2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV: GM’s Electric Chevy Travels 238 Miles On Single Charge

General Motors on Tuesday announced that its subcompact electric Chevrolet, 'Bolt EV' will be able to go 238 miles (about 383 kilometers) after a single charge, much farther than its rival Tesla Motors upcoming Model 3.

The Bolt EV is to be launched in the coming few months, almost a year before the launch of Tesla Model 3. The starting price for U.S. consumers will be $37,500, reports reuters.com. The price is similar to the announced starting price of Tesla's Model 3, which is supposed to have a range of 218 miles per charge.

The Bolt is probably the first affordable totally electric car with a range of at least 200 miles per charge and that too at a cost under $40,000. Although the average market price for a new vehicle in the U.S. is around $31,000, General Motors reported in August that its vehicles were sold at an average of $36,730. The prices show discount incentives to incite the sales, which are not usually even available for the new models.

GM also added that the Bolt's range was calcualted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in testing on their official website. The Bolt takes 9.3 hours to recharge from near empty on a 240-Volt home charger."The Bolt will be able to get much of its software fixes over the internet", Pam Fletcher, GM's executive chief engineer stated at a recent conference.

GM shares went down 0.7 at $30.97 on Tuesday whereas Tesla's shares were down 1.4 percent staying at $195.43. GM has also said earlier that the Bolt will be made available to drivers of the hailing service Lyft Inc, in which GM has reportedly invested more than half a billion dollars, reports phys.org.

Tesla's CEO Elon Musk believes that the Model 3 will put a shine on the future of the company. He hopes that the Model 3 is going be the company's first mass-market vehicle generating $5 billion overall profit once production goes up to half a million cars per year.

"It's possible to fund quite a bit with that," Musk said in July, referring to the expected profit. Late next year, Tesla also plans to start sale of its Model 3. At a price of $35,000 before credit, it may cost less than the Bolt but its range is only 215 miles (346 kilometers) per charge.