Edit Early'24: This actually went on longer than expected. Production continued for months after the announcement. We know two people who bought a Chevy EUV base model for mid-high $23K out the door from local dealers (the $7500 rebate is now at point-of-sale). Very cool and a pretty impressive vehicle for $23K. Granted there's not much stock left and you have to find a dealer who has actual scruples.
Edit Apr.2023: This is pretty much DEAD. Chevy Bolt stock (especially the cheaper ones) sold out by February in most areas. The remainders had price jacks like you wouldn't believe. As of April 17th the Federal Rebate dropped in half (due to the batteries being made in Korea.) but since you can't get one at a reasonable price anyway...
This lower rebate is also true of most cheaper Teslas, KIA/Hyundai and VW's. The ones under $50K still qualify for the Oregon rebate until Apr.30th. After that the fund runs out of money.
Edit Jan.2023: There's been some reaction to headlines of "GM raises Bolt price just in time for Fed credit!"
Remain calm. First, the increase is around $600, not the tsunami the lurid headlines would have you believe. Second, GM dealers have been sticking it to their customers by much more than that in most markets already. Good negotiating skills or contact with a car broker might be indicated. and Thirdly, we had posited the price for the EUV as mid-high $29K range and that still holds. Back to our regularly scheduled trainwreck:
Those who have been paying attention over time may have noticed some previous posts about buying an EV for substantially less than you might expect. Mostly about getting a new Nissan Leaf for $15,000 or $18,000 or whatever. This post is about an alternative. Similar price range, similar size and capabilities, MUCH better charging infrastructure and somewhat lower reliability. Granted that's comparing reliability to a vehicle (Leaf) that's been in continuous production for over ten years and has about as close to perfect reliability stats as any car ever.
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| 2023 Chevy Bolt EUV w/$500 (silly) 'Appearance' package |
As you might have guessed from the picture, we're talking about the Chevy Bolt EUV. The same one that got (mostly) excluded from discussion before due to not qualifying for the Federal tax credit because GM squandered all their credits on plug-in hybrids. There might, repeat MIGHT be a short window of opportunity wherein it surely does quality for the full tax credit: January - March 2023. We're not saying here that this WILL work, just that it seems probable that it will. A confluence of improbable events, and may the buyer beware ...and do their due diligence beforehand!
The so called Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 has in it some very complicated EV Rebate provisions, where most of the complexity involves rather transparent provisions designed to exclude China from the US auto market, without calling them out by name. It re-instates the $7500 federal tax credit for EV's and then applies a variety of exclusions as to where the vehicle is assembled and where the parts come from, especially batteries and battery-making materials. The Bolt was originally assembled in the US with about 70% of the dollar-value of parts made by LG in S.Korea. LG still makes pretty much every important component in the car; Motor, Batteries, Electronics, Controllers, Charging, HVAC, Sensors - etc. However, much of that has been moved to production facilities in Michigan so the US-built content percentage is increasing rapidly.
This brings up to the complexity part. How does the EPA, Commerce Dept. Treasury Dept. and IRS all get together to certify where things were built and when? Granted only roughly 25% of the Bolt is made in a US owned factory with union labor, and that was the Biden administration's real goal, but that 25% is the ONLY US union labor going into any EV currently available. Tesla, Nissan, LG, Ford EV (Made in Mexico) are all non-union shops. Yes, it's going to be a regulatory mess, made more complicated by the 'oops' exclusion of our traditional trading partners like Korea, Japan and Germany. Here is Electrek's take on what or who qualifies. Almost required reading
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| Better in White or Silver? The $500 red lines are still silly. |
As far as we can tell the Bolt has been more or less approved for the full rebate as of Jan.1st 2023. As much as anybody has been approved. However some of the 'rule making' has been pushed out to March. That -might- mean that only partial rebate ($3750) applies after rule-making is completed. The $7500 appears to have pretty good odds but who knows. This ambiguity is even bigger for Hyundai and Kia and VW, whose mix of US built content is less clear and possibly lower. Ford (Mexico, except for important stuff like batteries and motors) also seems to be approved for right now. Even if they all get approved for 2023, the rules change in 2024 and the courts haven't weighed in yet.
The pricing on recent Bolt vehicles has been considerably reduced, at least in theory, to ~$26K for the base Bolt and high ~$29K range for the longer wider taller EUV version. Having seen both of them we can't imagine not getting the EUV version. There was nothing in the 'Premier' (add $4000+) package that we can imaging wanting (leather seats? Ewww) but given the higher profit margins, guess which one the dealers are ordering... Well plus all the other fancy floor mats and undercoating, er, profit making that they add, and don't forget 'additional dealer markup' by whatever name.
So what does this look like if you actually try to get one? Few Chevy dealers want "That EV Shit" sitting on their lots, especially since the likely profits from maintenance (traditionally a high percentage of the profit from car sales) is near zero for most EVs, so the dealer part of the equation could be by far the most difficult part.
Imagine, in your fondest dreams, that you manage to nail down a 2023 Bolt EUV for $29K or a bit above. Fed. credit $7500, State credit (here at least, YMMV) $2500. Yay! New car for under $20K!
