Last week I was contacted by Chevrolet asking me if I’d be interested in test driving their fully electric car, the Chevrolet Bolt EV. Although I wasn’t interested in the Bolt specifically, I was interested in experiencing life with an electric car so I agreed to borrow the car for the weekend.
Right now I don’t think there is any other company in Kuwait that sells a fully electric car, I know both Toyota and BMW sell hybrids (a combination of regular petrol engines and electric motors) but can’t think of anybody else that sells a fully electric car so Chevrolet I guess are the first.
First, let’s talk about the elephant in the room, the Chevy Bolt isn’t a pretty looking car to put it nicely. If I’m driving around in an electric car I want it to look like an electric car and I guess by that I mean I want it to look futuristic with lots of things glowing blue and lots of sharp and angular shapes, like a car that wouldn’t look out of place on the set of Tron. The Bolt looks like an entry-level budget crossover vehicle and the car I picked up was a super boring white. But, I already knew that the Bolt wasn’t pretty, for me this was all going to be about the electric experience.
I picked up the car on Thursday and it was half-charged showing me I had a range of 161KM left till empty. That was fine since I only had a few errands to run and then I was heading home so I could charge the car there. There are no Chevy fast-charging stations around Kuwait, there is a Tesla fast-charging station at Al Shaheed Park but that isn’t compatible with the Chevy charge port.
If you want to charge the Bolt you need to use the charging cable that came with it which allows you to plug it into any regular power socket. My building’s underground parking lot has power sockets all around so when I got home I just plugged the car into one and headed upstairs. A few hours later I decided to check on the charge status and was surprised to see it barely charged. So I started playing around with the car settings and noticed the car had two charging options, 6Amps and 10Amps. According to the car infotainment screen, the car was currently charging at 6Amps (which is the default setting) and that the car would be fully charged by 1:15AM on Saturday. Keep in mind it was Thursday night at that point so 6Amps wasn’t gonna work for me so I switched the car to 10Amps charging. At 10Amps, the car would be fully charged by 1:45PM the next day. Not fast enough, but still a lot better than the original estimate I got.
Next morning I left the house early around 8AM and the car was around 80% charged showing me I had a 261km range. I later found out after reading the manual that it takes around 33 hours to fully charge with the 10Amp setting. That’s just too long although I guess if you’re charging the car every time you park it then it’s not so bad, but in my case, it was starting to give me anxiety. Friday I had a bunch of things I needed to do and by the time I got home that evening, I had around 60KM range left. Unlike with fuel, if you’re close to empty you can’t just fill up at any gas station, so once I saw my range drop to 60 I was like shit, I need to get home now. I really don’t need more anxiety in my life…
Other than the whole charging debacle the car felt like a normal car to drive. I liked the minimalist dash display which was the most electric thing about the car and it was a fairly comfy vehicle to drive. Although not a fast car, the electric motors made the car feel fast since acceleration from a standstill was fairly instant. You know, thinking about it now, I think the biggest issue I have with the car isn’t the looks, or the interior or the slow charging. I think the biggest issue I have with the Bolt is with the price which is causing me to set my expectations so high. The Chevy Bolt is selling for KD13,000 which might be considered affordable compared to other electric cars, but compared to what you’d get from a similarly priced petrol-engined car, it just feels overpriced.
If you’d like to test drive the car yourself or check it out you can do so by passing by the local Chevrolet dealer. They’re on instagram @chevroletalghanim
44 replies on “Chevrolet Bolt EV Electric Car”
it was mentioned in their Instagram account that its 50,000 USD means over 15,000 KWD
SERIOUSLY!! its over priced hatchback car ..
If I am capable to pay such an amount for an electric car, I would probable add few couple of thousands and get myself a TESLA
Still looks futuristic for me…
I think it would fit the commuter car perfectly, when prices drop in the future.
Also I think that electric cars drain faster in hot weather.
