Chevy’s Ultium Bolt will need these 5 things to be successful
After dropping hints earlier, today GM CEO Mary Barra announced that Chevy would be re-release its popular Chevy Bolt after it gets an Ultium makeover. The Boltium! After owning two Bolts from 2017 until today, along with other popular EVs from Tesla and others, I feel like I have a good idea of what GM needs to succeed here.
I want to say first that GM is starting with an extraordinary car in the Bolt that even today fills the needs of many EV buyers. The Bolt has been improving in sales, and this year it is doing better than ever. But GM is famous for killing its most loved EVs.
What will a new 2025 Bolt Ultium need to have to make it successful?
1. Fast NACS charging
The easiest and most likely upgrade to the current Bolt is in the fast charging area. In 2017, when most fast chargers were at 50kW, the 54kW max charging rate of the Bolt made some sense. It wasn’t future proof, but it made sense and would be a good enough experience.
However, a lot changed from 2017-2023 including the fast charging rates on most EVs getting into the 200+kW with some trucks hitting 300+kW; what didn’t change in 2023 was the Bolt’s 54kW fast charging speed.
I’m not saying the Bolt and its small car battery needs to charge at 200+kW, though it would be nice. I think having 150kW charging over half the charging cycle would allow 20-minute fast charging stops. This should be fairly easy with GM’s modular Ultium batteries, which currently charge up to 350kW and beyond on the Hummer and Silverado.
Add to that the NACS interface, which GM has already promised on its 2025 EVs, allowing the Bolt to charge at not only its current charger options but adding Tesla’s very robust and ubiquitous network. With this setup, you can pretty much kiss range anxiety goodbye. More importantly, it would allow city dwellers and folks with on street parking to use the Bolt charging more like a gas station once every week or so.
Also Bolt owners won’t get ostracized at fast charging stations if they are in and out in 20 minutes versus the current situation where they often have to stay for over an hour.
2. RWD/AWD option
For those of us that live in snowy and hilly climates, the Bolt’s FWD is something that works for 350 days out of the year. That’s fine for a third car or if you work from home, but being reliably able to get out those snow days would be a nice addition.
I’m not saying I need another 200hp motor (though that would be fun!) but even a low power 50 horsepower motor to power the other set of wheels in an emergency situation would be great and worth a few thousand dollars for those who need it. GM actually showed off a low power motor to do this exact thing at its 2020 Battery Day event.
And since we learned that the Blazer EV can be FWD, RWD or AWD, why not offer all of these options for the Bolt? If they aren’t going to make the 2x200hp version, I’d prefer my stronger motor in the rear. Oh, and how about light towing for bikes and Home Depot trailers?
3. Hot hatch proud, not another CUV
From the beginning, GM kept insisting the Bolt was an SUV, first calling it a “Micro-SUV” at launch. Because everyone wants an SUV?! Then it released the EUV version that actually looked a lot more like a typical bland SUV. That added three more inches of leg room in the back, yet somehow reduced the overall internal space.
Well guess what? Not everyone wants a big honkin’ SUV! Even if they do, Chevy has both the Equinox and the Blazer to offer.
In fact, I think GM might have been shocked back into reality at all the hype and excitement around the tiny 3.4 sec 0-60 Volvo EX30, which has remarkably similar specs to the Chevy Bolt. I imagine that really helped get the Bolt off the chopping block with something like, “We could make this with almost no effort.” In fact, Mary Barra has said that the development time of the Ultium Bolt will be much shorter than normal.
I say embrace the hot hatch form factor that the Bolt has always embodied. Maybe lower the stance a bit, make the roof flatter, the interior cleaner, and we’d have something interesting here.
4. Improve the good things, don’t remove them
GM CEO Mary Barra said that the current Bolt prices could be improved by around 20% if it were moved to Ultium platform and that should allow GM to make the car profitable with similar specs.
