The Chevrolet Bolt EV was originally slated to receive a refresh (also known as a mid-cycle enhancement, or MCE) for the 2021 model year, including updates to the exterior and interior. However, the refresh was pushed back to the 2022 model year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and now, GM Authority has rendered the refreshed 2022 Chevy Bolt EV ahead of the model’s debut.
We’ve seen the new 2022 Chevy Bolt EV before in various spy photos and teasers, but our rendering gets under the covers to show off the battery-powered subcompact’s revised fascia treatment. Sharp-eyed observers will no doubt identify influences from the latest 2021 Chevy Trailblazer, including slim signature lighting ahead of the front fenders, as well as prominent lighting “dimples” ahead of the front wheels. The upper horizontal lighting bits are connected by a black grille treatment with a gold Chevy Bow Tie, while the lower grille includes a broad black grille treatment above an angular lower air dam.
The shoulder line of the 2022 Chevy Bolt EV is once again extended from the headlamps with a slice of horizontal black trim, dipping around the door to create the illusion of a raked stance. Polished trim lower in the profile adds a dash of sparkle to the equation.
Although it’s not featured in this particular rendering, the refreshed 2022 Chevy Bolt EV will also include a revised rear fascia design, which will feature clear LED reverse light lenses mounted inside the tail lamp cluster, rather than lower in the bumper as seen on the current model.
The new Bolt EV will also feature a new cockpit.
The refreshed 2022 Chevy Bolt EV is set to hit production this Summer, at which time General Motors will also unveil the slightly larger Bolt EUV, or “Electric Utility Vehicle.” As GM Authority has covered previously, the Bolt EUV is expected to offer more ground clearance than the standard Bolt EV, as well as more interior room.
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Comments
Ugly!
I’m not into electric yet but I think the current Bolt is a good looking vehicle. This is looking more like a Prius.
so did you spend 5 or 6 minutes on this?
I can’t wait till electric cars and trucks look like a normal car or truck. The notion that electric vehicle buyers want something to look, we’ll say different, is just wrong in my case. Maybe I’m in the minority.
My thought exactly. Just make an electric version of each model in production, and designate it with a unique trim level. ELS, ELT, EPremier EActiv?
You’d think with them selling half a million Equinox’s and apparently a million full size trucks, they’d know to just build an EV version of those.
Instead we got the Bolt.
I would surmise that GM knows that BEVs are a niche market right now and they didn’t want to throw too many manufacturing resources at it. As far as just rebadging existing cars as electric, that won’t work, the battery packs are huge and the unibodies and frames need to be designed around them.
Definitely an ugly car tho, and I wish GM design team could have kept up with the engineering team on this one. I will mention that although the body is completely different from the Sonic, it is built in the same facility using many of the same bin parts. Smart to do with such a low volume vehicle.
The Bolt platform was adapted as well. I remember Sandy Munro discussing that when comparing it to a Tesla, which has a platform made for EV to begin with.
GM did build over 100 electric Equinox test vehicles in 2009, but they were equipped with hydrogen fuel cells (look up Fuel Cell Equinox). These vehicles were retired, but I bet someone bought one, took out the fuel cell and H2 Tanks, and added new batteries.
Anyway, the Silverado will be electric soon, using Hummer technology.
Haha, I was the first owner of a BOLT ev (purchased 2/28/17 – a day before they were officially released here) in Western NY (Buffalo), and I like mine well enough after 67,000 miles under its belt, but I have to agree.
Apparently a complex drive train, like the 2 generations of the VOLT cost a bit more to manufacture than doing 100% ICE or 100% BEV, so GM is going this way – ***OR*** it may be that GM figures the percentage of ICE the company makes will constantly stay higher with their current policy. In other words, make a few ’boutique’ BEV products but sell the vast majority of customers 100% ICE. Will be interesting to see if this is a valid long-term business plan.
Perhaps this new ULTIUM battery is truly the breakthrough they’ve TOLD us it is, (primarily cheaper for them to manufacture larger sizes – for some larger ‘mainstream’ vehicles which will be de rigueur for them to avoid paying silly carbon credit charges).
I’ve had some problems with the ‘infotainment’ with both the BOLT and Gen 2 Volt I own, but no where near the trouble that recent Silverado, Sierra, and similar type vehicle owners have had of late.
By default, the electrics are much more reliable – since GM is dropping the ball on some aspects of their ICE products’ reliability. I don’t understand it since that is where their markup currently is.
At least the New Turbo 4 used in the trucks claims to be highly reliable. So at least some fractions of GM Corporate seem to still be worried about Reliability.
Thank you Dmac!! My exact thoughts all along. And I don’t feel you are the minority either. Maybe, just maybe it’s why Electrics have not taken off as fast as they could have.
the bolt looks like a normal car. unfortunately it looks like a normal $20K car.
Go to the Ford website and read about the three EVs that look normal: 2021 Mustang Mach-E (on sale now), E-Transit, and electric F-150 (these two for 2022). I may buy a Mach-E by 2022 since GM never planned an electric Camaro based on the E-COPO.
I honestly think this looks a little better than the current Bolt, but that’s not a huge compliment.
In any case, I assume it won’t actually look like this. Maybe it will look better.
It really must be hard to come up with a column that says positive things about yet another uglier-than-sin cookie cutter POS car that nobody wants.
And the best you can say “it takes it’s cues from the Blazer”???
That’s another hideous abortion of a vehicle. You do know it’s Daewoo made in Korea. Right?
Real car designers don’t exist anymore .
What would you consider a real car then?
First I’ve been driving a 2019 bolt for over a year now and it is simply elegant – I’d say, awesome.
Second no one really cares what you think about how the car looks.
Third what people do care about is how does the 2022 bolt perform. Sure would be great to hear more about that rather than grousing & sniping about looks…it’s a great vehicle.
I’m glad you enjoy your car. It isn’t just the random guy thinking it looks stupid though.
Car and Driver: “That’s a lot of cash to spend on a dorky-looking hatchback”
They aren’t wrong. But it doesn’t have to be that way. They could just as easily have made a nice looking car. Quirky cars can be fun, but since the only EV GM has been selling for years now is one of those quirky looking cars, that’s either a huge mistake, or an indication that they weren’t taking the market seriously.
^ very much this.
what matters is gm has to put a ton of cash on the hood to move these vehicles and losing tons of money on each sold.
Your concept of money is totally wrong. GM never loses money on the Bolt or any car they produce. They do make a gain on each one.
i’ve never heard of a company that never loses money going bankrupt.
That bankruptcy was in 2009 before the Bolt was designed and presented in 2015. Companies can turn around in less than six years, and GM did!
“or any car they produce.” they were producing cars in 2009 weren’t they?
so after the bankruptcy, gm discovered a means to produce cars w/o ever losing money? if that is true, they should sell that instead of cars.
Somebody will lose money if they ever manage to sell the Bolts I’m seeing at the dealerships around here:
New 2020 Bolt Premier – $28,645
New 2020 Bolt Premier – $29,059
New 2020 Bolt Premier – $29,588
I wonder how many 2021’s the dealership will want to order when they are still trying to get rid of these.
I have to agree. I own 2017 and 2019 Bolts and we love them.
I too am looking for a conventional designed electric car. I think maybe the success of the Prius has influenced manufactures into thinking the public wants something unique looking in their electric cars. GM seems to have chosen the original “bubble car” the AMC Pacer as their design lead while Tesla favors more the Delorean.
Tesla makes plain ugly cars. The Model 3 and Y look like frogs. Go and see the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E, which is on sale now. THAT is how an EV should look like!
Ha a ha a ha a hahaha! Tesla’s are truly ugly cars indeed! Expensive too. Although they do seem to run good.
I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For me, the Bolt is a work of art – sleek, aerodynamic, with a very functional hatchback (I’m a function guy) with surprising amount of room for hauling “stuff” when the back seats are down.
