Bolt proves car enthusiasts need not fear the future
Competing in club event with Chevrolet’s EV
It was a little over 15 years ago. A bunch of us had got together, as we often did on a weekend evening, to wrench on one of our fellow motorsport club member’s rides. It’s a time of camaraderie where stories are shared, along with tools and knowhow.
The conversation turned to the hybrid and electric vehicle movement, and the impact it would have on the hobby we so passionately and fiercely embraced. With uncertainty comes fear, and one member, brandishing a torque wrench to underscore each and every point, claimed he’d rather stuff endangered spotted owl carcasses up his tailpipe to fuel his thumping V8 than swap the keys for a soulless and dorky hybrid.
Well, that future is now upon us, and while EVs have brought with them many changes and a growing awareness of our finite resources, they haven’t been quite the harbinger of doom whose arrival we so dreaded.
Witness the recent success of Porsche at the 24 Hours of Le Mans; there’s nothing soulless or dorky about the winning 919 Hybrid rocket; its design is as compelling as its jaw- dropping speed. Or Acura’s NSX, the hybrid supercar whose sleek lines and curves raised the pulses of even the most traditional enthusiasts. And so it was, when I picked up an electric Chevrolet Bolt, I knew what I wanted to do: Compete in a motorsport club even.
With 383 kilometres maximum distance on a single charge, range anxiety isn’t an issue with the Bolt. What’s more, thanks to the Electric Vehicles Chargers Ontario (EVCO) grant program, there are seven sites in my hometown of Peterborough where I can charge the Bolt free, and three of them are 480- volt Level Three quick-chargers.
Rolling into Kawartha Speedway, we attracted little attention — at first. The Bolt looks fairly conventional. But the eerie “whoosh” of our passing raised some heads, and by the time we’d backed into our spot, a small crowd had collected around us.
Obligingly, we popped the hood so they could peer into the “engine” bay, an assembly of high-voltage cables, aluminum piping and cooling reservoirs for the battery pack, inverter/charger and drive unit and air conditioning.
“You actually gonna run that thing?” asked one competitor, while we braced ourselves for the inevitable hair dryer jokes. “That’s cool!” he said, joined by murmurs of assent and head nods from the rest of the group. “Can’t wait to see how it does.”
Having driven the Bolt during its press launch in California this spring, I knew from the way we had flung it around the mountain roads above Santa Monica that it handled very well indeed. While my prowess as an autocross competitor wasn’t exactly inspiring, my driving partner, James Mewett, was a frequent lapper and driving instructor at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, and I knew he’d show the little EV to its advantage.
With 200 horsepower and 266 pound-feet of torque, the Bolt wasn’t as powerful as the V8-powered Mustangs or Hyundai Genesis Coupes in the pack, but it had a lot more grunt than the Miatas. However, at 3,600 lbs, it weighed one heck of a lot more. It was also larger, taller, possessed of four doors and low-rollingresistant eco tires. Compared to the competition stickies worn by most of the competitors, they were akin to wearing crocs in a dance competition. Our advantage was torque: the electric drive unit can deliver an instant wallop of power to catapult this dorky little four- door from rest to 100 km/h in about 6.6 seconds.
As luck would have it, I drew number 3 and lined up behind a rumbling Mustang and a Honda Prelude. Much hilarity ensued as I tried to affix the magnetic number to the mostly aluminum Bolt, finally finding a steel panel by the rear C-pillar.
As I watched the Mustang roar and slide around the hairpins, and narrowly escape mowing down a row of cones, I realized the tight and convoluted course might work to our advantage. Although handicapped by the tires’ poor grip, the instant torque would mean we’d get back up to speed more quickly after braking than the faster cars.
With a mighty rush of air, the Bolt blasted out of the start and around the first slalom. As expected, I lost a bit of time to tire spin, but with the instant power on tap, I quickly made it back. The heavy battery pack actually improves the car’s centre of gravity; even though I pushed it hard into the corners it remained flat with no body roll.
My fastest time of the day was 37.598 seconds, adjusted to 30.078 when “paxed,” a convoluted system of autocross scoring I don’t pretend to understand. James was a couple of seconds faster. It was a fairly respectable showing. With a set of sticky tires, the Chevy Bolt would be an autocross force to be reckoned with, and the reaction it earns is part of the fun. Best of all, our “refuelling” at the day’s end cost us nothing.
The future is now, and it’s nothing to be afraid of.