I actually liked Chevy’s $1000 tie-in with Qmerit to install a home charger. I, however, had a bad experience with that $1000 credit that seems to be the fault of the dealer and the communications protocol that GM set up between the dealers and Qmerit. GM should circumvent the dealers and figure out a way to make that work a lot better; that, and/or continue to offer a $500 EVgo credit which is a nice way to start up the fast charging experience.
GM recently announced it plans to end smartphone projection in its upcoming EVs. Initially my tinfoil hat came on, and I thought this was a way to slow down their EV adoption rate. After some discussions with the folks at GM, they genuinely think their overall experience will be better if they get rid of Apple and Google smartphone projection. I will say that CarPlay and Android Auto are better than what GM offers in its in-car entertainment currently, so it should continue to offer those options until customers no longer think they are necessary.
An alternative if GM thinks it can out-software Google and Apple: Just put an iPad holder in the center stack display area, and get out of the way.
5. Dealer improvements
Chevy’s dealers, in my experience, have gone from straight up EV hostile to complacent in the six years I’ve been dealing with them, which is somehow a huge improvement! I think Chevy could do a lot of good here following their cross town rivals at Ford:
- Make an EV side of the business. Dedicated salespeople who only work in EVs and experts who know them inside and out. People who actually drive EVs to work and know basic electric stuff.
- Make DC fast chargers mandatory at Chevy dealerships. Subsidize them. Not only would this help show new owners how fast they can charge first hand, it would also offer a way to get customers back to the dealerships where they can upsell all kinds of unnecessary stuff (haha). Again, Ford is doing this and will have one of the largest DC fast charging networks in the US because of it.
If GM/Chevy can manage these five things, I can almost guarantee that the already successful Bolt will do even better in Ultium form.
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Subaru is teasing a new electric hot hatch that will spearhead a new generation of STI. Is it the WRX STI we’ve been waiting for?
Subaru teases new electric hot hatch
In March 2022, fans were disappointed after Subaru announced plans to end production of the gas-powered WRX STI.
Subaru said the move was due to the shift toward electrification and stricter emissions regulations in places like Europe.
Although the Japanese automaker said at the time it was exploring opportunities for a next-gen WRX STI, including an electrified version, Subaru confirmed it will not be produced on the new WRX platform.
It’s been over three and a half years, but we might finally see the WRX STI return in electric form. After teasing a new electric hot hatch on Wednesday, Subaru said the Performance-E STI concept will spearhead a new generation of vehicles.
The image offers a glimpse of Subaru’s new design with slim, three-line LED lights and a sportier roofline compared to the internal combustion engine (ICE) version that Subaru also previewed.
Subaru is keeping most details secret for now, but said the new electric hot hatch offers “a design that evokes the brand’s heritage while providing a driver-friendly layout and a comfortable, spacious interior.” It will be equipped with new tech, offering “intuitive, exhilarating driving experiences,” the company said.
Subaru will unveil the new STI concepts at the Japan Mobility Show later this month. Atsushi Osaki, Subaru’s president, will deliver a press conference at the Subaru booth on October 29 at 12:30 PM (JST).
The booth will feature the two new STI models, alongside the Trailseeker, Subaru’s second global EV. It will also showcase more rugged Forester Wilderness and Outback Wilderness prototypes, as well as a 1982 Subaru GL Family Huckster.
Subaru is joining Hyundai, Volkswagen, Kia, and a few other automakers planning to introduce new electric hot hatches.
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Tesla is finally running TV/streaming ads, but they are not to sell electric cars. They are to promote a vote for Tesla shareholders to approve Elon Musk’s next compensation package worth up to $1 trillion.
As a company, under Elon Musk’s leadership, Tesla has famously been against advertising. The CEO is even on the record saying that he “hates advertising” and that “other companies spend money on advertising and manipulating public opinion, Tesla focuses on the product.”
However, that was before he acquired Twitter, now X, which relies heavily on advertising.
