Is the UPDATED Chevy Bolt EV Superior to the Kona Electric? | 2020 Chevy Bolt EV Review 

I've owned a 2019 Bolt Premier for the last year (and incidentally the same color as the one here). Easily the best car I've ever owned.

The credit ended April first and there is no adaptive cruise available yet. I love my bolt! Quick as hell too.

I have had my 2020 Bolt and like it a lot. I had a Chevy Volt before that. You missed one important feature on the Bolt Premiere which is the HD rear view camera mirror. You had it set up as a standard rear view mirror. With a slight mirror adjustment, it switches to a HD camera. It has a wider view angle than the mirror. It takes a while to get used to it but is much better than the mirror. Chevy made the seats with manual adjustment (and the Volt before) to reduce costs and save weight. As I am the only driver of my vehicle it is no big deal. The Federal $1850 rebate expired April 1. GM has been offering incentives of $8500 plus so it is more affordable IF you can find one as production stopped at the Lake Orion MI plant in mid March due to COVID-19. Good reviews otherwise.

Had the 2017 and now the 2020. It's a really good car, a lot of complaints you have really don't matter much over the long run. The Kona has less room, a hump and a big gaping hole in the engine compartment because it is not a ground up EV like the Bolt. Adaptive cruse is okay but we don't miss it either. It's a very ergonomic car, once you drive it for a week it's like an old shoe. The regen is better than the Kona and the Tesla too. The plastic holds up very well and it's not that important to us, we're comfortable in the Bolt, that's what matters. You forgot the compartment under the compartment in the console and the compartment under the rear compartment. There are some safety features you didn't point out like the pedestrian that shows up on the dash when someone walks in front of the car and there's a time indicator to tell you how close the car in front of you is and an audible alarm with a flashing light on the front window along with auto braking if you get to close to fast to the car in front of you. Eric Way has over 115k on his 2017 and the battery is still excellent, so is the interior. The Volt battery was excellent too, I think GM is very conservative about the battery. The Kona may have better highway efficiency but I'd like to see a side by side test in the same conditions like wind speed, etc. Thanks for review, I liked it.

I want to like this car, but GM omitted many features you’d expect like adaptive cruise control, led interior lights, driver’s seat adjustments, and dual climate zones. Great review Forrest.

Super in-depth. Nice job Forrest!

Hey Forrest! Thank you for showing the nighttime views of the vehicles 🚗 Keep up the great work 👍

I’ve had a 2020 Bolt LT since March 7th, and I LOVE it! Love, love, love it. Re your comments about the Kona EV being better - you can tell you live in SoCal. The Hyundai dealer in Tucson literally laughed at me when I asked about getting one. Or driving one. Or even seeing one. The only places you can buy the Kona EV are in SoCal and the greater NYC area. When I called a Hyundai dealer in San Diego, he told me the next 15 Kona EVs he had coming were all pre-sold, so there wasn’t even one I could go and look at, much less test drive. So yeah, the Kona EV might be a great vehicle, but since apparently Hyundai isn’t interested in producing enough of them to meet potential demand, I’m not that interested in walking barefoot through ten miles of broken glass to get one.

Your conclusions reading range are nonsense. The Bolt is a higher vehicle than the Kona so yes at > 70mph it is slightly less efficient, but driving around town I know lots of people that get 300 miles range in the 60kWh Bolt and I regularly get 280 with local driving. I commute 163 miles every second weekend with it, and I get 4.0mi/kWh driving at 73mph indicated.

Well you all know my thoughts on the Bolt, what are yours? How far do you think it could have gone with 75% city driving? Also, which would YOU choose? Bolt EV Kona Electric Tesla Model 3 Mini Electric (not technically long range but the cheapest) Kia Niro EV

I just bought this same car, in the same color as an LT model for $24k out the door. Now that the 2021 model is on the horizon you can really talk these dealers down. GM is giving a $8.5k discount and there is currently a $3k Costco member discount.

Kona allows a higher battery drain with their 64kw pack versus Bolt with the 66kw pack. In the long run, the Bolt will still be on the road with lesser battery degradation while the Kona's battery useful life will be lower than the Bolt.

