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General Motors has been aching to bill itself as the #1 EV seller in the US. That dream seems like a fantasy as Tesla continues to dominate. However, a glimmer of hope appeared this week as GM re-launched its popular Chevy Bolt while Tesla continues to flounder its way into the dustbin of automotive history.
A Tale Of Two Relaunches: The “New” Tesla Standard Vs. The New Chevy Bolt
On its face, stripping some extra features from your company’s top-selling EVs and re-marketing them at a reduced price is a genius move, except when it’s not. Earlier this week, Tesla attempted to follow through on its age-old promise of a $30,000 EV, launching “Standard” versions of its Model 3 and Model Y to much fanfare.
That’s some sound reasoning there. After all, the $7,500 federal EV tax credit has evaporated but EV charging stakeholders are still installing new stations hand over fist, indicating continued demand for a zero-emission ride — at the right price, that is.
The effort flopped bigly, as in fish out of water flopped. The general media and automotive press alike reacted to Tesla’s “Standard” gambit with a collective yawn over the strategy of simply de-contenting existing models and then offering them at a price that fails to offset the loss of the tax credit.
Then there’s the Chevy Bolt. Many a tear was shed back in 2023 when GM announced that it was halting production of the popular EV. Not to worry, though. GM soon dropped word that an all-new Chevy Bolt was in the works. By January of this year, rumors of the EV’s rise from the dead were flying thick and fast. Sure enough, in July, GM let slip a few details about a forthcoming re-launch, alongside some fresh news about its LFP battery plans.
That brings us to earlier today, when GM Authority scooped the news that the new Chevy Bolt is back, in a detail-saturated report complete with pricing:
“The 2027 Chevy Bolt will launch in the RS trim, which will start around $32K in the U.S. The launch model will also offer an LT package, which will start at $29,990. Later on in the model year, the Bolt will add an LT trim with a base price of $28,995. These figures, which include the destination freight charge, make the 2027 Bolt the cheapest EV announced in America so far.”
As US Economy Sinks, The New Chevy Bolt Runs Away From Tesla Standard On Price
Doing the math, if GM set out to beat the Tesla Standard launch on price, they accomplished that while also squeezing past the $30,000 Nissan LEAF. The figure cited by GM Authority brings the cost of the least expensive Bolt — including the destination freight charge — comfortably below the $30,000 mark.
Meanwhile, as CleanTechnica editor Zachary Shahan noted, Tesla Standard models 3 and Y clocked in far above the $30,000 benchmark, with a base price of $37,000 and $40,000.
“These are close to the same prices offered on the Model 3 six years ago when I bought one,” Shahan noted.
“If you adjust for inflation, things are going to look better, but on the other hand, are people typically making more money than they were a few years ago? Do people have more spending power?” he added.
And, that’s the question. If people were willing to pay a premium to have the Tesla “T” (some say lady parts, btw) on the hood of their EV in years past, three circumstances have collided in recent years to dim the prospects for Tesla’s future in the auto industry:
1. Competition is rising from legacy automakers with a solid fan base in the US (see GM: Chevy).
2. Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s enormous pile of right-wing baggage keeps growing.
3. US President Trump’s tariff-drenched, job-killing economy is hitting EV-curious car buyers in the wallet.
4. With evidence mounting that EV batteries last much longer than expected, car buyers who really want a Tesla can dip into the growing stockpile of used EVs for a more affordable, zero emission ride.
If you can add anything to the list, drop a note in the comment thread. Meanwhile, as Shahan emphasizes: “With the $7,500 [tax credit] now gone, these low-priced models are actually more expensive than the normal Model 3 and Model Y were 8 days ago! And they’re much worse. They aren’t even close to $30,000.”
So, What Do You Get From GM?
One thing you don’t get from GM is a CEO who keeps digging their company farther down the drain of brand reputation gone sour. Sure, Tesla is a diversified outfit with other stuff to sell besides EVs, but cars are its signature consumer-facing product. The Tesla brand is crashing while other automakers tend to business, and GM is a case in point.
If you can name the Chair and CEO of GM off the top of your head, run right out and buy yourself a cigar. Hint: This person was also inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2023.
Of course, that would be Mary Barra, who worked her way up from a college job at GM in 1980 to reach her current position. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at one of the more interesting details GM Authority has described about the new Chevy Bolt: The exclusion of Apple CarPlay.
CarPlay has its fans, as does Android Auto. However, GM is among the automakers aiming to give their drivers soup-to-nuts control over EV charging without interference from a third party that has a lot of other things on its plate.
GM Authority reporter Alex Luft covered that angle in 2023, in a review of the Blazer EV. “The primary reason is that we’re looking to create a comfort level around the [EV] charging experience,” GM told Luft.
“With Android Auto or Apple CarPlay environments, the vehicle energy model or road segment data is sending energy usage and everything else associated with it to the phone, and it’s pretty difficult to off-board it from the phone,” GM continued. “So what we have built in[to the Blazer EV’s infotainment system] is really accurate data around battery health and battery monitoring and everything else that comes with it.”
GM also noted that its route planning technology integrates charging station availability as well as battery pre-conditioning, enabling drivers to arrive at a fast-charging station along their route with their battery already in peak condition to absorb a full charge.
Speaking of batteries, on October 8, GM received the Battery Innovation of the Year award for its LMR (lithium-manganese-rich) cells. On accepting the award, Kurt Kelty, the company’s VP of battery propulsion and sustainability, indicated that the company is prepped and ready to build EV profitability into its affordability journey.
“The global EV market is growing, and foreign countries and companies are investing heavily in this space. At the same time, the U.S. policy and regulatory environment is shifting. Amid all this change, GM remains focused on our North Star: Building a profitable EV future,” Kelty, who used to be the battery lead at Tesla, said.
That’s a rather gentle way of saying that the partisan war on EVs is doomed to fail, regardless of the fossil-friendly mission of the current US government….
Photo (cropped): General Motors has been teasing the re-launch of the new Chevy Bolt EV for months, and now the affordable EV cat is finally out of the bag (via GM).
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