Yeah, the main reason the Bolt is as cheap as it is now is because of its way outdated charge speed. No way they keep that in the next version, and I’m sure they’ll bump the price up $5-10K while they’re at it.
It can charge at up to 55kW, but that’s under perfect conditions (largely weather-related) with a very low battery. As that battery charges, it will definitely go down. Also, DCFC is generally used on road trips, which means freeway driving, which means 4 miles per kWH is unlikely.
If I were to drive about 500 miles away (Denver to Lincoln, NE) right now, starting with a full battery and ending at 10%, I’d need to stop 4 times for a total of 3 hours of charging according to A Better Route Planner.
That said, for stuff around town and even trips to Colorado Springs and beyond it’s an amazing car. You don’t even need to use its full 48A level 2 speeds for it to be awesome, I got by on 1/3 that (16A at 240V) and could still get about 100 miles worth of charge overnight. I’d love to take it on a trip to visit family in Minnesota in summer time too.
No argument there. I like the Bolt as is it is. But that doesn’t mean they’re going to leave well enough alone when they could get more marketing points AND more profits at the same time.
They’re probably just rebadging some giant SUV with the name. These brands mean nothing anymore.
There used to be prestigious names and labels like M and V and Mustang and Charger and Lightning. These days companies will slap them on literally anything to milk whatever prestige there is left, if any.
I mean… The Bolt is pretty well-loved among its owners . I certainly enjoy mine. But no way does it have the prestige like those brands have to borrow for something else. Hell, most people still get the Bolt mixed up with the Volt hybrid that came before it.
Because they discontinued the Bolt.
It will be back about a year after this Fiat comes out 🙂
I’m not optimisitc that they’ll keep the price low. Guess it could happen…
Yeah, the main reason the Bolt is as cheap as it is now is because of its way outdated charge speed. No way they keep that in the next version, and I’m sure they’ll bump the price up $5-10K while they’re at it.
It still charges at 50kW which is around 200mph, so it’s not bad at all for occasional longer road trips.
Home charging is always great at 11.4kW which gets from empty to full in under 5 hours.
Superb value for the cost.
It can charge at up to 55kW, but that’s under perfect conditions (largely weather-related) with a very low battery. As that battery charges, it will definitely go down. Also, DCFC is generally used on road trips, which means freeway driving, which means 4 miles per kWH is unlikely.
If I were to drive about 500 miles away (Denver to Lincoln, NE) right now, starting with a full battery and ending at 10%, I’d need to stop 4 times for a total of 3 hours of charging according to A Better Route Planner.
That said, for stuff around town and even trips to Colorado Springs and beyond it’s an amazing car. You don’t even need to use its full 48A level 2 speeds for it to be awesome, I got by on 1/3 that (16A at 240V) and could still get about 100 miles worth of charge overnight. I’d love to take it on a trip to visit family in Minnesota in summer time too.
No argument there. I like the Bolt as is it is. But that doesn’t mean they’re going to leave well enough alone when they could get more marketing points AND more profits at the same time.
They’re probably just rebadging some giant SUV with the name. These brands mean nothing anymore.
There used to be prestigious names and labels like M and V and Mustang and Charger and Lightning. These days companies will slap them on literally anything to milk whatever prestige there is left, if any.
I mean… The Bolt is pretty well-loved among its owners . I certainly enjoy mine. But no way does it have the prestige like those brands have to borrow for something else. Hell, most people still get the Bolt mixed up with the Volt hybrid that came before it.
That’s because the ones that don’t love them (like myself) sold them.