The 2023 Chevy Bolt EV starts at $26,500. This is before benefiting from any EV tax incentives.
Courtesy GM
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With new electric vehicle tax credits, American car buyers may get some deals that leave gasoline-powered cars in the dust. The best deals out there don’t come from the EV leader Tesla, It comes from Chevy.
recently, Baron’s Went to our local Chevy dealer and walked around in the Bolt EV. We were impressed.
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The Chevy Bolt is the 15th or 16th all-electric passenger vehicle we’ve driven, or been driven in. There are vehicles with +1,000 horsepower as well as cars designed for daily use by the average family. Bolt 1,000 horsepower is not impressive. It’s very solid, as good as any non-luxury EV we’ve driven. The electric motor powering the front wheels is responsive and peppy. Interior new car is good.
Frankly, the best thing about the Bolt is the deal. a bolt ev starts at $26,500, The version we drove was closer to $30,000. There’s also a Bolt EUV, or electric-utility vehicle, which is slightly longer, and a few thousand dollars more expensive, than the basic version of the Bolt.
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The EV and EUV versions are currently eligible for a $7,500 tax credit from the federal government. The Connecticut government also offers another over $2,000 One EV off. That means a Bolt could cost almost $17,000 brand new for someone living in Connecticut. A new 2023 Toyota Corolla debuts around $22,000,
The Bolt beats the Corolla, the world’s best-selling car, and is cheaper to power and maintain than a Toyota,
Low maintenance comes down to EVs with fewer moving parts and no oil changes. And electricity is currently much cheaper than an equivalent amount of gasoline.
As for the batteries, the new Bolt has an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty. That’s about standard for any EV these days.
There’s another way to bring down the Bolt’s price even further: dealership. For some car buyers, there are some advantages and disadvantages to purchasing from a dealer. Not everyone likes to bargain or feel pressured. But dealers may offer their own deals and incentives.
Our Connecticut dealer was offering deals for the installation of a Level 2 charging system at home and $500 worth of free charging.
At a basic level, a Level 2 charger is like the 240-volt plug into which a homeowner would plug a clothes dryer. Level 2 charging plugs must be installed on a dedicated circuit by an electrician.
Deals like this should fly the bolt off the dealer lot. Sales are increasing. General Motors (ticker: GM) sold 19,700 Bolts in the first quarter of 2023. This is a record for the model.
The Bolt actually came out before the Tesla (TSLA) Model 3. Both are similar in terms of size, but they don’t really compete in the market. No EV can match the Model 3 and subsequent Model Y in terms of global popularity.
Tesla has sold approximately 3.5 million Model 3 and Model Y EVs globally during the duration of the program. (The 3 and Y are produced on the same vehicle platform.) The Bolt has sold approximately 160,000 units in the US since its introduction.
A Tesla Model 3 starts at around $42,000. Currently, it’s eligible for the same incentives as the Chevy Bolt. So in Connecticut, a Model 3 can be bought for around $32,000.
It’s not a bad deal either. But it’s not as good as the Bolt.
GM stock is down about 12% over the past 12 months. Tesla stock is down about 46% over the past 12 months. That’s worse than the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.,
Of those who are closed, 9% and 3% are closed respectively in the same period.
Investors are a little more concerned about car stocks amid rising interest rates and declining affordability for most cars, which could hurt sales for all auto makers.
Write to Al Root at [email protected]
