Chevy Bolt prices slashed

I clicked on this article thinking it would be the usual "drop prices by $500 to get clicks" garbage but lo and behold Chevy has dropped the price of the 2023 Bolt by $6000 across the board. 

I checked the Carvana trade-in price of my BMW i3 as soon as I picked my jaw back up off the floor. It's at $22,500 right now. If that holds up I'm probably going to be getting a Bolt in a couple months. 

I never understood why the Bolt was more expensive than the Volt.  Or am I wrong about that?

That's a significant drop! With gas prices hitting a local all-time high today for regular, I'm sure some folks will jump on these deals!

In reply to Duke :

BEVs are always pricier than plug-in hybrids like the Volt. A huge battery has been the expensive part of the equation, especially back in 2012 or whenever the Volt was launched. 

Do we like Chevy Bolts? I haven't paid much attention to them beyond the recall stuff. 

I mean the looks of the Bolt are doing it's sales no favors.  It has a face only a mother could love and awkward figure that is right up there with the Murano Cabriolet.

Interesting choice by GM. They sold a grand total of 383 Bolts in Q4/21 and Q1/22 combined. I don't think Q2 has been released yet. Sales were undoubtedly halted due to the LG battery recall, so they probably have quite a bit of inventory on hand. Add to that the fact that battery prices are constantly falling, the cost of producing the thing has probably dropped even with the bigger 2022 model battery (IIRC).

The biggest difference between the Bolt and a bunch of the newest crop of EVs is that the maximum charge rate is 50 kW. That's fast for home charging but it's not really fast enough for road tripping. That's the sort of charge rate you can use when you stop at the mall to run errands and plug the car in, so it works well for urban use even if you can't charge at home. IIRC the new Leaf is the same, as is that new MINI EV. 

Of course, we're talking MSRP. That's not really a meaningful number in GM's world. Dealers will add markup or offer rebates accordingly to adjust to actual supply and demand.

Are they still telling people to park them outside because of the whole "unplanned thermal event" thing?

Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:

Are they still telling people to park them outside because of the whole "unplanned thermal event" thing?

There's an updated battery pack that's out and being installed, but it's taking time. They are working their way through the years sequentially from 2017 to 1019, and we are still getting packs for '17s, so they haven't even gotten into the '18s and '19s yet. Customer vehicles are first priority over inventory vehicles. Ironically, we have a Bolt on our lot that has been sitting there for over 6 months we can't sell because it has the faulty battery pack, and we were told by GM that we'll be receiving Bolts produced with the new battery pack before we get a replacement pack for that vehicle in our inventory.

Also, the Bolt appears to be a "lame duck" vehicle. GM did a big release about the future of all their EVs and the Bolt was nowhere to be found in that release. My guess is that the whole fire issue has given it such a PR black eye that they've decided to cut their losses.

In reply to NickD :

No doubt. Also, I think the fact that it's running different hardware keeps it out of the big roadmap. It's all Ultium from now on.

In reply to NickD & Keith Tanner :

I guess the question is, does that mean the Bolt goes the route of the Volt... similar to how mazdeuce experienced... where GM won't touch it out of warranty?

In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :

That must have been a dealership specific thing, because we still work on Volts here that are out of warranty. E36 M3, we got a Cadillac ELR with 130k that we're working on currenylu

In reply to NickD :

Service department at my local GM dealer just told me they don't see any future for electrics so they don't see a need to learn to work on them.

via:  https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/next-generation-of-honda-elect/170755/page1/
looks like it, although it might not be an 'isolated' viewpoint?

sleepyhead the buffalo said:

In reply to NickD :

Service department at my local GM dealer just told me they don't see any future for electrics so they don't see a need to learn to work on them.

via:  https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/next-generation-of-honda-elect/170755/page1/
looks like it, although it might not be an 'isolated' viewpoint?

Oh, that's nothing to do with warranty, that's because of the dealerships opting out of EVs. Pretty much every dealer locally has opted out other than us. The problem is that there's such a massive outlay for training, special tools, additional chargers, and all sorts of other infrastructure, that most dealers can't or don't want to fork out the cash and opt out of the EV program, so then they can't service or sell them. Hell, we had a Bolt towed in from 2.5 hours away by GM Roadside because we were the nearest EV-compliant dealer.

My next-door neighbor loves his Bolt, as does the other couple of owners whom I've spoken to. I think that people hear the battery fire stuff and focus on the negative. They're supposed to be a lot of fun. 

Speaking of the negative, they now have an upsized "SUV" version, which Unfortunately is said to lose a good deal of the base Bolt's fun nature.

If they'd announced this decrease before we bought our Subaru, there might be a Bolt in our driveway.

NickD said:

 Pretty much every dealer locally has opted out other than us. The problem is that there's such a massive outlay for training, special tools, additional chargers, and all sorts of other infrastructure, that most dealers can't or don't want to fork out the cash and opt out of the EV program, so then they can't service or sell them.

I got worried, then I looked it up...

looks like the DC region is pretty well covered... although some of those distances might still take 2.5hours to cover sometimes 

Interesting on the non-EV dealers.  I went to Chevy.com -> Find Dealer

Immediate near me are 5 Chevy Dealers:

But, then in the portion "select filters" there is a choice for EV Sales/Service and when that is chosen, I am down to 2 dealers with the closest being 15 miles away

In reply to John Welsh :

That's interesting, I used this locator:   
https://www.chevrolet.com/electric/dealer-locator

which shows more.  I wonder which avenue is more accurate?

Our boss is pretty peeved because GM threw a whole bunch of requirements at us for the Hummer and Lyriq. We had to get a bunch of chargers, which required our own substation, and a whole E36 M3load of Hummer/Lyriq-specific tools, like huge tables to set the batteries on, that we don't really have room to store. Then GM cut back Hummer production and took away our allocated unit. So now, we hurried and got all this stuff, and we won't get a Hummer until 2023 at the soonest, and likely longer for a Lyriq

sleepyhead the buffalo said:

In reply to John Welsh :

That's interesting, I used this locator:   
https://www.chevrolet.com/electric/dealer-locator

which shows more.  I wonder which avenue is more accurate?

Is it possible that every Chevy dealer can sell me a Bolt but not all Chevy dealers service the Bolt?  

Whan I follow your gray-tone map it seems to me the site retirns every Chevy dealer in my area.  But, my color map above then sorts out EV servicing dealerships leaving me with just the two.  

In reply to John Welsh :

or maybe it's classic GM "left hand not talking to the right hand" stuff?

In reply to NickD :

Ouch. 

NickD said:

Oh, that's nothing to do with warranty, that's because of the dealerships opting out of EVs. Pretty much every dealer locally has opted out other than us. The problem is that there's such a massive outlay for training, special tools, additional chargers, and all sorts of other infrastructure, that most dealers can't or don't want to fork out the cash and opt out of the EV program, so then they can't service or sell them. Hell, we had a Bolt towed in from 2.5 hours away by GM Roadside because we were the nearest EV-compliant dealer.

That seems exceptionally short-sighted. EVs are coming whether they like it or not. I get that the capital investment to handle them is significant, but the alternative might be going out of business in 10-15 years.

For those playing along at home, the Bolt is no longer eligible for the Federal tax credit. I wonder if this one done to significantly offset the up the $7500 tax credit that exists on other EVs. Plus, it's getting long in the tooth without a ton of updates, and carries the recall stigma.