GM figured out how to navigate EV uncertainty with the Chevy Bolt | TechCrunch

Last day to exhibit your breakthrough to 10,000+ tech leaders at Disrupt is on Oct 2. Book Exhibit Table Now. Disrupt doors open Oct. 13. Get your pass and bring someone with you at 50% off. REGISTER NOW. Die-hard Chevrolet Bolt fans rejoiced when General Motors announced it was bringing a refreshed version of the EV subcompact back into production. The GM brand gave a lot of credit to those owners — and to Bolt supporters within General Motors — for the car’s revival. But fandom alone doesn’t restart a multimillion-dollar program. The math has to pencil out in more ways than one. An examination of GM’s business and market conditions at the time it was approved hints at what compelled the automaker to bring the Bolt back. It started with GM’s factory capacity. The U.S. automaker had capacity to spare at its Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas. The factory previously made the Chevy Malibu, which ended production two years ago, and it isn’t going to start making Chevy Equinox SUVs until mid-2027 or Buick Envisions until 2028. Into that gap went the Bolt. Perhaps more critical to the Bolt’s comeback was the broader availability of EV-specific parts, which helped bring the costs of the ne