ColdFusion - Tesla Model 3 vs Chevy Bolt | The Race for the Electric Car

Starting point is 00:00:00 You are watching Cold Fusion TV. Hi, welcome to another Cold Fusion video. In my last video, a few of you pointed out that it was going to be the Chevy Bolt that could be the first mass-produced electric car that wasn't underpowered, not the Tesla Model 3. And you guys were right. I'd actually mistaken the Chevy Bolt for another car, which is a hybrid, called the Chevy Volt. So I ruled it out. We don't have Chevrolet over here in Australia. We have Holden instead, which makes completely different cars.

Starting point is 00:00:34 So sorry about that. I actually mixed it. things up. Now with that out of the way, I just wanted to set the record straight. The point of this video is to update my analysis on the advent of electric cars for the masses. With Chevrolet getting involved, everything changes. In essence, the race for the electric car involves an established industry giant versus an innovative startup. There's actually a strange twist to this emerging story, but we'll get to that later. So grab the popcorn, things could get very interesting over the next few years. All right, so let's take a look at what's going on.

Starting point is 00:01:06 Meet the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV. The Bolt EV is truly the first EV that cracks the code of long range at an affordable price. I have no doubt that the auto industry will change more in the next 5 to 10 years than it has in the last 50. Let's look at the specs. We don't have much information. All we really have is the range and the acceleration. So for the Chevy Bolt, we have 2,000. In the Bolt, we have 200 miles of range and just under 7 seconds for 0 to 100 km an hour or 0 to 60 miles an hour. And for the Tesla Model 3, we have 215 miles of range and just under 6 seconds to accelerate it from 0 to 100 km an hour.

Starting point is 00:01:54 It seems like the bolt has the jump on the Model 3 for production. Chevy said that the bolt will go into production late this year, so retail availability might be 2017. Production for the Model 3 is much harder to call. Tesla promises production in late 2017, but there's already been huge demand with over 270,000 pre-orders. So the question is, can they deliver? Both companies have established significantly different brand reputations. Tesla, with the Model S and Model X, is seen as a luxury car maker, but they had to do this in order to get to the mass market phase. The Model S quickly became the car of choice for types like Silicon Valley executives and well-off tech enthusiasts. The Model 3 will

Starting point is 00:02:37 benefit from this reputation. Chevy can boast many more years of experience, but in terms of brand, this experience might not necessarily work in their favor this time round. Given Chevy's broad based appeal, its mainstream buyers may find it too early to try an electric car regarding the bolt as an early adopter model. Of what I've heard and what I can gather, most people expect Chevy cars to be affordable and not fancy. That seems to be their brand image. The big decider is price and there's been a bit of confusion here because most people think that the bolt is actually cheaper than the Model 3 but it's actually the other way around when you take into account government incentives.

Starting point is 00:03:18 While the bolt will be $30,000 with tax incentives factored in, according to motor trend, the retail price will be $37,000. Musk has repeatedly said that the Model 3 will be priced at $35,000 before incentives and with incentives ranging from $7,500 to $13,000, depending on which US states. state, the price for the Model 3 could be as low as $22,000 in some US states. This is a US-centered view, though. We don't have any information on how much it will cost in other countries, and frankly, who knows?

Starting point is 00:03:53 The CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, doesn't see the Bolt as a competitor. He has previously talked about the desire for electric cars to succeed, no matter who makes them. This philosophy has led to Musk offering up Tesla's patents for other companies to use in good faith. In essence, more electric cars on the road means more infrastructure for charging. on the go and also means the mainstream will become more comfortable with them. If the bolt gains mass market acceptance, this actually helps the Model 3. Are you worried at all about GM beating you to the market with its upcoming bolt

Starting point is 00:04:24 throughout next year? You know, I think if GM comes to the market with a compelling electric car, that's great. You know, the goal of Tesla from the beginning has been to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport. So, you know, I think if GM or any other company comes out with competitive, electric cars that's good for the world and you know we would apply them. So why don't Chevrolet or any other car company make an electric car earlier? Well General Motors actually did just this in 1996 as a response to the

Starting point is 00:04:56 California mandate that required automakers to have zero emission vehicles ready on the market by 1998. In response GM rolled out the EV one the first mass-produced electric car of the modern era. It wasn't perfect and had a range of only just 50 miles but it still did receive a devout following and maybe could have appealed to a wider demographic with subsequent improvements. General Motors put its new EV1 electric car in the market today in California and Arizona.

Starting point is 00:05:22 Channel 5 News reporter Willis Sandmeyer has details for us in this report. It's smooth, it's quiet, and it can do zero to 60 in nine seconds without polluting the environment. This is the EV1, GM's new all-electric car now available to consumer.

Starting point is 00:05:40 Customers are already buying the EV-1. Constance Chestnut says she'll be using hers for work. She's a realtor. It also means that I will never go to another gas station. I'll never talk to another mechanic. And that's a lot of fun. But all of this didn't matter in the end because GM lawyers were lobbying hard with other manufacturers

Starting point is 00:06:00 to get California to back down on its requirement. They succeeded. Right around the time when the EV was ready to hit the dealerships, California weakened its mandate, relieving the legal pressure on the automakers to offer zero. emission cars. GM recalled the EV1 and took them all out to the desert and crushed them, ending the electric car as we know it. Well, until Tesla came along. So General Motors has gone full circle, from being the ones to destroy the electric car all the way to possibly being the first

Starting point is 00:06:31 to sell them. So we're pretty much at the end of the video, but I just wanted to voice a couple of notes of my concern. There are some footnotes about the wider economy that I should make. Right now we're in a global deflation period, meaning that there's less expandable wealth for consumers to spend, and this will probably hurt the sales of both companies. In the United States particularly, there's also a subprime auto loan bubble which could also be dangerous for these companies if they take part in that. So anyway, all in all, I think we're witnessing a big change in the auto industry and maybe even witnessing a turning point in history.

Starting point is 00:07:08 A time where we can look back and pinpoint the exact moment when we're going to be a very moment when we're when the electric car really arrived. And it's really a good thing. Carbon monoxide, which is released from general auto vehicles, is very poisonous and even lethal at high concentrations. So if you're in a city, having tens of thousands of cars outputting this chemical day after day all around you can't be good for your health or the environment. So it's a good idea to mitigate such things where we can. Anyway, that's the end of the video. Thanks for watching. I just thought I'd update my views and set the record straight. It's going to be an interesting competition between these two cars.

Starting point is 00:07:41 and we'll see what happens in the future. Don't forget to give this video a thumbs up if you liked it and subscribe. This has been DeGogo. You've been watching Cold Fusion and I'll see you again soon for the next video, which could possibly be a documentary on Google's Deep Mind. We'll see how I go. Cheers guys. Have a good one. Cold Fusion. It's new thinking.

ColdFusion - Tesla Model 3 vs Chevy Bolt | The Race for the Electric Car

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.