Chevy Bolt production version

[prodigious1one]

Hey,

I saw a Chevy Bolt in black driving past Northside Hospital in Sandy Springs, GA near Atlanta.

It was so cool to see it so unexpectedly. I wonder if it's a test drive vehicle



Aaron

 

[rkarl89203]

Hi....i am on my return trip on my route 66 journey here in California. I have now seen 5 Chevy Bolts charging here.
Way cool...seems to be a nice car!
Probably my next EV.

 

[JoeS]

Hi....i am on my return trip on my route 66 journey here in California. I have now seen 5 Chevy Bolts charging here. Way cool...seems to be a nice car! Probably my next EV.

Careful, if you take a test drive and realize you can go four times further than the i-MiEV on a single charge, for your return trip you may be tempted to trade in your i-MiEV today... :roll: I've been told that there are some very good price discounts on the BoltEV at the moment. ... think of the money you'll save on hotel and restaurant bills! :lol:
http://www.autoblog.com/2017/03/22/chevrolet-bolt-ev-dealer-discounts/
On third thought, whereas a year ago I bought a used Tesla and immediately put on over 10,000 miles on it driving around the US, would you want to hop into a brand-new Chevy and drive it to Chicago? :shock: (hmm, didn't mean to be disparaging, but I had a friend who bought a brand-new GM car and immediately set off for Virginia, only to run out of gas in the middle of Nevada with the gas gauge showing 1/3 tank).

 

[rkarl89203]

Second to last day on my route 66 return trip. Charging at Hyvee in Springfield IL. A brand new Bolt EV drove up right next to me and was charging on the other Chargepoint L2.
That is one NICE car! The folks who bought it live in St Louis and were driving back from upstate New York where they purchased it. Had a great talk. Was amazed that its dimensions are very similar to our iMiev. They reported ranges of about 240 miles.
Awesome. Will be my next EV. Was seriously thinking about a Tesla Model 3 until i saw Elon hanging with the current anti-EV prez. Glad i have a great alternative. Damn that Bolt is a nice car.

 

[Don]

If you're not in a big hurry, wait a couple years - You can buy a 2015 Chevy Volt with 12K to 15K miles on it today for about half what it sold for new. Many people tend not to put as many miles on EV's as they do on traditional ICE powered cars, so a two to three year old used one is often times a great value. We bought our second iMiEV 2 1/2 years old with only 3,900 miles on it for less than 1/3rd the sticker price

Don

 

[rkarl89203]

I would rather not EVER buy a gas car again...so no Volt for me whatever the price.
I however was extremely impressed with the Bolt EV....just a really nice car.

 

[ed5000]

I got to drive a bolt at work last week. It's a good all around road car.

 

[PV1]

I spotted an orange one driving around Pittsburgh today while out bike riding. It had out of state plates on it. Couldn't get a picture, though.

Getting closer.

 

[JoeS]

I would rather not EVER buy a gas car again...so no Volt for me whatever the price. I however was extremely impressed with the Bolt EV....just a really nice car.

Rick, I agree with you on both counts! :mrgreen:

 

[Phximiev]

I would rather not EVER buy a gas car again...so no Volt for me whatever the price. I however was extremely impressed with the Bolt EV....just a really nice car.

Rick, I agree with you on both counts! :mrgreen:

We test drove the Bolt some time back and liked it a lot, but couldn't buy it in AZ without going through a CA dealership. That's supposed to change in the near future.

As such, we elected for the 2014 Volt because of the low mileage (just off a three year lease), low price, electric range, and premium trim. We've had it less than a month and have about 700 miles of all electric driving. Its an excellent car, full of bells and whistles. We see a daily, fully charged RR of 50 miles now (its EPA rated at 38 electric).

As to the range extender use, I ran the electric range down to zero and the extender kicked right in. Ran it for about 5 miles and that's all I've used it. I fully expect to have 90% electric driving (our daily driving in the Volt is well under 30 miles a day) and only use the extender on trips.

So far, we like it. Next time around tho its a Bolt or a Tesla Model 3.

 

[Don]

I would rather not EVER buy a gas car again...so no Volt for me whatever the price.
I however was extremely impressed with the Bolt EV....just a really nice car.

My point was not to get you to look at buying a Volt - That was just an example of what sort of deal you might get on a Bolt if you waited a couple years when the leases start coming to an end

Leased cars all get the $7500 tax credit (something I'll never understand) but buyers who do not have $7500 worth of tax liability don't get that break, or at least not all of it. Buying a low mileage 2 to 3 year old EV coming off a lease can save you a bundle, starting with the $7500 that the government awarded to the leasing company

I'd like to think I'll never buy another ICE too (but I certainly wouldn't rule out a Volt which can be driven as a pure EV 90% of the time) but after paying nearly $30K as an early adopter for our first iMiEV and then a couple years later getting a much better equipped nearly brand new model for less than half what we paid, buying a new one is something we'll probably never do again either

Whatever we eventually buy to replace one or both of out iMiEV's (Tesla, Bolt or Volt are likely choices) it won't be a new one, that's pretty much for certain

Don

 

[rkarl89203]

Misunderstood your comment, sorry.
I agree with your point.
I can truly say i wont buy another ICE car though.