Love your reviews, man. Keep up the great work. 👍

Excellent review and unbiased opinion, thank you! We have two Bolts (2017 going back this summer, new 2020 to replace it) but Hyundai has always been the efficiency king. Glad to hear the Kona Electric carries on that legacy, even with Interstate miles. I actually prefer the looks and cabin comforts of the Kona but, with two kids in tow, the greater leg room and space in the rear seats helps the Bolt win out. Keep reviewing the latest EVs... we need more voices like yours sharing the latest on non-Tesla electric all-electric options ⚡👍

7:25 No adaptive cruise control - one of the few dislikes in my 2019 Bolt EV.

Good, detailed review. Love watching your content. Just one correction: The Kona has a screen that shows regenerative braking kw and it can max out I think at 75kw where the Bolt maxes out at 50kw. I wish the Bolt had a true battery percentage display not just an unlabeled graph that is less specific. We like our 2019 Bolt. We love our Kona EV. It's more efficient. It has more tech and features (power seat, adaptive cruise, cooled seats, and sunroof are musts in a $40k car for us). And the seats are far more comfortable in the Kona as well. I was surprised you didn't comment on how truly awful they are in the Bolt. And they don't break in and get better, they get worse. Our drivers seat started creaking badly at 2k miles and still needs to go back to the dealer for a "fix".

26:33 The Chevy Bolt EV's range estimator tends to be overly conservative in the top 3/4 of the battery, so it typically over performs for the bottom 1/4.

Forrest I think it would be great if you could get in on a live RU-vid broadcast with Soyfan, Roman, Alex and Matt. You would add a lot to it. You five are my favorites! Reach out to them.

The problem is that you can't get the Kona EV in every state, but you can get a Bolt in any state. Plus, some dealers are putting over $10K on the hood. It's a no brainer.

You do prefer the Kona to the Bolt (I get it) but it is worth noting that the Kona is NOT available in all States (only available in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont) when I checked last. So for a lot of folks it is not an option.

Very thorough review.

12:29 That's only the upper storage tray, which can be removed. That center storage compartment is quite large.

One feature you did not discuss (one of my favorite) is the rear view camera in the mirror. It gives a lot of flexibility and I stopped using the regular mirror.

Video nicely done. I’ll make a slight correction about your last statement regarding people will buy the Bolt just because. No. People will buy the Bolt over the Kona because the Kona is for sale in only about two states! That means even if I bought the Kona in CA and drive it back here, no Hyundai dealership can service it because they’re not authorized to carry the vehicle in the first place. This is why people have been buying the Bolt at the rate of ~10k vehicles per month in 2020. Bolts are available while the Kona is absent. A pragmatic choice not a capricious one.

So I was looking at the LT trim, and I saw a new 2020 for just $23,000. Wow, it will be silly me to turn that down

Thanks man for your reviews

A good and balanced review. I just wouldn't trust a Kona with as many fires as those have had, including one blowing the door off someone's garage. I don't think they are as safe as the Bolt. I have a 2019 Bolt and I used to think it looked like a micro minivan and looked terrible. Over the months I've owned it, it has grown on me and the quirkiness is what I like. It doesn't look like your typical EV in some respects and honestly, I think the Model 3 looks like a featureless bar of soap; kinda like an early Saturn vehicle.

That's really weird it doesn't have adaptive cruise, my 2017 Volt Premier has it and it works really well, I wonder why they don't have it in the 2020 Bolt.

The biggest advantage of this car is availability. You can get it everywhere. The Kia/Hyundai electrics are RARE, RARE, RARE.

No adaptive cruise unfortunately, as others have pointed out. Also - you said it has 40 series tires. It actually has 215/50-17. Great detailed review!

