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The withering dream of a cheap American electric car

(www.wsj.com)
152 points voisin | 5 comments | 17 Nov 24 23:52 UTC | HN request time: 0.228s | source
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the_gastropod ◴[18 Nov 24 16:18 UTC] No.42173857[source]▶
It's weird the Chevy Bolt wasn't mentioned. After the $7500 tax credit, you could get a brand new Chevy Bolt for under $20k. If you haven't driven a Bolt, I can't recommend it more. It's about as perfect as car as I could reasonably dream up. It's a hatchback, minimally gimmicky (compared to, e.g, a Tesla, where so many things are "different" for the sake of being different), unnecessarily fast—truly, it's shocking how quick it is, very respectable range of ~270 miles, has Apple CarPlay (or Android's equivalent if you're into that sort of thing), and it's cheap.

I picked up a used 2023 for $14k last month. Hertz is unloading their fleet of EV's, so they're ridiculously cheap if you don't mind driving a former rental car.

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1. solardev ◴[18 Nov 24 16:35 UTC] No.42174053[source]▶
Didn't they recall all of them for a few years due to some safety issues? Are they fixed yet?
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2. OkayPhysicist ◴[18 Nov 24 16:46 UTC] No.42174154[source]▶
Yeah, it was just a software patch. Real quick fix.
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3. vel0city ◴[18 Nov 24 16:46 UTC] No.42174171[source]▶
Yes, an in fact IMO that makes the used models even more of a steal. Get a several year old model with a pretty much new battery. The battery is pretty much the main wear item in the whole drivetrain, so its like buying a used ICE with a brand new drive train.
4. kccqzy ◴[18 Nov 24 16:47 UTC] No.42174178[source]▶
Yeah they are fixed. A Bolt is a nice vehicle to buy if you don't mind its slow charging; and judging by the number of Bolts on the road plenty of people don't mind.
5. vel0city ◴[18 Nov 24 16:47 UTC] No.42174180[source]▶
No, the Bolt had a manufacturing defect which could result in an internal short and cause a battery fire.

All Bolts were available for a recall maintenance where the entire battery was replaced under warranty.