General Motors is slashing prices for the 2023 Chevy Bolt EV and Bolt EUV amid high demand for electric vehicles. While other automakers are jacking up EV prices to account for rising commodity costs, GM says it wants to send the message that “affordability has always been a priority for these vehicles.”
Under the new pricing scheme, 2023 Bolt EVs with the 1LT trim will start at $26,595, which includes dealer freight charges. That’s down from the 2022 price of $32,495, reflecting an 18 percent drop. The 2LT trim, which includes leather seats, HD surround vision, and lane-change alert, starts at $29,795, a 16 percent decrease from the 2022 price of $35,695.
The 2023 Bolt EUV with the LT trim starts at $28,195, also including dealer freight charges — an 18 percent drop from the 2022 model year price of $34,495. The Premium trim level of the Bolt EUV will start at $32,695, a 16 percent decrease from the 2022 price of $38,995. Delivery charges are $995 and are reflected in the 2023 starting price for both vehicles and all trim levels, GM says.
“This change reflects our ongoing desire to make sure Bolt EV/EUV are competitive in the marketplace,” a GM spokesperson said. “As we’ve said, affordability has always been a priority for these vehicles.”
Dealers have been marking up the price on some new EVs, especially those in hot demand,, like the Ford F-150 Lightning, GMC Hummer EV, and Kia EV6. This has led to a cycle of enraged customers, spurring news stories about the outrage and leaving automakers scrambling to contain the fallout. The Chevy Bolt and Bolt EUV, however, have experienced very little of this so far.
First introduced in 2016, the Chevy Bolt was intended to be the automaker’s first stab at a mass-market purely battery-electric vehicle with 200-plus miles of range and an affordable price tag.
But since the release of the Tesla Model 3 in 2018, Bolt sales have been anemic. The Bolt’s compact hatchback size is not what most American car buyers are looking for these days, instead preferring larger SUVs and trucks. And a recent recall of 2017–2019 model year Bolts related to a flawed battery that left the vehicle prone to fires hasn’t helped either.
The reduced prices will also help make up for GM’s competitive disadvantage when it comes to tax credits. When the Bolt was first introduced, the automaker was still eligible for the federal government’s $7,500 tax credit, which effectively made the Bolt a $30,000 vehicle. But in 2019, GM sold its 200,000th EV in the US, triggering a phase out of the tax credit. Now, the company is no longer eligible for the credit, and efforts to revise the incentive have stalled in Congress.
Production resumed in early April, and today’s price announcement indicates that GM is highly motivated to find new buyers for its compact EV. Orders for the 2023 Bolt EV and EUV are expected to start in July.
More broadly, EV prices are going up amid changing market conditions and rising commodity costs, specifically for key materials needed for EV batteries. Battery prices have been declining for years, but some experts are predicting that a sharp increase in battery minerals over the next few years could lead to a rise in cell costs by as much as 20 percent.