M/T: Chevrolet Bolt, Long term update 7

[kevm14]

http://www.motortrend.com/cars/chevrole ... E4D6E95B96

1. Li-Ion charging is still a pain in the ass. Way too slow.
2. The answer is not for the gov't to roll out and own the infrastructure. The answer is better technology and the early adopters pay the early adopter tax while this all sorts out.

The "good news" is, EVs are good enough for commuting and errand use. And the same way you might take the bigger family car on a weekend trip, and leave the commuter at home, could do the same if the commuter was an EV. But that makes less sense since most people don't have a collection of cars for different purposes.

[kevm14]

Some metrics at the bottom:
- It cost a total of $626.84 to drive 16,451 miles, or a cost of $0.038/mile. If regular gas is $2.80, that is equivalent to 73.5 mpg. Mind you, you cannot compare things the way I just did. I just compared the cost of electricity in CA to the price of gas in RI.
- So I will extract the total energy used because they somehow didn't feel the need to include it. Average miles/charge: 95.5 miles. Average energy per charge: 28.1 kW-hr. Total energy cost over the 16,451 miles, then, would be 4,840.5 kWh. Now just multiply by your cost. My cost is somewhere in the 17 or 18 cents/kWh. Let's call it 17.5. That would cost, for 100% home charging, $847.10, which, you will note, is more than M/T paid for that amount of electricity, by a fair margin. Anyway, using RI electricity prices and $2.80/gal for 87, that is equivalent to 54.4 mpg. Now we are dangerously close to hybrid territory.

[kevm14]

Relevant:
http://www.motortrend.com/news/electric ... E60176F1E0

Apparently VAG is going to invest $2B in US infrastructure. Hey, as long as it isn't the gov't.

In defense of EVs and Li-Ion energy storage, the internal combustion engines and fuels and fuel infrastructure has been maturing over, what, 100+ years?

[kevm14]

Oddly M/T revisited the 2020 Bolt, which has only added a little bit of range and doesn't seem to have changed otherwise, to see how it stacks up against an increasingly competitive field.

https://www.motortrend.com/cars/chevrol ... CBFBF61258

The Bolt is still a great electric car, but now it has some equally compelling rivals. A reasonable entry price, zippy performance, and practical range make a strong case for the Bolt EV, but if cargo space and interior fit and finish are high priorities, you might want to look at other options.

Cargo space with the rear seats folded down is quite good but with the rear seats folded up, not as good.

Cargo space (cubic feet)
Bolt: 16.9
Leaf Plus: 23.6
Niro EV: 18.5
Kona Electric: 19.2
Ioniq Electric: 23.0
Model 3 Standard Plus: 15

This is probably because it has above average legroom.

Rear legroom (inches)
Bolt: 36.5
Leaf Plus: 33.5
Niro EV: 36.0
Kona Electric: 33.4
Ioniq Electric: 35.7
Model 3: 35.2

But it runs at 14.9 sec @ 93.1 mph which is quite healthy for a regular car, has a range of 259 miles, and according to the Chevrolet website, you can get an LT with some options brand new for $30,935. Or a pretty loaded Premier for only $34,880. It looks like they are offering all 2020 Bolts with an $8,500 discount. I believe that's without any tax credits.

Or the strongest case, and my favorite case, which is that there are Bolts running around on the used market since 2017 so you could probably pick up a low mileage off-lease 2017 for even cheaper.

[kevm14]

Or the strongest case, and my favorite case, which is that there are Bolts running around on the used market since 2017 so you could probably pick up a low mileage off-lease 2017 for even cheaper.

2017s with around 30k miles for under $23k.

Or a 2018 Premier with only 6,585 miles for $26,447.

Both are within a 200 mile radius. Better deals are to be had outside of that. Both are the original 238 mile range one and run 0-60 in 6.3.

The cheapest Tesla Model 3 on Autotrader within a 200 mile radius is $40,000. That is a 2019 with only 3,400 miles but also the standard 220 mile range and imo, isn't a particularly nice vehicle. 0-60 should be in the high 5 second range, but I can't find a magazine time. Tesla has published a time of 5.6 but I need to see a magazine time.

That's the case for the Bolt. On paper they are the same price. But they're not the same price in the real world, and that's why I don't like to compare MSRPs.