'Skateboard' battery increases interior room and trunk space

Check out this deep/large trunk on the 2017 Bolt Electric Vehicle.

With the flat battery pack under the whole vehicle, it doesn't require a large pack at the back taking up cargo space.


Plus, no center tunnel, so all 3 seats in the rear should have decent legroom/sitting positions:

Here's another shot of the trunk. You can also see hooks to hold a lower floor that's near the same height as the folded seat backs. Those hook things are not in the pre-production vehicles that cnet filmed at CES.

The installed false cargo floor can be seen, from above, in this video at about 25 seconds:

https://youtu.be/erVHuXJLR3c?t=23s

Mary Barra said 17 cu. ft. behind the rear seats. That's just a bit smaller than a Trax at 18.7.

Yeah, I think I saw 16.9 cu ft. That's probably with the false floor removed.

Yep, 16.9 cubic feet, which GM points out is 1.8 cu ft bigger than the capacity of the BMW i3.

For comparison:
Kia Soul EV has 18.8 cu ft cargo space
Nissan Leaf has 23.6 cubic ft cargo space

Here's a view of the false floor in the back that allows level loading with the seats down and covered storage that's maybe 9 inches tall.

Here's a tiny bit of video on the hatch area floor. Skip to 4:05

http://youtu.be/6lnkgEbSqfE

Neat--that's a cleaver way of lowering that floor. Probably not a new idea but simple and effective.

boltplease said:

Check out this deep/large trunk on the 2017 Bolt Electric Vehicle.

With the flat battery pack under the whole vehicle, it doesn't require a large pack at the back taking up cargo space.

Plus, no center tunnel, so all 3 seats in the rear should have decent legroom/sitting positions:

Click to expand...

I was searching the Bolt EV forum for pictures of the trunk space. Thanks! Using the flat battery was a very smart decision on the part of GM. It opens up a lot of space.

Zoomit said:

The installed false cargo floor can be seen, from above, in this video at about 25 seconds:

https://youtu.be/erVHuXJLR3c?t=23s

Click to expand...

Wonder if there is room under the false floor for the portable EVSE and an extension cord.

JPWhite said:

Wonder if there is room under the false floor for the portable EVSE and an extension cord.

Click to expand...

There's definitely plenty of room below the false floor. It's leaves 9-12" of vertical space when at the high position and level with the rear opening.

If you're wondering about the space below the lower "real" floor, the spare tire is down there. They may plan to store the Level 1 EVSE next to the tire, but there won't be much room. An extension cord probably won't fit below the real floor.

Zoomit said:

JPWhite said:

Wonder if there is room under the false floor for the portable EVSE and an extension cord.

Click to expand...

There's definitely plenty of room below the false floor. It's leaves 9-12" of vertical space when at the high position and level with the rear opening.

If you're wondering about the space below the lower "real" floor, the spare tire is down there. They may plan to store the Level 1 EVSE next to the tire, but there won't be much room. An extension cord probably won't fit below the real floor.

Click to expand...

Spare tire?

Wow, that's a bonus these days!! Many fuel efficient cars dispensed with those some time ago to save weight and space.

JPWhite said:

Zoomit said:

JPWhite said:

Wonder if there is room under the false floor for the portable EVSE and an extension cord.

Click to expand...

There's definitely plenty of room below the false floor. It's leaves 9-12" of vertical space when at the high position and level with the rear opening.

If you're wondering about the space below the lower "real" floor, the spare tire is down there. They may plan to store the Level 1 EVSE next to the tire, but there won't be much room. An extension cord probably won't fit below the real floor.

Click to expand...

Spare tire?

Wow, that's a bonus these days!! Many fuel efficient cars dispensed with those some time ago to save weight and space.

Click to expand...

Spare tire?? - Very, very unlikely.

At one point, GM stated they were going with the next generation Michelins

• There's no spare tire, but neither is there an inflator kit; the electric Bolt will be the first car on the market to use the latest development of Michelin's self-sealing tire technology.Unlike run-flat tires, these seal around any nails or other small punctures, which the owner will only learn about once the tire is replaced.

Haven't seen anything in the specs about these tires. But I'd be very surprised if there was a spare. I can't thik of an EV (or hybrid for that matter) that carries one.

DucRider said:

Spare tire?? - Very, very unlikely.

At one point, GM stated they were going with the next generation Michelins

• There's no spare tire, but neither is there an inflator kit; the electric Bolt will be the first car on the market to use the latest development of Michelin's self-sealing tire technology.Unlike run-flat tires, these seal around any nails or other small punctures, which the owner will only learn about once the tire is replaced.

Haven't seen anything in the specs about these tires. But I'd be very surprised if there was a spare. I can't thik of an EV (or hybrid for that matter) that carries one.

Click to expand...

GM designed the unibody to hold one under the trunk floor, so I infer at least some models, in some markets, will have a spare tire.


From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qt4iUjpjeU

Thanks for the pic showing the wheel well.

Even if they don't supply a spare looks like there is somewhere to stow one

Zoomit said:

GM designed the unibody to hold one under the trunk floor, so I infer at least some models, in some markets, will have a spare tire.

Click to expand...

The Volt also has a similar depression. It's filled with electronics and I expect that to be the case on the Bolt also. When you put 60 kWh of batteries into a small car, put in 3 separate coolant loops, charging circuitry, inverters, etc , space is at a premium. Combine that with the lengths they have gone to reduce weight and the result is.......Sorry, but no spare tire.

Personally, I don't care if it has a spare tire or not, but clearly it's designed to be able to store one.

Both generations of the Volt have a rear storage compartment but it's square and not sized to store a spare tire. As you say, "space is at a premium" and they wouldn't have designed a circular volume with rounded bottom edges just to store electronics. (Something about a square peg and round hole...)

Here's the 1st gen Volt rear compartment:



The 2nd gen Volt is similar but there's actually a spare tire kit available. However, the tire doesn't fit below the load floor and takes up normal cargo volume. Here's a DIY kit, that looks the same as the GM accessory:


I'm guessing, even if the Michelin Energy Saver tires are self-sealing, they'll include a can of sealant and compressor in the volume below the load floor. A spare tire is probably an accessory option, like in the Volt. But in the Bolt EV, it will fit below the rear compartment load floor so it won't take up precious cargo volume.

Here's the Trax spare tire:


The Level 1 EVSE could fit with the inflator kit below the floor, but I don't know where it would be stored if there was a tire there. It may have a separate storage compartment on the side of the rear cargo area, but none of the pictures I've seen of the pre-production vehicles show any doors on the sides. Maybe it would fit within the spare tire along with the jack and wrench, but not likely.

At the Vancouver auto show here in BC, Canada I asked the GM rep to shoot the following photo to show what's beneath the subfloor in the trunk. There is definitely a tire-sized well down there, and the foam insert that holds the EVSE and other miscellaneous pieces certainly looks like it can be removed. However the wires on the right side that lead down into the well suggest there could be some equipment that might preclude the use of the well to hold an actual tire. Guess we'll just have to wait and see...

Thanks for the picture Sean! Now I'm curious to know the purpose of those wires on the right of the picture. I just caught myself actually scratching my head...