During today’s earnings call, Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors, said that a second-generation Chevrolet Bolt EV exists. GM said the Bolt was dead earlier this year as it prepared the factory that made the hatchback to start producing electric trucks instead. Barra said the second-generation Bolt will use GM’s newer Ultium battery technology. This shows that the car is not dead but is instead moving forward. During today’s earnings call, Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors, said that the Chevrolet Bolt name would be kept. In April, GM said that the Orion Assembly plant in Michigan, where the Bolt is made, would start making electric trucks like the Silverado EV in 2018. This differed from what was said before the Bolt would be discontinued after 2023. With the Bolt’s second generation announcement, Chevrolet promises that the electric hatchback will continue to combine cutting-edge technology with a reasonable electric range in a cost-effective package. Even though the Bolt has always been one of the cheaper EVs, the MSRP has gone down to $27,495 in 2023. After a controversial battery recall in 2021, sales went up, and in 2022, when 38,120 Volts were sold, it had its best sales year ever. 2023 is doing well because it made 33,659 Bolts in the first half. The current Bolt, which came out for the first time in 2017, is built on the BEV2 technology, made with help from LG, which also made the Bolt’s battery pack. Since then, GM and LG Energy Solution have worked together to make Ultium, a new battery base already in the Cadillac Lyriq and GMC Hummer EV and will also be in the Silverado EV. Barra has said that the next Bolt will run on the Ultium platform. This will make it possible for the badge to come out “on an accelerated timeline,” though the exact date won’t be known for a while. Chevy didn’t say if the slightly bigger Bolt EUV would come back, but it may if crossovers continue to sell well. The second-generation Bolt is likely to hit the market in 2025.
