This
review first appeared earlier this month in the February 2019 edition of the Northern & Central
California Cruisin’ News published
out of Folsom, California – mg
Sacramento, California – I'm going to take a wild guess and assume that most
readers of this publication love old-school automobiles, with classic lines and
internal combustion engines. I'm
guessing that most have not driven an all-electric car.
Still, knowing human nature, I'm betting that this same
audience is nevertheless curious about what it's like to drive an all-electric
machine. If so, read on.
Full disclosure: I'm pretty old-school myself, and
so I awaited the arrival of the 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV Premier hatchback with a
fair amount of nervous anticipation.
Yes, I've driven EVs before, but they require a whole different kind of
attention. I'll explain.
First off, let me say that the Chevy Bolt EV is a
remarkable car, a mind-blowing hunk of amazing, state-of-the-art technology. And yeah, it looks pretty good too in a
smooth, squat sort of way. When it
moves, it does so with remarkable quiet.
Even when it is exerting itself, quiet conversations can take place
inside the capsule.
And it moves quite well. It's not an underpowered mini car. Several times I took turns on suburban
streets with a trailing car on my tail, watching the trailing vehicle suddenly
dart sideways to pass, assuming my Bolt would lag. A quick, short hit on the accelerator
resulted in my ride simply walking away from the impatient trailer. Good acceleration? Check.
Same story on the freeway. The Bolt rolls smoothly down the entrance
ramp and darts up to 70 miles per hour with seemingly no labor whatsoever. It's a rush, because you're doing this smooth
run up amid virtually no sound, courtesy of a 200-horsepower equivalent in the
electric power plant.
Under perfect, carefully managed driving conditions,
you can wring more than 200 miles out of a single charge. And the fuel mileage rating equivalent is a
ridiculous 128 mpg in the city and 110 on the highway. The tester started at a fairly reasonable $40,905, not bad given the technology and features inside.
So, what's the big deal? Well, for an old-schooler like me, my eyes
are constantly glued to the remaining mileage/juice shown in the dash. When it gets down to 50 miles to go, I'm
already starting to sweat. Where's the
closest recharging station? What if all
the charging devices are in use? Do I
need to take a magazine and wait for the car to recharge?
It's a similar story on overall energy use. I'm constantly obsessed with the in-dash
readout. How many kilowatts did I use to
get up to 70 mph? Was that
careless? Should I be driving more
conservatively to save juice?
So, I play it safe and charge the car via an
external electric outlet at my home.
Thing is, if I've run down the charge significantly, it takes many
l-o-n-g hours to fully recharge, an uncomfortable feeling for someone used to
just getting into a car and driving it as needed.
That's my confession, and hopefully, a tutorial on
what it's like to wheel an EV. My take
on the Bolt: wonderful car to have in an urban setting, especially if it's a
second, do-the-chores workhorse. If
you're an old-schooler, however, prepare to be perpetually nervous and obsessed
with how much juice your ride has in it at any given time.
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