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It seems like you really want a Bolt. As such, if I were you, I would make an effort to test drive one before making a final decision. The main complaints are the front seats, torque steer, and harsh ride.

We have seen folks buy the Bolt in California and have it shipped to their home. This works out due the low destination charge for cars sold in California.

Unless, you can use the full $7,500 federal tax credit and have some state rebate or tax credit, I would suggest you lease the car. These electric cars seem depreciate severely and the technology is still undergoing some major changes.

I would use the Truecar website to get some online quotes on price.

Stefan1991 said:

I'm thinking at the moment about buying the Volt. Still not 100% sure and am still going to make a test ride this weekend.
But I've found some pretty good deals (4000 below MSRP) out of state not too far away from here for the exact Volt Premier I would like.
My main reason for the volt would be to not be afraid and be able to make further trips than just around the city.

And with barely any Bolts in Tennessee, I'm afraid it will be almost impossible to get a good deal on the price.

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If you are thinking of buying a Volt bear in mind that there are rumors that Chevy will planning to discontinue it in 2020, which would mean that it would be better to lease for 3 years than buy one.

Chevy's slow roll out and lack of advertising for the Bolt really makes it seem that there is no real corporate commitment to selling the Bolt. However, the Bolt supposedly has been available for sale in VA since February. Have you looked around western VA for any Bolts?

Just took a look at Berglund Chevy in Roanoke and they have at least 1 Bolt LT listed at list price on their website. I assume there are others available at other VA dealers as well.

See: http://www.berglundchevroletbuick.com/f_WindowSticker?VIN=1G1FW6S09H4163915&cs=%27window_sticker%27

Stefan1991 said:

I think it's not possible right now to buy Bolts out of state? I read that Chevy is threatening dealers that they will risk losing allocations if they sell them out of state? That's also what the dealer here told me. (although he probably would tell me that no matter what to make me come back to them to order a Bolt).

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I think that's old news and not relevant anymore. The only thing that I would make an effort to be aware of is any state rebate, tax exemption, or tax refund that would only apply to cars sold in that state.

I often read about people leasing Volts and Bolts. What's the benefit of that? And would I still be able to get the 7500 tax credit if you lease a car?

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You will not get the tax credit on a leased vehicle. However the leasing company may apply some of that credit, which they keep, in lowering the down payment, lowering the month lease payment and offering a better residual deal for the car.

The benefit of leasing a Bolt is that the technology is still undergoing major changes, the history of electric cars to depreciate rapidly, and that many folks don't have the income in 2017 to use up all of the federal tax credit. Note you can't carry over the tax credit to another year.

Whenever I buy a car I plan to at least drive it for a long time (5 till 10 years). That's why I'm also a little concerned about the Bolt, since they haven't been on the road for years like the Volt. And 5 or 10 years from now I still want to be able to drive it more than 200 miles. Maybe the batteries will do good, but there is no way to know that for sure until they have been on the road for a couple of years I think.

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I think the Bolt will turn out to be a very reliable car, more so then the Volt. With an electric car, there is just less to go wrong with it. I think the battery is going to be one of the most reliable parts on the car. GM is so confident in the battery, that they are offering a capacity warranty on it for 10 years. I don't know of anyone else that is offering a capacity warranty on the traction warranty.

As far as major things that could go wrong with the Bolt, I would be more concerned with the motor, the inverter and the charger then the traction battery.

marshallinwa said:

GM is so confident in the battery, that they are offering a capacity warranty on it for 10 years. I don't know of anyone else that is offering a capacity warranty on the traction warranty.

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Bolt battery warranty is 60% capacity for 8 years.

Most manufactures do offer capacity warranties:


There is a federally mandated 10 yr/100K mile warranty on the battery (it's considered part of the emissions system), but that is for failure (which is undefined - if the car will drive 2 miles, has the battery "failed")

The Honda Clarity plugin hybrid is suppose to come out by the end of the year, but it's not a hatchback.

Stefan1991 said:

And what's the best way to see just level 3 chargers on a map? The Chevrolet website is annoying since it isn't able to filter just on level 3 chargers.

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This might help.

Sort By Level


Best map is probably Plugshare, at least local to me. Plugshare's map is crowd sourced, so if drivers update the stations on the map, it gets better.

Stefan1991 said:

Does anyone know how likely it usually is that a level 3 charger is in use?

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Some chargers you can track online. If you have a co-driver, they might be able to check the status of upcoming DCQC stations, and perhaps reroute if reasonable.

Stefan1991 said:

It's 666 miles from the dealer to my house, so I for sure will need to recharge on the way.
I probably will have to drive 200 miles, and depending how good I'm doing with the millage charge it up a few times.

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To maximize the charging rate, and minimize the charging time, you would want to stay on the bottom 65% of the battery as much as you could. So look at more like 4 charging stops. 200 miles initial run, then 100 mile runs. Longer runs will increase the charging time.

Stefan1991 said:

I read that a level 3 charger will charge 90 miles in 30 minutes. How much will it slow down after the first 30 minutes?

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Stefan1991 said:

I've no idea how likely it is that chargers will be in use, or people parked on the spots. Does it ever happen that people are in line for level 3 chargers? I'll be doing this drive on a Sunday.

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It happens. Not often, but the last time I took a long trip when I got to the DCQC there was one car charging, one car waiting, and all three L2 chargers were busy. Was on a Sunday. I can't even guess as to how likely it would be on your trip.

What I did so was to drive to the next DCQC, my Plan "B". On long trips, I always have a Plan "B" and usually a Plan "C".

Stefan1991 said:

I also could get some to drive with a trailer into my direction and see how far I get on a charge, and do the rest with a trailer.

I might be able to find more chargers and do more small stops, or try to make it to the furthest away level 3 charger possible and charge from almost empty.

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Both of those are good ideas.

Some resources if you decide to drive the whole way. It is probably more practical to do this as a two day trip, and plan a stop at a hotel with a L2.

http://boltev.blogspot.com/2017/01/dc-fast-charge-data.html

http://insideevs.com/planning-a-long-journey-with-your-chevrolet-bolt-ev-or-opel-ampera-e/

http://www.mychevybolt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=4889&p=8998#p8998

Holiday Inn 99 Bradley Dr, Christiansburg, VA 24073 has an L2 station. There are more options, just look in Plugshare.