# 2017 Chevrolet Bolt Review – First Drive



## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

Seems legit.


----------



## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

> the Bolt’s screen has a white background, with bright images and large icons


I hope that changes to "night mode" at night.


I'm assuming/hoping that you can get that 90 mile in 30 minutes at the shopping mall chargers. 9 Hours might be fine for the home charger, but that's pretty limiting for charging on the go.


----------



## rfruth (Dec 1, 2012)

90 mile in 30 minutes is pretty good IMO but 30K after tax credits when a gas Cruze is 10K less (& no need for uncle sam) 40+ MPG :signs053:


----------



## Christopher_2 (Jul 31, 2012)

Let me see a new Sonic that is not a base model is $20,000 ish a new bolt that we have no idea about the trim is $30,000 difference $10,000. 

$10,000 Extra

$3.00 gas


3,333 gallons of gas could be purchased.

Sonic LtZ with 1.4 turbo gets abut 33 mpg.

3,333 gallons of gas x 33mpg = 110,000 miles you would have to drive just to make up the difference in cost before you started saving any money.

I do believe most of these numbers are on the conservative side.

Oh, I also call BS on the 0 pollution. The power plant that produced the electricity pollute the air. It is just coming out of an exhaust stak instead of a tail pipe.


----------



## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

You have far less maintenance.


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Christopher_2 said:


> Oh, I also call BS on the 0 pollution. The power plant that produced the electricity pollute the air. It is just coming out of an exhaust sta*c*k instead of a tail pipe.


Depends on the plant. Our power is supplied from nuclear energy. 

Others have wind, solar, natural gas, or other clean sources too.


----------



## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

My power plant uses natural gas so it's definitely cleaner energy than a car


----------



## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

If your electricity is coming from solar, geothermal, wave, ocean current, wind, etc, it is clean.


----------



## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Christopher_2 said:


> Let me see a new Sonic that is not a base model is $20,000 ish a new bolt that we have no idea about the trim is $30,000 difference $10,000.
> 
> $10,000 Extra
> 
> ...


Have you driven a recent model electric car? I'm not talking something like a Prius that switches from electric to gas, but rather, a car that never uses gas to drive the wheels. I ask because a properly designed pure EV or EV with range extender is a treat to drive. Instant torque off the line; no noise from an engine (which may be a turn off for some); consistent acceleration from stop to the highway. Will they go as fast as a regular car, yes and no. Some are capable of 160+ MPH but most limit themselves to 98 or 99 MPH, which is still faster than most people can safely handle a vehicle. Acceleration - better than the Cruze, which isn't hard to beat off the line, but given the sheer number of Cruze that GM has sold I don't think this is a real issue either.

Your numbers are really off when it comes to my ECO MT - assuming gas is $3 a gallon I'd have to drive nearly 140,000 miles to make the price difference and at current gas prices I'd have to drive over 200,000 miles. However, my time and money spent on routine maintenance goes away with an EV, so that counts in the EV's favor.

The biggest challenges to pure EVs are the refueling time and availability of refuelling stations. I'm using the term "refuel" here generically - how do I replenish the vehicle's energy storage so I can continue driving. For a gas or diesel engine this is a gas/diesel pump. For an EV it's a compatible power outlet. EVs need to get down to 5 minutes or less to fully recharge to match the time it takes to fill a ICE tank. They're getting better, but this is why Chevy went with a range extending gas engine in the Volt. We're also not seeing the widespread availability of recharging stations yet either. Both issues are slowly be resolved. However, if you already have a multi-car household and you have a place to plug in, why not go with a pure EV for your second car. If you have a single car or don't have a place to plug in and you want an EV, go with a range extended EV that gets good fuel economy when running the range extender.


----------



## AZ007 (Sep 26, 2014)

obermd said:


> if you already have a multi-car household and you have a place to plug in, why not go with a pure EV for your second car.


That's exactly what we plan to do.


----------



## LiveTrash (May 24, 2015)

The reason these vehicles are so expensive is because of the batteries. They can make up almost half the cost of the vehicle. Once battery technology has advanced far enough to mass produce a cheap and equally, if not more effective, battery for cars, we'll continue to see electric vehicles priced like this.


----------



## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

Give it another 5 years and there should be a couple more choices as well


----------



## CRUISE-CRUZE (Nov 8, 2010)

There is not a real "motivation" today to build the infrastructure for these electric cars when there is plenty of gas at very low price. When (if) the infrastructure will be ready then they price of electricity will go up instantly! Even today, nobody says how much the bill increases when you feed an electrical vehicle every night in your garage. However the automotive industry should be ready in advance, but it will take a long time to see these vehicles replacing the existing one, just to keep clean the Earth


----------



## _MerF_ (Mar 24, 2015)

More EV's in the market can only be good news for us. More choices, more competition.


