Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

But back on topic...

The bolt dropped in price $6,000 in less than a year.  The Sonic I'm betting will never get any cheaper.  All the money in electrics are in the batteries and high efficiency motors, but there's very little maintenance.  I drive a 2016 Camry for my DD, I paid about $21K for it new.  The same size car, be it a Tesla or other, would probably cost low $30's.  Even with a moderate amount of driving it would take a long time to get back that extra $10K even over 5-7 years.  

I was commuting about 40-50 miles per day in the Camry at about 30 MPG.  
40 mpd x 30 days is about 1,200 miles in a month.  
1200 / 30 mpg = 40 gallons of fuel per month.  Average cost probably around $2.30 per gallon is $92 per month in fuel.  Throw in oil changes, air filters, misc odds and ends related to a combustion engine and I'd estimate I'm spending $110-120 per month to keep the vehicle on the road, not including major repairs.  

For the EV of the same size calculate 3.5 miles per kWh, or 28.5 kWh per 100 miles.  
1200 miles per month / 3.5 kWh is about 342 kWh.  
342 kWh * $0.12 is about $41.0 per month in energy costs.  No extra oil or filters.  Not sure what hidden costs there are, but solid state stuff > mechanical stuff.  

So about half the cost in fuel, plus no oil changes or filter changes.  I've heard that since EV's are a bit heavier than ICE cars they wear out tires faster, but the regenerative braking means rarely replacing brakes/pads.  

The one in the truck, which we still own, is a 6.2L detroit diesel not the 5.7L converted gas engine. 

Lucky for you! That converted gas engine was an absolute piece of junk! A friend's dad had one and he still hasn't forgiven GM. It was just a small block Chevy V8 with really high compression pistons and glow plugs.

The Bolt is not a Sonic, it is about the same dimensions as a Cruze (vide supra), which comparably equipped has an MSRP in the $23 K range.  The Sonic is quite a bit smaller, and less powerful (I owned one, the daughter has it now.)  The Bolt will handily out accelerate a Cruze with any engine, that low end torque is hard to beat.

The Bolt arguably is nicer inside, and the new "EUV" Bolt has the Super Cruise option available, which is a neat semi-autonomous.  Some reviewers like it more than Tesla's.



2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV Review, Pricing, and Specs (caranddriver.com)

Chevrolet has expanded its electric vehicle lineup for 2022 by introducing the SUV-inspired Bolt EUV (Electric Utility Vehicle), which offers a more spacious cabin than the Bolt hatchback as well as more rugged exterior styling. Under the hood is a 200-hp electric motor that's juiced by a 65.0-kWh battery pack said to deliver up to 250 miles of driving range per charge. When the Bolt EUV hits the market later this year, it will find stiff competition in the form of other EV SUVs including the Hyundai Kona Electric, the Ford Mustang Mach-E, and the Tesla Model Y. Chevrolet is banking on the EUV's futuristic styling, affordable starting price, and available semi-autonomous driving system to rise to the top of the burgeoning EV market segment.

My bad. I had heard that they shared the same platform like GM often does for its cars. It was in fact made on the same assembly line as the Sonic, which was the source of my confusion. 

No doubt the bolt is fast. The interior is surprisingly spacious given its size. The seats are horrid. Almost laughingly bad. The dash and panels are not the normal look and materials, they look like some kind of weird styrofoam with a diamond pattern. Takes some getting used to. 

GM is much farther behind on charging speeds. I suspect they are being very conservative, other makes can charge much more quickly. 

No doubt the bolt is fast. The interior is surprisingly spacious given its size. The seats are horrid. Almost laughingly bad. The dash and panels are not the normal look and materials, they look like some kind of weird styrofoam with a diamond pattern. Takes some getting used to.

Exterior styling and interior fit&finish is something that Chevy has been unable to do well for a long time now. I don't know how they sell so many damn cars when "ugly & looks cheap" seem to be the design goals.

I just look at that Bolt and Chevy thinks its "futuristic styling" is going to appeal?

If you have to call something futuristic, it's probably just f'ing ugly.

I haven't been inside a Tesla, so can't speak to its interior fit & finish. Not a huge fan of the Model 3 that looks like a platypus. The Model S is a fine-looking car. Not a huge fan of the Model X or Y. And the CYBRTRK just looks stupid. You'd have to pay me to drive that hideous thing. I hope that gets changed to something that looks like it wasn't designed by a caffeine-fueled 7 year old boy or a coke'd up Elon Musk.

The SUV is also capable of DC fast charging, which Chevy says can provide up to 95 miles of range in just 30 minutes.

This is decent, if you need to take a trip somewhere.  Say you want to drive 500 miles a day, you get 220 comfortably off the first charge and stop for lunch and recharge 30 minutes and add maybe 90 miles, so you have 120 miles of range.  Stop again in 1.5 hours for half and hour and add another 90 miles range.  You likely need one more stop to finish the trip.

It's certainly going to take longer than driving in ICE.

If this is the new normal, it won't become normal.  This would drive me insane.