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Armen Hareyan's picture
By Armen Hareyan Mar 2 2018 - 7:50pm

Ways GM Can Sell More Chevy Bolts and Help Customers To Get The Most Out of $7,500 Incentive

If you are in a market to buy a Tesla Model S, Model 3, Nissan Leaf, Chevy Bot or simply another electric car apparently there is a very good way of taking advantage of the $7,500 tax incentive if you own a 401K. And you dealership's salesman may not even know about it.
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Why is not GM taking advantage of Tesla Model 3 delays with its Chevy Bolt? Sales are down to 1400 unites in the USA. I asked this question today in GM Electric Vehicle Owners group on Facebook and one of the Volt owners shared a very interesting insight. By the way, Bolt is already popular and here is what makes Chevy Bolt grow in popularity.

Phill Brooks Writes.

We loved both of the Volts that we owned, But the Chevy Bolt is fantastic!

Now, with warmer weather we are showing an average of 267 miles per charge possible with a top possibility of over 300! The car has incredible torque and can actually burn the tires in Sport Mode.

Chevy Dealers Don't Know Enough About Bolt

We find that the dealers do not do a good job of selling the Volt or the Bolt because they simply do not know enough about them.

They do not have a clue about how the cars drive and the "in's and out's" of increasing mileage, the apps to use to find charging stations and a shear lack of putting in 24/7 charging stations to turn on with the ChargePoint cards.

Use 401K to Pay For Your EV

They have no idea how to get the most out of the $7,500 tax credit by using a 401k to draw money out and let the car pay for the taxes on it.

While I have waited in the few dealerships while charging, I am their best salesman and have sold a few Bolts by explaining the car to possible buyers.

It only cost me $1.50 in electricity per every 50 miles of charge at home on my 240v charger and if the dealers want to they could charge me what the electricity cost, I don't care. I know that if GM is serious about bringing out over 20 more EVs by 2023 they better build a charging network at the dealers.

Charging stations, like BLINK are charging $2 per hour to charge which is over 3 times what gas will cost me. I will not use them. Stores, like Kohl's and Staples put many free charging stations in because they know that by giving me $1.50 worth of electric, it is like giving me a coupon to spend in their stores while I am charging my car. That is smart.

The general mode in the above mentioned discussion is that unlike Tesla GM doesn't want to sell electric cars. Action speaks louder than words.

GM could start advertising Chevy Bolt more aggressively. It could also improve Bol's front seats, making them more comfortable This has been a constant refrain since the model was introduced. People have written numerous times on Bolt and EV forums that the front seats issue has been a deal breaker for them.

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Comments

Joel wrote on March 2, 2018 - 9:35pm
It is my opinion that the 250 mile battery is the samsung galaxy s5. People see the next bigger thing on the horizon, 400 miles was reported by a coming German EV.
Alexandr wrote on March 2, 2018 - 9:36pm
There are 2 reasons. First is that GM isn't serious about selling electric vehicles, and second, nobody has a competitive product to Tesla.
Chris wrote on March 2, 2018 - 9:36pm
Never-mind, the ONLY reason GM developed the Bolt, was because they had to, as part of the 2008 government-bailout. Not unlike the EV-1 program, which was because California had a ‘clean-air’ mandate law, which GM sued to overturn (which is why they eventually recalled all of the EV-1’s, and destroyed them). GM could care less about AGW, much less air-pollution.
VFanRJ wrote on March 2, 2018 - 10:45pm
Completely wrong on both accounts. Bob Lutz started pushing for an EV in 2003 and was finally able to get management and the board to approve in 2006 only after Musk showed it could be done with his roadster. It was GM who proposed the $7500 EV tax credit to Bush, which he approved, for cars with batteries capable of 16kWh or above. There is no way that the 2008 bailout could have anything to do with the Bolt because it came so much later. My guess is that GM used the Bolt so they wouldn't have to buy California's ZEV credits.
Carl wrote on March 2, 2018 - 10:07pm
GM’s number one selling vehicle and most profitable is a truck. They probably make nothing off of EVs. While they may care about a future selling, inexpensive and smaller EVs in the developing world, it’s really a tiny market in the USA now. No point in wasting $ on training, service or support.
Heinz Ruffieux wrote on March 3, 2018 - 9:51am
I am owning a Tesla Model S for more than 4 years and driven almost 100kmiles. My father in law recently bought a Chevy Bolt (actually labeled as Opel Ampera-e over here in Europe) based on my recommendation. It is currently by far the best available EV in that price range. So, there is definitely not reason at all to hide this car. I am 100% convinced that the problem is with the dealers. Not because they do not know enough, but because those EV's will not generate as much maintenance revenue as normal cars do. So, they will loose a lot of business. This is exactly why Tesla built up their own sales stores worldwide and reality proofs him right! I also think the only reason to build one must have to do with some environmental benefits of some sort. Over here in Switzerland car importers now pay big penalties if the average CO2 emmissions per imported car is above a certain level. Hence a mix with EV's will help the statistics. Despite all this, only now you begin to see SOME EV advertisements here and there. What a misery!