Last week, we brought you the very first spy photos of a prototype of the future Chevrolet Bolt EUV. Now, we managed to catch the camouflaged mule driving around in the wild on video. What the new video shows is just how small the Bolt EUV will be, suggesting that it will be a rather small crossover SUV. Here’s the video in question:
Proportionally, the prototype of the future Bolt EUV seems to be slightly longer than the current Bolt EV, suggesting overall dimensions in the compact or subcompact range, while its top-heavy appearance suggests SUV-style functionality. Then again, the Bolt’s current proportions are very much SUV-like, Chevrolet officially recognized the model as a crossover during its launch.
If you look closely at the prototype’s side profile as it approaches the camera, you’ll notice a door and window design very similar (if not identical) to those on the Bolt EV. The wheelbase, however, appears to be longer, which makes sense given that we have heard that the future Chevrolet Bolt EUV will ride on the Bolt’s BEV2 platform.
From the way the prototype quietly glides out onto the open road, we can definitely confirm that it will be an all-electric affair. No specifications have been released, but the current Bolt EV’s 60 kWh battery pack does allow it to drive up to 238 miles on a full charge. Even if it’s been around for a few years now, the Bolt EV is still very much competitive, being right in the midst of more modern offerings such as the Hyundai Kona Electric. As such, dropping a longer body on the Bolt EV’s electric powertrain architecture would result in a package that’s relevant to a great subset of potential buyers, especially if properly priced.
With front-wheel drive sub-compact crossover SUVs being all the rave these days with vehicles such as the Nissan Kicks, Toyota C-HR and upcoming Hyundai Venue, an all-electric GM competitor would not only be a good fit, it could downright replace the Bolt EV within the Chevrolet lineup altogether.
We expect the Chevrolet Bolt EUV to launch in 2020 for the 2021 model year as a longer variant of the Bolt EV. It will be assembled at the GM Lake Orion plant in Michigan alongside the Bolt EV. The facility received a $300 million dollar investment in March of 2019.
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Comments
Get this up to 300 miles on a charge and it will sell.
In my opinion concerning EV’s is that 250 miles is plenty for almost everyone. Think about it you hardly ever really drive that many miles in a single day. When you get home you plug in so you never really need to worry about range. Now the one thing that i think needs to happen where there will basically be zero opposition to EV’s is that The Fast Chargers need to be no more than 10 minutes. That is when people will be ok with living the EV life. You will only have to use Super Chargers once in a while if you have Home Charging. So the Super Chargers need to be as fast as a Gas pump for the rest of the people. That is my opinion.
325 miles and with a 30 minute quick charge to get to 80% when away from home and yes….325 to allow for some loss over some 5 years making it still very nicely usable after some mileage loss allowing one to drive 240 miles away from home without breaks every 4hrs or so using quick chargers when away from home!
Small is right. It’s a bitty little crack skipper. It seems Spark sized or so.
It’s a bit bigger than the Spark… which is Bolt EV territory. We can think of the Bolt EV as being the successor the Spark EV. The Bolt EUV will be a bit bigger… roughly a foot (via the grapevine).
I was hopeful the new Bolt would have been much bigger. We shall see how this comes out to be.
I worry VW will have a proper CUV sized EV and Chevrolet will have once again a tiny EV to battle with.
The Spark EV was the size of the Spark. The Bolt EV is larger than a Sonic. It’s also larger than the Trax and Encore. It just doesn’t have the long overhangs for the ICE or sit as high off the ground. It already has a wheelbase over 2 inches longer than the Encore/Trax. This vehicle appears to have more overhang in the front which will help with proportions.
i hope they put more than a little excitement into the design because boring isn’t going to cut it.
It’s under camo. You cannot make such a determination so soon.
This is still very much a Chevrolet Bolt meaning it most likely will feature the same battery, suspension and electric motor which means this is still not much bigger than a standard Bolt; if Chevrolet is planning an extended range electric vehicle of any type, having 400 miles would be great then they would be able to say San Francisco to Los Angeles on a single charge (although this would be if it borrowed the Volt architecture with a 1.5L 4-cyl to recharge the battery).
I think a 325 with 80% charge in 30 minutes is a sweet spot as who likes to drive more than 4hrs without at least 1 potty break general speaking if not to get a byte to eat or drink. So I don’t think we need 400 but 325 at least would provide an ongoing usable 4hr travel break period after some years of degradation. But heck if cost is not that much more for 400 miles I will take that too.
Bolt was a failure and it’s ho hum design was a major factor.
Why not build a Trailblazer EV varient. Use the BEV platform but Trailblazer styling? Eventually do the same with Nox given the cars popularity?
This is PSA’s plan for Opel and it would work well for Chevrolet. Many Americans are uneasy regarding EV’s so a dedicated line is silly. Also, a family of Trailblazers saves on marketing.
GM learned nothing from Volt–a product that should have sold well but many drivers failed to understand. Honda did a great job with advertising explaining Clarity and this will benefit sales.
Didn’t you notice that this EV has the Blazer nose?
uh Honda and clarity great job advertising. I did not even know one existed until I saw it charging at a local hotel taking up my volt spot! Just saying. They were as bad as GM in advertising.