GM Says Second-Gen Chevy Bolt Will Be Most Affordable EV In The US

June 6, 20247 months ago Steve Hanley 0 Comments

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General Motors has certainly been tested by the EV revolution. It was fast out of the gate with the Chevy Volt, a surprisingly good plug-in hybrid that first went on sale in December of 2010. Next came the Chevy Bolt, a surprisingly good battery-electric car that went on sale in 2016. The Bolt had an unfortunate issue with battery fires that tarnished its luster somewhat, but that issue was resolved eventually. Both the Volt and Bolt are now out of production.

At one time, General Motors CEO Mary Barra indicated the company planned to sell only battery-electric cars by 2035. In particular, the target for Cadillac was to transition to all battery-powered models by 2030. After the company’s annual meeting this week, it appears both of those goals may have slipped somewhat. According to the Detroit Free Press, Barra said, “We have a great lineup of gas powered, or what we call ICE vehicles, that are available right now and we have a great lineup of EVs that will continue to grow. We’ll be covering the portfolio from a segment perspective and arranged perspective of pricing, design, et cetera. So we believe we’re well positioned and we will be customer focused as we go through this transformation.”

Later in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, Barra said the General Motors plan to turn its fleet into all battery-electric models will now play out over decades. “We said back in 2018 that we’re committed to an all electric future, but as we make this transformation, it’s going to happen over decades. Like everyone, we are watching EV demand closely because the pace of adoption has slowed, but we still expect that 2024 will be a record year of EV sales continuing on a strong growth projectory,” she said.

General Motors Sets Monthly EV Sales Record

There was good news for EV fans at the General Motors annual meeting. With little fanfare, the company announced it sold more EVs in May than in any previous month in its history. David Caldwell, who directs finance and sales communications for the General Motors, said sales of electric cars powered by the company’s Ultium battery were doing well. “We’re seeing strong demand and increases basically across the board, in particular Cadillac Lyriq and the new Chevrolet Blazer EV.” In an email to Inside EVs, he added, “Hummer EV is building volume, as is the Silverado EV. Initial deliveries of the new Equinox EV occurred at the end of May.”

Caldwell said “the biggest impact comes from Lyriq,” which saw more than 3,000 units sold in May. GM’s total EV volume in the US and Canada was more than 9,000 vehicles last month too. Previously, the best ever month for EV sales occurred in 2023 when 7000 were sold. John Roth, global vice president at Cadillac, told Inside EVs the Cadillac Lyriq has shown considerable sales momentum within the luxury brand. It accounted for 17% of Cadillac’s total sales in the first quarter of 2024.

Nevertheless, General Motors has been feeling the strain of an EV market that is less even and predictable than the auto industry imagined. High interest rates and fears around range and charging may keep more next wave EV adopters away for now. Barra herself has begun admitting that an industry-wide EV transition may actually take decades, and Cadillac has reversed course on phasing out internal combustion by start of the next decade.

Chevy Bolt To Be Most Affordable EV In The US

According to a report by Automotive News, senior vice president and president of the General Motors global markets leadership team Marissa West said recently that the next generation Chevy Bolt is on track to be the most affordable EV ever offered in the US. That car is scheduled to arrive a little over a year from now and will be assembled at the GM factory in Kansas where production of the Chevy Malibu takes place today. That car has been scheduled to phase out by the end of this year. “We’re really excited to get the Bolt with the Ultium architecture underpinnings to have the most affordable vehicle on the market by 2025,” West claimed in a recent interview.

The next generation Bolt is expected to be built on basically the same chassis as the original car, but will use an LFP version of the Ultium battery, which should help keep costs down. Exactly who will supply those batteries is not known at this time. All the other Ultium batteries use nickel cobalt manganese aluminum battery cells. No details have emerged yet about the size or styling of the car — and whether there will be both a Bolt and a Bolt EUV — but it seems a safe assumption it will be similar to the Bolt EUV, which has a little more room for carrying stuff behind the rear seat than the standard Bolt. Many Americans crave small SUVs and General Motors has two somewhat larger electric SUVs already in its lineup — the Equinox EV and the Blazer EV. It will also soon have the gargantuan Escalade IQ EV ready for customers, which will be topped only by the Hummer EV in terms of footprint and battery size.

At the present time, the most affordable electric vehicle in the US is the Nissan LEAF S, which features a starting MSRP of $29,280 including freight and delivery charges. The more upscale LEAF SV has longer range and a starting price of $37,330. The 2023 Chevy Bolt EV had a starting MSRP of $27,495 including delivery and freight charges when it was phased out at the end of last year. It seems a safe assumption that the next generation Chevy Bolt will be available at a price somewhere between the LEAF S and the former Bolt. Let’s pick $28,495 as an educated guess. Assuming the car will be eligible for the federal EV rebate, that means customers could drive one home for a net price of $20,995. Good luck finding a gasoline-powered car today for that price! GM’s highly regarded Super Cruise is also rumored to be an available option on the Bolt.

The Takeaway

We have been sharply critical of General Motors as it has vacillated several times about how exactly it intends to implement its electric car plans. At least for the present, the trajectory seems to be upward at The General, with a range of battery-electric models on offer or arriving soon. The kerfluffle over the batteries in the original Bolt is in the rear view mirror and the lights are all green on the road ahead.

Owners of the original Bolt have nice things to say about them. Those warm and fuzzy feelings will help others to consider an electric car from General Motors. Check back a year from now to see how GM is doing in its quest to bring electric cars that people want to buy to the US.