Chevrolet Volt, Bolt EV Recognized As Ideal Commuter Cars

Range anxiety may turn off may car buyers, but sometimes it takes about 100 miles to get Americans from point A to point B in daily commutes. Thus, the Chevrolet Volt and Chevrolet Bolt EV have been recognized as two ideal commuter cars.

Car sales website CarGurus has put together an interactive map based on data across the entire United States to name ideal commuter cars in many parts of the country. The map includes data points for numerous major cities around the U.S., and both electric cars and plug-in hybrids are named often. In the midwest and north, the Bolt EV and Volt aren’t mentioned often due to the colder temperatures and snowy conditions. The Tesla Model S 75D does get the nod in some instances, however.

But, in the south, the Volt with its 53-mile estimated electric range and Bolt EV with its 238-mile estimated electric range are top picks. Specifically, the site selected 13 cities that would be best suited to either a Volt or Bolt EV. For the Volt, the car best-suited cities with decent weather and places where high city fuel economy is desired. Areas such as Wichita, Kansas; Austin, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; and Baltimore, Maryland all earned Volt recommendations.

The Bolt EV was recommended in cities such as Bakersfield, California; Tucson, Arizona; Pensacola, Florida; and Tampa, Florida. Bolt EV recommendations came with desires for high combined fuel economy and electric powertrains. These areas also don’t often have crippling traffic, either.

It’s not entirely clear what metrics the site used to compile the recommendations, but all-wheel drive would help a GM electric vehicle earn more bragging rights in colder areas with snow. Perhaps a future Chevrolet Blazer plug-in hybrid could help with that.

Former GM Authority staff writer.

Sean Szymkowski

Former GM Authority staff writer.

View Comments

  • Chevrolet's Volt is the best of both worlds as it runs as an electric vehicle and with it's 1.5L gas motor, you've got freedom from needing to look for some where to recharge the battery.

  • I have test driven a 2018 Volt premium and would like to test drive the 2019 version before buying but none is available in my area (New Castle County Delaware) and Chevrolet is irresponsive to my requests. Is there any reason why the 2019 Volt is not being widely released and there is such a lack of information on its avaiability?

  • I am beginning to get the impression that most people in the USA have no idea of the outstanding value that the Volt represents in today's real infrastructure and market . This is not surprising considering the totally inadequate marketing GM did with the Volt. There is no comparison between the economy and usefulness of the Volt in suburban America, particularly in a single car family. The back-up generator feature of the Volt would have given GM market dominance in almost all EV markets, if they had only explained and marketed it, as they do pickup trucks, etc, ad nauseam. I wonder if GM brass even understood the true value and engineering excellence that the Volt power train represented? As a long time GM customer and an extremely happy 2018 Volt owner, I am very disappointed to see such a good product relegated to the trash heap. This is the technology that would be the best choice for pickup truck and SUV applications as well as mid size sedans. And as far as Cadillac goes, which is being touted as the answer to the EV market, our dealer loaned us a new ICE Cadillac as our Volt was in for minor service, and we couldn’t wait to get our Volt back, as the Caddy seemed so crude compared to the silken smoothness of the Volt! Hopefully Cadillac can figure out the real suburban market and not try to outdo Tesla in the useless toy car market. Ask a new Tesla owner who now understands what range anxiety really means!

    To the claim that the Volt was not profitable enough, perhaps if GM had actually marketed and advertised the Volt it could have become profitable? I am a very happy Volt owner and do my best to explain and promote the Volt, but in my somewhat large circle of friends and relatives I have yet to find anyone who really understood the many advantages the Volt had in today’s real existing infrastructure and thus real market. Most think it is simply an expensive Prius!

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