It's not just about getting an electric car on the market. They are going to have to release models with 5 star safety ratings in all categories/sub-categories, and enable their cars to perform like drag race cars, and enable their cars to drive themselves, and probably buy batteries from Tesla. They cannot move as fast as Tesla has been moving. They will survive. But there will be another US 'auto maker' to compete with.
The Bolt has a 5 star safety rating and was 2017 car of the year.
It doesn't seem to be selling that great, which could be due to a great deal of factors, but the awards it has won makes me believe that the traditional car companies are going to be able to keep up with Tesla at least on technical merit.
the Bolt doesn't sell well because they're only making 30,000 of them this year and the only place where they sat on lots was in California where they are competing against a dozen California-only compliance cars that you can't get in any other state.
Here in Ontario they sold out completely in the first month they were here and there's a waiting list that won't get fulfilled until next year at the earliest.
So let's say this is all true (and I have no reason to doubt it): is this an argument that Chevy is somehow outperforming Tesla? GM has a storied history of shooting themselves in the foot by doing dumb things like cramming lots full of cars where they aren't in demand. The Bolt may be great, but I believe Tesla will be more likely to avoid these kinds of pitfalls.
I never said anything about outperforming Tesla. I say it is a decent car and is selling reasonably well considering. And personally I'd buy it over a Model 3 because I don't like what I've seen of the M3 interior with its obsession with tablet interfaces, among other things. Also the M3 is going to end up coming in more expensive than the Bolt.
No argument here about GM shooting themselves in the foot. I'm a Volt owner and see it all the time. But it's a classic example of different divisions of a company fighting amongst themselves.
The fact that you'll never buy gas again is one.
The better drive is another -- quieter, better acceleration, smoother. There's actually no comparison on the numbers until you go way up in the Civic line to one of their sports car types.
Also better onboard tech -- last I looked Honda wasn't even offering Android auto. The system in the Bolt is in my opinion quite good.
The Bolt's body styling makes it look like a cheap hatch, which is unfortunate. The insides of the thing are actually really good. I'd recommend taking one for a drive just for fun. GM can't seem to get its act together on styling, but apart from fairly uncomfortable seats, I actually prefer the Bolt's interior to my Volt.
Anyways, here's some numbers. The Civic even in its "Sport hatch" configuration isn't even close:
Acceleration times & torque:
2017 Honda Civic Sport 1.5T Hatchback C
0-60 mph 7.0 | Quarter mile 15.2
Power: 180 hp @ 6000 rpm
Torque: 162 lb-ft @ 1700 rpm
2017 Chevrolet Bolt
0-60 mph 6.4 | Quarter mile 15.0
Power: 200 HP @ all RPMs
Torque: 266 lb/ft @ all RPMS
Every electric car has tremendous markup because batteries are still very expensive for the volume they put in the car.
It is also worth considering these batteries have a fixed lifetime. Any electric car is going to need new batteries in 10 years - batteries that originally represented about half the ticket price of the car. You basically assume the cost of batteries will drop tremendously in the next decade or else not only are you paying a lot for the car up front, you are also paying the price of a new entry level car every decade just to replace the batteries.
GM has put an incredible amount of engineering into the degradation issue and there are 2011 Volts still on the road with a few hundred thousand miles on them that have had no degradation issue.
Proper temperature control and discharge and recharge management is part of it. Air cooling like Nissan and a few others have done just doesn't cut it in most climates, which is why they've had to replace many customer's batteries.
You want a 5-star crash rating and GM ask which platform do you want it based on. Designing a good EV is a lot easier for companies that already design competitive cars.
You're right, they may survive. Surviving isn't gonna please the people who invested in them.
