2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV

Here’s proof that the electric car isn’t going away: General Motors, that 108-year-old monolithic automaker, now sells a battery-electric hatchback that delivers more than 200 miles of driving range and can be had for less than the price of the average new car. With the arrival of the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, the electric car reaches a major milestone, one that also secures its future: a move toward mass appeal. It no longer matters if your in-laws show up at the airport unannounced. The Bolt has enough range to cover a day’s tasks plus the unexpected. It no longer matters if venture capital never recognizes the potential of your Bluetooth-enabled toilet seat. Anyone with a typical new-car budget can afford a Bolt. And, in the bigger picture, it no longer matters if Tesla goes belly-up. Electric cars appear to have laid down permanent roots in the automotive landscape with the first long-range, affordable EV from an established, mainstream automaker.The Bolt starts at $37,495 in LT trim, but a $7500 federal tax credit will pull the price under $30,000. Some states and municipalities offer incentives beyond that. The liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery pack stores 60.0 kilowatt-hours of energy (equivalent to about 1.8 gallons of gasoline), enough to earn a 238-mile range rating from the EPA. The range and the price by themselves make the Bolt a car worthy of celebration. Drive it, though, and you’ll discover the Bolt also is good enough to be worthy of all the breathless hype that’s been showered on the Tesla Model 3. Range, Conquered. Next? Charging. We’ve already verified that the Bolt will actually cover 238 miles during a leisurely jaunt up the California coast that left us with an indicated 34 miles of remaining range. However, the quadratic effects of aerodynamic drag mean that the faster you drive, the faster the battery drains. So in our most recent rendezvous with the Bolt, we performed a real-world range test that mimics a long highway road trip. With the cruise control set to 75 mph and the climate system set to 72 degrees, we drove the battery to exhaustion in 190 miles. As far as we’re concerned, that’s still more than enough for daily-driving duties. The Bolt also puts its driver at ease by showing three range numbers in its digital instrument panel: a maximum, a minimum, and a more prominent best estimate based on your driving style and accessory usage (climate control, headlights, audio) as well as ambient conditions. Range anxiety isn’t the sharknado of underlying worry that it was in earlier EVs. The fear of running out of juice unexpectedly was a far more serious issue in electric cars of the recent past, which occasionally chewed through two miles on their predicted range readouts for every mile driven. Consumer focus on range could fade away entirely except for the last real hurdle to widespread EV adoption: the inconvenience of recharging during journeys that exceed the battery’s single-charge range. With the Bolt’s impressive reach, after a typical day, most owners will need only to plug in overnight. Those who venture farther afield will find that the charging network is the one arena where Chevrolet is still handily outscored by Tesla.