After promising to surpass the storied 200-mile mark with its upcoming “affordable” electric car, General Motors has revealed that the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt will boast an EPA-estimated range of 238 miles.
The space-maximized EV’s long electric legs gives GM bragging rights over its chief rival, the Tesla Model 3.
Neither vehicle has hit driveways yet, though GM North America president Alan Batey claims the Bolt should “start to become available at Chevrolet dealerships later this year.” Batey’s wording lends credence to a much-debated report that claims substantial Bolt deliveries won’t begin until January of next year.
Regardless, the Bolt’s arrival comes nearly a year before the first Model 3 deliveries, anticipated in late 2017. Deliveries of Tesla’s mega-hyped $30,000 EV will go to the roughly 373,000 reservation holders first, meaning a new EV buyer with cash in hand would face a long wait. GM wants that buyer to hop in a cab and head to a Chevy dealer.
Tesla claims the Model 3’s range will be an estimated 215 miles, meaning the Bolt surpasses its independent rival by 23 miles. The least-expensive Tesla currently on the market — the Model S 60 — sports 210 miles of range. In the EV game, every extra mile of range is akin to horsepower figures during the 1960s muscle car wars.
While a 60 kWh battery pack provides plenty of juice, some of the Bolt’s range prowess comes via aggressive regenerative braking. Chevy has announced a “regen paddle” for the model, which allows drivers to brake using just a steering column-mounted lever, while at the same time sending as much captured power back to the battery as possible.
Tesla’s sedan models might have sex appeal, but the Bolt promises space appeal. The model’s designers aimed to provide compact-sized hatchback space on a subcompact footprint. Some aerodynamic slipperiness was sacrificed in the interest of boosting interior volume, but the impact on driving range doesn’t seem that great.
The automaker hasn’t released pricing, though it does maintain that the Bolt’s MRSP will come in just below $37,500, before a $7,500 federal tax credit.
[Image: General Motors]
Thats one fine looking Pontiac Vibe.
Must be why I was wondering if I could talk my wife into one.
The iM is available for your practical needs!
Vibe had a nicer looking front. Just do not like the bow tie on cars.
I did like the squarish rear window of the last-gen Vibe…
The Vibe/Matrix was a very practical vehicle and GM sold a lot of Vibes, in comparison to the Matrix twin.
On the other hand the CMax shares the same vibe, and never sold well — on the other other hand the CMax was marred by a MPG scandal and had less attractive overall lines working against it.
All the grilles!
First time I’ve seen that color scheme – looks quite handsome. Can’t wait to see one in person.
Edit: If the regen is super-aggressive, I hope the brake lights respond to speed reductions to prevent accidents. I stopped using “L” in my Volt (except when I’m not being followed) for that reason; drivers behind either don’t recognize that you’re slowing, or are inclined to believe that your brake lights are malfunctioning.
It is no different from using engine braking in an ICE car. I have been doing it all my life and it has never been a concern. Tailgaters will tailgate. People who do not engine brake will assume your brake lights are not working until they see them come on… Nothing new here.
Living in the mountain west I like the idea of being able to engage engine braking through regen.
In these days of touch-screen everything, I’ll decrease my chances of being rear-ended by a distracted driver; and there’s a lot more of that lately than the time (25 years straight) that I drove manual transmission cars.
Is there any reason to assume the paddle isn’t wired to the brake lights?
it is in the Volt. when I hit the regen paddle, the brake lights lit up.
Yes — thanks — my Gen 1 doesn’t have a paddle switch for regen, and it doesn’t light the brake lights when shifted to “L”, even though the car slows significantly.
Why does it still have to look like a miniature minivan dorkbus clowncar? I am never buying something that looks so banal, I don’t care what it can do. Why does no one else get that EVs can be attractive except Tesla??
Think of it as a CUV. Better that than a sedan in the current sedan abandoning market.
I don’t think the Model 3 is “attractive.” W/o even a vestigial grille it looks like a plastic clown shoe.
Yeah the S is attractive the 3 not so much. Also I have seen an X a few times in traffic now and that is not pretty either.
The X is kind of a sloppy mess. I’ve seen a couple in traffic and one parked, and I wasn’t impressed.
Yeah there was one parked in a driveway down the block from my house, the rear end is just awful. The more I see the less I like. Shame because the S is a very tasteful large car (well a little less tasteful now that they dumped the grill).
