General Motors drops entry-level Blazer EV as deliveries begin

It's yet another example of new EVs getting more and more expensive.

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[Tonkaman]

My nephew has an ICE model, it isn’t very large, only 2 rows of seats. I’m surprised anyone would compare it with the larger SUVs, but maybe I’m not the intended market.

The ICE Blazer and the BEV Blazer are two completely different vehicles. With the BEV Blazer being the larger of the two.

 

[Timtheenchanter]

Just to be clear, the Blazer was never going to compete with the "Select" level in the image. It was upmarket from there, starting around the "Premium" level. Now it's going to start in-between "Premium" and "Route 1" and the higher-trim Equinox will cover the basic "Premium" level as well as "Select." The Equinox base (1LT) will likely end up higher than the original "around $30K" target - I'm guessing about $35K for a loss-leader.

The Really Affordable EV will almost certainly end up as something with the resurrected Bolt name, at around $30K as commonly equipped (stripped base likely in the high $20Ks), but we don't really know when it will arrive or what it will look like. I'd love to see a Boltamino!

GM clearly is trying to make sure that there's not much, if any, overlap between EV product lines. The old days of the top trips of one line overlapping base trims of the next higher one appear to be over. With the pickup trucks off in a parallel space.

Unless Ford has something up its sleeve like a EV Focus or Escape that can cover 200-250 miles/full charge and has actual fast DC charging, they won't be competing at the Bolt pricing level. Delivering a bunch of high-priced pickup trucks is a good way to improve the prospects for a per-unit profit, but the market is bigger than that and ultimately all vehicle types and sizes need to be electrified including a full-EV option.

Fair enough, I have been placing this model in a smaller class than is sits. Still seem kinda pricey to me for a Chevy…

 

[Timtheenchanter]

The ICE Blazer and the BEV Blazer are two completely different vehicles. With the BEV Blazer being the larger of the two.

I can’t find dimensions, but it seems about the same size as the ICE and has 2 rows. I think these will make great police cars, that’s probably where most of them end up.

 

[jhodge]

Again, I am talking about REAR seat heaters.

I truly don't get the dismissiveness towards passenger comfort; are the people in the back somehow less important? Besides, as I noted, Kia was able to offer heated rear sets in a $20k compact back in (model year) 2014, so it's not like they're some luxury-only feature. Should the rear windows still have cranks, too?

 

[Tagbert]

Weird article. They're keeping the bolt. So what is the point of this car if it is redundant with the Bolt, a car people actually want?

The Blazer is a much bigger and more expensive vehicle than the Bolt. The Bolt is a compact, the Blazer is full-size. There is also the mid-size Equinox coming this fall. There is no redundancy.

 

[Tagbert]

“Keeping the bolt” in that a vehicle with that name is to appear in the future (1 year, 2 years?), maybe at a different price point. Bolt was a compact hatch, and Bolt euv was a tiny compact suv like a Niro or Kona, this blazer is more like a mach-e or model y size I believe.

I’d say the Blazer is probably closer to the Model X size. The Equinox will be Model Y size.

 

[Jeffro-Tull]

I truly don't get the dismissiveness towards passenger comfort; are the people in the back somehow less important? Besides, as I noted, Kia was able to offer heated rear sets in a $20k compact back in (model year) 2014, so it's not like they're some luxury-only feature. Should the rear windows still have cranks, too?

I don’t know how frequently you’re in the comments of Gitlin’s articles, but dismissiveness might as well be his bread and butter.

 

[real mikeb_60]

I heard a rumor yesterday that the Maverick is going spawn sort of a sub-family of cheapish efficient utility vehicles - the hybrid pickup will gain an EV variant, and the Escape will become a Maverick SUV with both hybrid and EV options. That may be car nerds talking story, but it makes sense to me, aside from the idiotic notion of killing the Escape name. That would also have the effect of clearing some space between the Escape and the Bronco Sport, which is killing it in sales.

Considering that the Maverick is basically an Escape pickup...

All the other options will almost certainly arrive, eventually. Maverick is, after all, the actual entry-level Ford these days.

 

[junesxing]

car companies need to come to their senses and realize that a product that depreciates the moment you leave the lot, and over time becomes less and less valuable should not cost more than some folk's annual salary and/or the price of a small home. I had to purchase my existing lease, just to retain a vehicle (low mileage due to covid/work from home) since the cost of a new lease on an equivalent car was 3 times what I was paying for the original. I would have loved to purchase a new vehicle but paying out more than the principle of my mortgage for a product that only loses value over time is a non starter.

