Chevrolet’s Bolt electric car is getting ready for production

Chevrolet just launched a couple of images and a quick teaser video of its Bolt EV running through pre-production on its Michigan assembly line, among the last actions prior to real production. The Bolt is expected to be in a minimum of some dealers by the end of this year, assuring a sensibly practical 200-mile electric range and a cost around $30,000 after credits.

The timing of General Motor’s tease most likely isn’t really a coincidence: the automobile will do battle in the market with Tesla’s likewise priced Model 3, Elon Musk’s very first mass-market automobile. GM will have a significant timing benefit– the 3 isn’t really anticipated to begin shipping until late 2017– but Tesla has a lot more hype to its name than GM does, and it’ll begin taking $1,000 reservations next Thursday, March 31st. Securing customers early might freeze out some Bolt sales later on this year.