So i was astonished. Yet my great friends over at Electrive.com reported in the USA. All about revitalizing an old Detroit area; going EV. FOR the General Motors plant in Orion Township in the Detroit area in Michigan State is it. For it is becoming the Group’s second to go fully electric.
That’s right after the GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant. While the conversion to electric cars was planned for Detroit-Hamtramck for a long time, the transition at Orion Township has been somewhat sudden.
This October, the GM plant in Orion Township will suddenly find itself without combustion engines rolling off production lines since General Motors has decided to stop making the Chevrolet Sonic combustion engine model due to low demand. The Chevrolet Sonic is a small car that was sold in Europe as Chevrolet Aveo. It’s whack and now they have withdrawn from European markets. I mean back in 2014.
What remains for the Orion Township plant are only electric models. So with the production of the revised Chevrolet Bolt and the new offshoot Bolt EUV. The move is rather involuntary, and it seems GM is keeping its options open. Especially at the Orion Township. Because they were saying it will continue to build combustion engines there if necessary.
“We notified Chevrolet dealers of our plans to end production of the Chevrolet Sonic in October, due to declining demand,” GM spokesperson Megan Soule told Electrek.
As I wrote about this car,
When the Chevy Bolt electric car launched I was excited. As Chevrolet reported back in November 2016, this EV got First Production EV to Achieve 200. So an all-electric 2017 Chevrolet Bolt, which offers a breakthrough EPA-estimated 238 miles of range on a full electric charge, was named Green Car Journal’s 2017 Green Car of the Year® during AutoMobility LA. Other finalists for the 2017 Green Car of the Year® award included the BMW 330e iPerformance, Chrysler Pacifica, Kia Optima and Toyota Prius Prime.
Green Car Journals even selected the 2017 Bolt for its impressive 238 mile zero-emission driving range, stylish design, pleasing driving dynamics, and welcome suite of advanced and connected technologies. Along with its distinction as the first production battery electric vehicle to achieve a 200-plus mile driving range, the 2017 Bolt offers an array of features that provide a unique and catered ride to the driver. Specifically, the Bolt’s Regen-On-Demand feature allows the driver to use a steering wheel paddle to initiate more aggressive regenerative braking to slow down without using the brake pedal, while transferring electrical energy back to the battery.
On a personal note I did like the stitching and interior. It was comfortable and not hard seats. The car was easy to drive and frankly a fun drivers electric car.
Fast Charging Surprises
After getting the car and knowing how my fellow other car testers Test I decided to fast charge the car and give it a good hard juice or real energy. It usually helps clear any past test drives history over time. Most of the testers so just for speed. Here we go for real range if you know what to do. So here you see the Bolt fast charging with 156 miles as its more than half a charge. That’s good to start. I mean that’s like closer to 250 miles maybe with a full charge. I charged up to 250 (by the way) and drove home.
In conclusion, this action also paves the way for the Orion Township Assembly Plant. What a better place than to prepare for the production of the refreshed Bolt EV and Bolt EUV. All which will go into production in 2021. With this shift, it would make Orion an all-EV manufacturing facility, with the ability to build ICE vehicles as needed in the future.” Soule did not specify which internal combustion engine models could be built there in the future.
For the entire story at Electrive.com
