That isn't too shabby a number, considering full production only began in the middle of November, and the first deliveries were made on December 13th. Those token three cars turned out to be part of a Bay Area press event and not the opening of the Bolt pipeline.
As anyone who was driven slightly mad waiting for their Bolt to arrive already knows, Chevy held back the cars in the first few weeks of production. When the company would tell us anything, the best we were offered was the dreaded "bayed" status code.
Was that a fancy name for gathering snow in a parking lot in Michigan, or were they in quality control? We never really knew, and neither did the dealerships, apparently.
Based on the tea leaves of available cars at dealerships into the first week of the new year, virtually every Bolt shipped in December was either a preorder, or was sold within moments of touching the pavement. Not bad for a brand new model. I imagine a couple thousand more are on their way, so Bolts probably won't be nearly as scarce (at least in California and Oregon) in January.
The crazy part is, I actually own one of the first few hundred of what I predict will be at least a minor landmark in automotive history. Unfortunately it rained all day, so I had little opportunity to drive my future museum piece.
But one thought did occur to me rather suddenly today as I was gliding to a stop without using any braking: I was gliding to a stop without using any braking. Meaning, I was stopping without any brake lights flashing my intentions to the drivers behind me.
Should I be worried about this? Perhaps some veteran EV drivers can advise me on whether I am risking a rear-end collision by being energy thrifty. Should I be tapping my brake pedal just to warn?
Thanks for all your comments and questions. Keep them coming. I hope for a little sunshine over the weekend, and a better opportunity to dig in and answer more of them. I might even get ambitious and make a video!
I was thinking to myself the other day in the next decade or two if these self-driving cars will take off and folks won't own cars, what would happen to the garages in the homes? we could add this extra space to the house or "rent" out the space as a one bedroom studio type place. I agree with you that these cars will be the museum pieces of the future.
ReplyDeleteI feel this will bring down the level of violence in many parts of the world where oil is produced and these politicians create and manage these regional conflicts. we will see soon; one way or another we shall overcome!!!!
Are you sure the brake lights are not lighting up when the regen is above a certain level? Maybe you can test this by having a friend driving behind you (at a safe distance :-) ) when you enable different levels of regen (D, L and paddles + any combination thereof) to brake/stop.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is the brake lights come on in "L" mode whenever you release the accelerator pedal. They also come on whenever you press the regen paddle in any drive mode.
ReplyDeleteI did some research on this and in "L" or using the regen paddle, if the deceleration exceeds 0.1g (I have no feel for what this level is), the brake lights come on.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting is that? Thanks for the info, I feel better about it already!
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