The 2027 Chevy Bolt Isn’t Here Yet, But Its Biggest Warning Sign Already Is

Second-gen Chevrolet Bolt's expected to drop for 2027. More of a refresh than a complete redesign but there's one major difference. First-gen Bolt had a seven-year run but GM decided to give people 18 months to buy the new version before killing it again. With that in mind probably smart for potential buyers to start researching the 2027 model now so they're ready when it hits dealerships. Close connection between the two generations means we can start by looking at the reliability of the first.

Big caveat though. Nearly the entire run of first-gen Bolts, about 110,000 vehicles, went through a series of battery-related recalls for fire risk. Eventually required replacement packs for all models. Beyond that major mess there was another massive recall just months later for fire risks that had nothing to do with the battery pack.

Could argue those were just teething pains for the Bolt though. Judge its reliability more on J.D. Power's dependability rankings where the model never dipped below an Average rating in the years it got tested and you can probably feel optimistic about the new generation. Chevrolet itself got ranked third among mass-market brands in the 2026 Vehicle Dependability Study. Those recalls clearly aren't the only factors affecting the Bolt's reliability.

Overall Reliability of the First-Gen Bolt

When the Bolt launched in 2017 it got a Great rating of 82/100 for Quality and Reliability from J.D. Power. Also grabbed a Great rating of 87/100 for driving experience likely thanks to traveling 238 miles on electricity alone. At a time when the Nissan Leaf was stuck at just 107 miles. Makes sense the '17 Bolt got chosen as J.D. Power's best small car of the year. Yeah that put it ahead of solid rivals like the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris.

J.D. Power didn't give the Bolt a dependability rating in 2018. Still finished ahead of the Fit and Yaris in the overall small-car ranking that year though the Chevy dropped to 4th place. Reliability went unrated again for 2021 and 2022. Remaining years, 2019, 2020, and 2023, all saw the car in the Average zone for dependability. Scores ranging from 72 to 77. Bolt did recapture the top spot among all small cars in the overall rankings for that final year though.

With all this plus those recalls in mind the newest old Bolts from 2023 are the best choice on the used market. Helps that these models also pack a larger battery and available fast-charging, neither of which you could get on pre-2020 Bolts. 2023 version also keeps Apple CarPlay/Android Auto making it potentially more compelling than the resurrected 2027 Bolt which uses its own proprietary system.