Chevrolet Bolt
The Chevrolet Bolt is a family of battery electric subcompact hatchbacks and small crossover SUVs manufactured and marketed by General Motors under its Chevrolet brand from late 2016 until late 2023 and from late 2025 onwards, with hiatuses in 2021-2022 and between 2023-2025. The 2017-2023 Bolt EV are hatchbacks, while the 2021-2023 Bolt EUV and 2027 Bolt are slightly larger subcompact crossover SUVs.
The first-generation Bolt was developed and manufactured with LG Corporation. Sales of the 2017 Bolt began in California in December 2016; it was released nationwide and international markets release in 2017. A rebadged European variant was marketed as the Opel Ampera-e in mainland Europe. In 2017, the Bolt was the second-best-selling plug-in car in the United States. It was named the 2017 Motor Trend Car of the Year, the 2017 North American Car of the Year, an Automobile magazine 2017 All Star, and was listed in Time magazine's Best 25 Inventions of 2016. The Ampera-e was discontinued after 2018. By the end of 2020, GM had sold 112,000 Bolt and Ampera-e cars worldwide. The first-generation Bolt had been subject to at least three recalls due to battery fire risks.
In mid-2023, GM officials said they would discontinue the Bolt; after outcry, they announced plans for a next-generation model. The second-generation Bolt, based on the previous Bolt EUV, was unveiled on October 9, 2025 and will go on sale in 2026 as a 2027 model.
First generation (2016)
History
Development
GM Korea began developing the Bolt in 2012 with a team of 180 people with the project code ''G2KCZ. Its initial concept debuted at the 2015 North American International Auto Show.File:Bolt EV 2015 NAIAS.jpg|left|thumb|Chevrolet Bolt EV concept at the 2015 North American International Auto Show
, General Motors had tested more than 50 hand-built Bolt prototypes at the General Motors Proving Grounds in Milford, Michigan. The cars were tested at Proving Grounds and overseas for ride and handling dynamics, cabin comfort, quietness, charging capability, and energy efficiency.
Alan Batey, head of General Motors North America, announced in February 2015 that the Bolt EV was headed for production, and would be available in all 50 states. GM also has plans to sell the Bolt in select global markets.
In January 2016, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the production version of the Chevrolet Bolt was unveiled. During GM CEO Mary Barra's keynote at the show, Chevrolet confirmed an estimated range of or more, an approximate price tag, and stated it would be available in late 2016. Barra projected in February 2016 that the European version, marketed as the Opel Ampera-e, would enter production in 2017.
In March 2016, GM released photos and a short pre-production video of the Bolt at the company's Orion Assembly plant outside Detroit, testing manufacturing and tooling.
The car's user interface was developed in Israel.
Profitability
An unnamed source cited by Bloomberg News estimated that General Motors is expected to take a loss of to per Bolt sold. A GM spokesman declined to comment about expected profitability. Opel refuted that in December 2016 and stated that GM has battery cell costs of $130/kWh, and industry is not yet optimized for mass production. A UBS tear-down in 2017 suggested slightly smaller losses per vehicle, of $7418 on a base spec, or $5520 on a higher spec vehicle. They estimate that by 2025 the Bolt will make a profit of about $6000 per vehicle.Production
Final assembly took place at GM's Orion Assembly plant in Orion Township, Michigan, which received a upgrade for Bolt production. Manufacture of the battery, motor, and drive unit started in August 2016 at LG, Incheon, South Korea.The car is designed for flexible production by having some of the battery in the same position as the fuel tank in internal combustion engine-powered cars, and is made on the same assembly line as the Chevrolet Sonic at a combined rate of 90,000 per year. Although the car is assembled near Detroit, it has only 20% domestic-parts content.
Analysts expected Bolt production at 22,000 per year, and Ampera-e at a few thousand. Production may increase to 30,000 to 50,000 per year according to demand. Regular production was expected to begin in October 2016 at 25,000-30,000 the first year. Initial regular production had begun by early November 2016 at a rate of 9 per hour, gradually increasing to 30 per hour. Retail deliveries began in California in December 2016.
Bolt production was halted on August 23, 2021, while battery production was redirected to replacements under a recall affecting the 140,000 Bolt EVs that had been produced up to that time. Production was not restarted until April 4, 2022.
Recalls
In November 2020, 50,932 Chevrolet Bolt vehicles of model year 2017–2019 were recalled due to potential fire risk. According to GM, these vehicles contained high voltage batteries produced at LG Chem's Ochang plant that may pose a risk of fire "when charged to full, or very close to full, capacity".As a precautionary measure, Chevrolet issued software updates that allow dealers to install a battery charge limit of 90% to their existing inventory while urging current 2017–2019 Chevy Bolt owners to enable the "Hill Top Reserve" option or to set vehicle "Target Charge Level" to 90%. A final software update was expected to remedy the charging capacity to 100% sometime in April 2021., the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has confirmed five known fires with two injuries and recommends parking recalled vehicles outside, away from homes, until they have been repaired.
On August 20, 2021, Chevrolet extended the recall to include all Bolt models and model years totaling the number of recalled Chevy Bolt cars to nearly 142,000. GM will replace the recalled vehicles' batteries, citing manufacturing defects by its partner LG, which could be responsible for the shorting of deficient battery cells. Amid further investigation, GM says it will ramp up production of replacement battery cells with LG Chem, while seeking reimbursement for the recall from the manufacturer, as GM expects the expense to be $1.8 billion. LG Chem had to pay $1.9 billion to GM. Some of the recalled battery packs were repurposed in grid batteries.