30:47 The biggest difference between the Bolt EV and Kona Electric's freeway speed efficiency is due to the size of the vehicle (the weight matters much less), so the Kona Electric benefits from having a much smaller profile. They present a trade off based on what you value more: Freeway speed range (the Kona has about 10% more) or overall cargo capacity (the Bolt has about 50% more). The same trade off applies to the Model 3, which has even less cargo space than the Kona Electric. As a result, the Model 3 is about 5% more efficient than the Kona Electric at freeway speeds despite being the same weight or heavier. Personally, I see the freeway speed range as less valuable because most EV owners will be most comfortable arriving at a charging station with more than the ~10% difference in range still left in their batteries. At that point, it's mostly about charging speeds. The Kona has a slight advantage, but neither vehicle will have a productive charging session that is less than 30 to 40 minutes long. So really, the difference would be hard to see for the average traveler.

That's what competition is all about, leap frogging or besting previous designs. Hopefully with CV19, GM will still be able to bring out the updated Bolt. Anywho; pretty dang good informative comprehensive video, seemed a little long but I kept watching and subscribed.

Wow cool car and I have always loved cars my WHOLE life wishing to review cars someday like you and other car reviewers

"When I finally parked it(Bolt) at my home charging station, it had gone 322 miles on a single charge. Not bad for a car rated at 238 miles per charge. Even more impressive was the fact that I didn't really try very hard to get that many miles out of it. I spent plenty of time in traffic, which helped, but there were a few sections that I was moving along at 65-70 mph as well. No matter how you look at it, 322 miles out of a Bolt is pretty impressive." - Ed Hellwig Edmund's

The lights are diddly squat power consumption. It makes no measurable difference to range.

Great review! Love your real-world range test where you drive it until the battery is dead... that's a true range test.. so this Bolt EV got 257 miles range, while Kona Electric got 299 miles (in your last review for it)... assuming you drove in similar manner, then Kona Electric wins in range... Nice.. also, I think Kona Electric has a menu that shows how much regen in kW in the driver's dashboard in some setting (saw it in TeslaBjorn's video)... next, can you do this same review for Kia Niro EV and range test?

I was dissappointed with the 2020 Bolt. Chevy could of bumped up charging from 50 to 75 KWH. Added adaptive CC. Made DCFC standard. They did redo the front seats, redo the charging curve, and redo cold weather charging... good. It still feels lacking. I was suprised and disapponted that its economy was wost then the kona ev. Smaller pack, but greater real world range. Even though the EPA rates it as less efficent then the bolt. With a price of less then 27,000, its a deal compared to the rest in the "budget EV" field.

Thanks. This a really great review. Close to real world. I liked the night driving.

Keep in mind the Kona has over 10 square feet less cargo space than the Bolt. And actual has less human space in the car as well and far less leg room.

Saying range is possibly less because of interior lighting at night is very very very wrong. At night it is colder. That would be the cause.

I've gotten spoiled by adaptive cruise and lane centering. Both Honda and Toyota have it as standard on even their cheapest cars. It's pretty much a deal breaker for me if the car doesn't have it. It makes highway driving so much easier and safer. The Bolt will have extra buttons on the bottom right of the steering wheel if it has ACC; The buttons change the follow distance. My only gripe with the Kona EV is that it doesn't have a battery heater, that's kind of important for those of us in the mid-west where it gets really cold in the winter. The European Kona gets both battery heating and a heat pump for cabin heating! The US model gets a less efficient resistive heater for the cabin and no battery heating at all. Clearly Hyundai isn't targeting this car at the full US market. Just warmer states like California. The Bolt on the other hand gets both battery heating and cooling.

I'm looking at one this upcoming weekend. We have a 2019 LEAF SL Plus and after a 1300 mile trip in it with their "passive" air cooled battery, it underscored Nissan's one insane refusal with battery management.

How about a review of the jag I-Pace? I really enjoyed your review of the bolt. Great review overall 👍

I would have like to see him get behind a truck and watch the draft dramatically increase his range.

Note: Can someone confirm this for me: The Chevy Bolt offers a remote start that can trigger the AC or HEAT as well, so your Bolt is at desired temperature before you even begin driving it and it can do this for free, (it does not require the Onstar monthly fee in order to perform this function) unlike however say the KONA which starting in the year 2000, only provides this feature with it's BlueLink service, which is not free and must be payed for monthly, (this feature is rather important in extreme cold and extreme heat situation's)

1:30 I gotta admit, I miss the Shock color a lot. No insurance adjuster on the planet is going to believe "It came out of nowhere! There's no way I could have seen it!"

