2027 Chevrolet Bolt Is Affordable and Practical EVMark VaughnThe Chevrolet Bolt is new for the 2027 model year, then it goes away.It has an LFP battery rated at 262 miles range, a Tesla Supercharger-ready NACS charge port, and a recharging time of 10-80 percent in just 25 minutes.Pricing starts at $28,995.Chevrolet introduced the Bolt EV 10 years ago, back when carmakers, car magazines, and car aficionados all thought our future was going to be electric whether we liked it or not. That didn't turn out to be the case, exactly, but sales of the Bolt grew year upon year anyway until they hit 62,000 in 2023.Then, in typical GM fashion, they killed it (just like the Fiero!).AdvertisementAdvertisementPopular outcry saw it return to the lineup this model year, with a new, cheaper, safer, LFP battery rated at 262 miles of EPA-estimated range, a Tesla Supercharger-ready NACS charge port, and a recharging time of 10-80 percent in just 25 minutes (assuming you can find a 150-kW charger that's working).What's not to like?Well, a couple things, which we'll get to in a minute. I drove a new Bolt RS over 500 miles in a recent week. For the most part, overall, in aggregate, I liked it. Right out of the box I drove it 132 miles from Los Angeles way up into the Los Padres National Forest for the drive of an AEV Ford F-250, a drive which incorporated some dirt roads, for which the Bolt is not necessarily designed. It did fine (even through three very shallow stream crossings). Then I drove back to LA, down to San Diego for the new Lexus ES launch, then back home to LA. I'd cleared the 500-mile mark with eight bonus miles.Mark VaughnFirst, some thoughts. The charging grid here on Planet Earth is still in its infancy. Even the Tesla Supercharger network, which is where you plug in your NACS charger, requires that you download the app, add your credit card, then pick out which chargers you can use—they're not all available to non-Teslas. Once you sort that out and plug in, it works well, especially if you can find a brand-new Supercharger that'll allow you to use the Bolt's 150-kW charge capability.AdvertisementAdvertisementI found that my range was almost always right on top of the car's stated EPA estimate of 262 miles. It was creepy. Car and Driver got 230 miles in its 75-mph highway test. YouTubers Out of Spec Motoring drove a pre-production Bolt across the country from Virginia Beach to Marina del Rey using only IONNA chargers and peaked at over 300 miles range, doing 295.6 miles on their last leg with five percent remaining after hypermiling the whole way, drafting semis. That run was downhill, by the way, dropping more than 2,000 feet from Vegas to sea level. It returned 4.5 miles per kWh.The Bolt's LFP batteries use lithium iron phosphate for the cathode instead of the cobalt or nickel compounds found in many other EV batteries, Chevy says. The new model also offers charging speeds up to 2.5 times faster than the previous Bolt."We have the same battery capacity as before, but it was the improved efficiency of these components that gave us 15 miles of additional range," said chief engineer Jeremy Short.Inside, the Bolt features a redesigned interior centered around a new 11.3-inch-diagonal touchscreen borrowed from the Equinox. It has Google built-in, which I never fully appreciated in my week, and an 11-inch-diagonal driver information center. GM got rid of Apple CarPlay ostensibly so that it could hog all that advertiser data, so keep that in mind when cross-shopping against the Nissan Leaf.ChevroletSome have complained about the hard plastic they say they found inside the Bolt, but it didn't bother me. Instead, I sought out knickknacks to store in the little squirrel-approved storage cubbies throughout the interior.AdvertisementAdvertisementIt could be a great car, could be a family's only car. It's basically a competent family hauler that seats five and has a ton of luggage space and numerous cubbyholes for storage.A little more whining: As soon as you open the door the car is on. The seat belt clonger clongs when the door is open every time. To shut off the clonging you have to click your seat belt in place before you close the door. Every time you get in the car.ChevroletThe instrument panel doesn't tell you the state of charge! The infotainment screen doesn't tell you the state of charge. If you hit the voice button and say battery state of charge, it tells you it can't do that. On an electric car!!!If you are plugged in and charging, then click through two submenus then it'll display the state of charge. It'll also tell you when you park and turn the car off. But at no other time, as near as I could see. It'd be nice to know the SOC when driving, so you could plan your next charge stop. Instead it gives you range, like you're too stoopid to know what state of charge is.Bolts are built in batches of 30 for better efficiency.ChevroletOverall, though, the Bolt is the most affordable vehicle in America to offer the hands-free driving capability of Super Cruise driver assistance technology. Everybody loves the SuperCruise hands-off system of cruise control.AdvertisementAdvertisementAnd yes, it's affordable, at least if you get the Bolt LT with its starting MSRP of $28,995, making it America's most affordable EV, at least until the Slate truck comes along. Problem is it's only on sale for one year, to be replaced by a model to be named later.Should you buy this over the Nissan Leaf, also all-new this year? Or wait for a Slate? Or bellow for a Telo? I'd say, as of right now, the Bolt may be the best bet in the affordable family EV category, despite its few flaws. What do you think?
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