A 2023 Chevy Bolt EV starts at $26,500. That’s before the benefit from any EV tax incentives.
Courtesy GM
With new electric vehicle tax credits, American car buyers can get some deals that leave gasoline-powered cars in the dust. The best deal out there doesn’t come from EV leader Tesla. It comes from Chevy.
Recently, Barron’s walked into our local Chevy dealer and took a spin in a Bolt EV. We were impressed.
The Chevy Bolt is the 15th or 16th all-electric passenger vehicle we’ve driven, or been driven in. There have been vehicles with +1,000 horsepower as well as cars designed for daily use by the average family. The Bolt isn’t 1,000 horsepower impressive. It’s just very solid, as good as any of the nonluxury EVs we have driven. The electric motor powering the front wheels is responsive and peppy. The interior is new-car nice.
The best part about the Bolt is, frankly, the deal. A Bolt EV starts at $26,500. The version we drove was closer to $30,000. There is also a Bolt EUV, or electric-utility vehicle, that is a little longer, and a couple thousand dollars more expensive, than the base version of the Bolt.
The EV and EUV versions currently qualify for a $7,500 tax credit from the federal government. The Connecticut government also offers another $2,000-plus off an EV. That means a Bolt, for someone living in Connecticut, can cost roughly $17,000 brand new. A brand new 2023
Toyota
Corolla starts at about $22,000.
The Bolt beats the Corolla, the world’s best selling car, and is cheaper to power and maintain than the
Toyota.
Lower maintenance comes down to EVs having fewer moving parts and no oil changes. And electricity is currently far cheaper than the equivalent amount of gasoline.
As for the batteries, a new Bolt has an eight-year, 100,000 mile warranty. That’s about the standard for any EV these days.
There is another way to drive the cost of a Bolt down even further: The dealership. For some car buyers, shopping at a dealer has some pluses and minuses. Not everyone likes to haggle or feel pressured. But dealers can offer their own deals and incentives.
Our Connecticut dealer was offering deals for the installation of a level 2 charging system at home and $500 worth of free charging.
At a basic level, a level 2 charger is like a 240 volt plug that a homeowner will plug a clothes dryer into. The level 2 charging plug should be installed by an electrician on a dedicated circuit.
Deals like this should have Bolts flying off dealer lots. Sales are up.
General Motors
(ticker: GM) sold 19,700 Bolts in the first quarter of 2023. That’s a record for the model.
The Bolt actually came out before the
Tesla
(TSLA) Model 3. Both are similar in terms of size, but they don’t really compete in the marketplace. No EVs can match the Model 3, and subsequent Model Y in terms of global popularity.
Tesla has sold about 3.5 million Model 3 and Model Y EVs globally over the life of the program. (The 3 and Y are produced on the same vehicle platform.) The Bolt has sold about 160,000 units in the U.S. since its introduction.
A Tesla Model 3 starts at about $42,000. Currently, it qualifies for the same incentives as the Chevy Bolt. So in Connecticut, a Model 3 could be had by most for about $32,000.
That’s not a bad deal, either. But it isn’t as good as the Bolt.
GM stock is down about 12% over the past 12 months. Tesla stock is down about 46% over the past 12 months. That’s worse than the
S&P 500
and
Dow Jones Industrial Average,
which are off are off about 9% and 3%, respectively, over the same span.
Investors are a little more concerned about car stocks amid rising interest rates and declining affordability, for most cars, that can hurts sales for all auto makers.
Write to Al Root at [email protected]
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