colettimj
Member
I remember we had this conversation back in 2014 regarding the terrible nature of L2 charging rollout and how companies are just not installing these where they make sense. e.g. installing a charger outside of a Wallgreens or CVS... who in their right mind is spending more than just a few minutes in these places? This was done with the thought of PHEVs, and their need to charge everywhere they go. BEVs, even shorter range ones like the i3 and Leaf, just plain don't care about a 5 minute charge stop as that is too short for meaningful charging on L2.
So yes, Anything with 200 miles, even if it isn't the best thing in the world, should help change people's frame of mind as it relates to BEVs. Because the dynamic doesn't just become this need to charge *everywhere* you go, but instead thinking more about infrastructure to charge once a day outside of a roadtrip. So this means L2 charging only makes sense where you would expect to spend 4+ hours, anywhere else should be L3 or nothing at all. This is the net-positive benefit of getting more long range EV's on the market as it puts things into this frame of mind.
Even if we hit this hypothetical day where everyone has 500 miles of range, you would still likely look at L2 charging being a 4+ hour event, and all else being L3. You would still only be looking at L3 from a "road-trip" perspective, which overall limits the amount of real infrastructure needed.
Anyway, I'm still not convinced that GM is doing this for more than compliance reasons (even federal regulations require a certain fleet average MPG rating), but am glad to see a 200+ mile car come from someone other than Tesla!
My concern is that the Bolt will end up as the vehicle equivalent of the IBM PCjr. I'd much rather it be a competent (if not flashy) BEV that has 200+ mile range and spreads the idea to the masses that BEVs are the future.