I like the S, it is indeed a graceful shape. I feel now that it’s looking a bit old, the grille deletion makes it worse!
If your goal is to shoehorn compact space into a sub-compact footprint, sleek and low-slung are off the table. You build up.
I know auto journos think there’s a story there. There isn’t.
The Bolt is a 165 inch sub-compact. The Model 3 is a 185 inch mid-size. Americans do not buy sub-compacts, but they do buy mid-size sedans. It doesn’t make a difference if they have the same starting price and range. Chevrolet may as well try to sell the Sonic for the price of a 3 Series and see how that goes.
Remember that the hatchback version of a car will almost always be shorter than the sedan version, while the sedan and wagon versions will be of similar or the same length. So a sedan (Model 3) and a hatchback (Bolt), even from the same size-class, aren’t comparable on length.
And even among hatchbacks within the same class, it’s still hard to compare cars, because a lot of them are only longer than others by way of having more front and rear overhang, when the wheelbases and interior volume are nearly the same.
The Bolt seems to be more compact-hatchback sized, and sized evenly with the normal-length Golf, which is definitely roomy. But it will come to how efficient the Bolt is with its interior space. After all, the long, elegant Fisker Karma got classified as subcompact due to its interior volume.
The Karma is tiny on the inside, but the Model S is huge (3 full rows and a front trunk). I’m guessing the Model 3 will be more like the S in terms of space utilization.
If anything, Tesla hopes that the Bolt sells well, because then it will be easier to up-sell people to an Accord-sized car with similar range. They want the electric drive to be a non-issue.
The main competition for the Bolt will be the next Leaf. Same size, same price, probably same performance.
But isn’t the “3rd row” in the Tesla truly unfit for humans? History has a long list of vehicles that claim, 7, 8, and 9 passenger seating but in reality passengers 6, 7, 8, and/or 9 will need to be very small children or amputees.
Although the 3rd row in the Model S exists, it’s more of a Tesla Toaster Oven for (not Tater) Tots .
The hatchback of the Model S won’t make it to the Model 3 – that alone will drive some sales toward the Bolt.
I haven’t sat in the third row, but it looks bigger than the third row in my Mom’s old Caprice wagon.
shaker,
Has Tesla released any pictures of the Model 3 with the trunk open? I ask because there’s a seam in the middle of the roof that could be the edge of a particularly long hatch.
the Model S has three full rows now?
Full is relative. My point is that it is roomy for a 195 inch car. It’s certainly roomier than a 202 inch Taurus (both figures rounded-down, BTW).
There is no reason to suspect that the 3 will be small inside compared to other cars with similar exterior dimensions. We’ll find-out next year, but external dimensions suggest that the Bolt is a sub-compact, and the 3 is a mid-size. Americans buy lots of mid-size cars and crossovers, but very few sub-compacts.
HH: Found this about the Model 3’s trunk – there’s still hope for a hatch…
http://bgr.com/2016/04/07/tesla-model-3-trunk-design-elon-musk/
Exactly. The Bolt is simply more efficiently packaged; I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s roomier inside than the 3, albeit without a conventional trunk.
As for “size class”, I thought the EPA use interior volume, not overall length, to classify the size of a car?
Having sat in a Spark and having had lived with a rental Sonic I will say this, GM has (finally) figured out how to make small cars “big” on the inside.
Alpha and GMT vehicles still don’t have that magic figured out, but the Sonic and Spark sure did. If the same mojo applied to the Sonic is applied here as far as space utilization, it will seat 4 with ease, and 5 in desperate times.*
*As is the case with most 5-seat vehicles, including larger ones
Your point is well-taken, however Americans also have a very high tendency not to wait for things. The Bolt is here now, the Model 3 is still a ways off.
“Your Hot Pocket is here now, your steak will be out in 20 minutes.”
Same thing.
and based on the Volt’s reputation, is likely to be a lot more durable.
“Americans” don’t buy E-cars either….
It’s by no means inconceivable that the subset of Americans that buy E-cars, are more likely to buy subcompacts, than the wider group of Americans in general.
From my POW, E-cars make sense in cities. As does space efficient subcompacts.
The original Teslas, were status symbols for demographics who considered cars beneath them first, useful transportation second. The second gen E-cars, like the 3 and bolt, are aiming for a more pragmatic customer base.