Cars which have had the battery-replacement recall done have the range of the 2020-up Bolt, and the new batteries are warrantied for 8 years from the date of installation.
Discontinuation and planned revival
In January 2022, GM announced that the Orion Township factory would be retooled at a cost of $4 billion to produce Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV pickup trucks, starting in 2024.The affordable segment targeted by the Bolt was expected to be filled by the Chevrolet Equinox EV as GM shifts its EVs to Ultium third-generation battery technology. On April 25, 2023, GM CEO Mary Barra said that the Bolt and Bolt EUV would be discontinued at the end of 2023 to make room for GM's "new generation of electric vehicles."
The announcement drew public outcry. On July 25, 2023, Barra said there were plans for a second-generation Bolt using Ultium hardware and Ultifi software. Plans for this new Bolt only include the Bolt EUV body style.
GM ended Bolt production on December 20, 2023.
Design
The Bolt was designed from 2012 by a team of 180 people at GM Korea as a B-segment entry on its own platform, the GM BEV2. It does not share elements with the GM Gamma platform cars like the Chevrolet Sonic/Spark.The EPA classifies the Bolt as "small station wagon", with less than of interior volume. GM refers to the Bolt as a crossover and puts it under the category of SUV on its website. The passenger volume is, and cargo space is .
The Bolt's doors, tailgate, and hood are aluminum. The driver can adjust the level of regenerative braking as the accelerator pedal is lifted. The front seats are asymmetrical to maximize cabin volume while accommodating airbags.
GM planned for over-the-air software updates during 2017 but the feature was finally released to the Bolt in April 2018.
Pre-production name confusion
In 2015, Chevrolet officials said they were considering changing the name Bolt because it was being confused with the five-year-old Volt, another electric car sold by the company. Chevrolet's marketing chief, Tim Mahoney, subsequently announced GM would keep the Bolt name.Autoblog projected similar confusion among customers in Europe, where the Opel Ampera-e was just one letter off from the Opel Ampera, the previous-generation Volt sold in Europe.
Tata Motors has sold a car named Bolt since 2014, and has registered the trademark in India and other countries.
Cruise AV (autonomous vehicle)
The Cruise AV is a Bolt EV-based autonomous vehicle developed and tested by Cruise Automation, whose majority owner is General Motors; GM acquired Cruise in March 2016.Pre-production versions of the Bolt EV were built at Orion Assembly in March 2016 and sent to Cruise, which modified the cars by adding sensors in San Francisco. The modified pre-production vehicles were photographed in San Francisco in May. Fifty of these first-generation Bolt EV-based Cruise AVs were tested from June 2016 in the San Francisco Bay Area and Scottsdale, Arizona.
After its acquisition by GM in March 2016, Cruise began working with GM engineers to develop the 2nd-generation Cruise AV, which would be assembled alongside regular production Bolt EVs at Orion Assembly. The G1 Cruise AV has two roof-mounted LIDAR sensors, four small round headlights, and the Chevrolet "bowtie" logo on the front grille, while the G2 has five LIDARs and the same styling as the regular production Bolt. A fleet of 130 G2 Cruise AVs were completed by June 2017, with an expanded, better-integrated sensor suite. The G2 Cruise AVs are equipped with five roof-mounted LIDARs, 16 cameras, and 21 radars. The first G1 Cruise AV was retired and sent to the Henry Ford Museum in March 2019.
A prototype 3rd-generation Cruise AV was shown in September 2017; Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt said the G3 AV was designed to incorporate redundant systems and was ready to be scaled up for mass production at the Orion Township factory. In addition, the G3 AV uses fault-tolerant electrical, communication, and actuation systems unique to the automated vehicle and not shared with the Bolt EV. With the completion of 50 G3 Cruise AVs in fall 2017, GM now considers the vehicle a separate model from the Bolt. Externally, the G3 Cruise AV may be distinguished from the G2 by the color of the rooftop sensor package and the two articulating radars: on the G2, these are black and replace the side rear-view mirrors on the G2; on the G3, these are white and are mounted just above the front wheels.
Members of the press were invited to ride in a G2 Cruise AV in November 2017; they reported the choices made by the car's programming were conservative, but the self-driving system had minimal disengagements over the short trips. In January 2018, Cruise showed renderings and a prototype of its planned 4th-generation AV, which removed the traditional driver's controls such as the steering wheel and pedals and largely retained the external features of the G2, but further development of the G4 Cruise AV was canceled to concentrate on their next generation autonomous vehicle, the Origin, which was unveiled in January 2020 and lacks driver controls entirely. The Origin is scheduled to be introduced in January 2023. Cruise received approval to test cars without safety drivers on public roads in October 2020; the first SAE level 4 vehicles tested by Cruise were G3 AVs. The safety driver was relegated to the passenger's front seat and did not have access to the traditional controls.
Later in 2021, a G2 Cruise AV nicknamed "Poppy" was filmed for a short promotional video while undergoing testing in San Francisco. The California Public Utilities Commission approved Cruise's application in June 2022; with the permit, Cruise plans to start offering driverless revenue taxi services in San Francisco with Cruise AVs.