We’re spending the week with the 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV Premier – the top-spec variant with leather seating surfaces, 17-inch Ultra-Bright machined aluminum wheels, roof-mounted side rails and a new 360-degree Surround View Camera. This mildly refreshed 2020 model includes a slightly redesigned front fascia, more range, an improved backup camera and added safety technology.
Our unit is finished in the very loud Oasis Blue exterior color which is also new for the 2020 model-year along with Cayenne Orange Metallic. Green Mist Metallic and Shock exterior colors were deleted for 2020. Other updates include a more powerful 66 kWh battery (up from 60 kWh) which boosts maximum range from 238 to 259 miles.
Outside, the only visible change for the 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV is a high gloss black grille with wave pattern. The car’s interior remains relatively unchanged except for the addition of an all-weather floor liner that’s available as a dealer-installed accessory. New safety technology like the HD Rear Vision and Surround Vision cameras, as well as an acoustic vehicle alerting system (AVAS) that uses front and rear speakers are also part of the refresh.
The 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV still rides on a variant of the GM Gamma 2 platform called the GM BEV2 platform. Power is rated at 200 horsepower and 266 lb-ft of torque.
The biggest update is obviously the battery which not only promises more range, but also improved performance in mild and cold temperatures. GM claims the 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV adds up to 100 miles during the first 30 minutes of charging at mild temperatures from a depleted battery, and up to 150 percent more miles during the first 30 minutes at cold temperatures.
To test this out, we’ll be driving the Bolt EV up in Montreal, Canada, during mild-to-cold early March weather. We’ll test out how much range a full charge will give us, but also compare what the onboard computer tells us with the car’s real-world mileage. This will be done during a 250-mile roadtrip which will include both city and highway driving. We’ll be using a combination of level 2 (240-Volt) and level 3 (400-Volt) public charging stations to replenish the car’s battery.
We will have this popular American EV for the entire week, so if you would like to know more about it beyond the spec sheet, ask your questions about the 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV in the comments section, and we’ll reply in a timely manner as part of the GM Authority interactive review.
Ready…. set… go!
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Comments
I’ve had my eye on the Bolt for awhile. The interior seems stark and plain. It is very functionally designed and seems like a great daily driver. Tell me other features that make it worth the price.
Nothing wrong with plain and functionality. Most consumers treat their cars like appliances nowadays, and emotional attachment is not like it used to be.
The range per dollar ratio is a good reason to get a Bolt over a Tesla.
Frank, I have a 2019 Bolt and can not imagine a better commuter car with the same features for the same price. A similarly equipped Tesla Model 3 probably would have been at least $10K more. You will love saving money on gas and not wasting time at a gas station. You will love the acceleration and silent driving. You will love having basically no maintenance to do for a long time.
How is the driver seat for a tall, long legged driver? Does the steering wheel telescope very far?
Do you have trouble finding DC fast chargers for trips longer than 260 miles? Does the white plastic dash look grimy when dirty?
No and no.
Amazing amount of headroom.
I’m tall and I don’t mind the Bolt’s seating position. Steering wheel does telescope quite far. However, the seats themselves are rather hard.
I like sporty cars, but powerful EVs are much more expensive than the Bolt. So what is it like to drive? Steering feel? Brake smoothness, linearity and firmness? Cornering? Acceleration?
Thanks
Awesome on all counts. It shocks sports car drivers when the traffic light changes and they watch me keep up or pass them on a straightaway. They look at me as if to say, ” what the hell was that ?”
It’s surprisingly quick and handles like a hot hatchback. Feels like an electric Golf GTI actually.
What is the battery drainage when the interior heat if fully on for those very cold wintry days with the headlights turned on? To me that is the real range, not what is advertised. It would be nice if you can do it this distance test with the air conditioner on for those of us who live in the southern US such as Orlando, FL. We get quite a few snowbirds from Canada where many live here a day short of six months before going back to Canada.
Ac has a minimal effect on batteries. We drive a Volt and live in Central Fl. Heat has a big impact when running on battery but isn’t noticeable when running the AC
I have driven a 2020 Bolt. Very impressive performance. I’m 6 foot 240 lbs. comfortable ride
I drive a 5 week-old 2020 Oasis Blue Bolt (as pictured) and live in South Florida. A/C usage has minimal effect. Cabin heat is the biggest drains is crazy cold weather.
For cold days, its better the use the heated seats and heated steering wheel as opposed to cabin heat.
