Tesla Model 3 vs Chevy Bolt

As testa gears up to start test producing model 3s February 20 and actual production later this year, General Motors(GM) plans to beat them to the punch with their first fully electric car the Chevy Bolt, some around the internet have coined "the Tesla killer". Today we will compare the two to see which car is the better buy.

The Price

Lets start off by saying both of these cars are being marketed as a affordable electric car for the masses, the Tesla Model 3 starting at $35,000 and the Chevy Bolt starting at $36,620. The Tesla obviously wins this round but just by a little, as you can see there is only a $1620 price difference between the base models, if they stick to their promise of MSRP $35,000 when it is released.

The Range

This is a very important category because the fear of many drivers of conventional vechiles is that they will run out of charge on the highway and will not have any way of juicing up their car because of the lack of charging stations available. The Tesla has an estimated 215 miles (346 km) while the Bolt has an impressive 238 miles (383km).

While the Bolt initally wins this category it has to be given to the Tesla because of Tesla's Supercharger network, with charging stations being so scarce the car with access to more charging stations will be a better buy in the long run.Tesla currently operates over 4,800 Superchargers at over 769 locations around the world and Tesla has shown plans to double that number by the end of 2017.

Both cars have access to Plug share with over 40,000 charging sites in North America, to put the difference in the number of gas stations and charging stations into perspective back in 2012 the census bureau counted 118,756 in the United States alone and that was 5 years ago.

Safety

With nearly 1.3 million people dying in road crashes each year, on average 3,287 deaths a day. An additional 20-50 million are injured or disabled. Safety should be the number one priority of anyone buying a new vehicle. While the Tesla model 3 has yet to be tested its big brother the Tesla Model S received the best crash test safety rating of any car ever tested, if that's any indication of Tesla's safety standard the model 3 will also be the pinnacle of safety.

Chevy has constantly received top safety pick awards so its safe to say the Bolt will be no exception, we will make this one a tie until the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety test both cars and give them a rating.

Design

While most of the other stigmas of owning an electric car is gone, with better battery for longer range and more readily available charging stations one that is only really being tackled by Tesla is design. While most car manufacturers opted for a smaller design for better range, Tesla did just the opposite they started with a beautiful design and that caught people's eyes. This started with the Tesla Roadster ( pictured above) and continued with all of Tesla's cars. The Bolt has a normal hatchback design but it cannot match the sportier look and feel of the Model 3.

In conclusion, while the Bolt has marginally better range than the model 3 this is not nearly enough for me to think it is a better car, with Tesla's Supercharging network across the world promising a 80% charge in as

little as 30 minutes. I believe the Tesla Model 3 is the electric car for the everyday man.

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