Even used cars have skyrocketed in price, partially due to the government's misguided attempt to get older vehicles off the road. The car companies heard 'kching' and bought up newer model used cars, relabeling them as 'pre owned' and charging as much as new cars used to cost before they stuffed them with unneeded electronic devices. <sigh>

 

[johnt007871]

Again, I am talking about REAR seat heaters.

I missed the rear part. Thanks for follow up.

 

[Turbofrog]

I have said exactly that but here is another chart. GM seems to have problems that the rest of the industry do not, or they are demanding higher profits than the rest of the companies making EVs. I highlighted Tesla in particular since they remain over half the the US market. The method used here is looking at the 10 best selling vehicles.

https://caredge.com/guides/average-price-of-an-electric-car

"GM having problems the rest of the industry does not" by delivering their full-size SUV starting at the same price point that the average (smaller, lesser-featured) EV in the market sells for?

That's what that chart is showing. Your statement is bizarre.

 

[Timtheenchanter]

"GM having problems the rest of the industry does not" by delivering their full-size SUV starting at the same price point that the average (smaller, lesser-featured) EV in the market sells for?

That's what that chart is showing. Your statement is bizarre.

How does this conflict with what I said? is The average price of EVs going up on that chart or down?

 

[malor]

I truly don't get the dismissiveness towards passenger comfort; are the people in the back somehow less important? Besides, as I noted, Kia was able to offer heated rear sets in a $20k compact back in (model year) 2014, so it's not like they're some luxury-only feature. Should the rear windows still have cranks, too?

I think a lot of people put their kids there, and dunno about you, but cold seats didn't bother me too much when I was young.

Then again, it rarely snowed where I was, so some people might opine that I've never actually sat on a cold seat.

 

[Turbofrog]

I think a lot of people put their kids there, and dunno about you, but cold seats didn't bother me too much when I was young.

Then again, it rarely snowed where I was, so some people might opine that I've never actually sat on a cold seat.

I didn't even know that cars could have heated rear seats. It seems surprising that they aren't on my top-trim 2018 Nissan crossover, but I guess it just isn't a priority. Maybe since the rear bench slides...

All the same, I live in Canada and wouldn't pay extra for even a heated front driver's seat, but my wife likes them. They add negligible value to my comfort, since I'm always bundled up in winter. So heated rear seats are definitely in the category of needless frills from my personal perspective.

A heated steering wheel, on the other hand, is much more valuable to me, since I prefer to have better tactility when driving, which bulky gloves preclude.

 

[Turbofrog]

How does this conflict with what I said? is The average price of EVs going up on that chart or down?

The average price of EVs appears to be very steady over time, when taking the entire trend shown in the chart. So the answer is neither?

But that wasn't even the point I was addressing. You were criticizing GM for somehow being unable to keep their EV costs under control, but there's literally no evidence that that's the case, given that they are introducing their upper-end mainstream EV crossover at the exact same price as competing upper-end mainstream EV crossovers.

 

[Statistical]

I think a lot of people put their kids there, and dunno about you, but cold seats didn't bother me too much when I was young.

Then again, it rarely snowed where I was, so some people might opine that I've never actually sat on a cold seat.

On a BEV heating requires energy. There is no free engine waste heat like on an ICEV. Heating via the seat is vastly more efficient than heating the air. Using seat heaters you can knock down the cabin temp 3-5 degrees and still be comfortable. That isn't a (nice) option if everyone doesn't have seat heaters.

 

[Turbofrog]

On a BEV heating requires energy. There is no free engine waste heat like on an ICEV. Heating via the seat is vastly more efficient than heating the air. Using seat heaters you can knock down the cabin temp 3-5 degrees and still be comfortable. That isn't a (nice) option if everyone doesn't have seat heaters.

Yeah, it does a lot more sense for an EV. Seems like seat heaters for 4 passengers draws about 200 W of power, vs. 500-1000 W (on average; probably double that briefly during initial heating) for a cabin heat pump.

Though at the lower end, an extra 300 W to have a more comfortable cabin experience may well be considered a very worthy trade-off given that it only represents 2-3% of the power used by the vehicle's drivetrain.

To an extent, it all depends on how much you enjoy the subjective experience of hot buns vs warmer ambient air, I guess.

 

[malor]

On a BEV heating requires energy. There is no free engine waste heat like on an ICEV. Heating via the seat is vastly more efficient than heating the air. Using seat heaters you can knock down the cabin temp 3-5 degrees and still be comfortable. That isn't a (nice) option if everyone doesn't have seat heaters.

That is a pretty darn good argument.

