New Chevy Bolt
The Chevrolet Bolt could make a comeback, as General Motors is planning a new edition of the electric car based on the Ultium platform. GM CEO Mary Barra made the announcement during a conference call on the latest quarterly figures.
In April, it appeared that the Bolt might disappear from the road. At the time, GM announced that it would cease production of the current model at the end of the year. The main reason given was that the batteries in the current Bolt use older cells than those in the company’s newer electric vehicles based on the Ultium platform.
According to the plan, a new generation of the Chevrolet Bolt will also benefit from this platform. More information on the schedule and production location for the new Bolt will be announced by GM at a later date. The new edition should continue to offer “what customers expect: outstanding affordability, range and technology”, according to the manufacturer.
“Our customers love today’s Bolt. It has been delivering record sales and some of the highest customer satisfaction and loyalty scores in the industry,” Barra said in a statement. It is also an important vehicle for attracting new customers, she added. More than 33,000 units of the Chevy Bolt and its offshoot Bolt EUV were sold in the first half of the year.
GM is not yet commenting on the battery. It is possible that the new Bolt will be equipped with pouch cells from Ultium Cells, a joint venture between GM and LGES. Or with prismatic cells or round cells from the new battery factory of GM and Samsung SDI.
The American carmaker only confirmed its return to Europe in mid-May. Which models will roll onto the market here and in which countries has not yet been confirmed. All that is known is that it will be a purely electric portfolio and vehicles from several GM brands. At the time, it was said that GM could first come forward with the Cadillac Lyriq – presumably first in the Nordic countries, i.e. Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. There has been no mention of the Bolt so far.
detroitnews.com, gm.com
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