So what you’re saying, is that the bolt will be waiting outside for the model 3 when it finally gets here?
MT nonsense aside, if Chevy could have refrained from the awful murano-half-blacked-out-c/d-pillar trend that’s been going around, I think this would be a fairly good looking vehicle (all things considered, I think almost all current vehicles are pretty ugly). As it is, it’s not quite ugly enough keep it off my list of considerations were I looking for a new vehicle in the coming months.
If the styling weren’t so damned ugly, this would be on my list of next cars. Even 150 miles is more than enough for me.
I’m curious to see if it will depreciate as badly as the first-gen Volt and current Leaf did. If so, I’d just wait a couple of years.
Up here in Canada, the resale values of Volts is really very strong IMO. No smoking deals. 2013’s listed for $25,000, 2013’s all over $21,000 on autotrader in British Columbia.
Would you just buy a Prius?
Anyway I like the way this article was laid out.
“Shot across the bow of Tesla’s Model 3”
Ummm… no. I dont think Model 3 buyers are at all interested in a suprememly ugly GM midget car.
Not the new one. I think the newly-introduced Prius is even worse-looking than this Bolt.
The previous two versions, however, were handsome, and I could see myself driving one of those.
Handsome? Maybe in a John Cusack way….but prius is not a top tier looker
Chevy seems to be claiming interior volume closer or slightly larger then a Honda Fit. If that’s true It would mean it’s in the same interior class as the Kia Soul , XB, Imprezza wagon. So compact but not crazy small like a spark.
@TonyJZX:
I’m a Model 3 reservation holder, and I’m interested in the Bolt as well.
The Bolt could be a car to tide us over until our Model 3 is ready. My wife has a 100-mile daily commute. She wants the autopilot and the most efficient ride she can get (due to her personal philosophy).
The Bolt gets better gas mileage than anything on the road, obviously, and might be worth owning for a short time while Tesla sorts through their inevitable production delays. Also, we’re in the American Midwest, so we won’t be getting the first Model 3s anyway.
If we can’t find a buyer for the Bolt, I’m not averse to driving it on my commute for a couple of years while I wait for the Model Y, or for Chrysler to sort out the inevitable teething problems on the Pacifica Plugin Hybrid.
If you do get a Bolt in the next six months, it probably won’t make sense to dump it after even three years (if that’s how long it takes for Tesla to bring the Model 3 to market)…unless there’s a sharp upswing in gas prices and you can sell it at a premium.
More than likely, the wisest decision from a pure dollars standpoint would be to keep the Bolt and get the Model 3, assuming the Bolt holds up. That doesn’t take into account financing, but I suspect you’ll take a bath if you sell it after three years.
Wow. That disparity is amazing. I think it speaks to the cheap fuel available here. Wait until gas goes back up to $4.00 a gallon.
Might be a long wait.
Fracking has pretty much put a ceiling on gas prices and the Saudis,et al, have tried to set a floor below which gas won’t go.(A bunch of US frackers put their wells in hibernation til gas prices rise,then they start fracking away.)
Considering how well mini-CUVs are selling and how many more are on the way, I’d say on the whole that the Bolt’s somewhat fussy/me-too contemporary/inoffensive looks are an asset, not a liability.
It’s a “Cute-a-saurus”, much like the Encore.
I like it and I hate everything new.
Let us know if there are some good lease deals. :)
“Let us know if there are some good lease deals.”
Oh, no! You got to do your own time in the gas clouds of Acqua di Gio and Le Male.
It isn’t AWD, keep your drawers closed!
I think it looks great. Practical and useful for my daily driving. Buying new probably isn’t an option for me, so I can hope for a depreciation curve similar to the Volt and maybe get one in a few years.
The Opel Ampera-e is simultaneously being ballyhood in Europe, for its market-leading range. What hasn’t been announced yet is where it will be built, but it’s likely to be exported from the US to Europe, since it’s the same car as the Bolt. Good news, for a change!
The unfortunate choice of “BOLT” for a name… there is a novel by the same name, and it refers to the gun used to put down a horse as humanely as possible… there must have been better options available. If this car turns out to be a lemon, the owners will bolt from GM products like so many others have…
Colt was already taken. Dolt isn’t a very good name; Molt would just sound odd; Zolt isn’t even a word.