 

[real mikeb_60]

Yeah, it does make sense a lot more sense for an EV. Seems like seat heaters for 4 passengers draws about 200 W of power, vs. 500-1000 W (on average; probably double that briefly during initial heating) for a cabin heat pump.

Though at the lower end, an extra 300 W to have a more comfortable cabin experience may well be considered a very worthy trade-off given that it only represents 2-3% of the power used by the vehicle's drivetrain.

To an extent, it all depends on how much you enjoy the subjective experience of hot buns vs warmer ambient air, I guess.

I'll second that. But you might want to bump your numbers up a bit. 4 seat heaters on high likely pulls at least a kw, possibly as much as 2. However, you won't run them for long at that level unless it's truly frigid outside. Where I live, cooling the buns would be useful for much more of the year than cooking them - which is why I prefer the basic cloth seats to leather (real or pseudo-).

As for the heat pump - if it uses as much power as the a/c, that could be 6-7 kw, briefly, on a full-blown start, settling down to 1-3 kw in maintenance mode. At least, that's what my Bolt requires in summer. Heat, in the Bolt, is resistance rather than heat pump, and will easily hit 10 kw on a sub-freezing start with full defrost active, again dropping, but not much below 4 kw when it's cold out and comfy (say, high 60s F or about 20 C) inside. Helps to use remote start while plugged in, if possible. So heated seats are still far preferred, and if the car uses resistance heating in a place with actually cold winters they should be standard.

That said, rear seat heaters were something new when people here started mentioning them. Then I looked and the Bolt Premiere had them a few years ago. Dropped during pandemic supply chain crises and never came back. Since the back seat of my Bolt hardly ever gets sat in, they would be a waste for me, but front ... wish I had them but mine's a strippo LT bought used. Luckily, it seldom gets Actually Cold here.

 

[Tagbert]

I didn't even know that cars could have heated rear seats. It seems surprising that they aren't on my top-trim 2018 Nissan crossover, but I guess it just isn't a priority. Maybe since the rear bench slides...

All the same, I live in Canada and wouldn't pay extra for even a heated front driver's seat, but my wife likes them. They add negligible value to my comfort, since I'm always bundled up in winter. So heated rear seats are definitely in the category of needless frills from my personal perspective.

A heated steering wheel, on the other hand, is much more valuable to me, since I prefer to have better tactility when driving, which bulky gloves preclude.

The value of seat heaters is probably higher in EVs than in ICEVs. Heating uses a lot of energy in an EV and a seat heater is more efficient than the cabin heater thus saving battery charge. That is why they are more likely to have rear seat heaters, too. On an ICEV you can just use the waste heat from the engine to heat the cabin.

Even on an ICEV seat heaters can be nice because they heat up more quickly than the engine in cold weather. Your butt gets warm almost as soon as you hit the seat. Many people appreciate that even when bundled up.

 

[Dyskresiac]

“Keeping the bolt” in that a vehicle with that name is to appear in the future (1 year, 2 years?), maybe at a different price point. Bolt was a compact hatch, and Bolt euv was a tiny compact suv like a Niro or Kona, this blazer is more like a mach-e or model y size I believe

Uhhh mach e and EUV are the same size. In fact, the EUV has more passenger space, albeit at the expense of a frunk.

I test drove both. Went with EUV because it had considerably more leg room in the back.

 

[Dyskresiac]

The value of seat heaters is probably higher in EVs than in ICEVs. Heating uses a lot of energy in an EV and a seat heater is more efficient than the cabin heater thus saving battery charge. That is why they are more likely to have rear seat heaters, too. On an ICEV you can just use the waste heat from the engine to heat the cabin.

Even on an ICEV seat heaters can be nice because they heat up more quickly than the engine in cold weather. Your butt gets warm almost as soon as you hit the seat. Many people appreciate that even when bundled up.

Bolt EUV has 4 seat heaters. Maybe not standard but I got mine used so I'm not sure the package it has.

But yeah the seat hearing doesn't do much good if in the back my kids are frozen. I will say that carseats also make that feature a moot point for me. Ah well, one day.

 

[Turbofrog]

Uhhh mach e and EUV are the same size. In fact, the EUV has more passenger space, albeit at the expense of a frunk.

I test drove both. Went with EUV because it had considerably more leg room in the back.

Mach E has considerably more cargo space in general behind the rear seats, not just frunk. Similar passenger cabin volume, though.

That's as you'd expect for a vehicle that is a full foot longer.

(This is the standard Bolt, but the EUV is only 6" longer.)

 

[enoch2001]

It’s time for Americans to embrace small cars​

LMAO LOL ROTF LOL!!!!! Ars is so silly.