Bolt Fails To Compete In The Marketplace - GM Shuts Down Plant Due To Poor Sales

I know three people with Bolts and they all seem to love them. I think the biggest issue is the aesthetics from the outside. It looks like a tiny subcompact, but actually feels pretty spacious on the inside. I'm sure the Model 3 coming out this year isn't helping sales either, but it is still a solid EV.

The news is a bit sad but it's a timing issue. A lot of people and publications have described the Bolt as the best car GM makes. Fuel prices are low, however, and therefore demand isn't strong enough. It's not the fault of the Bolt but the market just isn't there right now. Saying that, it's good to know GM can build a car like this and the whole exercise helps prepare for them for when the price of fossil fuels inevitably rises again.

@Firewombat: at first I believed the reviews about the Bolt until I took a drive in it. While it is a step above the Leaf and Focus EV in term of power, its handling especially front wheel torque steer does not leave a good impression for me. Add the look of a tall hatchback and busy exterior design, the Bolt EV is actually a downer. I am sure many people who did visit the dealer lots walked away with similar feeling.

If GM went with a full BEV Volt, the results might have been different. And that the Bold was designed by GM South Korea did not help either.

Well I think it's more of a city car so not sure how well it has to handle. It's obviously not a performance car or sports car either. I like the way it looks and it seems very practical which is down to the design but obviously you're entitled to your opinion, I think the Opel version will do really well in Europe.

The reality is...EV's are not a mass-market product yet, they are a premium and an aspirational product. Cheap gas doesn't help either.

The Model 3 is going to flop as well, once all the "groupies" have taken delivery on theirs, Model 3 sales will come screeching to a halt..just like Model S and Model X sales are currently screeching to a halt.

"The Model 3 is going to flop as well" - that's a bold statement.

You're the same guy who months ago said Tesla would go bankrupt in a year, and the same guy who refused a wager I offered to put some substance into what you said. Guess what has happened to Tesla since then ?

Talk is cheap but not free. It comes at the expense of your credibility.

Yeah, if I remember correctly, Tesla sold almost no S or X the last quarter.

What the f are you talking about?

Lighten-up, Henry N. This is an auto internet chat board. This is not CSPAN or the NY Times or the Wall Street Journal. Discourse is normal and perhaps even healthy!

@mre30 We have to remember than @HenryN is one of those fascist-socialist Liberals that hates free speech. His kind has a Gestapo line and that must be enforced.

Yeah I also forgot there are many juveniles on this board who make up stuffs and believe they're real.

@HenryN lame retort

Seems to be a trend with 2 paths. Make it look like a regular car and it will sell. Model S, Prius etc. Make it look odd, like the BMW i3, Lexus #? hatch, GM Bolt and it does not. Maybe there is a lesson here?

I don't think it makes a difference - there is simply insufficient market for EVS - and insufficient support for them as well. The infrastructure for EV's does not really exist for large volumes of cars to use them. ANd I do not see that being solved quickly since - especially in many urban areas - the possibility does not exist for having your own - when you have no set parking and no driveway or garage. AN EV might be a second car to me - BUT - for my main ride - I simply cannot have a car where the range is limited by hours of charging. AND with the price of Gasoline low - there is no built in incentive to spend the money to put a charging station in my home - where I do not have three- phase power. I have not seen whether using a single phase 220 volt line would supply the charging as quickly or economically.

@TomM: "I have not seen whether using a single phase 220 volt line would supply the charging as quickly or economically" - that's too simplistic and has a lot of holes.

First, the charge rate depends on:
- The car's on-board charger. The Ford Focus EV has 6.6KW charger, whereas the Bolt charger is 55KW
- Type of wall adapter - Level 1, Level 2, ... and current rating (some Level 2 adapter offers up to 50A).