I can usually get away with just heated seats and steering wheel down to about 40oF outside temperature if I’m wearing a sweatshirt. So, they are pretty useful.
We just did a real world cold weather test. We’ll post the results shortly, but what you need to know is that EV’s loose anywhere from 30 to 50% of actual range in below 0 temperatures.
I’d like to know if the new battery pack can hold its power during a cold night, when not plugged. I test drived a Bolt EV during a cold winter weekend, and the battery lost 40 km of range during the night, because the battery had to condition itself against the cold weather (battery was heating itself, kind of…?). That and the fact that I had to reheat the inside of the car every time I had to use it made my usable range very short. I just hope it has been improved. Since winter conditions are very long lasting in Quebec, I am afraid the Bolt EV lost its relevance if it still have to heat the battery pack to run.
I’ve had a Bolt 2020 for just over a month now. With the weather in Baltimore in the upper 20s overnight, I have yet to see the range on a full charge at more than 200 miles.
The average I get is 180 miles.
My commute is 40 miles each way and I get free charging at the office, so while this was a suprise it has not been an issue for me.
On my 2017 Bolt I don’t see more than 150 miles in ~ 32 degree weather in Columbus, OH. But in the summer I’m normally at 245. Granted, I run with the cabin temperature at 75 degrees.
On my 5 week-old Bolt, the top number on the GOM has been as high as 373,but I live in S. Florida. I have only charged once at home and every other time at dealers. 2 Chevy,1 Audi,1 Porsche and my favorite, the BMW dealer.
Jonathan, I also live in MD and you will definitely see a big increase to your range come spring/summer. I’ve gotten up to 280 miles of range after a full charge in the summer on a beautiful day in a 2019 Bolt after I’ve been taking the backroads instead of the highway to work for a couple days in a row. So with the 2020 you should be able to beat that, as long as you don’t do all highway driving.
I left the car out in the cold for three days at -15 C and I only lost about 10 km of range.
THANKS! That’s very interesting to know! And very accurate answer to my question, thank you very much! That’s what we call professionalism.
Will it fit in an ice cube crusher?
No,but I’m sure your brain will.
My 2020 Bolt Premier is awesome in many ways. How can I get fresh air into the cabin without using the ac or heating?
Um, roll the window down?
Turn the AC, Heat, and Recirculation off. That will be fresh air coming in.
Plan interior and to small, I’ll wait for a big brother verion
Why would I buy/lease a BEV2 when BEV3 is coming soon?
Simple – cost!
I’ll tell you why,$$$. I paid $27400 out the door 5 weeks ago for a loaded 2020 LT.In January and again in February,there were incredible;e GM rebates. Plus,the Federal tax credit of $1875 ends on March 30.
BEV3 won’t be available until mid 2021.
Have you noticed that the camera grid lines on the the display, when in reverse, have a mind of their own as to when they should be on? In my Bold I do not get the gridlines everytime I back up.
is it worth $40K? do you feel like you are driving a $40K vehicle? would you buy one?
Definitely worth the money, partcularly if your state has a rebate program
I checked local inventory for Orlando Florida, 102 Bolt LT trim vehicles in stock and most are $30,000. Up to the Premier trim and add two electronic packages for $1,100 comes to a price of around $35,000 with a $8,500 or more cash allowance. For an EV, that is where the market is.
My loaded 2020 Bolt LT was $27400 out the door on January 30. Not including $1875 Federal tax credit. The sticker was $39790. The dealer was about 35 minutes north of Tampa. I drove 156 miles each way for my deal.
My loaded 2020 Bolt LT was $27400 out the door on January 30. Not including $1875 Federal tax credit. The sticker was $39790.
You shouldn’t compare a $40,000 EV to a $40,000 gas car. On top of the federal and state tax credits/rebates, I save about $100 per month in gas, even factoring in the price of electricity. Plus about $120 per year in oil changes. There is virtually no maintenance to do other than tires for a very long time. Factoring everything in, it will only take me a 4-5 years for my Bolt to be cost equivalent to what I would have paid for a similarly equipped gas car ($25K or so).
It would be great if an optional stereo speaker systenm were available. Have they done anything to improve the carpet installation ? The carpet on my 2017 is extremely thin and not secured to the floor very well, particularly near the threshold at the doors. I’ll be curious to see how the infotainment system works during your travels. I had to have several upgrades to the software due to glitches in the system.
Lastly, I wasn’t aware that there are 400 watt public charging stations anywhere. Is that in the Chargepoint network or someone’s elses ?
