Massachusetts / New England

[ASDL]

Any Massachusetts or New England Bolt drivers out there?

I live north of Boston, on the coast. Ordered my Bolt two weeks ago from Muzi Ford in Needham - the only dealer in eastern MA to return my Bolt phone calls last October. Getting a Premier, dark gray, fully loaded. Straight MSRP. TPW of 2/13/17, dealer said to expect it end of February or early March.

Bought a Ford C-Max Energi in 2012, so I've got a LeGrange Level 2 charger in the garage and an awareness of how New England winters sap an EV's range. The C-Max's nominal 26-mile range drops to 13 on freezing days, especially using cabin heat or defrosting. But it's enough to get my wife the 11 miles to her job, where she can plug in a Level 1 EVSE and charge all day for the return commute. In warm weather she can make it roundtrip without recharging.

We installed a 6 kW solar system with net metering (and a battery backup) in 2012, so I can tell myself the cars are solar powered.

Still looking for some Level 3 DC Fast Chargers north of me - it's almost a blank ChargePoint/EvGo/PlugShare map in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Especially going to North Conway! Or Montreal...

 

[ScooterCT]

The Bolt is now listed at several MA dealerships, both on CarGurus and on the dealer sites. I don't see actual lot pictures, so I'm guessing these are in transit. I see about a dozen listed in NA, both LT and Premier.

 

[ScooterCT]

If anyone is still interested, the Bolt has arrived at some MA dealerships. I spoke with a dealer in central CT who'd already sold one, and had another arriving shortly. Dealer was highly enthusiastic, salesman was an EV expert and an overall nice guy. He also told me, no problem selling out of state that he knew of.

As a contrast, I had an phone chat with another MA dealership about 60 miles from the first one. They basically told me they had zero intention of ordering Bolts because there was zero interest in their market. They went on to lecture me that EVs were junk, led to unhappy customers, and sat on the lot unsold forever.

Talk about two different dealership experiences. Wow!

 

[Rocinante]

I'm north of Boston too. Just ordered my Bolt from Quirk Chevy in Braintree. They are getting them fairly quickly and I'm expecting to pick mine up on Feb 25.

I had a similar experience to ScooterCT. Most dealers I spoke with (including Herb Chambers, Mirak, etc.) wanted me to come in to talk about the Bolt when all I wanted to do was place the order.

Best experience thus far with Quirk Chevy. Very excited to get the car.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

Herb Connelly in Framingham MA has (at least) 2 Premiers, and another 6 or so coming soon.

Muzi in Needham Heights has at least 1.

Mirak in Arlington, Lannon in Woburn, and MacMulkin in Nashua NH also have at least 1 Bolt in stock.

 

[LeftieBiker]

If anyone sees Bolts in far Western Mass, by the NY border, please post that. Maybe I can drive one before mid March.

 

[Rocinante]

Has anyone here received their Bolt?

The car I was supposed to pick up from Mirak Chevrolet on Feb 25 turned out to be a pipe dream and it's still not here. Dealer says it's somewhere in Michigan and on it's way but is unable to tell me when it will arrive.
Meanwhile, my lease has started as of Feb and am battling with the dealer to refund month 1 of the lease payment. I feel like a fool

 

[LeftieBiker]

As a contrast, I had an phone chat with another MA dealership about 60 miles from the first one. They basically told me they had zero intention of ordering Bolts because there was zero interest in their market. They went on to lecture me that EVs were junk, led to unhappy customers, and sat on the lot unsold forever.

Was that dealer in Chicopee?

 

[ScooterCT]

That dealer was in Mendon. Could have been I just got a grouchy salesman that day.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

Bought a Ford C-Max Energi in 2012, so I've got a LeGrange Level 2 charger in the garage and an awareness of how New England winters sap an EV's range. The C-Max's nominal 26-mile range drops to 13 on freezing days, especially using cabin heat or defrosting. But it's enough to get my wife the 11 miles to her job, where she can plug in a Level 1 EVSE and charge all day for the return commute. In warm weather she can make it roundtrip without recharging.

