"Not a compliance car"

According to an article on HybridCars.com, GM has officially said that its 2017 Chevy Bolt will not be production limited and is "not a compliance car."

Kevin Kelly, manager of GM's electrification and fuel cell technology said that both GM and LG Chem (supplying the batter packs) have made substantial commitments to the Bolt EV production, and if "as many as 50,000 shoppers happened to place orders in 2017" for the Bolt EV, Chevrolet could fill them.

“There is nothing constraining us from doing that,” said Kelly when asked how Chevrolet might handle a potential deluge of 50,000 orders that would far surpass conservative analyst projections for the Bolt’s first year of sales.

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GM wants to make it clear that the Bolt is not a vehicle purely made to satisfy regulators while not able to market and sell it in volume. GM hasn't made any sales projections.

Kelly’s comment that the Bolt will be nationally marketed and supported and “is not a compliance car” actually echoed that of GM CEO Mary Barra, who introduced the Bolt at CES.

“You can look at the car, and you can buy it just because you love the car as well as the fact that it has a 200-mile electric range,” said Barra in an article by Slate. “This wasn’t a compliance play.”

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It's obvious that the Bolt isn't a compliance car, but I guess it doesn't hurt to say it. GM still has a lot of detractors amongst EV fans.

For every person that is excited about a 200-mile EV, there are a hundred who seem to be anti-EV for some reason or another

I am so sick of some people's diatribe against compliance cars. As far as I'm concerned, every compliance car is an EV on the road that would not otherwise have been.

My Focus may be a compliance car in the sense that Ford never wanted to build it but did because they had to. Good! It's a fine EV, glad I had a choice beyond the Leaf.

The RAV-4 EV was most definitely a compliance car, because Toyota made exactly the number they needed to sell in California and sold them here only. It was a stunning achievement, in its day the only EV short of a Model S with easy 100+ mile range. In fact until the Bolt comes out, it will still be the longest legged EV not priced in Tesla class. I have friends who commute daily 110 miles through the mountains in a RAV, summer and winter. Try that in a built-as-an-EV Leaf.

As if building a compliance car were a cardinal sin. Sure my Spark's a compliance car, but I also think of it as a beta test car. I think it's particularly smart to build something in limited quantities to test out the concept and then, applying what you have learned, go for it.

Of course my viewpoint may be colored by the fact that I live in Oregon and could buy one.

Good point(s). I agree it makes sense from a vehicle manufacturing perspective, but most of the bitterness comes from the seeming lack of commitment, as well as bitterness from EV enthusiasts in other states :lol:

robbs said:

as well as bitterness from EV enthusiasts in other states :lol:

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And provinces!

And districts?

Yes, I agree, Provinces! No indication from GM on the rollout plan for countries other than the USA, but I hope the whole of North America gets the same release schedule...

If other automakers keep putting pressure on, then Chevy will have to roll it out continent wide.

Volkswagen just announced they are building an electric vehicle as a Chevy Bolt competitor - which means Chevy has spurred others into action. The same can happen - if the Bolt EV is only available in specific areas, they open themselves up to have another automaker beat them to the area with an EV.

picasso said:

If other automakers keep putting pressure on, then Chevy will have to roll it out continent wide.

Volkswagen just announced they are building an electric vehicle as a Chevy Bolt competitor - which means Chevy has spurred others into action. The same can happen - if the Bolt EV is only available in specific areas, they open themselves up to have another automaker beat them to the area with an EV.

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It is easy to announce that you are working on an affordable long-range EV, but it appears to be far harder to actually deliver one. The Bolt will be years ahead of VW, Tesla, and others. GM is not limiting production, and people will figure out how to buy them if they are not available locally.

People that disparage "Compliance Cars" usually don't know the back story on CARB and the incredibly complicated formulas used to determine how many and what type of credits a particular manufacturer needs to acquire in order to sell in California.

The short story is a 75-100 mile BEV is a Type 1.5 ZEV and earns 2.5 credits per vehicle. If a company that needs additional "Gold" (ZEV) credits needs to purchase them from other manufacturers, they seem to go for about $4K per credit - or $10K per car. They would essentially need to add $10K to the price of the car if it is sold outside of the CARB alliance states.

A 200+ plus mile EV (Type III ZEV) garners 4 credits or about $16K. GM might sell enough Bolts to more than fulfill their ZEV requirements, but by selling them outside of the CARB alliance, they potentially lose $16K per car that they could earn buy selling their excess ZEV credits. For this reason I expect to see initial sales in a similar pattern that we saw with the refreshed Volt- CA first followed by the CARB alliance states and then the rest of the US.

As a side note, the Tesla Battery swap video earned them additional credits for every car they sold by demonstrating the "Fast Refueling" capability. IIRC, it was 2 credits when they made the video, but has since been lowered to 1 (and I also think they are required to actually offer the service and hence the one facility in CA that does that for some fleets). As far as I know, the only quarters that Tesla has shown a profit, the revenue from selling their CARB ZEV credits has been greater than the total profit the reported.

picasso said:

If other automakers keep putting pressure on, then Chevy will have to roll it out continent wide.

Volkswagen just announced they are building an electric vehicle as a Chevy Bolt competitor - which means Chevy has spurred others into action. The same can happen - if the Bolt EV is only available in specific areas, they open themselves up to have another automaker beat them to the area with an EV.

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Ford announced a 200 mile BEV immediately after Chevy first showed the concept Bolt. Guess what....no such thing is actually coming from Ford. Their best effort will be to juice up the Focus to 100 miles next year.

I hope it is true. Where I live I can get a Tesla, a LEAF or a Volt. I want to avoid a gas engine all together. I can't afford a Tesla....until the 3 comes out. I don't like that the LEAF has no battery temperature management system. I know to many people I work with who have tried the LEAF and could not make it through the winter driving after 1 year and had to sell it or find another way around it. Some switched to the Volt, but I just don't like the idea of a gas engine. Other companies that say they are not building compliance cars like Ford will not sell me a Focus EV. I get the dealer that "sells EVs". I contact them and they tell me they don't sell them and how about a F-150 4x4 instead because we all knows those are about the same as an EV.

michael said:

Ford announced a 200 mile BEV immediately after Chevy first showed the concept Bolt. Guess what....no such thing is actually coming from Ford. Their best effort will be to juice up the Focus to 100 miles next year.

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And have they even confirmed upping the Focus Electric's range?

I'm glad and grateful that GM is putting the Bolt into production in greater numbers than a mere compliance EV. Hopefully this time the greenies will let competition drive the electric vehicle revolution, instead of trying to mandate etc like back in the EV1 days.