----------



## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

I believe the electrics will become a 'And' vehicle......as in a conventional car will be parked alongside a electric......I have a pickup truck AND a Bolt for example.......Insert conventional vehicle of your choice in the pickup slot.

While I write this my wife is out in her Malibu, my Cruze parked, and she is doing her Saturday run abouts.
Grocery shopping, off to the bank, you know, the general about town stuff of life.

As she dashes about, the miles pile up, the car gets closer to its next oil change, its next coolant flush, its next fuel stop, its next trans service, its next battery, and so on.
If she was doing this, maybe ten mile circle in something like a Bolt, nothing above, with exception to plugging it in to recover ten miles of driving, is on the horizon.

So, for some, the electricity cost may have impact but only if you are using gasoline purchasses as the cost computation.
When you mix in the filters/fluids/labor, other hard parts (if you aren't a diy type) I suspect the equation may favor the electric.

To this, add convenience......The interior can be pre warmed or cooled prior to getting in the car, brake life, due to regenerative braking, could actually become life of car, it runs the same regardless of ambient temperature (except for range), very few hard part failures (trans), and probably more that I haven't considered.......how bout this one.....no 'help' phone call because the car won't start.....heh heh......that alone is worth several thousand dollars.

Lastly.....right now, this moment, we can thank the folks that are driving electric....they have a lot to do with why fuel prices are dropping.

Rob


----------



## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Robby said:


> I believe the electrics will become a 'And' vehicle......as in a conventional car will be parked alongside a electric......I have a pickup truck AND a Bolt for example.......Insert conventional vehicle of your choice in the pickup slot.


If the conventional vehicle would be used only rarely, you could rent one as needed. Making a EV your only car. 

Although, 90 miles in 30 minutes isn't bad. I'm sure someplace like Denny's will install the charging stations, so you can refuel the car and yourself in one stop. Likewise, some smart tourists traps will do the same. "The barrier to entry" is far lower for a charging station than for fuel pumps. So it seems only logical for places that want people to stop there will install them, turning a traveling necessity into a business opportunity. No longer will "fuel" stops and "people" stops be different places when driving long distance.

I fact, I just thought of a name for them: "Tesla bait". If you want Teslas to stop at your place, install Tesla bait. :grin:


----------



## iggy (Feb 14, 2013)

Ahh... and gas was $1.45 on my way by the station today... So that return on investment at today's gas prices will take even longer. 

Now, I can see the day when I buy a electric , for the fun factor. But I'm not to the point where I have disposable cash to waste on a all electric car at this point in my life. I have serious concerns about the long term costs involved in trying to actually drive it far enough to break even on the costs, even if gas was at $3.00/gallon right now. Replacing those batteries would not be cheap.( and probably also not really that great for the environment)

So, at this point I'm not a customer for a electric vehicle.


----------



## GlennGlenn (Nov 27, 2015)

iggy said:


> Ahh... and gas was $1.45 on my way by the station today... So that return on investment at today's gas prices will take even longer.
> 
> Now, I can see the day when I buy a electric , for the fun factor. But I'm not to the point where I have disposable cash to waste on a all electric car at this point in my life. I have serious concerns about the long term costs involved in trying to actually drive it far enough to break even on the costs, even if gas was at $3.00/gallon right now. Replacing those batteries would not be cheap.( and probably also not really that great for the environment)
> 
> So, at this point I'm not a customer for a electric vehicle.



I agree ^^^^

Bump to old thread: 

gas is hovering at about $1.40-1.50 a gallon ( approx) and it would take me about 7 stops to drive to FL in the Bolt not including my "time", so for me ,it's a non-starter. Local use, it's a much better alternative than a $30 K Prius.


----------



## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

While I agree that pure EVs will be second vehicles until the refuel time comes down to that of a conventional oil burner (gasoline is derived from oil as well), I suspect PHEVs will become vehicles of first choice for a lot of people. Why burn gas when electric will move you around without generating local air pollution or tithe big oil?

As to the question of whether electric power generates pollution the answer is it depends on where you are and thus the mix of electric generating sources. However, as a general rule utility power produces fewer emissions than transportation. Also, over 90% of our fossil fuel consumption is transportation. The real issue is how will states replace the gas tax, which is essentially a consumption tax for road repair (assuming the crooks in the legislature haven't redirected this tax to some other program).


----------



## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

obermd said:


> While I agree that pure EVs will be second vehicles until the refuel time comes down to that of a conventional oil burner (gasoline is derived from oil as well),


I think if there's enough recharging stations where people want to go instead of being separate from their destinations (like today's gas stations), that will change. Not too many people need to go more than 90 miles on a single leg of a trip.

It may never be a good car for a road trip, but how many people do that on a regular enough basis?


----------