Yes, that's ONE THIRD of a Tesla Model Y -after- rebates.
Just make sure you do your homework before contacting the dealer. And as in the past, we recommend going through your Credit Union or Costco discount portal (if applicable) and doing as much of the negotiations online and through email as possible. Get it in writing. Print it all out and take it with you so you have something to beat the dealer's poor hungry salesperson over the head with when they (or more likely their manager) try to change the deal. A high probability in our experience.
That said the last three cars we've gotten have been through the 'Internet Sales Manager' at the dealer who 'won' the selection process (two out of three of those have been in a different state than we live in) and we walked out the door at pretty much exactly the price pre-negotiated. The one case where they tried bait-and-switch we walked out, after loudly letting everyone in the dealer looking at cars know what slimeballs they were. Have a plan B. Granted this takes time, but in our case that time has paid off at a rate of around $300/hr. ...not too bad...
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You'll note that there's little mention of the other EV players here. The Hyundai Ioniq5 and Kia EV6 are really nice cars, the VW ID4 is OK too, the Tesla Models 3 and Y are exceptional. They all have pricing that puts them at a realistic $40K and up (yes, yes: $38,995 + + ... whatever) Even assuming they qualify for all the rebates they still end up costing 50% more than the players we're talking about here. $30K+ is not a cheap EV regardless of how nice they are. It's a different market segment and if that's the segment you live in, well, you're probably not reading this to begin with ;-)
We also don't talk about the Ford Mustang EV. Similar $40K+ price and an 18 month lead-time to get one.
Q&A:
"You've been a Nissan shill for years, why are you now recommending Chevy?"
Nissans have been fine, especially for folks in our income bracket, where basically there wasn't anything else available. You'll note we bought a Mitsubishi iMiev first. Too bad they, like all of the other (non-Nissan) Japanese manufacturers have basically opted out of the EV market. We don't, historically, support jingoistic lying opportunists like GM, but they (via LG of Korea) now have a reasonable product at a reasonable price. Dealing with the Chevy/GM organization may still present challenges.
"I thought the Chevys were all being recalled for burning down people's houses?"
Well, not all of them, though I still wouldn't park anything with an NMC or NCA battery chemistry (see pervious posts) under my bedroom. Since it's mostly an LG content car and they plus GM seem to be doing a good job of 'making it right' that does not appear to be a big concern. Note that even at it's worst the Bolt (and or Tesla) fires have still been much less common than gas cars burning down. Turns out gasoline is still highly flammable. Doesn't make for lurid media coverage though.
That said, even without the battery issues Bolts have had no better than 'average' Chevy quality, which isn't saying much. You should plan on one or two dealer visits for one thing or another. Probably nothing major nor unusual for the average car. We hear Mustang EV's are doing no better. Contrast this with the ZERO dealer visits we've had across three Nissan Leafs to date! (One visit for an optional software update)
"So the Bolt is better than the Leaf?"
Depends on what's important to you. The original Bolt seats were quite uncomfortable for some people, but that has improved. The charging port on the Bolt is considerably more available out 'in the wild' and it has longer (base product) range so it's arguably much better for longer trips. Some people hate GM. Some people hate Japanese cars or prefer 'American Made.' Although how they square this with the 90%+ American made Nissan Leaf and the ~40% American made Bolt and ignore the Korean part is hard to imagine.
The interior volume of the EUV is larger than the ($2000 cheaper) 'regular' Bolt. However even the bigger one is only just barely a match for the Leaf and maybe just slightly smaller cargo volume.
Having just been through a 2500 mile road trip in the Leaf (see immediately previous post) we can say that it's unlikely we'll buy another Leaf. Their failure to update the charging connector from CHAdeMO (Nisssan's 'standard') to CCS should be regarded as highly suspect going forward. If you're only buying for local travel this shouldn't matter and the Leaf remains an excellent and highly reliable low cost choice.
One thing that's not better is the charging speed. The Bolt has the CCS connector, of which you can find many more while out tripping. But it doesn't seem to make good use of the available charge rates, topping out at around 50KW, pretty much like a Leaf and so takes twice or three times as long to charge up at a public charger than some of it's competitors. Granted those other cars cost nearly twice as much.
Availability: We found literally hundreds of base model 2023 Chevrolet Bole EUV LT on CARS.COM for under $29K. No doubt some are bait-n-switch (lots of wiggle room in the wording) but the nearest one to us was 445 miles away. We've gone 200+ miles to pick up a car before, but that seems kinda long. Everyone closer has added a couple thousand additional markup or only carries the Premium version(s) for $4K-$7K more. They're looking out for their bottom line (translation: Screw You) so be prepared for some negotiations, or travel.
To be fair, there's only a few Nissan Leafs under $30K within 100 miles of us and those are the ones with 150 miles of driving range as opposed to the EUV's 200-230 (real world). As they say, YMMV.
One additional low income wrinkle:
Nissan (NMAC) has been very good about passing on the full tax credit for people who otherwise (low income) would not qualify for any tax credits ... like us. We've posted about this before. Apparently GMAC has gotten better about this than they were back when we posted about that, but check Really Carefully before signing anything. There are snakes in the grass.
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