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Chevrolet Bolt EV Is the 2017 Motor Trend Car of the Year

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Re: Chevrolet Bolt EV Is the 2017 Motor Trend Car of the Year

#91

Post by patrickk »

Xylakant wrote: post #40
Roritharr wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a big Problem, but being limited to 150 was one of the main things why my old ICE car to me felt unsafe to drive on the Autobahn. For short periods its just safer to be able use the most left lane at 160-180 than to go 120-130 in the Center and wait for a chance to overtake with not much headroom over the left at 140-150.

germany is one of the last countries where that may be perceived an issue. Literally all other countries in the world have a speed limit that is way below 150km/h. So top speeds above 150 are just there for germany and for bragging rights, not for any practical purpose. What's more interesting is the torque and acceleration available at higher speeds.

Sluggish acceleration or below par top speed isn't a perception problem on the Autobahn, it's a real problem.

It's completely practical to drive long distances at high speeds because of the well-maintained road surface and well-maintained cars. There are plenty of stretches of the Autobahn with no speed limits.

This is a common scenario: you're in the middle lane, and a particularly slow driver is in the middle lane (who should be in the right lane), you attempt to overtake in your underpowered econobox, and out of nowhere a Porsche or high-end BMW is sitting on your tail, and you try to overtake asap to get back into the middle lane to let the other guy pass. This is doubly true if you're going up a slight hill, which exaggerates the lack of torque. Another common scenario is a truck driver, overtaking another truck driver in the middle lane, and you have to move to the left lane to avoid him (truck drivers are supposed to keep to the right lane).

Source: someone who's driven plenty of shit, underpowered rentals in Germany, e.g. a Fiat 500X and a Renault Captur. Why anyone, apart from rental companies, would buy these ugly, overweight, underpowered shitboxes is beyond me.

Re: Chevrolet Bolt EV Is the 2017 Motor Trend Car of the Year

#92

Post by brightball »

gordon_freeman wrote: post #84
brightball wrote: post #38

I still don't understand why anyone would buy a Bolt (or a Tesla) over a Volt. Since I heard about the Volt initially back in 2006, it was the most logical and practical approach to powering a vehicle that I'd ever heard. Eliminate gas usage on 95% of your driving, but have gas available for long range and fast refueling against the entire infrastructure of the US. Pure EV's are nothing more than "around town" cars i…

Or Prius Prime? The new version of prius plug in would give epa estimated 133 mpge which is the highest number for any car sold in USA. So if you really consider efficiency and even carbon emissions then that is the car one should get. A good amount of electricity is generated in America by coal based power plants so in a way, comparing mpge numbers make more sense while thinking about reducing the carbon emissions.…

Definitely the right approach. The more options out there like that the better IMHO.

Re: Chevrolet Bolt EV Is the 2017 Motor Trend Car of the Year

#93

Post by mingyeow »

avar wrote: post #16

The article only briefly touches on this, but LG Korea is a huge part of this. They make the motor, battery & drivetrain, basically everything that makes this car an electric car. Chevrolet is just manufacturing the parts that would be mostly identical to any of their other cars. Rather than Tesla being worried about Chevrolet, I think they'd be more worried about the likes of LG & Samsung in the longer term.

This is a genius quote. batteries and self driving car systems will be commoditized.

Re: Chevrolet Bolt EV Is the 2017 Motor Trend Car of the Year

#94

Post by ethanbond »

sliken wrote: post #11
reitzensteinm wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they heavily compared it with the Tesla, it would be a sign that the technology isn't ready for mainstream adoption. Only enthusiasts set on buying an EV will sit down and compare the two given the 2x price difference. For most, the purchasing decision will be squarely against petrol vehicles in the same class.

Plenty of references are made to other cars. Various aspects are compared to the Focus RS, Fiat 124, Golf GTI, and Prius.

None of which costs $100,000+

Re: Chevrolet Bolt EV Is the 2017 Motor Trend Car of the Year

#95

Post by mikeash »

Klathmon wrote: post #30
archildress wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a great point. Tesla is, to me, fundamentally a battery company.

To me, Tesla feels like a "marketing" company. And I don't mean that in a bad way. Yes, their battery tech is improving, and they make pretty damn good cars, but most of all Tesla is getting people excited for electric cars. Before they came around, electric cars were shitty ecoboxes that were worse in just about every way to an ICE car. They were ugly, had no range, were missing features, expensive, slow charging, e…

That doesn't seem quite right to me. A lot of what gets people excited about Tesla's cars in the fact that they're great. Getting people excited about your product by making a great product isn't what I'd consider marketing. They do some marketing as well, but it doesn't seem like the core of their business at all.

