2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV

[MUSIC PLAYING] DAN EDMUNDS: Prevailing wisdom suggests that an electric vehicle needs more than 200 miles of range to stave off range anxiety and make it useful for more than just commuting. But until now, there's only been one affordable example. The Chevrolet Bolt EV brings 238 miles of range to the table. But now there's a new Hyundai Kona Electric with 258 miles of range. KURT NIEBUHR: Which of these vehicles is better? Are these finally the affordable EVs that everybody's been waiting for? Before we answer that, make sure you subscribe to our channel, and visit Edmunds.com to help find your next vehicle, electric or otherwise. DAN EDMUNDS: When I first proposed this test in the office, everybody said, why are you putting a Bolt up against a crossover SUV? Well, the Kona electric isn't really that much of an SUV. I mean, it's only got front-wheel drive. There's no all-wheel drive version. KURT NIEBUHR: And the Chevy's just kind of a tall hatchback anyway, and it's front-wheel drive too. I mean, these things are pretty close on paper, when you look at the specs. DAN EDMUNDS: Oh, yeah, the wheelbase is identical. And the Kona is only about a half inch longer. And both of them have 150 kilowatt electric motors. Chevy says theirs is good for 200 horsepower. Hyundai's number is 201 horsepower. But I'll give it to them, because their electric motor makes more torque. KURT NIEBUHR: These things do not look the same at all. DAN EDMUNDS: No, no, the Kona Electric is both lower and wider than the Bolt, some SUV, right? KURT NIEBUHR: People around the office are asking, why didn't you guys include the Leaf? Why didn't you include the Model 3? DAN EDMUNDS: Well, the Bolt has 238 miles of range. And the Kona Electric has 258 miles of range. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, the Leaf's 150 is just way too short. DAN EDMUNDS: Right. As for the Model 3, the $35,000 version, with 220 miles of range, they're not making it. I mean, we can't compare these two vehicles to something that doesn't exist. KURT NIEBUHR: Nah, that's just vaporware. DAN EDMUNDS: Yeah, really. [MUSIC PLAYING] KURT NIEBUHR: So what are we looking at? DAN EDMUNDS: Well, at the moment, a whole lot of plastic. But up in here is the electric motor that drives the front wheels. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, I can just see it up there. DAN EDMUNDS: Right. We move back and there's this big aluminum expanse, the width of the car, really long. This is the battery pack. 65 kilowatt hours of storage, that's like gallons to a gas tank. And that's what gives this car 258 miles of range. KURT NIEBUHR: It's so flat. DAN EDMUNDS: Yeah, the smoothness of this battery pack and the plastic ahead of it contributes to a 14% reduction in drag compared to a regular Kona. KURT NIEBUHR: That's a lot. DAN EDMUNDS: Yeah, it's not nothing. And we move back here, and we see a really nice multi-link suspension, which gives this car really good ride and handling. And also makes room for the battery pack to be as big as it possibly can be. KURT NIEBUHR: So I imagine that the Chevrolet looks exactly the same underneath. DAN EDMUNDS: Well, maybe. KURT NIEBUHR: So we're under the Chevy and there's a lot of black plastic underneath here too. DAN EDMUNDS: Absolutely, but trust me, there's an electric motor up in there that drives the front wheel, just like the Kona. We move back, and we see, this is the battery pack. But it looks different. It's narrower. It's not as long. But it's almost as big, at 60 kilowatt hours, 238 miles of range. So it's got to be taller, which might be why the Bolt has the roofline that it has. KURT NIEBUHR: It's also not very smooth under here. DAN EDMUNDS: No, it's not. It doesn't look like they paid nearly as much attention to smoothing the airflow underneath here. We move back and we see something different here too. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, this suspension does not look anything like the suspension that's in the Hyundai. DAN EDMUNDS: No, this is a basic twist beam rear axle, which is really pretty cheap and inexpensive. It was popular in compact cars. But it's not the most sophisticated suspension for ride and handling. It'll be interesting to see how the two compare when we start driving them back to back. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah. DAN EDMUNDS: They might not be the same at all. KURT NIEBUHR: I can't wait to find out. DAN EDMUNDS: Yeah. [MUSIC PLAYING] So both of these have plenty of space if you fold the seats down. But they have a lot of range, so you can go somewhere with the family. So you might have four people in this. Where are you going to put the luggage? Will it fit? KURT NIEBUHR: I don't like how that kind of rides on the plastic trim back there. DAN EDMUNDS: It's a little bit tight. What about third one? KURT NIEBUHR: The third one, we're going to have to put it-- DAN EDMUNDS: No choice there. KURT NIEBUHR: It's easy enough, but will it shut. DAN EDMUNDS: Oh, actually pretty easily. No problem. KURT NIEBUHR: But we can lower the floor. DAN EDMUNDS: Oh, yeah, that's right. And it's a pretty dramatic change. Oh, look at that. You can stand these things up. Easy. KURT NIEBUHR: There we go. On the Kona-- DAN EDMUNDS: Well, you can already see that the floor's longer here. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, there's more room. DAN EDMUNDS: More width too. KURT NIEBUHR: You can probably shove that one in. DAN EDMUNDS: I think so. KURT NIEBUHR: And it shut. DAN EDMUNDS: Not a problem. You can also lower the floor as well. KURT NIEBUHR: Oh, yeah. DAN EDMUNDS: It's not as deep. But it might do the job Yeah, this stands up. There out the line of sight. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah. DAN EDMUNDS: If you don't want to drop the basement, this has a little more space. But if you do, there's really not a big difference. Wow, who was driving this thing. KURT NIEBUHR: I was. DAN EDMUNDS: Well, I got to bring it back. Are you OK? KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, I'm OK. DAN EDMUNDS: How's that. KURT NIEBUHR: It's OK, you can go back a little farther. I'm actually happy back here. I've got enough room for my legs. I got enough room for my feet. I even have a heated seat. Let's go check out the Hyundai. DAN EDMUNDS: All right. Oh, I'm going to have to bring this one back big time. KURT NIEBUHR: This isn't so bad back here. Oh, what are you doing. DAN EDMUNDS: I got to bring it back. KURT NIEBUHR: Oh, I hate you. Oh, my god. OK. DAN EDMUNDS: That's a power seat, though. The other one wasn't. KURT NIEBUHR: There's less leg room back here than in the Bolt by quite a bit. DAN EDMUNDS: You think? KURT NIEBUHR: My feet are starting to go numb. Could you move this forward? I can't get out. [MUSIC PLAYING] Now comes the fun part. DAN EDMUNDS: We've left town, and we're in the mountains, and we're going to go up to Crystal Lake. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, and because we have plenty of range, we don't have to worry about range and we're not going to talk about ranch. DAN EDMUNDS: Right, we can think about the normal things that people think about, ride, handling, steering, braking, how fun are these things to drive. KURT NIEBUHR: Let's find out. DAN EDMUNDS: Let's take the Bolt. [MUSIC PLAYING] Wow, these roads are pretty incredible. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, they really are. DAN EDMUNDS: What's not incredible is this seat. It feels like I'm sitting on a seat frame. It's really narrow. I'm sitting on it, rather than in it. KURT NIEBUHR: I think I'm overlapping on the side of the seat. And I'm with you. My upper back, my shoulders are not happy with the seat. DAN EDMUNDS: The driving position is good, but the seat itself just feels too small. The interior just feels kind of cheap. It just does not have really attractive materials. I wish they'd put a little bit more money in the seats and the interior panels. KURT NIEBUHR: The one thing that's really prominent in my eyes, and it's literally in my eyes, is how bright and light the interior is. Because there's a lot of shiny or light plastics, which now we're in shade, and it's great. But as soon as we come back through the sun, like reflections flicker off the windscreen. DAN EDMUNDS: Yeah, the angle of the windshield is just about perfectly wrong, because it's reflects the-- every detail of the top of the dash back into my eyes. It's like I need sunglasses just for that. But that is an option. I suggest that you get the darkest one they sell. KURT NIEBUHR: You'd have to. DAN EDMUNDS: Yeah, absolutely. You know what's really cool about this car, the driving position is great. I mean, the telescopic steering wheel's right where I need it. I feel I can see out really well, other than the glare. And the re-gen on this thing, using the motor's magnetism to slow the car, is really easy. You just flip the shifter and it goes into L. And now, when you lift off the throttle, you're slowing down and you're not touching the brake pedal. And it's really kind of fun. It's not kind of fun, it is fun. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah. DAN EDMUNDS: I got to get on a little bit of breaks for this tight hairpin, but-- yeah, the tires, they make a little noise. KURT NIEBUHR: We might be having fun, but the tires don't sound like they're having fun. DAN EDMUNDS: Low rolling resistance. But that doesn't mean low fun. Because this thing really changes direction really well. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah. DAN EDMUNDS: And I have really good control of the car's entry speed because of the lift throttle re-gen It's really kind of neat. Yeah, these seats though, they're-- [TIRES SQUEALING] Listen to that. What was I saying? All right, I guess it's your turn to drive, right? KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah. I'm absolutely with you on the seating position. I can get comfortable in this car very quickly. I like the range the steering wheel moves towards you. The seat is very adjustable. DAN EDMUNDS: It just isn't nice to sit on. KURT NIEBUHR: It's not a comfortable seat. DAN EDMUNDS: No. KURT NIEBUHR: This could be the like worst seat I think I've sat in that's on sale today. Now I get to make the most of this car's torque. DAN EDMUNDS: Oh. KURT NIEBUHR: All EVs make torque right from zero miles an hour. DAN EDMUNDS: Well, it's not just that. This thing's got 200 horsepower. I mean, we can't forget that. KURT NIEBUHR: No, and it's actually fun to drive. It's not sloppy. DAN EDMUNDS: That's a tight hairpin. And that's a skinny tire. KURT NIEBUHR: That's a skinny tire. But I have to tell you that I'm not using the brake pedal, I'm just using the re-gen of the throttle pedal, because it's so intuitive. Back off a little bit to slow down, twist it to speed up. DAN EDMUNDS: And you know, the body isn't rolling a whole lot. I mean it's rolling some, but any car would on this road. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah. DAN EDMUNDS: But that's probably because the battery's under the floor, so the center of gravity of this thing is really low. KURT NIEBUHR: I will say that I feel like I'm sitting more on top of the car than in the car, which creates more of a sensation of speed. Like I feel like I shouldn't be driving the car this fast, even though the car feels just fine. DAN EDMUNDS: The cal is really low. The seating position's a little high, because you've got the battery under your backside. Just needs some sticker tires I think. KURT NIEBUHR: This is way too much fun for an electric vehicle. So what's your opinion of the Bolt? DAN EDMUNDS: Well, I like driving it. I mean, the steering, the handling. It's got plenty of power, they regenerate braking is really fun, actually even on a challenging road like this. I just don't like the interior, the seats, the way the dash is put together. I'm not a fan of that. But to drive it, it's great. KURT NIEBUHR: I completely agree with you. And you must not buy the light colored interior. DAN EDMUNDS: Exactly. [MUSIC PLAYING] Oh man, right away, I love this seat. It looks good, and it's wide, and it's comfortable. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, we are definitely not in the Bolt anymore. DAN EDMUNDS: Exactly, and we're a little further apart. This cabin is wide and spacious too. And look at the materials. This thing looks nice. KURT NIEBUHR: I feel more surrounded. I feel like I'm sitting in the car. DAN EDMUNDS: Right. KURT NIEBUHR: Whereas, in the bolt, I felt like I was kind of higher up, kind of perched. DAN EDMUNDS: And the controls are really nicely laid out. There's the touchscreen, air conditioning, shifter, and these are the heated and ventilated seat controls. KURT NIEBUHR: I've got vent-- I'm going to use mine. DAN EDMUNDS: Yeah, right? KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah. DAN EDMUNDS: This also has a sunroof. The Bolt didn't have one of those. KURT NIEBUHR: No. DAN EDMUNDS: And the Bolt is the premier. It is the top of the line offering. This is the ultimate, which is also the top of the line offering. Its more ultimate. KURT NIEBUHR: Yep. Something else that's glaringly obvious is the distinct lack of glare. Now, this is still a light colored interior, but I'm not getting blinded by shiny plastic bits. DAN EDMUNDS: Right, right, I agree. And as the driver, I appreciate it. The other thing I'm noticing is going into that last corner and some of these other ones, the regenerative braking just isn't quite as powerful as it is in the Bolt. KURT NIEBUHR: That was a squirrel. DAN EDMUNDS: Squirrel. I do have three settings. I can adjust it with a paddle here. But I set it to the max and wish I had one more step. You know, this car really feels more substantial. It's wider and it feels like it has a wider footprint on the road. It's a little bit more composed. The tires don't feel like they're working as hard. It's not squealing as much. It's really nicely balanced. I mean, the Bolt wasn't unbalanced, it wasn't bad. But this just feels better. And even there, on that really tight corner, a little hint of squeal, but nothing like the Bolt generated. KURT NIEBUHR: The bolt was a little vocal. DAN EDMUNDS: Yeah, the transitions feel real nice. The multi-link rear suspension over twist beam, I think we're feeling a little bit of a benefit here. KURT NIEBUHR: I'd say so far, I feel less movement. DAN EDMUNDS: It's almost like this road is a smoother road than when it was in the Bolt. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah. DAN EDMUNDS: Oh, wow. KURT NIEBUHR: That was way better. No arguing that, the Kona electric rides better. DAN EDMUNDS: I just wish I could get a little bit more lift throttle re-gen in these corners. It's just not quite there. The steering in this car feels pretty good. When I drove it in town, I thought, it's a little light, it doesn't feel as distinct on center as the Bolt. And that's true. But when we get up here in these corners, it loads up a bit nicer than it does on the street. I still think the Bolt's steering feel is a little better, but this is better than it was in the city. KURT NIEBUHR: So when am I going to get to drive? DAN EDMUNDS: Right about now. If you listen closely, there's that-- KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, I think it gets louder when you start moving. DAN EDMUNDS: Listen to that, that's awesome. KURT NIEBUHR: You're right, right away the car feels more solid. It isn't that the Bolt feels the least bit flimsy. It's just I like the way this car feels. I agree with you on the steering feel. It is a little light, but I like the way this feels through the corner. And I also like the fact that it has wider tires on it as well. It's very noticeable. There's not the tires squeal that the Bolt had. DAN EDMUNDS: It has the power. It's just the matter of not having as much power? KURT NIEBUHR: No. DAN EDMUNDS: That's not it. KURT NIEBUHR: The power feels more robust. And the Bolt does not feel like it's lacking for power. DAN EDMUNDS: No. KURT NIEBUHR: But the Kona makes that power available to you. DAN EDMUNDS: This has about the same horsepower, 201 versus 200. Let's call it equal. But it makes more torque, about 30 more pound feet than the Bolt. So I think that's what you're feeling coming out of these corners. KURT NIEBUHR: I'll second what you said about the interior of this car. I feel like I'm sitting in a more regular car. Because the Kona Electric is also a regular Kona, it's the same car. And the Bolt was built just to be an EV. DAN EDMUNDS: Right. Which usually would make the Bolt a better EV, because it's purpose built. But this doesn't feel like they've made any sacrifices to make an electric car version. Just look at the way the battery is mounted underneath, as we saw yesterday. It's just so well integrated into the chassis. KURT NIEBUHR: You're right about the re-gen. I wish it was a little bit more aggressive. We have it set at the maximum. We both seem to prefer the way that the Bolt handles it. [MUSIC PLAYING] DAN EDMUNDS: Well, that was fun. KURT NIEBUHR: That was really fun. DAN EDMUNDS: I mean, why wouldn't it be? These are compact hatchbacks with 200 horsepower. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, and we said we wouldn't talk about range. We're still not going to talk about range. Because we both have over half a charge left. DAN EDMUNDS: And we're at 5,000 feet. It's downhill most of the way home. Things are only going to get better. So let's go. KURT NIEBUHR: Let's go. [MUSIC PLAYING] DAN EDMUNDS: So which of these two EVs is the right one? First, we have to talk pricing. We don't know exactly what the Kona Electric costs just yet. But sources say the base model's price will come in close to that of the base Bolt. And we know with certainty that the Kona will be better equipped. But here's another point to consider. Chevrolet is about to cross the phase out threshold for federal tax credit eligibility. The Bolt's $7,500 tax credit will shrink by half to $3,750 early next year. Then shrink again to $1,875 six months after that. In just over a year, it'll be down to zero. Hyundai, on the other hand, is just getting started with EV sales. The Kona electric will qualify for the full $7,500 tax credit for years to come. There's a lot to like about these cars. Both are more fun to drive than you might expect. They're practically hot hatchbacks. And you can go places and be spontaneous, because each offers enough range to make them useful for more than just commuting. We like the Bolt for its superior regenerative braking and more generous rear leg room. But the clear winner here is the Hyundai Kona Electric on the strength of its more sophisticated ride and handling, nicer interior, and longer list of standard and optional features. The extra 20 miles of range it offers is merely a bonus. For more videos like this, be sure to click Subscribe, and visit Edmunds for all your car shopping needs.