Given the price – ours was under $30k, end of 2019 – so far it’s been a fabulous investment. Zippy, room for cargo, easy loading through the hatchback, easy to drive, comfortable, safe. Reliable, easy to drive, lots of safety features like side mirrors warning when there is an adjacent car, following too close warnings, & more.
We were not looking for a trophy car – reliability, economy, usability and drivability were our criteria. And we got it all in the Bolt.
C’mon, the Mach E is as ugly as the Bolt!
Hmmm. Not bad looking to be honest. Looks better than the current Bolt, but hopefully we should see an advance in the design of the next Bolt.
Had a 2012 Volt, now have a 2020 Bolt. Love both, but find the Bolt follows function rather than form. Bolt ergonomics are fantastic, and the seat is fine unless one is as broad as an ax handle. Tesla’s are OK, but still overpriced and have questionable fit & finish. Discounted Bolt is the perfect transition car in a fast-changing segment, and spending north of $50 K for a BEV is questionable at this stage.
Find the rendering for 2021 to ape the ugly Lexus & Honda front end treatment. Like 2020 better.
So pudgey and ugly! If this is the future of GM , it sucks!
I have a real picture of it here on my computer, showing the front end and it looks nothing like the rendering. It looks rather sporty, keeping in mind, its just a small family type hatchback.
Expect small EV hatchbacks to have a puggish look about them because the motor is smaller than the ICE equivalent and there is no radiator, no point wasting space on the bonnet when you can increase the interior. What you are getting is an ICE GTi performance (0 to 60mph in 6.5 seconds) in the Bolt with 17inch wheels, keep that in mind. The price in 2017 for the premier was about 42k and according to Nates post, now you can pick them up for just under 30k. That’s quiet a drop in 3-4 years and it’s still early days in the roll out of EVs.
@Mike K
There is still a rather large radiator and electric fan – as well as 2 cooling loops (3 loops when heating) – one for the battery, and the other for the motor and electronics – and then there is also the condenser heat from the refrigeration system which is also added in to be released at the refrigeration system condenser. The novelty here is that a single condenser refrigeration loop takes the heat from the cabin and a separate ‘chilled water evaporator’ (to cool the battery glycol loop) that also uses condensed refrigerant to work as does the cabin air conditioning – so there you have the non-refrigerated loop for the drive inverter, then dc/dc converter, then level 1/ or level 2 (7700 watts max) high voltage battery charger, and finally, goes to the base of the drive unit OIL COOLER – (which cools the motor stator – so the glycol is the hottest here at the oil cooler since it has picked up heat from everything else – except the 7,700 watt charger since that generates heat only when stationary and plugged in) and then to the pump and radiator…. This ‘electronics’ loop gets rather warm as there is a 5 PSIG pressure cap on the surge glycol tank.
Only the battery loop and cabin are actively refrigerated. The electronics loop has to get by with cooling approaching ambient temperatures. So besides this you also have 2 active side x side shutters which close for better aerodynamics, or when it is just too cold outside, and no cooling is necessary.
So while there may be no engine there are still plenty of hoses, refrigerant lines, semi hermetic compressor, and glycol pumps. As well as the big fan (which has to pull air through the big condenser and radiator), and dual shutter assembly.
Hi Bill, l noticed in your post you said a DC/DC converter, was that just a typo error, would it be from battery to motor be DC to an AC motor and during regenative breaking from motor AC back to DC for the batteries. It that correct, EV aren’t my area of expertise.
@Mike K – here’s what I stated: “…there you have the non-refrigerated loop for the drive inverter, then dc/dc converter, then level 1/ or level 2 (7700 watts max) high voltage battery charger, and finally, goes to the base of the drive unit OIL COOLER …”
The ‘Drive Inverter’ is the 4 quadrant inverter/rectifier which takes care of the 400 vdc conversion to variable frequency/variable voltage AC for driving or vice versa for dynamic braking (what everyone calls regeneration or ‘recuperation’ if you’re German).
To avoid lawsuits from ‘AC Propulsion’ – no car built in the States other than the original Tesla Roadster may use this facility for normal battery charging – therefore the THIRD block of equipment mentioned is the level 1/level 2 battery charger.