It doesn't look like they fixed the seats. It would have been nice to comment on them in the review as they are frequently called out by many other reviewers as too narrow and uncomfortable.

main reason why a lot of manufacturer's don't put electric seat adjustment on ev's is because the seat is a small parasitic loss on driving range. yea it's minimal, but they wanna maximize on the range of the battery

Nice review . Good luck !

Excellent review!

Where is your camera while you're driving? How is it attached?

I had to replace a damaged 20" wheel on BMW i3, I like the idea of a "tiny" 17in wheel with some rubber, also cheaper tires.

12:35 You missed the additional storage area underneath that tray in the center console.

I’ve heard of problems with public charger stopping prematurely I have never seen 205 miles, I have my 2020 Bolt set at only 75% charge on 120v wall outlet and it is at 216 miles! It was at 260 miles when I got it at 88% charge and 307 miles on the top possible range! I will never charge it to 100% except for trips! I don’t think he realized the car wasn’t set to 100% as like mine it says full at 75% and shows a solid charge bar!

regarding minute 15 section on reviewing of the backseats: He did a good job pointing out little touches that can really matter a lot like the exclusion of ''grab handles'' which is sometimes a huge deal for rear passengers, but he never really addressed the overall seat comfort itself: If your not aware, the Chevy Bolt from 2017 until 2022 models is hated by a lot of Bolt owners and is seen as one of the biggest negatives for the bolt in these models years. So yes even if he is right about the quality of the leather material feeling OK in the back, that is not the same thing as saying that over all comfort for rear seating is good. Now to be fare, some way in the 2000 model year there was a slight improvements to the quality of the front seats and presumably back seats as well compared to the 2017 through 2019 models, but in general if you do enough research you'll see and hear plenty of other reviews really gripe and complain over the seat comfort in the front driver's seat for the 2020 models as well, and this is where the Kona and Nissan Leaf have an edge.

Physics lesson: the faster you go (over about 45 mph) the more energy it takes to move the vehicle 1 mile. This applies to every vehicle made.

Tesla does give discounts. They definitely try to sell existing inventory over new orders. Charging speed is the main thing. Way more important than range (past 150 miles or so). If you can get about 2 hours worth of driving in a short enough charge time then you can do longer trips better than with larger range but slower charging.

I have looked at both. In Seattle, the Kona electric is $38,000. You can get the Bolt EV for $28,000. That is a hefty price difference. However, do you still get the full $7500 tax credit on the Kona?

Great review. FYI - all EV's are more efficient at lower speeds and around town. The exact opposite of most ICE vehicles.

Love the EV coverage 🙏

Hi Forrest, what would you change to improve the looks of this vehicle?

how is front seat comfort after several hours of driving? lumbar support?

That is because even now it was designed well but is a General Motors vehicle in competition with it myself and a Compliance. Vehicle.

Here in Seattle, the Bolt is about $10,000 cheaper then the Kona. However, the Kona does get the government subsidy

When you charged the Bolt did you have hilltop mode on or off? After charging you had 201 miles on the GOM and that should have been quite a bit more in a Bolt if you had fully charged in an optimum climate such as California.

Could you please explain why you would pick the Kona over the Bolt 2020?

Well, the rear suspension is far more primitive on the Bolt but I guess handling isn't really a consideration. If you've ever sat in a parked sedan on asphalt in the Texas summer heat running the AC, you know that a lot of heat rises off the surface of the road so having the cooling air intake as high as possible is preferable, also the practice of using the airflow around the lights for the gasoline engine intake was common with gasoline cars so I'm not sure if having low lying vents for cooling would be a good idea.

I've averaged 246 miles per charge over 16,500 miles in my 2019 (and the EPA for the 2019 is 239).

