I drove the Chevy Bolt, GM's electric car for everyone

What exactly do I mean by "unremarkable"? Decent, usable acceleration (which, in typical EV fashion, is eerily smooth in the Bolt); handling that prioritizes comfort over performance; and, for the young families that could become a core target demo for cars like this, space. Space! I actually commented to the GM staff on hand that the Bolt has an optical illusory flair to it, because it's got a freakish amount of rear passenger legroom considering the compact dimensions. As near as I can tell, some of that legroom comes from thin front seats; they seemed comfortable enough to me, though you never know until you've road-tripped in them.

Weirdly, the most interesting thing about the Bolt might not be the drivetrain but the infotainment system, an LG-sourced unit that is unique to this car and is crazy good. (To be fair, when I say "crazy good," I mean by car standards — rarely are factory infotainment systems much more than maddening garbage fires that make your seemingly trivial task of changing the radio station a chore.) The Bolt's system is anchored by a 10.2-inch touch display that might be the most responsive I've ever used in a car — there were no appreciable delays between taps and responses, which was a baseline expectation for phones and tablets years ago that hasn't really taken hold in the auto industry yet.

All of this is probably thanks to LG having a heavy hand in the Bolt's development. I think I even see some LG influence in the UI, which is flat, two-dimensional, and modern-looking — there's no skeuomorphism, no drop shadows or reflections that look like they were pulled from a five-year-old smartphone. The home screen is comprised of customizable widgets for different functions — music, battery status, and clock, for instance — that can be rearranged to the driver's content, and any widget can be made full-screen by tapping an icon in the corner. CarPlay and Android Auto are both supported. It's worlds better than the infotainment system on the first-generation Volt, and it's even substantially better than Chevy's relatively new system that's used across the portfolio. If GM is smart, it'll adopt the Bolt's hardware in more vehicles.

And there's one more tech trick in the interior: the rear-view mirror is replaced with an LCD display linked to a wide-angle camera behind the car. The value, or so the story goes, is that this kind of setup eliminates obstructions like pillars and rear passengers so you get a better view of what's going on. Shockingly, it's good. I thought I'd hate it, but I immediately adapted to it and treated it like I would a standard mirror. (And if you don't like it, you can flip a lever beneath the display and it magically turns into a regular mirror.)

None of this matters if GM can't make the Bolt in volume, customers can't be bothered to look at it in a world of cheap gasoline, or the upcoming Tesla Model 3 is a lot better. Any of those scenarios is possible. But regardless, I can't help feel like the company has just made history: it has produced a practical EV — without the traditional EV downsides — that many, many people can afford. And while I can't yet declare that it's great, I'm comfortable saying that it's not bad.

Of course, the Bolt is the first of its kind, but it certainly won't be the last. The auto industry is changing at an unprecedented pace right now, and if CES has taught me anything over the years, it's that the first-mover advantage doesn't mean much. GM is going to have to haul ass just to keep up — but so will everyone else. For owners, car-sharers, and riders alike, that's pretty awesome news.

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