General Motors now says it will keep the Chevrolet Bolt EV in its lineup, after announcing in April that it would discontinue its most affordable and top-selling electric model.
"We understand your love for the Bolt, so Chevrolet is bringing the Bolt back," reads an email GM sent to Bolt drivers today. "We hope you are as excited as we are, and we will share more information in the future."
(Credit: Chevrolet)Starting at just $26,500 with an impressive 259-mile range, the Bolt is the highest-value electric vehicle available, not only within GM's lineup but also within the wider US market. "We can’t build enough Bolts right now,” CEO Mary Barra said on today's Q2 earnings call, as reported by The Washington Post.
The decision to discontinue the Bolt EV and its slightly larger counterpart, the Bolt EUV, came down to its dated battery. The Bolt debuted in 2017, and since then GM has developed its cheaper, more sophisticated Ultium platform, which will power its next-generation EVs.
In the months since GM decided to discontinue the Bolt, its competitors have swooped in to decrease prices and offer more affordable models. In May, Ford dropped the price on the Mustang Mach-E, and did the same this month for the F-150 Lightning. In June, Volvo unveiled a brand-new, Bolt-sized, $35,000 electric vehicle. Tesla has also continually dropped its prices this year, bringing the Model 3 to just $40,000. This industry-wide price compression is good news for consumers and a sign of a maturing EV market with an eye toward mass adoption.
GM was light on details for the new-and-improved Bolt. Barra did not commit to a launch date or price, and did not specify if it will continue to be offered in both the EV and EUV versions. However, the company intends to release it faster than a brand-new vehicle.
"We will execute it more quickly compared to an all-new program with significantly lower engineering expense and capital investment," Barra says.
The only snag in the plans could be the "unexpected delays" GM says it is having producing Ultium battery packs for its upcoming launches, citing issues with a supplier. GM needs to balance demand for Ultium packs across all of its EVs, including the Cadillac Lyriq, Hummer EV, three upcoming launches scheduled for later this year (the $30,000 Chevrolet Equinox, Chevrolet Blazer, and Chevrolet Silverado), and now the Bolt.
The company has also partnered with Honda to supply Ultium packs for the Japanese autmoker's first EV, the 2024 Honda Prologue.
That's a lot of battery packs, or pouches to be specific. The Ultium platform is built to be a series of interconnected pouches rather than one large, static battery. GM built it to be a universalized battery system that can be arranged to fit a variety of EV types. It's a less clunky, cheaper solution with ties to a mobile app and household power solutions.
GM confirmed on its earnings call that it's on track to make the targeted 100,000 EVs in the second half of 2023. "In the electric vehicle market, we met our target to produce 50,000 EVs in North America in the first half of the year," Barra writes in a letter to shareholders. "With both cell and vehicle production increasing, we continue to target production of roughly 100,000 EVs in the second half of this year and we’ll grow from there."
Barra previously committed to transforming GM into a 100% electric company by 2035.