When I think of Bolt the first thing in my mind that pops up is the cartoon dog..I liked that movie..with me kids of course.
Autoline pushes “Bolt EV” to distinguish it from the Volt.
should have stuck with “CrossVolt” IMO.
Chevy also said the Volt would do 230 mpg, even replacing the “0” in
230″ with a smiling electrical outlet (not kid friendly!)
Hopefully the number sticks this time.
Can it actually seat 5 (unlike the Volt)?
yes. the Bolt has a completely flat floor.
Everything about the Bolt seems too good to be true – amazing range, excellent space, snappy acceleration, and reasonable (for an EV) price. As my mother used to say – “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. When every single current EV is a money loser, it is hard to see how GM will profit from the Bolt when it has a much more expensive (larger) battery for a very slighter higher price than a Leaf and lower price than an i3. Either the price will end up higher than currently projected or GM is going to limit production (and losses) and use it exclusively as a compliance car.
huh. The Bolt seems “too good to be true” even though it will be here tomorrow, but 400,000 people set aside $1000 for the promise of a car which doesn’t exist in any form yet. Maybe Mary Barra should start Tweeting relentlessly.
yes, the Bolt is probably going to be a money-loser at first. unlike those folks in Silicon Valley, however, GM has all of those fat-margin trucks and SUVs to minimize the impact.
This is more than a compliance car. One thing GM seems to have learned from 2008 is not being fully dependent on trucks to keep the ship afloat.
But, but, that’s what they sell – TRUCKS! Why yes Virginia it’s true, American car buyers want fullsize trucks, fullsize, mid-size, compact and sub-compact SUVs in both BOF and CUV configurations. The GMT platform vehicles aren’t the top of their class, but they are “good enough” to appeal to the masses (cough cough Camry cough cough) and no one does BOF SUV like GM (as all of them have their flaws).
However, unlike FCA which apparently can’t design or build a small car to save their lives, the Spark is the best A-segment offering you can buy today (agreed, that isn’t saying much), the Sonic may be aged by a new one is basically here with the main issues addressed, the cheezy interior), the Cruze is a solid contender in the class, the new Malibu is seeing a sales increase in a class where almost everyone else is shedding share, the Impala is the best darn full sizer bang for the buck you can buy today, and GM has the Volt, which was never the success the ridiculous claims had it declared it would be, but certainly not a flop.
If the price of gas is $6.00 a gallon this time next year because of the limited nuclear war President Trump caused in southeast Asia and a litany of trade sanctions against the United States, GM has cars they can sell, and the Bolt will seem like a stroke of genius.
The old GM would have buried the Volt, and the investment when the price of gas crashed through the floor at the same time it launched. I’m a firm believer that gasoline prices will stay low for years to come (barring some dramatic political situation as noted above) but any automaker not hedging their bets on the volatility of the precious juice (cough cough FCA cough cough) does so at their own peril.
This is more than a compliance car, this is a protection plan for the unknown.
“the limited nuclear war President Trump caused in southeast Asia ”
The fuh? You ever read any comments in major Asian blogs? Trump don’t gotta cause nuthin’! Those rascals hate each other even more than they hate us!
I agree, it doesn’t look like gas prices will hit $6/gallon any time soon, and at the current $2/gallon its getting pretty hard to justify buying an electric car based on fuel savings. I’m interested in the Bolt as it would get me into the carpool lane, but it’s looking like a worse and worse investment relative to a ICE econobox.
@sco but it’s looking like a worse and worse investment relative to a ICE econobox.
For me, one of the biggest factors in the EVs favor is that the powertrain is much more enjoyable to drive than the typical ICE powered econobox. Smooth quiet power with lots of torque. It’s so addictive. Manufacturers seem to forget that aspect and push environment and economy. I think people are really buying them because of the driving experience.
yep. I spent a weekend driving the new Volt, and made sure to keep it charged. even with its relatively low power, that instant, no-shifting pull from the electric motor was… really neat.
“the limited nuclear war President Trump caused in southeast Asia”
Trump is chaotic enough he might start a war. But Clinton already has started & perpetuated wars. Either way, we’re screwed.
This comment could not have been written by an adult with even a casual understanding of history or war.
redav
exactly.
anybody with an ounce of recent history and smidgen of Middle East wars/political stumbles in the past few years will understand your point.