The CMax was originally advertised as 21 mile range, and later dropped to 19. The way my wife drives hers, those numbers are about right. 26 miles is reserved for careful/slow driving. Also, we have issues keeping the engine off while running the heater in the winter. The car wants to use engine heat, despite the electric heater :x

Still looking for some Level 3 DC Fast Chargers north of me - it's almost a blank ChargePoint/EvGo/PlugShare map in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Especially going to North Conway! Or Montreal...

Funny, I look at the Plugshare map north of you with envy. There are none around me, so it seems you are flooded with DCQCs in southern NH/VT/ME, especially up I-89 to Burlington.

Anyway, I hope you get your Bolt soon. Hang in there, they are coming. This is just how GM rolls out a new car.

 

[ASDL]

Got it!

Two weeks ago, my weekly phone-in to the Chevrolet Customer Care line changed from "Target Production Week" to "shipping status." And they said they could no longer track it. (What?) Then Muzi Chevrolet (finally) surprised me by saying their system showed it on a train from Orion to Spencer, MA.

When I called Tuesday, the car was in Needham being cleaned and charged (though no one had informed me). Next day I was able to pick it up, with its new MA EV plates, and drive it home - but not before a lot of paperwork and a large check changing hands. I liked that the car's title had ZERO in the spot for "Number of Cylinders." There was some obligatory pressure to buy OnStar and extended warranties (for an electric?). When I asked, they didn't have any Bolt ssubsystem repair prices...

Salesman Rob Roderick said the car arrived with about 50 miles of charge, and he got it to about 149 on their Level 2 charger, parked prominently by the dealership front door. It got a lot of attention and questions by folks coming in to buy Silverados, Tahoes, Equinoxes, and Cruzes. Couldn't get it to full charge because it kept having to be taken somewhere else to be cleaned and prepped.

But that was more than enough to drive it the 45 miles home on a clear sunny (unusually warm) 50-degree day.

What a delight!

The thing drives like a dream - if you're coming from a Ford C-Max of Toyota Prius.

But really, it drives well.

More later...

 

[ScooterCT]

So ASDL - after Tuesday's store, you should now be able to tell us how the Bolt drives in a blizzard, right?

 

[NeilBlanchard]

Good to hear there is (at least) a Bolt EV in the wild, here in Massachusetts!

 

[ASDL]

I can tell you the Bolt charged away quite contentedly in the garage during Tuesday's blizzard. Didn't move an inch.

Showed 187 miles of range this 12-degree morning, instead of the expected 238 for a full charge. But that's much better than the 50% range reduction we get with the C-Max in really cold weather.

 

[ScooterCT]

The Springfield dealership has one. They had an order, and the customer backed out. Sitting there waiting to be claimed as of 15 March.

 

[ASDL]

Just ran across this YouTube video - back on Feb. 8, Quirk Chevrolet in Braintree got the first Bolt in New England, and a MassEnergy rep took it out for a test drive:
https://youtu.be/Dc-ubuRFtl4

 

[Rocinante]

Congrats on your Bolt, ASDL.

I'm waiting for Quirk to deliver mine. Supposedly coming in on Wednesday after a 1.5 month delay.

 

[ScooterCT]

Rocinante... Cool screen name. After Don Quixote or the lead ship in The Expanse?

 

[ScooterCT]

Bolts are now in selected RI dealerships according to cars.com. One dealership is already discounting $1,000 from day one, according to the posted prices. My local CT dealerships says "soon". You'd think GM would have sent them to CT sooner, given that sales ought to be good (CT has a $3,000 EV incentive).

 

[UbuntuCS]

Took delivery of our Premier last week from Quirk, which is almost an hour drive (we're 45 minutes NW of Boston). The process wasn't exactly a smooth one, and it included plenty of miscommunication and misunderstandings about MassEnergy's Drive Green discount. Our sales person was nice and well meaning, but seemed a little green (pun definitely NOT intended), especially when it came to EVs.

All that said, the car is fantastic....everything I hoped it would be. My wife, who was pretty unenthusiastic to buy an unsexy, Chevy EV, will be the primary driver, which is quite the injustice.