I deliberately tried to make it look futuristic with my photography and color grading but it really looks like a soccer mums car in reality 😛
I’ll take ur word then haha
Been driving electric for over a year now with 100k milage. Two things are needed a 240 volt 40amp charger at home and more charging stations in Kuwait. Especially fast chargers. If those things are present an electric car is a extremely low maintenance. At 100K I only pop the hood to put windshield wiper fluid and have changed the cabin air filter. Gas cars will always be more fun to drive but as an everyday car with a good charging network I’ll always choose electric hands down. I have the ioniq electric which would cost in Kuwait about 9-10k and give you a range of 270-330
Sorry about your anxiety, they should put a little emergency hand crank so you can spin it to manually make electricity to charge the car in case it runs out of juice!
I was in Berlin and at the Kadewe store they had this Tesla SUV on display, it was awesome, the doors opened like wings. I think thats the style car you need.
hahaha a foot crank might work better since i can then just pump the pedal to generate power.
The Tesla you’re talking about is the Tesla Model X. I love the gullwing doors, the first time I saw it live was when I was in Dubai and called for an Uber. I was expecting to get the regular Tesla Model S but then the X pulled up and the rear door opened up automatically and for a second I felt like I was suddenly in the future.
The Chevy Bolt ev has higher ratings then Toyota Prius Hybrid. The Chevy sales never took off like the Toyota thus thats why they are discontinuing it soon.
chevy = hot garbage
13,000 KD is bananas!
I love electric cars, but this one is garbage, and kuwait has no charging stations.
We’re just going to have to do hybrids until (if?) we get the charging infrastructure.
Us in a few years: Hey, do you have a charger?
Co-worker: iPhone or Samsung?
Us: Chevy Bolt
😂
lol
We’d have wireless car charging implemented on the ground by then
maybe if we had proper roads first
I was actually thinking about that, I’d imagine in the future cars wouldn’t have batteries since they’d just be wirelessly powered from a main source.
It’s already implemented in Norway. They are using it for electric taxis. You just pull over the charger and the car charges
That’s quite expensive for what seems like a car that is not very practical in Kuwait. I would definitely get a Kia Telluride full option for the same price instead of this, considering that car is loaded with features, and tons of space
But it’s still a soccer mom car though
ohhhh thats what it is, I saw one Saturday morning on the Gulf Road but didn’t get the name just that it was a Kia. Looked pretty good from the back!
Man, you should check it out on the website and see the features in the car. It has so many features its crazy. It also has a cousin, called the Hyundai Palisade, which looks incredible as well
Kia and Hyundai have recently been on a whole other level, even exceeding Japanese brands considering what you get for the price
I thought Tesla made fully electric cars.
They do
I think that Bolt is perfect for Kuwait. You can drive for free and don’t need to fight the line at the petrol station. That would be worth it right there.
I am not sure how you could possibly have range anxiety in this country. Where are you going to drive in a day that could possibly use up all the range? It will take you to 98% of the country and back plus without any recharge needed.
You do not need a charging station when your daily driving is 30-60km…..
An electric car is perfect for sittng in a traffic jam and it has plenty of capacity to withstand sitting in a traffic jam for three days. 🙂
I left the house with a range of 260 and had 60 left by the end of the day. That wasn’t even over driving that was running my normal errands and chores. Usually the listed car range differs from actual car range. Like when your iPhone says battery lasts all day but in actual use it doesn’t.
Not saying you can use up all the range in a day but you aren’t gonna always leave the house with a full range unless…
This gets better with time when you get adjusted to how to maximize your range like not using your brakes but instead using Regen braking and coasting. The bolt is capable of 400-500 in Kuwait weather
I’m aware when you coast it regen’s but unlike with the Tesla you Regen more when you brake. With the Tesla you can’t really coast cuz as soon as you lift off the power it starts to brake. At least that’s how the owner had it set up. With the more detailed dash view in the bolt that shows you how much power you’re rengerating, you generate more from braking normally than you would if you coast.
