Chevy Bolt, does it family? A review.
 

Family of five here with a few weeks of Bolt use. Does it work as a miniminivan? Yes. Yes it does fine. Legroom is great, you wouldn't believe the cabin length looking from outside. And the floor is dead flat for the 2nd row, which is nice. I've always had floor hump up until this car. 3 wide shoulder room in the 2nd row is narrow, but the cabin length and flat floor helps it not feel cramped.

Caveats.. If you've got three adult sized kids, Bolt 2nd row probably isn't wide enough. Also the rear cargo space is very limited- A trade off for that nice long passenger compartment. If you have to haul cargo along with 5 passengers, Bolt probably isn't ideal. Maybe with a cargo box you can get it to work. I can't comment on multiple baby seats, but I know it will fit one in the center position. If you have 2 or 3 baby seats to run, probably Bolt isn't your best option.

To sum up, if you have 1 or 2 kids Bolt could work well. Or if you have 3 and they are not all babies or adult sized, it could work. 4+ kids, yeah go get your standard 3 row behemoth.

Interesting. It compares well, then, to the average compact or subcompact hatch?

We have had our Bolt EV since mid September, and our family of four fit in it better than any other car we have had. I am 6'-4, and my son is 6'-6"+, and my spouse has foot and knee challenges - entry and exit is the best / easiest of any vehicle we have tried.

It beats the average compact hatch I'd say. It more compares to compact "SUVs" because of the extra height. As Neil alludes to, the cabin LENGTH is really great. The 2nd row shoulder width isn't so great with 3 adults in back, but the length and height sorta make up for it. Like he says^ you can fit 4 six and a half foot tall people with plenty of knee room, which is unexpected from a car of this size. Your average compact hatchback wont do that!

With the 2nd row folded down the floor is completely flat from the hatch to the front seats for cargo. So far I have only done 120v charging and only off peak. And its fine. I suspect your average 30-50 mile a day commuter would be similarly fine without any fast charger installed.

Incentives came through @ 100% of what I was hoping to get going into this decision. That along with gas savings should cover 1/2 or more of the cost. Which is good considering its twice as expensive as a gas Civic, Jetta, Mazda3 etc. Thing is.. HOV lane access, no gas or oil errands to run, and 2x the tq, 3 factors you cannot really put a price on.

Picked up a full size spare and a jack, as the USA Bolt comes with nothing. No space saver, no pump, no jack.. nunca, zippo. That eats a little into the cargo room (which is already lacking). I have use of another larger car for non-commuter duty. I think the majority of households are similar in that they are multi-car households.

The weight is on the high side at 3500 pounds because of the battery, but I kind of view that as a benefit in the case that I get tangled up with a large vehicle. Another thought, if you are in an apartment.. I can see that as a possible deal breaker on one of these unless you have an outlet handy at your parking space.

I've got a 110 mile round trip commute (nowhere to plug in at work as of now)

do you think I could get by with just 120v charging at home?

I see your location as "Pacific" are you in Wa?


how did the tax rebate work?

I was curious about that to so found this on Bolt forum

"OK, let's do that for 12 amps. 1.440 kW charge. 5.76 miles per hour of charge.
That's why level 2 is so important. 240V * 32A = 7.680 kW, for 30.72 miles per hour of charge."

120V Charging Limitations - Chevy Bolt EV Forum

So if you had a full charge start Monday 250 miles, end of day 140 left. 10+ hours at almost 6, call it 60 miles refueled a night. 210 Tuesday morning, 100 Tuesday night, 160 Wed morning, 50 Wed night, 110 Thur morning and your be sweating it out if you make it home.

Edit: I pulled the 250 miles from memory, not sure that's right. They also said 47 hours at 120/12a from dead to full.

2 guy posted they really get 4 miles per hour so even if you had 12-13 hours per night charging you couldn't make it. You have to find a bigger charger once a week. The number above I don't think account for any charging losses.

I'd certainly go EV if I had that long of a commute just to save on fuel and maintenance cost.

That said, after spending $30k+ on a vehicle, how much extra financial burden is installing a 240v outlet?