General Motors is offering a sneak peek of the two new versions of the Chevy Bolt, the automaker’s mass-market electric car that has been on sale since 2017. A refreshed Bolt and a larger Bolt Electric Utility Vehicle were first announced at the automaker’s “EV Day” earlier this year and are expected to enter production in summer 2021.
The glimpse we get of both vehicles is only a fleeting one, which makes sense because it was offered during GM’s virtual fleet solutions summit meeting recently. It shows a silhouette of the refreshed Bolt, which then morphs into the Bolt EUV.
The refreshed Bolt will feature a sportier look, new seats, adaptive cruise control, and a few other minor changes. GM bumped up the range in this past year’s version of the Bolt, from 238 miles to 259 miles, but no further increase is expected in the refresh.
The Bolt EUV (not an acronym we expect to catch on, but go off I guess) will have a longer wheelbase than the regular Bolt and should appeal to customers looking for a more SUV-like look than hatchback. According to the animation, the EUV looks longer than the regular Bolt but not any taller.
Both the Bolt EV and Bolt EUV will remain on GM’s BEV2 platform, which is distinct from the new “Ultium” battery pack announced during the automaker’s EV Day. The recently unveiled Cadillac Lyriq and the GMC Hummer electric pickup truck will be the first vehicles to be built on this new electric architecture. As such, the Bolt EV and EUV were expected to go into production at the end of 2020 but were delayed until next year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
GM also confirmed that the refreshed Bolt and Bolt EUV will be the first vehicles outside its Cadillac lineup to feature Super Cruise, the advanced driver assistance system that allows for “hands free” highway driving.
