A Tesla It’s Not — But 2023 Chevy Bolt Is A Practical EV At A Sane Price

Remember* Saturn? It was a no-frills, reliable GM sedan at a reasonable price.

It was a far cry from a pricey Lexus (or even a Buick) but it got the job done.

In the same vein, the Chevy Bolt isn’t a Tesla. But it’s a practical EV that gets the job done at a price that doesn’t scare off your average gas car buyer, starting at an MSRP below $27,000.

Skip the status and AI and settle for a workaday EV

So, where I live — an extremely EV-dense area — in Los Angeles almost everyone seems to want a Tesla. I’ve lost count of all of my neighbors who now drive a Tesla (the Model Y in particular).

For some it’s status, for some it’s the AI (aka FSD), for some it’s the only EV they know.

But the Bolt is gaining ground as the anti-Tesla. And recent quarterly sales numbers bear this out.

Americans are “craving” — as one headline says — a cheap EV. And the Bolt fits the bill.

And GM will keep delivering cheap EVs.

GM is an EV survivor

Not all of the dozens of start-up EV companies are going to make it. GM, on the other hand, has already gone through its electric-car trial by fire and survived.

I speak from experience. I leased a 2018 Chevy Bolt. GM quickly admitted there was a problem with my battery, took the car back and bought out my lease, i.e., I got my money back.

And if you choose not to have GM buy back your Bolt, the company is replacing batteries, free of charge, on all 2017-2022 Bolts that have the potentially defective batteries.

The point is, GM stands behinds its EVs and the company is big enough to survive a massive, crippling recall. Better yet, their Bolt EV business appears to be back on track.

Long History

Remember, GM has been making EVs longer than anyone. Even Tesla! The company practically invented the mass-production EV with its EV1 way back in 1996 and got an early start in commercial EV competition with the groundbreaking Chevy Volt that launched in 2010 (with GM’s Bob Lutz and Tony Posawatz driving development).

Driver assist if you want it

While it’s not Tesla’s FSD (Full Self-Driving), GM offers hands-free driving on the high-end Bolt EUV Premier if you opt for Super Cruise. That pushes the price of the Premier over $40K. But, hey, it’s a lot less than a Modey Y with FSD (which is a misnomer anyway because it’s actually not full self driving).

And the 2023 Bolt EV and EUV are offered with features found on Tesla’s Autopilot (a more basic driver assist compared to FSD) such as emergency braking, collision warning, and blind-spot monitoring.

The bottom line is affordability

The new 2023 Bolt EV and EUV (the latter a slightly longer version of the EV) not only come with new battery technology and a new design (the EV a new front facia, the EUV is new altogether) but at a dramatically lower price.

The Bolt I leased back in 2018 started at $37K and change. The 2023 Bolt EV shaves $10K off that price at just under $27K — and with a better battery (read: fixed) to boot.

Hard to argue with that.

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Notes:

*The Cadillac Lyriq EV will be made in the same location (town) where Saturn made its cars — Spring Hill, Tennessee.