By Chris Perkins, Senior Writer and Editor, GM News
With a starting MSRP of $28,9951, the 2027 Chevrolet Bolt is the most affordable EV in America. That’s by design.
Chevrolet wanted the 2027 Bolt to improve on its predecessor – more range, quicker charging, a NACS charging port, up-to-date technology – while maintaining the value proposition that’s made this vehicle so beloved. Doing that was the task of Jeremy Short, chief engineer for the 2027 Bolt. To pull it off, he and his team leveraged General Motors’ huge lineup of vehicles and technologies.
“Everybody thinks you get the MSRP down by removing content,” Short tells GM News. “More important than all that is economies of scale. That is by far the most powerful driver in this.”
General Motors has a broad portfolio to suit all sorts of customer needs and desires, including an EV lineup that spans affordable crossovers to luxury flagships. That creates a huge well of components and technologies to draw from. “In a lot of cases with the things we improved, we actually saved money,” Short says as a result.
The 2027 Bolt features an 11-inch diagonal driver display and an 11.3-inch diagonal touchscreen, both of which are larger than their predecessors. They’re also more affordable because these are shared with GM’s mid-size trucks.
Turning the Bolt’s wheels is the same motor and power electronics as the Chevrolet Equinox EV, which also enabled a further cost savings. This hardware also helped boost efficiency.
“We have the same battery capacity as before, but it was the improved efficiency of these components that gave us 15 miles of additional range,” Short explains. “It wasn’t something we initially set out to do, but we realized very early that we had this opportunity and we went after it.”
The Bolt’s faster charging speeds – up to 150 kW – come from a new battery cell chemistry, Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP). This is GM’s first application of LFP in North America, and as Short says, it’s a relatively affordable chemistry, further keeping costs down.
Look throughout the vehicle, and you see countless examples of this type of clever engineering. The Bolt remains affordable not by taking things away from the customer, but through leveraging the best of what GM has to offer, adding value in every sense of the word. In some cases, you can have your cake and eat it too.
For all the changes, though, this is still the Bolt customers have grown to love.
“The Bolt has a pretty well-defined customer,” Short says. “Trying to sell them something else isn’t necessarily what they’re looking for. This is the best car for their money and the best car for their lifestyle. It does everything they want at the price they want.”
1 MSRP. Tax, title, license, dealer fees and optional equipment extra. Dealer sets final price.
With a starting MSRP of $28,9951, the 2027 Chevrolet Bolt is the most affordable EV in America. That’s by design.
Chevrolet wanted the 2027 Bolt to improve on its predecessor – more range, quicker charging, a NACS charging port, up-to-date technology – while maintaining the value proposition that’s made this vehicle so beloved. Doing that was the task of Jeremy Short, chief engineer for the 2027 Bolt. To pull it off, he and his team leveraged General Motors’ huge lineup of vehicles and technologies.
“Everybody thinks you get the MSRP down by removing content,” Short tells GM News. “More important than all that is economies of scale. That is by far the most powerful driver in this.”
General Motors has a broad portfolio to suit all sorts of customer needs and desires, including an EV lineup that spans affordable crossovers to luxury flagships. That creates a huge well of components and technologies to draw from. “In a lot of cases with the things we improved, we actually saved money,” Short says as a result.
The 2027 Bolt features an 11-inch diagonal driver display and an 11.3-inch diagonal touchscreen, both of which are larger than their predecessors. They’re also more affordable because these are shared with GM’s mid-size trucks.
Turning the Bolt’s wheels is the same motor and power electronics as the Chevrolet Equinox EV, which also enabled a further cost savings. This hardware also helped boost efficiency.
“We have the same battery capacity as before, but it was the improved efficiency of these components that gave us 15 miles of additional range,” Short explains. “It wasn’t something we initially set out to do, but we realized very early that we had this opportunity and we went after it.”
The Bolt’s faster charging speeds – up to 150 kW – come from a new battery cell chemistry, Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP). This is GM’s first application of LFP in North America, and as Short says, it’s a relatively affordable chemistry, further keeping costs down.
Look throughout the vehicle, and you see countless examples of this type of clever engineering. The Bolt remains affordable not by taking things away from the customer, but through leveraging the best of what GM has to offer, adding value in every sense of the word. In some cases, you can have your cake and eat it too.
For all the changes, though, this is still the Bolt customers have grown to love.
“The Bolt has a pretty well-defined customer,” Short says. “Trying to sell them something else isn’t necessarily what they’re looking for. This is the best car for their money and the best car for their lifestyle. It does everything they want at the price they want.”
1 MSRP. Tax, title, license, dealer fees and optional equipment extra. Dealer sets final price.