The Second Block that I mentioned going through was the ‘DC/DC converter’ which in the Bolt EV is in the 120 ampere range (at around 14 volts). In an ICE vehicle you have a crankshaft-driven pulley and a belt driven alternator off this pulley which is missing on hybrids and totally Battery Electrics. 400 volts is a bit much to run the trunk light, so it is necessary for the legacy 12 volt system.
Interestingly, this is considerably smaller than the VOLT’s (both GEN 1 and 2) DC/DC converter, or, if you prefer, ‘alternator replacement’ which is around 170 amperes.
Slight correction: I’m not sure if the ‘Drive Inverter/Rectifier’ is ‘4 quadrant or 3’ since I’m not sure if you can ‘regen’ while in REVERSE.. I’ll have to experiment and try it on both my Volt and Bolt. If there is no dynamic braking when going backwards, then it is technically a ‘3 quadrant’ device – 2 quadrants forward and 1 reverse’ or if you prefer – 3 operating modes.
1). forward propulsion.
2). reverse propulsion.
3). forward dynamic braking – also known as ‘Regen’.
@Mike K:
Just as an aside – what was formerly a ‘decent’ elevator company in the States was the Otis Elevator Company – recently owned by United Technologies… Their first set of totally power-electronic driven elevators used 2-quadrant controllers. Obviously the elevator (or – “LIFT”) car could go both up and down (whether actively providing horsepower or ‘overhauling’ depended on whether the ‘car plus passengers’ or the counterweight (typically sized to perfectly balance at 40% car load) whichever item was heavier at the time, and obviously which direction it was going in.
Traditional elevators using motor-generator power conversion devices intrinsically handled this 4-quadrant problem, since if going down with a packed car, (or going up empty) meant the car was overhauling – and therefore would send power backwards through the power line. If you were watching a Utility Revenue Meter on the machine – it would start spinning backwards.
The 2 quadrant controllers therefore, having no ‘regen’ capability – had huge resistor banks to get rid of this ‘overhauling’ energy – the controller having no facility to send power back to the powerline.
Thanks Bill for going to so much trouble to explain this to me, much appreciated. I’ve got my head around the cooling system but I’m still a bit confused about the electrical side of things but that up to me now to educate myself. I wont bother you with any more questions, add least for now, you have been more than generous with your time towards me. Wishing you and your family a safe and prosperous 2021.
You too, Mike. I’m sure you’d do the same for me…. Have a nice weekend.
One point I just mentioned which might be a bit of confusion…. AC motors, whether induction (like the Roadster and the old Tesla S’s and the Audi Etron), or synchronous (like GM products and the Nissan Leaf) – can have their Iron Cores (or steel) saturate if the voltage/ frequency ratio is too high.
As an example (I assume your ‘power point’ is in Australia) – lets say you have a 50 cycle per second drill press at home with the motor running at 1425 rpm. It runs fine on 240 volts… However, if you tried running the same design on 25 cycles 240 volts you’d smoke it since the stator would saturate, the same as if you put direct current on it… In other words, the fact that the core is being ‘alternated’ repeatedly and the current is never allowed to build up too high, and therefore, in an AC motor running off a variable speed drive, the motor voltage must also be proportional to the present speed of the motor, which is basically the applied frequency (hz) of the 3-phase power to the motor. So this is ANOTHER job that the drive inverter does.
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Hi Bill, thanks for your correction. I thought the motor was air-cooled but it does have a radiator or an air-conditioning condenser system. So far I haven’t been able to see any pictures or videos of the system to familiarize myself with it. There are no GM Bolts in Australia so far so I can look under the bonnet an eye ball it.
You’re welcome I’m sure Mike…. Actually the motor is OIL cooled, as mentioned. And as mentioned it has an air-cooled refrigeration condenser AND a Glycol Radiator, AND motorized shutters. Since there could be much cooling going on during hot summer driving, the FAN is also quite respectably sized.