First post here. I ordered a NEW 2023 Bolt EV 2LT last Friday, from a local dealership here in Washington State. Metallic Blue exterior/black interior. (black the only option offered). VERY excited to finally be able to drive electric! They tell me it will be available for pick up sometime in October 2022. I've already planned my first road trip: Renton, WA to Portland, OR (on a single charge!) to visit family.
Good choice. Make sure you get the $6k discount. If you took delivery in 2023, you would also get a federal tax credit of up to $7500.
Yup. Already factored in. I wasn't willing to wait until January for two reasons: I want to drive it NOW, and the Fed Tax Credit wouldn't do me any good until April 2024.
I don't think the 2022 and early 2023 Bolt batteries have enough material and component content to qualify for the $7,500 credit. The CBO is predicting only 11,000 vehicles will qualify in 2023.
It helps, but you need to understand that 40% of the materials have to come from the United States or countries that have a free trade agreement with the United States. Plus, the battery has to have 50% of the components made in the United States or a country with a free trade agreement with the United States. I doubt there is a single EV that can meet those requirements today. I suspect is will take 1 to 4 years to get the supply chain moved to locations that meet the requirements. Note that the CBO is estimating only about 84 million dollars being spend in 2023. So that's about 11,000 vehicles at $7,500 or about 22,000 at $3,750. So somewhere between 11,000 and 22,000 vehicles. My guess is that these vehicles will be sold in the last couple of months of 2023. Go to your local retailer and see how much stuff is made in China and other countries that don't have a free trade agreement with the United States, and you will see the problem. It takes time to move supply chains. https://www.trade.gov/us-free-trade-agreement-partner-countries The good news is that we are finally moving some important manufacturing away from China and Russia. These countries are not our friends!!
I believe the Bolt can easily meet the 50% materials rule. I see that the US has a FTA with Australia and Chile. See this graph of world lithium production: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/sp/charted-lithium-production-by-country-1995-2020/ (We also have an FTA with Peru, which I think I read a few years ago has lithium.) BTW, what is CBO?
You have to process raw lithium and China processes the large majority of it. That's a problem. https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-top-25-nations-for-battery-metals/