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Chevy Bolt in the Wild

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As best as I can tell from Tesla's ambiguous web page, the Model 3 price of $35,000 does not include the delivery fee. The Model S delivery fee is $1,200, I think. The GM price of $37,500 for the Bolt EV does include its ~$850 delivery fee. A careful price comparison would compare the base equipment and features on the two cars and we don't have that level of detail yet. I think it's fair to assume the price difference is within $2,000 or so. Since I plan on getting both cars it's not really an issue of choosing one vs the other for me.

It seemed odd to me cite waiting for battery prices to fall as one of the reasons to wait on the Model 3 but not the Bolt when it's price will likely be less than the Bolt for roughly the same range on day 1.
 
The Leaf has a hatch as well, but because only the seat backs fold down, the space is very difficult to use effectively.
The other issue is hatch angle means there isn't a great deal of room in there - at least that you can use.
Looks like the Bolt is even worse.
Huh? Can you say more about this. I didn't understand the issue with the LEAF's space usability when the rear seats are folded down.

In any case, the Bolt will come with a false floor insert for the rear hatchback area so there can be a flat surface with the rear seats folded down.
 
It seemed odd to me cite waiting for battery prices to fall as one of the reasons to wait on the Model 3 but not the Bolt when it's price will likely be less than the Bolt for roughly the same range on day 1.
I'm getting a Bolt because it will be available to me substantially earlier. There is more than one reason why I will be holding back on the Model 3 at first such as future AP hardware beyond the near-term tri-camera update pending soon. Future battery prices are uncertain due to competition, raw materials, technology change, etc. the one thing that seems certain is that the scaling of production itself at the GF will tend to push down prices the most at full buildout although Musk says they will in some sense be 30% cheaper to build even in 2018 versus today.

My understanding of the GF is that the early scaling of battery production in 2018 does not imply that the full GF is fully built 2 years earlier than the original 2020 plan. Rather, it means they have figured out how to pack more battery line scaling into the early portions of the buildout so by 2018 they can be making 35 gWh instead of in 2020 but as they continue to buildout the GF they will at least have the option of scaling to 150 gWh with maybe about 100 gWh of that for vehicles and around 50-ish for stationary storage depending upon how the car and Tesla Energy markets do.

These are huge battery numbers -- Musk estimated 2014 global production was "only" 30 gWh -- so assuming there is enough raw materials available this kind of volume will push down end pricing in 2020. The biggest known unknown is whether and what form any government subsidies of BEVs might take. Since I'm aiming for a larger optional pack the battery pricing the future drop in battery prices may largely compensate for lost government subsidies, if any. It's impossible to know today. Such are the mysteries of life.
 
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I'm getting a Bolt because it will be available to me substantially earlier. There is more than one reason why I will be holding back on the Model 3 at first such as future AP hardware beyond the near-term tri-camera update pending soon. Future battery prices are uncertain due to competition, raw materials, technology change, etc. the one thing that seems certain is that the scaling of production itself at the GF will tend to push down prices the most at full buildout although Musk says they will in some sense be 30% cheaper to build even in 2018 versus today.

My understanding of the GF is that the early scaling of battery production in 2018 does not imply that the full GF is fully built 2 years earlier than the original 2020 plan. Rather, it means they have figured out how to pack more battery line scaling into the early portions of the buildout so by 2018 they can be making 35 gWh instead of in 2020 but as they continue to buildout the GF they will at least have the option of scaling to 150 gWh with maybe about 100 gWh of that for vehicles and around 50-ish for stationary storage depending upon how the car and Tesla Energy markets do.

These are huge battery numbers -- Musk estimated 2014 global production was "only" 30 gWh -- so assuming there is enough raw materials available this kind of volume will push down end pricing in 2020. The biggest known unknown is whether and what form any government subsidies of BEVs might take. Since I'm aiming for a larger optional pack the battery pricing the future drop in battery prices may largely compensate for lost government subsidies, if any. It's impossible to know today. Such are the mysteries of life.
Cool.

I'll be interested in your impressions of the Bolt, as you are probably one of the better versed persons with technical knowledge of the Volt. Given I was glad to see GM throw their hat in the fray, I'll be interested in how well they've executed...
 
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Huh? Can you say more about this. I didn't understand the issue with the LEAF's space usability when the rear seats are folded down.

In any case, the Bolt will come with a false floor insert for the rear hatchback area so there can be a flat surface with the rear seats folded down.
Sorry - my sig really is accurate :)
The Leaf hatch sure looks big - and the space from back off seat to rear of hatch is about 32".
But at the top there is only 4" from the hatch to the headrest. So more like a triangular space when viewed from the side.
Then you can drop the seat backs. The issue is that its only the seat back that moves, which puts to top of the folded seat higher up than the bottom of the hatch. It makes it almost useless and means you get more usable space by leaving the seats up.

It all conspires to mean there is more usable rear storage in most similar sized sedans.

The point of all that rambling was that just because there is a hatch doesn't mean there is more usable space compared to a sedan.
 
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