Skip to footer

Chevy Bolt vs Tesla Model S: Which is the better EV pick?

Car magazine Motor Trend lays out a comparison between and upcoming model of the Chevy Bolt EV and a discontinued, but much pricier, iteration of the Tesla Model S. 

|
Steve Marcus/Reuters/File
Journalists look over the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV after it is unveiled during a General Motors keynote address at the 2016 CES trade show in Las Vegas.

Sometimes reporters and editors will see an article or a section in another outlet and think, "Darn, why didn't we think of that?"

This is one of those times.

Enthusiast publication Motor Trend had the very clever idea of comparing two electric cars with 60-kilowatt-hour battery packs and more than 200 miles of EPA-rated range.

They are the 2016 Tesla Model S 60 sedan and the upcoming 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV hatchback.

The magazine notes that the Model S 60 is an odd duck; it was the lower of two battery capacities that went into production in 2012, and was discontinued last year.

Then it was brought back temporarily this year, in hopes some holders of reservations for the Model 3 (intended to go into production before the end of 2017) could be persuaded to buy a less-pricey Model S in the interim.

Nonetheless, Motor Trend got its hands on a Model S 60 and covered the comparison from a couple of different angles.

First, it did a straight comparison of the Bolt EV and the Model S.

The article covers the usual road-test checklist items, plus a number of factors specific to battery-electric cars.

But it also showed the Bolt EV to Model S owners to get their reactions to the new electric Chevy—which costs little more than half as much as their electric luxury sedans.

The writers took a Bolt EV to the Tesla Design Studios, where they were mobbed by dozens of Tesla employees eager to see the new long-range electric car.

They were even welcomed by chief Tesla designer Franz von Holzhausen, who invited them back "any time."

Remember that the first Tesla Model S production cars finally came off the assembly line in mid-2012.

Less than five years later, the Bolt EV will sell for half the price and deliver similar range.

It will not, however, provide the sleek design, street cred, or nationwide fast-charging network that a Model S owner gets as part of the purchase.

Motor Trend has put together a great package, worth reading, that in some ways reinforces just how much of an advance the Bolt EV is.

Now why didn't we think of that?

[hat tips: SRanger, George Betak]

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Chevy Bolt vs Tesla Model S: Which is the better EV pick?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2016/1105/Chevy-Bolt-vs-Tesla-Model-S-Which-is-the-better-EV-pick
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe