{"id":383,"date":"2020-03-23T05:18:58","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T05:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/evglobe.com\/?p=383"},"modified":"2020-03-24T20:13:38","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T20:13:38","slug":"chevy-bolt-clectric-car-test-drive-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/evglobe.com\/2020\/03\/23\/chevy-bolt-clectric-car-test-drive-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Chevy Bolt Clectric Car – Test Drive Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

The competition in the pure electric car vehicle segment is heating up. Chevrolet\u2019s all-new Bolt EV<\/a> is one of the pioneers and we recently had a chance to put the award winner through its paces along the northern California coast.<\/p>\n

The Bolt has an impressive 238 mile EPA rated electric range and is a practical four-door hatch back with seating for up to five. The base price of the Bolt with the Federal Tax credit is just under $30,000.<\/p>\n

No one else can provide this kind of range in a pure EV until more than double the price. The Bolt has racked up Motor Trend Car of the Year, Green Car of the Year, North American Car of the year and earned a place on Car and Driver\u2019s10 Best.<\/p>\n

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Being ground up designed as an EV, Chevrolet was able to be incredibly thoughtful in its design. The 60 kWh battery is housed along the floor pan and the 200 hp\/ 266 lb-ft of torque electric motor powers just the front wheels. The Bolt is able to bolt – no pun intended – from 0-60 in a respectable 6.5 seconds.<\/p>\n

There is a large raked front window that provides excellent visibility and gives almost a green house effect for the occupants. There is, however, no sunroof option. The Bolt was designed to accommodate roof racks and Chevrolet demonstrated this for us with one Bolt toting surfboards.<\/p>\n

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Driving style in the Bolt can be tailored to suit. Put the Bolt\u2019s transmission in drive and it functions exactly as a petrol-powered automatic, when you lift off the pedal, it coasts. If the car is at a stop and you lift off the brake, the Bolt creeps forward. For those of us who love one-pedal driving bump the shifter down again and bingo, typical EV driving.<\/p>\n

One pedal driving is the most efficient way to drive an EV because the action of lifting off the gas pedal slows the car down by recharging the battery instead of using the brakes. A cool feature of the Bolt is a handbrake feature on the left side of the steering wheel at the 9 o\u2019clock position.<\/p>\n

If you need to slow the car will trigger a more aggressive regen. This \u201cRegen on Demand\u201d – as Chevrolet calls it – can be used in either regular driving mode or one pedal mode.<\/p>\n

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Our drive started out in Palo Alto, California at a brisk 38F\/3C. The very first thing I did was turn on the heated seats and heated steering wheel in our Kinetic Blue Bolt while we were ciphering our route book. I also turned on the Bolt\u2019s \u201ctoaster\u201d style heater to warm the cabin. Our early morning route took us on some very tight switch backs up and down the Santa Cruz Mountains headed to the big wave surfer\u2019s paradise of Half Moon Bay.<\/p>\n

TEST DRIVE: Tesla Model 3 versus BMW i3 electric car<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n