2020 Chevrolet Bolt Premier by Mark Fulmer

Bolting Silently Off the Line

by Mark Fulmer
The Auto Channel

Quickness. Like a skilled basketball point guard (Steph Curry comes to mind) the 2020 Chevrolet goes from standing still to full run in the blink of an eye. They both have exceptional low end torque, maneuverability, and silence. The ability to quick launch, to negotiate in tight spots, and to eliminate gas station stops and economics, makes for an uplifting driving experience with equal parts of fun and confidence.

Power-packed App. The myChevrolet Mobile App for Bolt EV acts like a trusted side-kick. It lets you send remote commands to your vehicle right from your compatible smartphone, allowing you to precondition the vehicle, find charging stations, check charging notifications and view How Things Work videos, make service appointments. The app also includes remote door lock/unlock, vehicle location, vehicle diagnostics such as battery level and fuel range, and voice assistance with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. Perhaps next year they could add a GPS tracker to the fob that could enable us to use the app to find our key fob when it hides in plain sight. The app is very useful and I get the feeling all these vehicle apps will continue to add features and become even more powerful partners to vehicles.

One pedal driving. Another terrific feature is the Regen on Demand (RoD) paddle behind the left-side of the steering wheel. When you are coming to a stop, you can gradually pull on the paddle which will apply regenerative braking force slowing the car without using the friction brakes and turn on your rear brake lights. The paddle can feather your braking to a complete stop, knowing that you are reducing wear on your brake pads and rotors, adding charge to the battery, and not adding brake dust particulate pollution to the already stressed atmosphere.

The Premier trim has 17-inch wheels, heated power mirrors, and roof rails. The interior adds a heated leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, a false cargo floor, ambient instrument panel lighting, heated front perforated leather-trimmed seats, and a rear center armrest. Safety tech includes a surround-view camera, cruise control, lane assist with blind spot alert, a rear camera mirror, rear cross traffic alert, and rear park assist.

Power is provided permanent-magnet synchronous AC front-wheel drive motor and a lithium-ion battery making an agreeable 200hp/150kW of power. It takes 10 hours to charge the Bolt on a home-installed 240-volt outlet, or 30 minutes to add 100 miles at a fast-charge station. With its big battery, range is about 259 miles on a full charge. I say "about" because it could easily be anywhere between 200 - 300 miles based on driving technique, terrain, and climate.

The Bolt Premier with its fun-to-drive low end torque, one pedal ability, and eco-friendliness is an impressive urban shuttlecraft.