watched the whole thing yet and I don't speak German worth beans.

Surprising to me that at various points (e.g. 3:45), the dash display and taillights are still working.

Hope GM is able to get to the bottom of this before too many more burn up.