You won't just save your brake pads you'll probably never change them for the life of the car. I have 16,500 miles on my 2019 and I have 98% brake pads. So 2% every 16,500 miles means the pads won't get down to 50% for 400,000 miles.

I know your in Cali, but you know you're to stop on red before you make your right turn (18:47).

Bolt is having a major revamp for 2021. Also there is a huge price gap between a Bolt and a Kona, especially when comparing the lease terms. I know 2 people who got 14k off MSRP on the Bolt while the Kona usually goes for MSRP because of it's limited availability.

Is that ambient lighting only available on the Premier trim?

You kids are funny how you take everything for granted . When I sold cars in 90-91 the Corvette came with 16" wheels standard was 14" optional on Buicks 15" .now you say small 17" wheels . Getting old is funny and strange, how things change . I'm typing this on a computer that fits in my pocket and is connected to the world all the time !!!

While the MSRP of both cars are similar, their "Out the door" prices aren't even close.

How big is the power at home needed to full charge this car?

Nicce review sir, but you failed to highlight how much room there is in the rear. You appear to be above average in height and stature, and it seemed to me you had room to spare, at least in the head, and knee space areas.

I've been waffling on buying one. I do have a question that I wonder if you can answer: is the price difference between the LT and the Primier worth it to you, based on what you get? In my area, the price difference is about $4,200.

I'm highly considering getting this vehicle. I currently drive a 2016 subaru crosstrek limited with leather seats. They are not comfortable at all for long trips. How are the bolts seats? My crosstrek is rated for 34 mpg on the highway but i get 40. I go the speed limit of 65 with cruise control and use ethanol free gas. I'm also getting a new job that will require me to drive roughly 42 miles a day.

Can you review the nissan leaf

Good review. While the criticism is fair about all the hard plastics, the reason is , of course cost but also weight. The Bolt like all EVS has to wrestle with a very expensive battery. It also doesn't help that GM finds it hard to make a small car as inexpensively as the Koreans or the Japanese.

Hint- The 2020 Mini Cooper SE gets $7,500 rebate..

Very well done!!!

Add five features and sales would go thru the roof?

How much did it cost to recharge once it died?

Points at inverter and ac charger and calls it the motor. The motor is underneath the car where every EVs motor is.

you said 70 miles to your destination san diego but your odometer started at 877miles and 1048miles when you got to San Diego, youve driven 141miles already instead of 70 miles. Google map was wrong then.

Wish it was available here in Scotland!

I drive a 2019 Chevy Bolt. The advertised max range of a fully charged 2020 Chevy Bolt should be 259 miles. I am curious that you started with a fully charged range of 205 miles ???? Also is not running an EV all the way down to ZERO really bad for the battery ?? Again, In warm weather a fully charged Chevy 2020 Chevy Bolt, with a normal past driving behavior should show an expected range of 259 miles ??? I think it would have been good to have shown how you set up the target charge level on the car before you plugged into the charging station. Show that you set up the car to charge to 100%.

Do the brake lights go on when using regen braking paddle?

Aerodynamic drag increases rapidly with speed.

And one minor quibble; I think the Bolt has a 60kW battery pack, not 66kW.

I believe that all the hype about the Kona is misplaced. The eSoul is the car to beat.

Good show

Very good but just like you did with the E - Niro to much interior talk not enough driving 😒

price too high

Just an Fyi if you own an EV taking it down below 5% is Horribad for the Battery. Best use case is charge to 80% discharge to 20%, the battery will give 25% to 40% more life.

New for 2020 class action lawsuit for battery fires.

Good idea but short on too many currently wanted features. I prefer the TESLA model Y

I actually don’t like driving in L mode all the time. I feel like people overhype it because they love seeing those regen numbers. However, when you COAST, even though you aren’t regenerating as much, you’re maintaining your forward momentum’s energy. This is extremely valuable as that will prevent you from having to re-accelerate as often since L mode will slow you down much more than you should depending on conditions. One thing that I think would’ve made this car even more efficient is if the regen paddle was variable rather than on/off. It’s a real shame.

Let's go ahead and quit saying go ahead.