Technology keeps improving and the Bolt is a newer design than the Leaf or i3. It is sort of like comparing the newest smart phone to one released one to two years ago.
Electronic tech changes fast.
Hey , I wish them luck(GM)…. I just can’t help but to recall the new idea GM cars of the 70’s and 80’s that failed to live up to their hype. I’m old enough to recall the Vega , the Citation , the Cadillac V8-6-4 ,Fiero, and those terrible GM Diesels. All were hyped as great new cars. I’d wait at least 24 months before concidering the Bolt. Even then , it’s not going to show up in my driveway.
I doubt anyone who worked for GM back then still works there now. heck, a lot of them may not even be alive anymore. and being forced into a culture change (by Bob Lutz) and a house-cleaning bankruptcy, you can’t even trot out the “eh, still the same old GM” trope.
besides, the Volt- which is a LOT more complex than a pure EV- has been one of their best cars, quality and reliability wise. I don’t think you need to wait on this one.
I hope your right. My feeling is it is the same old culture , new faces , but not really. GM fell under the to Big to Fail umbrella, just like so many financial institutions. They soured me for good (GM) years ago.
I have no doubt that the Bolt is engineered well, but I worry that the suppliers might have been squeezed too much on price/delivery, etc. that the initial quality might be shaky – it may be best to wait a while, but not too long, as this may be the car that eats up GM’s tax credits.
Without a nationwide charging network this car can use, driving it 238 miles in one direction could require a different means of returning.
Compare this:
http://www.afdc.energy.gov/locator/stations/results?utf8=%E2%9C%93&location=&fuel=ELEC&private=false&planned=false&planned=true&owner=all&radius=false&radius_miles=5&ev_levels%5B%5D=none&ev_levels%5B%5D=dc_fast&ev_connectors%5B%5D=none&ev_connectors%5B%5D=J1772COMBO&ev_networks%5B%5D=none&ev_networks%5B%5D=AeroVironment+Network&ev_networks%5B%5D=Blink+Network&ev_networks%5B%5D=ChargePoint+Network&ev_networks%5B%5D=EV+Connect&ev_networks%5B%5D=eVgo+Network&ev_networks%5B%5D=EVSE+LLC+WebNet&ev_networks%5B%5D=GE+WattStation&ev_networks%5B%5D=Greenlots&ev_networks%5B%5D=OpConnect&ev_networks%5B%5D=SemaCharge+Network&ev_networks%5B%5D=Tesla&ev_networks%5B%5D=all
to this:
http://www.afdc.energy.gov/locator/stations/results?utf8=%E2%9C%93&location=&fuel=ELEC&private=false&planned=false&planned=true&owner=all&radius=false&radius_miles=5&ev_levels%5B%5D=none&ev_levels%5B%5D=dc_fast&ev_connectors%5B%5D=none&ev_connectors%5B%5D=TESLA&ev_networks%5B%5D=none&ev_networks%5B%5D=AeroVironment+Network&ev_networks%5B%5D=Blink+Network&ev_networks%5B%5D=ChargePoint+Network&ev_networks%5B%5D=EV+Connect&ev_networks%5B%5D=eVgo+Network&ev_networks%5B%5D=EVSE+LLC+WebNet&ev_networks%5B%5D=GE+WattStation&ev_networks%5B%5D=Greenlots&ev_networks%5B%5D=OpConnect&ev_networks%5B%5D=SemaCharge+Network&ev_networks%5B%5D=Tesla&ev_networks%5B%5D=all
I guess that would depend on where you live and how many road trips you take. I consider myself a car guy and I haven’t driven more then 500 miles from my house in over a decade (I fly if it’s more then 8 hours in a car) . And I live in the middle of that cluster in the NE so not much worrying me there. It looks like most population centers are well covered by non Tesla high speed chargers. Plus it seems Tesla is adopting the SAE at least as a 2nd input so that would mean most independent networks would likely go for the SAE plug in the future, Bolt has little to worry about there.
In the time it would take to convert those megalinks to tiny urls, I’m already halfway to work. Ditto for the average grocery/hardware/knickknack runs I make.
I’ve got other options for any major highway hauls I may still make. 200-mile range is significant to me only because it means lots of battery reserve for days of frozen parking lots.
