Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Cars
  3. News

Angelenos can borrow a Chevy Bolt EV with the Maven car-sharing service

Stephen Edelstein
By

Maven Chevrolet Bolt EV
Image used with permission by copyright holder
General Motors’ Maven “personal mobility” brand is adding the Chevrolet Bolt EV to its fleet. Members in Los Angeles can now borrow the electric car under an expansion of the car-sharing program that launched there in October.

Maven is adding 100 Bolt EVs in the Los Angeles area, and expects them to be capable of covering 250,000 all-electric miles per month once the fleet is fully deployed. The electric Chevys will be used for both car sharing and Maven’s Lyft Express Drive program, which provides low-cost weekly car rentals to Lyft drivers. GM invested $500 million in Lyft last year.

Recommended Videos

To support the Bolt EV, Maven is working to expand the network of charging stations in the L.A. area. It plans to work with the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power and utilities on infrastructure projects. GM has no apparent plans to undertake a broader charging-infrastructure program to support the Bolt EVs it plans to sell to individuals. In the meantime, Maven Bolt EV drivers will get a limited amount of free charging at stations on the EVgo network.

Related

Following the L.A. rollout, Maven plans to make the Bolt EV available in San Francisco and San Diego as well. It also wants to collaborate with different cities on other projects “including a fully electric autonomous network of vehicles tied to mass transportation stations.” The Bolt EV is already GM’s main testbed for autonomous driving. The automaker’s Cruise Automation subsidiary is testing the autonomous prototypes in California and Arizona, while GM itself tests in Michigan.

Launched in January 2016, Maven now operates in 17 cities in the U.S. and Canada. GM says the brand has more than 24,000 members, who have driven more than 78 million miles in shared vehicles. Car-sharing users reserve and unlock cars using an app, and pay a membership fee for access.

GM isn’t alone in trying to capitalize on sharing services. Daimler, the parent of Mercedes-Benz and Smart, has operated its Car2Go service for years, and BMW recently returned to U.S. car sharing, after a brief absence, with ReachNow. While sharing services represent a potential threat to car sales, they also represent an opportunity for automakers to attain a new source of revenue by operating said services themselves.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Stephen Edelstein
Stephen Edelstein
Contributing Editor
Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…
The Hummer EV is getting a ‘Crab Mode’ to drive diagonally
GMC Hummer teaser

General Motors will reveal the GMC Hummer EV on October 20, but in the meantime, it confirmed that the electric pickup truck will come with something named Crab Mode.

More details of the unveiling of the Hummer EV, which was postponed from May 20 to fall this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will be released at a later date, including how to watch it. General Motors, however, said that reservations for the all-electric vehicle will be available through GMC's website starting October 20.

Read more
It’s the end of the road for GM carsharing service Maven
maven car sharing

General Motors (GM) is shuttering its Maven carsharing service four years after it launched.

Signs that the app-based service was in trouble came almost a year ago when Maven pulled out of eight of the 17 North American cities where it operated, including New York, Boston, and Chicago. It remained operational in cities such as Los Angeles, Detroit, and Toronto, and Washington, D.C., but now the entire service will be closed down.

Read more
2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV rated at 259 miles of range, outpacing most rivals
A red 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV.

The Chevrolet Bolt EV was a major milestone for electric cars. It was the first electric car to achieve more than 200 miles of range with a starting price below $40,000 -- opening up a much wider swath of the market. But with rivals catching up, Chevy has upped the ante. The 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV has an estimated range of 259 miles, up from the previous 238 miles. That puts the Bolt EV ahead of most competitors.

The 259-mile figure first appeared on the Environmental Protection Agency's fueleconomy.gov website, which lists the agency's electric range and fuel economy ratings, and was reported by Car and Driver before Chevy officially confirmed it. Power output is expected to remain the same, at 200 horsepower and 266 pound-feet of torque. Chevy previously said that will get the 2019 Bolt EV from 0 to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds.

Read more