The new , five-seat 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV and a refreshed 2022 Bolt hatchback will be unveiled Feb. 14 in a streamed program taped at Walt Disney World in Orlando.
General Motors has been linking the taller and longer Electric Utility Vehicle, or EUV (because SUV and CUV aren’t enough UVs, apparently) to Disney “magic” and, we presume, the old Main Street Electrical Parade, as in a recent promo that claims the Bolt EUV and regular Bolt hatchback “show how magic can take place when the imagination is electrified.”
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There’s a “sign up and see” form available on the Chevrolet EVs website.
In its most recent teaser for the new Bolt EUV, the automaker also enlisted some of the ghostly hitchikers from Disney’s “Haunted Mansion” ride, although its unclear what they have to do with electric cars.
The Bolt hatch, which debuted in October 2016 as a 2017 model, was GM’s first mass production electric vehicle. The 2022 model will be the sixth – and likely last – year of the first generation.
The Bolt EUV, while new, shares the same BEV2 platform and many of the same powertrain pieces as the 2022 hatchback.
But it is bigger and roomier and if the price is as reasonable as the hatchback’s – which starts at $37,495 – should be a sweet Valentine’s Day treat for treat for EV shoppers whose pocketbooks aren’t deep enough for the pricier electric crossovers provided by European luxury brands.
One unique feature is that the EUV becomes the first Chevrolet and first GM EV to get the Super Cruise driver assistance and hands-free (for specified highways only) system that debuted in the Cadillac lineup several years ago.
Outside, the Bolt EUV appears – with some Chevy-specific bits – to be closely related to the Buick Velite 7 crossover that’s sold only in China.
The Bold hatch gets minor exterior changes for 2022 – the most pronounced appears to be a new front end with no grille and narrow, horizontally oriented LED headlights.
The hatch’s big changed are reserved for the interior – significantly updated to get rid of the hard plastics and harder seats of the original Bolt.
After the Bolts, GM’s new EVs are expected to all be built on the new skateboard-type platform designed to be used with the automaker’s new Ultium modular battery system, which can be scaled to fit a variety of vehicle sizes and range and duty requirements.
GM has earmarked $27 billion for EV and automated vehicle development over the next half-decade and said it “aspires” to produce only zero emission vehicles after 2035. The company has promised more than two dozen new EVs to market globally by 2025, including a dozen or so for the U.S.market.
After the new Bolt EUV, the all-electric models already announced – all to use the new Ultium system – are the GMC Hummer EV in pickup and SUV body styles, the Cadillac Lyriq midsize crossover, a Cadillac full-size SUV and the Cadillac Celestiq sedan, and a light pickup and midsize crossover from Chevrolet.