After that, he started to push Tesla to do some advertising, but the company quickly stopped or greatly reduced its advertising efforts.
Last month, we reported that Tesla’s advertising effort picked back up with ads to encourage Tesla shareholders to vote for Musk’s new unprecedented CEO compensation package worth up to $1 trillion.
The renewed advertising effort was limited to Google and social media ads or sponsored posts, which was also the case in Tesla’s previously mentioned advertising efforts.
Now, Tesla is even running TV-like ads on streaming services. Paramount+ watchers were surprised to see this ad running on the streaming service this week:
This is one of the very first TV-style video ads that Tesla is paying to air, but it is not to sell EVs.
While the automaker is struggling to sell its existing vehicles, the ad exclusively features future products that are not yet available for sale, and it serves only to ask shareholders to vote in accordance with the board’s recommendation at the upcoming shareholders’ meeting.
Electrek’s Take
It’s funny because I was talking to a friend of mine who came back on a long rural road trip with his Cybertruck last week.
He was saying that he was surprised how many people in rural areas not only didn’t know about the Cybertruck, but they didn’t even know much about Tesla. Yet, they were curious about it and electric vehicles in general.
We were discussing how these people are not as active on social media, and that Tesla would greatly benefit from advertising its vehicles in more traditional channels, such as TV/streaming ads, with clear messaging that relates to them, such as the cost of ownership and utility.
I joked that Tesla will do TV ads about Elon’s compensation plan before they do about their EVs. It literally took less than a week for Tesla to prove me right.
There is just no reasonable justification for this. It’s as simple as Elon is bigger than Tesla, a company of 100,000+ people.
You can’t make a viable argument against the fact that this would be money better spent advertising Tesla’s available cars when the company is currently operating its production lines at 60% capacity and the compensation package would be better spent on tens of thousands of full-time employees whose contribution to Tesla is much greater than Elon’s at this point.
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Toyota’s smallest electric vehicle might actually hit the road. Thanks to new funding from the UK government, Toyota is one step closer to turning this pint-sized EV with a solar roof into a reality.
The Toyota FT-Me is a micro EV with a solar roof
It may be only 2.5 meters (98″) long, but Toyota believes the tiny electric car could be an affordable way to zip around the city.
The FT-Me is “a ground breaking concept” that blends premium design with affordability, Toyota said after unveiling it in March.
After securing a £15 million ($20 million) investment from the UK government’s DRIVE35 program, Toyota is moving closer to actually launching the pint-sized EV.
The Advanced Propulsion Centre UK, which manages the funding, announced that the £30.3 million ($40,500) project includes a £15 million grant from the Department for Business and Trade. Toyota is expected to fund the other roughly £15 million.
Toyota is working with several partners, including urban delivery specialist ELM Mobility and the University of Derby, to develop a new lightweight battery electric vehicle (BEV) in the L6e category.
Meanwhile, Savcor will design and develop the solar roof, which Toyota claims can extend a vehicle’s range by 20%, or about 20 to 30 km per day.
The pint-sized EV will be manufactured at Toyota Manufacturing UK’s Burnaston site, where it currently builds the Corolla.
Although it’s about the size of a golf cart, Toyota promises the micro EV fits two passengers comfortably. The company also claims the FT-Me’s propulsion system uses 3X less energy per km than current high-capacity electric vehicles.
Inspired by a jet helmet, Toyota said the vehicle’s compact design makes it perfect for getting around the city. It only takes up about half a parking spot.
Toyota’s pint-sized EV could arrive as a potential rival to the Citroen Ami. The Ami starts at £7,695 ($10,000) OTR, offering a WLTP range of up to 46 miles.
Would you buy Toyota’s micro EV for about $10,000? It could be a fun (and efficient) way to zip around town. It’s basically a futuristic electric golf cart with a solar roof. Unfortunately, it likely will never make it to the US with America’s growing love for big trucks and SUVs.
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