The Chevy Bolt was America’s third best-selling electrical automobile final quarter. However it’s on its final legs. A Chevrolet spokesperson says, “Bolt EV and EUV manufacturing will finish late this yr.”

The Bolt EV is a small all-electric hatchback with as much as 259 miles of vary and a beginning worth of simply $26,500. The Bolt EUV is a barely bigger model of the identical automobile, stretched so as to add legroom for rear-seat passengers. It begins at $27,800.

The Bolt brothers had been amongst few automobiles to survive a current culling of federal electrical car (EV) tax credit, chopping the value of the Bolts by $7,500 for a lot of consumers.

Taken collectively, the 2 outsold each electrical car (EV) not constructed by Tesla within the first quarter of 2023. However that wasn’t sufficient to avoid wasting them. They’re going away largely as a result of they sit on older battery know-how, and Normal Motors has moved on to a more moderen type of EV battery.

Most GM electrical automobiles now use the automaker’s Ultium platform. Ultium is what automotive engineers name a “skateboard platform.” It places all battery, motor, suspension, and steering parts beneath a flat load ground. It may be expanded or contracted to construct many car varieties.

GM plans to construct many EVs on the Ultium platform, starting from the roughly $30,000 Chevrolet Equinox EV to the $300,000-plus Cadillac Celestiq super-luxury automobile.

The Bolts trip on older battery know-how. It proved problematic at instances — Chevrolet was pressured to recall each Bolt on the street to switch their batteries in 2021 after a collection of fires.

The Chevrolet spokesperson says the Bolt “was an enormous technical achievement and the primary reasonably priced EV, which set in movement GM’s all-electric future.” However the firm “will launch a number of new EVs later this yr based mostly on the Ultium platform in key segments” and put the Bolts out to pasture.

The Bolt’s disappearance, although, underlines a severe gap in automakers’ market plans. Its finish will go away the Nissan Leaf as the one EV obtainable beneath the $30,000 line. Final month, the typical electrical automobile value $58,940 — near the value of the typical luxurious automobile.