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

motortrend.com

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

#31

Post by alex_duf »

vinay427 wrote: post #5

I'd like to take a moment to point out, as was done in the article, that receiving this award is further validation that electric cars are becoming mainstream. We can compare it to an upcoming competitor (the Model 3) but at the end of the day, they're vying for positions on the same team. That being said, a lot of this felt like an advertisement as another poster mentioned. One thing I would like to see is better ch…

Yes, the EV industry needs to come up with a standard as quickly as possible now that it's pretty sure EV are here for a while.

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

#32

Post by snarfy »

archildress wrote: post #22
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 great point. Tesla is, to me, fundamentally a battery company.

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

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

#33

Post by mikkael »

Surely a nice car. But I wonder where all this electrical power for all those electrical cars in the future will come from? Probably from nuclear power plants with their still unresolved nuclear waste problematics - not even speaking about nuclear accidents. From this point of view I have some doubts that mass adoption of affordable electrical cars will be beneficial for the environment...

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

#34

Post by garbot »

mikkael wrote: post #33

Surely a nice car. But I wonder where all this electrical power for all those electrical cars in the future will come from? Probably from nuclear power plants with their still unresolved nuclear waste problematics - not even speaking about nuclear accidents. From this point of view I have some doubts that mass adoption of affordable electrical cars will be beneficial for the environment...

Not entirely sure if these stats are up to date, but the US is still using fossil fuels for the majority of its energy. http://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=us_energy_...

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

#35

Post by alexhawdon »

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.

That is interesting. I wouldn't say it puts Tesla in direct competition with LG & Samsung, but does address the 'how will they ever catch up?' questions wrt traditional car makers. (Not that I'd give these arguments that much credence.)

A commoditised battery/drivetrain solution allows the incumbents to focus on what they do best - building high quality cars at scale. So in this respect the challenge lies with Tesla.

(FWIW I'm a huge Tesla fan but I enjoy reading EV articles on HN because the discourse is a bit more balanced than more pro-Tesla communities.)

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

#36

Post by boredpudding »

mikkael wrote: post #33

Surely a nice car. But I wonder where all this electrical power for all those electrical cars in the future will come from? Probably from nuclear power plants with their still unresolved nuclear waste problematics - not even speaking about nuclear accidents. From this point of view I have some doubts that mass adoption of affordable electrical cars will be beneficial for the environment...

It's better for the environment than the current fuels. It's the best option we have.

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

#38

Post by brightball »

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 in a lot of the country, which I'm sure is great if you can afford it or fun for early adopters but otherwise just an impractical luxury.

That first 40 miles approach turned the MPG formula on it's head by making clear that miles-per-day is the real metric that people need to worry about.

Going forward, the approach of the Volt could easily be modified to replace the gas generator and tank with fuel cells, bio-diesel, ethanol or any other power source that comes along.

The perk of the approach is that you have 2 options and you aren't purely SOL after a long power outage from a hurricane or other unexpected event. That happens with an EV and you don't have another way to charge it via wind/solar you're left with a very expensive brick.

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

#39

Post by jgalt212 »

rubidium wrote: post #21
vinay427 wrote: post #5

I'd like to take a moment to point out, as was done in the article, that receiving this award is further validation that electric cars are becoming mainstream. We can compare it to an upcoming competitor (the Model 3) but at the end of the day, they're vying for positions on the same team. That being said, a lot of this felt like an advertisement as another poster mentioned. One thing I would like to see is better ch…

It's like the rise of California wineries. If someone wins they all win.

Except for the fact that TSLA stock price trades as if it will dominate all the markets it operates in.

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

#40

Post by Xylakant »

Roritharr wrote: post #28
ygra wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A top speed around 150 km/h isn't unusual for smaller ICEs either. Unless you spend that much time on the Autobahn and do mostly city driving the speed limit isn't really a problem in my experience. But I guess with an electric vehicle you're unlikely to drive long distances at those speeds anyway.

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.
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