The Chevy Bolt Is Ridiculously Low-Maintenance

2017 Chevy Bolt (Credit: Chevrolet )

If you’re looking to stretch your dollars further, the new Chevy Bolt could be a great way to do it. Most people spend a fair amount of cash on car maintenance each year. With the Bolt, your maintenance should be pretty much nonexistent for years to come.

According to Chevrolet, for the first 150,000 miles the Bolt only needs its tires rotated and balanced, the cabin air filter replaced and a few other small services done. That’s it.

This is surprising people who aren’t familiar with electric cars, but is one of the reasons why Tesla and Nissan Leaf owners love their cars. There’s no changing the oil, adjusting valves, swapping out timing belts/pulleys, etc. EVs have fewer moving parts, so there’s just not as much to maintain.

Then there’s the cost of gas, which seems to be climbing again.

Basically, buying the Bolt could be a wise financial move, considering its low $30,000 price and amazing range of 238 miles. People have pointed out how long it takes to recover the extra cost associated with many hybrids, but that negative is erased with the Bolt.

Will this be the vehicle that brings EVs into the mainstream? For now, the answer is no. You can only get the Chevy Bolt in California and Oregon. The plan is to roll it out to the rest of the US sometime next year.