As expected, Chevrolet today officially unveiled its new electric vehicle — the Chevy Bolt — during its keynote at CES. The new car, which will retail for just under $30,000 after Federal tax credits, will have a range of about 200 miles.
It’ll compete with the likes of the Nissan Leaf, which has about half this range, the BMW i3, which also doesn’t quite get to 200 miles, and — in the future with Tesla’s — lower cost cars. Chevy’s own Spark EV already costs less than the Bolt, but only has about 80 miles of range.
The company previewed the new car almost a year ago. It’ll feature Chevy’s MyLink infotainment system with a 10.2-inch color touchscreen. Besides the range, other marquee features include the rear camera mirror and surround vision, which uses four cameras to give drivers a 360-degree view of what’s going on around the car. This mode will only be active while parking, though (which may be a good thing, given how distracting this could be while driving). The rear camera mirror means your view won’t be obstructed by passengers or the seats in the back.
The Bolt will be deeply integrated with your smartphone (and personalized to your homescreen when it recognizes your phone, for example). It offers a fast-charging mode as well.
The Bolt will feature both support for Android Auto and Apple Car Play. In addition, Chevy is launching a new mobile app for Bolt drivers, too, that will give them all of the information about their car on their phones.
Chevy used today’s keynote to throw some shade on Tesla, too. The company noted how it still believes in the dealer model and how its customers will never have to drive to another state to service their cars.
Chevrolet is still keeping a few details about the car under wraps so it has something to announce that the North American International Auto Show in Detroit next week.
