I not too long ago wrote a bit for CleanTechnica about my trusty Ocean Blue Nissan LEAF getting totaled. My spouse and I discovered ourselves needing a brand new car straight away, so my ideas about ready a 12 months or so for the brand new crop of EVs to return out was dashed.
Casper, our new Chevy Bolt. Picture by Stuart Ungar.
We had quite a lot of choices. There was the Tesla Mannequin 3, made extra engaging by the recently-lowered worth, and the Chevy Bolt EV. I did what I might think about many individuals do — which was to make a execs and cons record for each autos. I had the benefit of realizing what it was prefer to drive the Tesla Mannequin 3, as a result of I borrowed a pal’s Mannequin 3 for a week-long highway journey.
For me, what it boiled right down to was that I felt extra comfy within the Bolt EV. It sits up larger and has some bodily controls to reinforce what’s on the display. Most of my driving is round city or to neighboring states, and for the one or two longer journeys I make with my household yearly, we’ll simply have to regulate to the longer charging time on the DC quick chargers and break up our journeys into a number of touring days (one thing we do anyway).
So, I used to be excited to order a model new 2023 Chevy Bolt EV from my native dealership. I by no means had a model new automobile, so it was further thrilling. I quickly realized (with info from my salesman) that Chevy dealerships get allocations from company for autos they’ll promote. With that realization, it was clear that it could very properly be a number of months earlier than I bought my model new experience with all of the choices that I selected. As we would have liked a automobile straight away, I ended up pulling the set off on the 2022 Chevy Bolt EV they’d on the lot. It had all of the bells and whistles (one thing that I actually didn’t care about however am now very proud of) and wasn’t within the coloration I hoped for, however I wanted to be versatile. One sudden good thing about getting a 2022 mannequin was no “new automobile scent” — one thing that I actually don’t like and, truly, in keeping with quite a lot of research, might be surprisingly harmful and poisonous.
The Bolt’s coloration is Grey Ghost Metallic, so I settled on the identify Casper (for the pleasant ghost). A bit digging introduced up the truth that the identify Casper is a boy’s identify of Scandinavian and Persian origin that means “bringer of treasure.” Now who couldn’t use a little bit of treasure being introduced into their lives? I dubbed my first EV Betty, and in contrast to Teslas (which require you to call them), naming my Bolt was 100% a private desire.
As a co-founder of Evolve KY, Kentucky’s non-profit electrical car group, my LEAF enabled me to coach numerous individuals in the neighborhood in regards to the options and advantages of driving electrical. However because the group grew and began to department off in additional instructions and achieve affect in a bigger geographic space, the LEAF’s low vary (about 70–75 miles) was turning into an increasing number of of a problem. Getting the Chevy Bolt EV, which has a variety of about 260 miles, permits for driving a lot larger distances with ease.
Generally individuals make plans and destiny has a manner of doing what it desires. That’s precisely what occurred with my Nissan LEAF. Typically, it is just within the rearview mirror you can see the large image. It’s my hope that Casper will certainly be the “bringer of treasure” in that it’s going to enable me to soundly carry my household round and allow me to work to deliver new and much more priceless EV initiatives to my ever-expanding neighborhood.