 

[JoeS]

Here's an assessment by a BoltEV owner who is also an i-MiEV owner (but perhaps not a member of this forum?) -

http://www.greencarreports.com/news...-car-at-6-months-owners-likes-recommendations

 

[Don]

Another person who drives in the max regen mode all the time - I wish we had his steering wheel paddle to turn on the brake lights and come to a complete stop. Wonder how hard it would be to rig a paddle by using our brakelight switch terminals?

Don

 

[PV1]

I had an opportunity to test drive a Bolt today. I must say that I am impressed.

First off, acceleration is very strong. So strong that I easily chirped the tires on dry pavement while moving and I wasn't all the way into it yet :mrgreen: . My only concern there is how that will handle snow/ice.

I really like that the two drive modes give the car two completely different feelings. Drive behaves much like the I-MiEV with relatively mild regen and creep, but Low makes it act like a BMW i3 with one-pedal driving and very strong regen. Plus, if that isn't enough, the regen paddle gives you a third, even stronger level of regen and brake lights (as the salesman claimed, never seen if it actually lit them up, though). I could see the brakes on the Bolt outlasting the I-MiEV's.

Interior room is pretty good. It offers more interior space in all dimensions except headroom. Rear headroom is a little tight. My hair hit the door jamb when climbing in. The cloth seats of the LT are quite comfortable, on par with the I-MiEV. I hope this translates into little to no driver fatigue after a long drive (a 90-mile drive in the I-MiEV doesn't wear me out like it does in other cars). Visibility is pretty much on par. I had no trouble backing it back into its spot. The turning radius surprised me, as it is nearly as tight as the I-MiEV's. This is a world of difference from the C-Max with the turning radius of an F-150.

The radio sounded good for the brief test that I did. I'm interested in seeing what Apple CarPlay brings for iPod integration. I didn't notice a pedestrian chirp button like there is in the 1st gen Volt, and there is no constant noise generator, either.

I've been trying to talk myself out of buying another EV as I can't justify needing a longer range, but this drive just made that much more difficult, especially since I just found a good deal on a used Bolt Premier. I have to at least wait to experience a Model 3 first :lol: .

 

[PV1]

A few more observations.

The Premier model includes a rear armrest with cupholders. The tradeoff is that the leather is not nearly as comfortable as the cloth seats in the LT.

On the instrument panel, there are layout options that give you real basic charge level and efficiency indicator, another that adds a little detail, and a third that tells you max, minimum, and average range remaining as well as power/regen in kW (Joe, next time you drive one, hit the Left arrow button on the wheel, go to Layout, and pick Enhanced. This should answer your question about regen power).

The different wheels between the two trims is mostly paint. The wheel itself is exactly the same, except the Premier wheels have black paint and machined spokes. It rides on Michelin Energy A/S 215/50R17.

 

[PV1]

Further Bolt impressions

The LT cloth seats are still more comfortable than the leather and have a very similar feel to the i-MiEV. Driving, visibility, and overall feel are similar but with more power/regen, :idea: which stand at 150 kW of motive power and 50 kW of regen on the paddle. Drive is like Brake mode in the i-MiEV. Pushing the brake pedal in Drive blends regen and friction just like the i-MiEV. The paddle simulates an i3 by bringing on full regen and allowing the Bolt to come to a complete stop. When stopping with the brake pedal in Drive mode, creep stays off until you tap the throttle pedal (may be brake hold feature).

The radio in the LT sounds more like the i-MiEV's radio with equally good sound quality. The Premier radio is more like a Tesla with tweeter and sub configuration. While it also sounds good, there's something missing. Carplay puts nav, music, and phone apps right on the radio. While I couldn't really test it, it looked promising. It doesn't work on my iPod, but that's not an issue as music integration is just as good with the radio itself.

We also did some measurements. The Bolt is very similar in all dimensions to the I-MiEV, being slightly larger in all directions. However, because the rear seat is higher in the Bolt, the I-MiEV wins out on rear headroom. As a correction to an earlier post, there is a pedestrian alert that is speed activated like the I-MiEV, but I couldn't hear it at all (listed on the window sticker as a standard safety feature).

 

[JoeS]

Hmmm...
:shock:
http://www.mychevybolt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=6872&p=23517#p23517

 

[PV1]

Hmmm...
:shock:
http://www.mychevybolt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=6872&p=23517#p23517

Found me :lol: . (And no, it's not the used one I mentioned.)

I kind of announced it in this thread (http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3829#p33828). It was too tempting to pass up. It's kind of difficult to sell people on EVs as a lot of people in my area view the i-MiEV as a toy. When you roll up in a Chevy with 200+ miles of range and 150 kW of go, people take you a bit more seriously. Not to mention that I'll now be saving a lot of wear and tear on the i-MiEV (first car, sentimental value, want it to last forever, etc.), which seems to fall into collector car status with just barely over 2,000 copies in the US and no longer produced. They're about as rare as the Tesla Roadster.

I'm working on a full writeup and wasn't sure if I should post it here or break off a new Bolt thread.

**Update**
Since this thread mostly pertains to following the Bolt up to production start, I'll be starting a new thread highlighting my experience with the Bolt. Other Bolt/i-MiEV owners are welcome to chime in.

 

[JoeS]

Hyattsville, Maryland, has a forward-thinking police department:

http://www.greencarreports.com/pict...-first-chevrolet-bolt-ev-police-car_gallery-1

I'd like to see their benefit-cost analysis, as I bet that BoltEV could be easily justified. Another example where the 'range' argument no longer holds water for the naysayers.