Re: Chevrolet Bolt EV Is the 2017 Motor Trend Car of the Year

#96

Post by mikeash »

pseudometa wrote: post #54
snarfy wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But they don't make the batteries, panasonic does.

Tesla design and formulates the batteries. Panasonic puts them together.

And battery production is shifting to the Gigafactory, which is a joint venture of the two companies.

Re: Chevrolet Bolt EV Is the 2017 Motor Trend Car of the Year

#97

Post by MayeulC »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #71
pmarreck wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tesla will inevitably be a battery company because battery energy density, charge time and cost are the #1 things holding back electric vehicles from prime-time, and because of the huge investment into Gigafactory. I wouldn't be surprised if Tesla ends up licensing their battery tech and that supercharging becomes a standard.

>> I wouldn't be surprised if Tesla ends up licensing their battery tech and that supercharging becomes a standard. I would bet it is actually. Licensing is really where the money is. They've built a substantial lead in the EV market and have some pretty impressive technology. If Musk is really serious about expanding the markets he says he is, the fastest way to do that is license his technology to other companies.…

And even better for the market: license under the GPL :)

Of course, it doesn't make a lot of sense on a commercial perspective, but that's probably one of the most effective ways to bootstrap the market. Plus, it would make for a very interesting case study.

Re: Chevrolet Bolt EV Is the 2017 Motor Trend Car of the Year

#98

Post by mikeash »

brightball wrote: post #38

I still don't understand why anyone would buy a Bolt (or a Tesla) over a Volt. Since I heard about the Volt initially back in 2006, it was the most logical and practical approach to powering a vehicle that I'd ever heard. Eliminate gas usage on 95% of your driving, but have gas available for long range and fast refueling against the entire infrastructure of the US. Pure EV's are nothing more than "around town" cars i…

I can't speak for the Bolt, but I bought a Tesla over a Volt for several reasons. For one, it's a much more practical car. The Volt has only four seats. The latest generation has a fifth sort-of seat you can squeeze someone into if you really need it. My Tesla seats five adults and two children. It also has about three times the cargo space in a five-seat configuration.

Long range travel is not an issue. Visit https://supercharge.info and see just where you can reach on Tesla's network alone. OK, places like North Dakota and Arkansas won't work too well, but certainly the places I'd like to visit are covered. I find myself planning a lot more road trips with the Tesla than with previous cars. I didn't like burning all that gas before, but now it's just fun. In the past year, I've driven from my home near DC to south Florida, to Ohio, to Montreal, and I'm planning a trip to Wisconsin next month.

As far as long power outages go, I'm less worried with the Tesla than with previous cars. Every morning, the car has 237 miles of range left. With my gas cars, that figure fluctuated anywhere from 500 miles to 40 miles. Gas pumps require electricity to work, so you have to wait for power to come back (or go somewhere that has it) either way. But I know that I'll always have the canonical "half a tank of gas" that they say you should ensure you have for emergency.

EVs are highly practical these days. What they aren't (yet) is both practical and affordable. The Bolt is helping to change that, although the lack of fast charging infrastructure means it doesn't quite get there.

I totally understand why people would want to stick with gas cars or hybrids, whether it's because you live in or visit places like North Dakota, or can't stand the extra charging time needed for long trips, or can't charge at home, or whatever. But I hope this helps you understand the other side.

Re: Chevrolet Bolt EV Is the 2017 Motor Trend Car of the Year

#99

Post by andygates »

brightball wrote: post #38

I still don't understand why anyone would buy a Bolt (or a Tesla) over a Volt. Since I heard about the Volt initially back in 2006, it was the most logical and practical approach to powering a vehicle that I'd ever heard. Eliminate gas usage on 95% of your driving, but have gas available for long range and fast refueling against the entire infrastructure of the US. Pure EV's are nothing more than "around town" cars i…

It hits every trip need of mine except for that ill-advised 1000 mile road trip. Looking forward to the UK variant.

Re: Chevrolet Bolt EV Is the 2017 Motor Trend Car of the Year

#100

Post by sebnukem2 »

brightball wrote: post #38

I still don't understand why anyone would buy a Bolt (or a Tesla) over a Volt. Since I heard about the Volt initially back in 2006, it was the most logical and practical approach to powering a vehicle that I'd ever heard. Eliminate gas usage on 95% of your driving, but have gas available for long range and fast refueling against the entire infrastructure of the US. Pure EV's are nothing more than "around town" cars i…

I totally agree with you. The Volt seems like the perfect car, but I ultimately picked the Prius over the Volt for 2 reasons: the Prius looks a lot better and, more importantly, has a lot more interior space that I need. The Volt felt both heavy and cramped, like a flawed first generation product. The 2nd gen Volt is a big improvement.
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