Chevrolet Bolt 2016 Review

Chevrolet Bolt
Very quick spin
Las Vegas, USA

In the realm of electric vehicles, range is expensive. Until GM revealed its production-ready Chevy Bolt on Wednesday, EVs were defined by either the Tesla Model S or the Nissan LEAF.

Excluding plug-in hybrids or range-extender EVs like the Volt, pure EVs were either expensive with long range or inexpensive with about 160km of driving capability.

GM will reveal more about the Bolt next week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. For now, motoring.com.au has been given a brief introduction and drive of two preproduction cars immediately after the Bolt's world debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas this week.

While the Bolt's exterior and interior design was conceptualised in Korea, the concept and production cars were designed and created at the Holden Design Studio in Melbourne under the direction of Mike Simcoe, GM International vice-president of design.

“Production starts by the end of 2016, and these Bolts are what we call integration vehicles,” said Patrick Foley, controls manager for Bolt EV. “These cars use actual sheet metal and stampings off prototype tooling and are hand-built in Korea in the prototype shop.”

The wheelbase looks stretched and proportionally long for a car basically the same overall size as the Barina, and from there the Bolt feels even bigger once inside. This is GM's debut of its new EV-specific platform, and Foley explains its proportions.

“The Bolt was designed from the ground up as an EV, and there will be no internal combustion engine variant. It doesn’t share anything with any other GM platform.

“What that allows us to do is to package the battery. One of the things we did was lengthen the wheelbase to allow more space for the battery. It is all about getting the right amount of energy in the car and having the efficiency to propel it that distance with the given amount of energy.”

The extra distance between wheels has a profound and beneficial effect on the interior. Bolt is big inside, spacious even in its legroom and headroom. Rear passengers swim with space.

The Bolt has a very low, flat battery, which GM describes as a pancake-form battery. “That gives us a very low sill height and low step-over in both the front and rear. Plus, the battery pack is a stressed member of the chassis so it actually increases the torsional rigidity by 25 per cent. It also allows for a good weigh distribution at about 50/50,” says Foley.

LG Chem supplies GM with the lithium-ion prismatic battery cells. The Bolt carries at total of 288 cells that measure 102mm tall and 254mm wide.

From concept to production, the Bolt delivers on every promise. It felt quick from zero to about 50km/h on the tiny test track. GM is still secretive about its acceleration figures, but Foley claims the Bolt is about as quick as the Barina Spark EV, a unique model sold only in California, Oregon and Maryland. Let’s say 0-100km/h in about seven seconds.

There wasn’t much time to really feel how the Bolt drives, as expected from three laps of a casino carpark, but there is one unique feature. The Bolt introduces what Chevrolet calls 'one-pedal driving', which lets the driver adjust the regenerative braking system via a small paddle on the steering wheel hub.

Select Low instead of Drive, and it puts you into one-pedal mode. Foley highlights the feature: “If you select Low, two things happen. It gives you a higher level of (regenerative) deceleration when you lift off the throttle, and it also brings you to a complete stop and to a standstill without touching the brake pedal. It will hold the vehicle at a standstill at a seven per cent rearward grade and at a two per cent downward grade.”

The driver can also tailor throttle response with the choice of two different throttle settings: Standard and Sport. Foley explains: “There is a Standard mode when the gear selector is in Drive, and there is a Sport mode that gives you a more aggressive throttle profile. We provide the same peak power and torque outputs but Standard is softer and Sport is more aggressive to throttle inputs.”

From our brief introduction to the Bolt, it drives as expected and delivers incredible interior room. More importantly, perhaps, the Bolt marks a new direction in vehicle development for GM as it embraces the EV.