The link here shows a list of vehicle charge time depending on the type of adapter (Bolt EV not listed): http://www.evsolutions.com/ev-charging-products-for-home

Second, economy of EV charge:
- Cost of Level 2 wall adapter is between $500 to $1000 not including special wiring if the home is not so equipped
- Cost of electricity varies depending on where you live. Where I live, PG&E offers the EV rate as low as $0.12/kWh (off-peak, 11PM-7AM weekdays), that comes out to be 3-4 cents/miles depending on how you drive. A hybrid at 50MPG and $2.5/Gal would cost 5c/mile to drive.
- Convenience of charging at home and bypassing the gas stations - priceless

As you keep stressing that current EV offerings do not meet your need, keep in mind the current EV market share is tiny, they first need the early adopters - those who can tolerate the EV's shortcomings and welcome the changes and the benefits that EV offers.

As the saying goes, you plant trees for your children and grandchildren.

As the saying goes, you plant trees for your children and grandchildren. When it comes to the environment, you need to look beyond the immediate future and see what good one can do. Human has done enough destruction the last 100 years, time to retrain the old thinking.

HenryN Your numbers are interesting especially when one compares those California figures to another state. If your electric car where in Mass, where electricity is $.21/kwh (and climbing), no non-peak rates, and regular gas today is $2.16/gallon, from an operating view the hybrid or even a very economical ICE vehicle wins. So the market is rational. Then as one looks at the growing cost of green electricity and sees Germany is pushing $.40/kwh, the EV picture darkens.

@Vette71: Since the EV market is national/global, rather than using local data that can skew a view point one way or another, using national averages as metrics the numbers would look like this:

- National Average Regular gas price: $2.268/gal according to AAA, today 7/19/2017
- National Average Residential Electricity cost: $0.13/kWh (based on April 2017 numbers provided by EIA, an agency within the DOE. Link here https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_6_a)
- National Average Fuel Economy for New Car: 36.4 MPG (2014 data from DOT https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_04_23.html)

With these numbers, the cost of "fueling" EV is still significantly lower than gasoline ($0.043/mile vs $0.062/mile). Factor in extra cost for premium fuel required in many premium/luxury cars, the difference is substantial for a large number of car owners. Throw in the hassle of frequent visits to dealer for oil changes and a host of mechanical and electrical repairs, an ICE car suddenly does not look like a good offering any more - at least on the economic aspect of owning a car.

On the global scene, even with high cost of electricity you cited for Germany (actual number from EU government data is 0.3 EUR/kWh translating to $0.345/kWh), the high cost of gasoline ($5.37/gal) still makes EV a compelling option. With German government mandate on emission-free new vehicle by 2030, the future of EV is not bleak as you described.

HenryN. As Former Speaker Tip O'Neill said best. "All politics is local" so are the buying decisions that people make. Averages are for statisticians, not real people. For example your average cost of electricity include lots of coal fired plants, hydro plants that were built by government (ergo subsidized) versus other types of generation built by public companies, etc. You'll argue gas fired plants, but guess what. Local utilities are asking for rate increases to pay for the new gas fired plants and pipelines they have to build to replace the plants the mandates are forcing them to close. And the populous is angry about the rate increases. Angry people vote. Pure EV s will have a segment of the market where it makes sense. But they will have a tough time dominating the industry if they have to rely on government force/subsidy rather then rational sense to get them purchased.

Ah I forgot to many people buying an EV is a political statement. It's then unnecessary to continue the conversation.

The factory planned shutdown was extended because of the poor sales of the aging Sonic, not really the Bolt EV of which it makes but a fraction. GM has not met the demand for the Bolt EV/Ampera-E in Canada and Europe yet and has frankly screwed up the roll out from that perspective.

Those who want an EV aren't going to buy one from GM, pretty simple.

That's not true, GM ranks second in plugin sales in the US.

If the EV had been Malibu sized and priced like a Bolt, things might have been rosier, but even then.

The $40k sticker is a killer. People can't get past that, even those that know better, take incentives, TCO into account.

A $40K+ econo-box with a Chevy badge isn't flying out the door? What a shock.

But no range worth mentioning.