You know that joke about the guy going to the doctor complaining when me moves his arm a certain way? Yeah, that.
I don’t think anyone expects EVs to be a family’s primary vehicle. And like other niche products, they don’t have be–not yet, anyway.
somebody quipped on Ars Technica how when the topic of EVs comes up, suddenly every car owner in the country works as a self-employed cross-country grandfather clock delivery person.
honestly, when it comes to EVs, 200-ish miles per charge is enough to remove “range anxiety” for most people’s day-to-day business. For a lot of people, it’s a “no need to panic if I forgot to plug in last night” safety net. I mean, my SRT-4 had a small enough gas tank where the low fuel light would come on about 250 miles after each fill-up (its fuel gauge was rather pessimistic.) I can state with certainty I wasn’t getting gas every day.
for me, a Bolt or Model 3 would work perfectly as my daily driver. the savings on fuel costs would make it a no brainer to just rent a car for long trips.
With my Volt, I routinely let the battery drain to <10 miles of range, because I have the gas engine; I would *not* do that with a Bolt, because you just never know when the rare power failure might happen.
I would use the Bolt like a 100-mile EV, with 100 miles of "insurance".
I can’t wait for Chevy to come out with the special high performance “Usain Edition” Bolt.
excellent
I like the car.
And from all reviews…its affordable, the interior is extremely spacious and it runs nicely.
And, as I have always said, Musk is a huckster and whenever any major auto manufacturer wanted and does get into the EV game…game over for Tesla.
I still disagree.
Only Tesla is ‘all in’ on EVs, which necessarily improves their game. GM doesn’t *need* to succeed with the Bolt – fine as it is – because they have so many other traditional vehicles to make real money on.
Besides, the Bolt is going to sell 1/10 as well as the Model 3.
The only threat to Tesla is Tesla. They’re in a race to become profitable, and everything hinges on their Gigafactory (educated) gamble. But by comparison, Ford, GM, Audi, VW, BMW, Nissan, and Porsche are really just playing in this market.
I’ll believe they’re serious when one of them builds their own battery factory. Until then, they couldn’t compete if they wanted to.
Tesla is not all in on EV’s. They have Solar City soon as part of their basket along with Gigifactory.
I am grateful that Musk has pushed the technology forward, but there is no real scale to their auto assembly business. Their 2-4 year goal is to sell fewer vehicles globally than Toyota sells Camry’s in the US in a year. FCA is acknowledging that they need a partner due to costs. Ford and GM cooperate on a 10 speed transmission to make it economic. I really fail to see their car business surviving as a assembler or manufacturer.
I wish that they would focus on battery tech and new applications for that tech. Licence the name Tesla or have another manufacturer contract build their vehicles.
Tesla is a long term short, stock holders will be getting a significant haircut over the next 5 years
Yesterday I did an unusual amount of driving … and put 150 miles on my car. Most days I put a dozen or two miles on it.
The vast majority of commuters do less than 100 miles round trip, and most are way under that.
I wonder if the owners manual suggests the regen paddle not be used on slippery or gravel roads. Firm braking with just the front wheels is like asking to swap ends.
The regen paddle is really interesting. We’ve had roughly 90 years of standardized automotive controls, and then they go any put a brake on the steering wheel? With modern electronic driving aids and stability/traction control, they can’t bake this into the existing brake bias? Hit the pedal a little, all regen. Hit it a lot, max stopping power.
I actually see the regen paddle appealing to those who fetishize the manual transmission.
You can engage engine braking just like you would if you downshift.
“they can’t bake this into the existing brake bias?”
They do – the paddle is an *optional* way to use regen braking – the other way is the middle third (approximately) of brake pedal travel.
First 1/3= pedal play — Second 1/3= Variable Regen — Third 1/3= Friction Brake.
I’ve driven my Volt 25 miles across suburban traffic on a warm day (slowing on downhills and stopping at several lights), gotten out and touched the front brake disc with my finger – barely warm.
when I had the Volt for a weekend, I think I did 60-70% of my braking with the paddle.
How long will this take to charge on regularly available publich chargers? I frequently drive about a 170 mile trip so this car will comfortably be able to make the trip one way. However, I won’t be able to charge it at either destination, so I would need to find a convenient not excessively time consuming way to charge it along the way (similar to Tesla’s superchargers).