Thank you !!
I believe it was 400 volt charging (DC charging is normally 400 or 800 volts)
Level 2 AC charging is 240 volts.
I can’t believe GM is still putting those ugly/cheap looking black mirrors on this vehicle. I would never buy it with black mirrors. They just cheapen the looks. They did this in the 80s and 90s, while the foreign companies were putting body colored mirrors on theirs, which look so much nicer. I thought they had finally gotten past that.
I tired of sarcasm on this forum of nonsense meaning.
If you check out the Chevrolet.com, the mirrors are a satin finis to match the black trim on all models. With any color the belt line is black, therefore it keeps it as a continuous trim with a little bright metal trim around the fixture. HD pictures on the Chevy site makes it all look really good. Painted mirror would not fit the trim of this vehicle.
Get the premier model and you get leather seats, not so cheap is it.
I don’t think it was sarcasm. I’m pretty sure he just has some kind of hangup on trim colored mirrors, which is something most people wouldn’t even notice.
What is the chances that the battery survives the test drive given the poor reputation of the Chevrolet Bolt’s battery which in some cases had needed to be replaced twice.
What poor reputation of the battery? Did you just consume some shrooms, by chance?
My Chevy dealer in Lapeer County, MI told me they are not equipped to support the Bolt. Is this true in other parts of the country?
Graff in Durand has an electric vehicle spot right at the main building. Not sure if that really means anything.
Al Serra in Grand Blanc seems to have a Bolt in stock, and since it’s Grand Blanc I’d sort of assume they are better equipped too.
If a Bolt really doesn’t need as much maintenance, maybe traveling a little way isn’t a problem.
does it have a “night mode” where you can turn down the interior instrument lighting to a very dim setting, and does it have a position on the dial where the infotainment screen turns off, but maintains faint brightness on the instruments. This is a really nice feature for night driving, and my 2019 Camaro has it. I don’t want my infotainment screen blazing for no reason while I’m driving at night.
What size bottles/cups do the cupholders accept? Is there anywhere to put a full size nalgene bottle?
How tall is the main driver during your review, and how are the adjustments for wheel telescoping, seating position, etc. Is there a place in the positioning where it is difficult to set the right distance to the steering wheel, compared to the position of the pedals? Some vehicles are very obviously designed for women with shorter legs, and they assume that the female drivers will put the seat far forward. As a result, the steering wheel often doesn’t telescope out far enough for taller male drivers who have the seat pushed back.
Are there any annoying rattles? Cheaper GM vehicles are notorious for this.
Do the headlights on low project far down the road, or do they terminate in a line across the road about 75 feet away like most new vehicles with LED lights?
What is your real world range driving long distances in the cold?
Brian, I have a 2019 Bolt and have been shocked at how quiet it is and has remained. There are no annoying rattles of any kind in my car. I think the engineers knew that these would be extra annoying in a car so quiet and took steps to prevent them, but that is just a guess.
My 2019 Bolt Premier can turn the infotainment screen off and dim the “accent/mood lighting” to near off with just having the guage cluster as the only pertinent information.
Cup holders are normal size and there is a large area with raised lip just in front of the cup holders. Like a place for a bag/purse/lunchpale/Gallon sized drink*
Not sure entirely sure if the steering wheel would block the gauge cluster as that is more subjective per individual.
(My cousin is 6’3″ and finds the gauge cluster to be visible with seat and steering wheel adjusted. The fore-mentioned empty area in front of the cup holders aids in giving his right-knee extra space. He is able to also sit in the back seat behind himself)
Rattles have not been present yet, although only 5800 miles on the Bolt since September 2019.
The headlights do project pretty far down the road and the auto-highbeam functionality works pretty well. Yes the Bi-xenon projector headlights do have a distinct cutoff line.
Unfortunately I am in Arizona greater Phoenix area so no cold weather range…however from a 100% charge and driving flat out (foot down and never lifting) you can travel 160 miles at 93mph. (Extremely inefficient to do so, but decent range for never lifting)
Yes, the Bolt has a night mode feature which adapts the infotainment screen’s lighting.
I live an hour north of you and did the same thing in my Volt at 101 MPH (on a closed course with a professional driver I believe), made it about 200 miles at apx. 22MPG. I have lost count of how many Teslas I have passed on roadtrips. It doesn’t matter how fast your 0 to 60 is if you can’t use it in the real world due to range anxiety.