The bolt functions the same why. If you put it in B mode. You can do one pedal driving. Which I find isn’t practical. It’s better to let the car coast and then brake head of time. When I got my ioniq from the dealership it said 200km at a 100 percent. When I started driving better it started say 270km
Just googled it, its called L Mode on the Bolt, now I know what the L stood for under D. I just figured it meant low gear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTFvix3TbuI
Ya L mode. If you had the car for a week in sure you can get about 450km in Kuwait weather and driving cautiously. Coasting and braking make the car go waaaay longer than driving it like a gasoline car. And only use L mode in the city not the highway because coasting is better on the highway. Did they have OnStar in Kuwait with the bolt? People are complaining about the price of the electric car but honestly it’s a car that just goes. After a 100K I’ve spent 70 dollars on parts because there isn’t anything to do.
You didn’t start on a full charge and you won’t drive the entire car’s range every day, so your car will have time to catch up from one or two heavy driving days per week and a few not so heavy.
You also don’t have a specialized charger to quickly charge the car like you would have if you owned it. You were using the slowest possible charger. One made for the car that gives up to 50 amps charge power will charge the car in 8 hours or less from dead battery.
Not all your fault though. The dealership should have give the car you you with a full battery from the start.
I totally agree with you though that the car’s price is unacceptable. It is a compact car, and not an overly nice one, so the price is not justified at all.
I was using the second slowest form of charging, the slowest is the 6amp option. The fastest available for this bolt (dealer sells 2017 models) is 32amps in 10 hours but that would require owning a house to install it in and not living in an apartment building.
But I did mention in my post that if you owned the car and charged it the whole time you wouldn’t end up in the position I was where I was running out of range.
It also charges using a 480 volt charger 0-80 percent in 1 hour. My ioniq has a smaller batter my so 0-94 percent is usually 35 mins
https://imgur.com/a/iwMzuSJ
You are forgetting that here you’d want to power your AC even when standing still.
Speaking of AC, I was pretty surprised at how good it was in the car, was expecting the worst. I think because there isn’t a hot engine in the car the AC is more efficient?
It’s because it an electric AC unit. Doesn’t feed of the engine crank pulley. So much more efficient
I saw my range drop to 60 I was like shit, I need to get home now. I really don’t need more anxiety in my life…
lol…
…
Guess what….? By the time we need electric cars in Kuwait (because oil is depleted) there will not be anyone around to use them.
What stops someone from stealing your charging cable? How expensive is a replacement?
The cable locks to the car. And the price is about 40kd I believe for a cable
what’s the point of an electric car?
electric cars are made to burn less fossil fuels, save our planet.
in kuwait,, electricity is produced by burning oil and that is less efficient than a gasoline engine.
driving electric cars in kuwait would contribute negatively to the environment.
does that make sense?
Damn such a late reply from me.
The first and simplest reason why electric cars are better for Kuwait is less air pollution. True and you mentioned both technically use oil in the end to power them. But the electric car doesn’t emit CO2
Second, the amount of oil used to make the electricity needed to move an electric car X miles, is less than the amount of oil needed to move a petrol car the same amount of miles. This is called efficiency.
Electric cars have a higher carbon foot print to make by a third than gas cars. The not emitting CO2 doesn’t really make a strong argument. The places in the world where the batteries are minded have really bad CO2 levels from all the Diesel and gas used. The way that we view the world is that each country is its own pool of water where in reality we are all in one pool of water, if one person urinates we all get affected.
It’s not just about climate control. As cars they are less of a headache to deal with than gas cars. Gas cars have over 5000 moving parts, electric cars have less than 2000. Meaning less things can go wrong. Have you ever had a car engine blow up on you simply because you drove it while it was overheating? Electric cars will stop the car if there is a problem.
Don’t forget gas cars explode meaning they are harder to manipulate than electric cars. I’ve bought 100k on my car and it drives the same as when I picked it up.