![\"bolt_nactory-fr\"](\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/3ed067e0e18c605cc1efe8161c53b6dd6b0564cd\/c=476-0-3564-2322&r=x404&c=534x401\/local\/-\/media\/2016\/11\/13\/DetroitNews\/B99454880Z.1_20161113224951_000_GJI175VS3.1-0.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/div>If your smartphone is low on charge, relief is just a wall socket away. But what if your battery-powered car beeps that it\u2019s low on juice halfway between Detroit and Lansing?<\/p>\n
The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt five-door hatchback, the first electric vehicle under $40,000 to get 200-plus miles on a charge, is a milestone in addressing range anxiety.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could drive all week and never have to charge the Bolt,\u201d Chevy\u2019s Bolt communications chief Fred Ligouri said after a drive of the 238-mile-per-charge EV.<\/p>\n
The Bolt, which GM is now building in Orion Township, will be in showrooms by the end of the year. The high-tech car is one of the clear favorites among 15 semi-finalists for the prestigious North American Car of the Year award. But tire-smoking acceleration and extended range don\u2019t guarantee automatic success as Chevrolet seeks to transform electric vehicles from green curiosity to mass-market mainstay: Convenience and cost remain big reasons why EVs are currently below 1 percent of market sales.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to need workplace charging, it\u2019s going to need a home charging for sure that isn\u2019t off a 110-volt outlet,\u201d said Pasquale Romano, president and CEO of ChargePoint, which sells chargers for electric cars. \u201c(That\u2019s) because its battery is of a size \u2013 that depending on its state of charge when you get home \u2013 you\u2019re going to want to plug that into a reasonable home charger to fill that battery back up again in the shortest time possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
EVs face daunting competition from more affordable, gasoline-powered cars that can gallop 400 to 600 miles on a tank of gas<\/a> with just five minutes required for refueling. And gas doesn\u2019t cost much above $2 a gallon.<\/p>\n Tesla has eased customer concerns by selling fast home-chargers for its all-electric Model S, a top-selling luxury sedan<\/a>. The Silicon Valley-based startup is also building a proprietary, nationwide network of superchargers that its EVs can use to \u201ctop off\u201d for long trips.<\/p>\n But such solutions are prohibitively expensive for more-affordable EVs <\/a>like the Bolt.<\/p>\n The Tesla \u2013 with an average transaction price over $100,000 \u2013 packs an industry-leading 20 kilowatt, on-board charger. With such a large on-board charger, the Tesla Model S can hook up to a 240-volt Level 2 home charger (at a cost of about $2,500 with installation) to refuel its battery to 80 percent capacity in about three hours<\/a>.<\/p>\n More mainstream electric cars <\/a>like the $37,495 Bolt <\/a>and $29,010 Nissan Leaf have 7.2-kW\u00a0and 6.6-kW\u00a0on-board recharging packs, respectively. As a result, it takes the Bolt 91\/2 hours <\/a>to recharge its 60 kilowatt-hour lithium ion battery (the same size as a base Model S) on a 240-volt station. A full charge on a standard 120-volt wall socket would take 51 hours, according to Chevy. If somebody is doing a daily commute of 40 to 50 miles, a regular wall-socket would take more than 10 hours to recharge the battery.<\/p>\n Charging networks<\/strong><\/p>\n General Motors brings years of experience to the battery game. The automaker found that only 35 percent of plug-in hybrid Volt owners installed Level 2 chargers. They are apparently content to charge the 53-mile range compact on a conventional, 120-volt outlet which can take upward of 12 hours. But with a backup gasoline engine to sooth range anxiety, customers are not fully dependent on the Volt\u2019s battery to get around.<\/p>\n Bolt EV customers<\/a>, by contrast, will rely solely on battery power, and GM expects most drivers will invest in a Level 2 charger. ChargePoint, which is providing Bolt buyers with a charging welcome kit, sells Level 2 home chargers though Amazon that start at $499 and range up to $749. Installation prices vary, but you may qualify for federal tax credit to recoup some costs through Dec. 31. DTE Energy initiated a 2016 program that awards 2,500 customers with $2,500 toward the purchase and installation of a Level 2 charger.<\/p>\n Chevy\u2019s Ligouri expects a majority of metro Bolt owners will upgrade their vehicles with fast-charging Level 3 capability as a $750 option. A Level 3 station provides 90 miles per half-hour charge.<\/p>\n Buyers will benefit from urban networks of Level 2 chargers and even-faster Level 3 chargers installed by companies like ChargePoint and EVgo in gas stations and store parking lots like Dunkin\u2019 Donuts where EV owners can charge outside the home. Cost at metro-area EVgo Level 3 stations is $5.95 per session plus 20 cents a minute.<\/p>\n Beyond big cities, resources get scarce. For example, Mackinaw City \u2013 289 miles from Detroit on Interstate 75 \u2013 doesn\u2019t have a single charging station. The Obama White House is seeking to remedy that situation with a national program to create 48 electric recharging corridors \u2013 with chargers available every 50 miles \u2013 across 25,000 miles of U.S. interstate. One of those corridors is I-94 so that an EV driver could refuel on his way from, say, Detroit to Chicago.<\/p>\n Price will increase<\/strong><\/p>\n The additional equipment costs associated with charging EVs like the Bolt exacerbate the biggest reason drivers have avoided EVs: sticker shock.<\/p>\n