Opel Ampera-e

Opel Ampera-e at a glance

A Bolt with an Opel badge: how it came about

General Motors showed the production Chevrolet Bolt at CES in January 2016. In February 2016 GM said that a European version would follow in 2017, and the Ampera-e appeared at the Paris Motor Show that autumn. Apart from badges, the grille and the front bumper, it is the same car as the Chevrolet Bolt.

The name links it to the earlier Opel Ampera, a range-extended hybrid twin of the Chevrolet Volt that Opel showed in 2011. The Ampera-e, however, is fully electric. GM Korea led development from 2012 with a team of 180 people, and the car was assembled in Michigan.

To show its range, Opel drove an Ampera-e from London to Paris before the 2016 show. It covered 417 km on one charge and still had about 80 km left. In a later test, the Norwegian YouTuber Bjørn Nyland managed 470 km with roughly 30 km of range remaining.

Motor, performance and driving

By our calculation, the car carries 10.8 kg per kW. The low battery gives a low centre of gravity, and the front suspension uses MacPherson struts with a torsion beam at the rear.

Drivers can choose strong regeneration with the L position of the gear selector, and a paddle on the steering wheel adds more. In daily use this allows one-pedal driving: Opel said that on its London–Paris drive the brake pedal was barely needed.

Battery, range and charging

The battery is a 60 kWh pack with 57 kWh usable, built from 288 LG Chem cells in 96 groups of three. It weighs about 435–440 kg and sits under the floor. Opel gave an eight-year or 160,000 km warranty on it.

The weak point is AC charging. The car charges on one phase only, so a three-phase wall box cannot speed it up. A full charge on a home wall box takes most of a night. Owners who drive long distances should plan around CCS stations, which in 2017 were mainly found along European motorways.

By our calculation, the WLTP figure is 27 % lower than the NEDC claim. That gap is typical of the change from the old to the new test cycle. You can compare charging and energy costs with petrol cars in the 1cars fuel cost comparison.

Dimensions and boot space

The two boot figures come from different ways of measuring. Either way, the boot is usable for a compact car, and the flat floor without a centre tunnel helps rear passengers. The cabin is tall, so head room is good in both rows. The old 1cars review criticised the hard plastics and the American-style seats with modest side support.

Equipment and prices

In Germany the Ampera-e cost about €39,330–40,000 at launch in 2017, before national subsidies. In Norway, the first European market, it cost 299,900 kroner in December 2016, about €33,500. In the Netherlands the price was €46,699 in November 2018, and remaining cars were cut to €34,149 in early 2020.

The old 1cars text listed the standard equipment of the German base version. It included 17-inch wheels, bi-xenon headlights with LED daytime lights, keyless entry and start, wireless phone charging, Opel OnStar with a Wi-Fi hotspot, a 10.2-inch touchscreen and an 8-inch digital instrument panel. Packs added heated seats front and rear, a heated steering wheel, a Bose sound system and driver assistance with blind-spot warning and parking sensors.

Safety: Euro NCAP and the battery recall

Euro NCAP tested the Ampera-e in 2017 and gave it four stars. Its American twin earned five stars from NHTSA for model year 2018, and the 2017 Bolt was an IIHS Top Safety Pick. Standard equipment included ten airbags, stability control and a rear camera.

The bigger safety issue came later. Bolt and Ampera-e batteries could catch fire because of manufacturing defects in some LG cells. GM recalled nearly 142,000 Bolts worldwide, and in August 2021 the recall covered 1,489 Ampera-e cars in Germany. LG Chem agreed to pay 1.9 billion US dollars (about €1.6 billion at the time) towards the costs.

Why the Ampera-e stayed rare

The Ampera-e had a short and difficult life. In March 2017, just after European production began, PSA agreed to buy Opel from GM. The car was built by GM in the United States, so Opel had little control over supply. In October 2017 Opel stopped taking new orders in Europe because the year's allocation was sold out, and delivery dates moved into 2019.

By our calculation, the 1,430 German registrations equal only about 1.3 % of the Bolt family's worldwide sales by 2020. Opel ended the model after 2018 production and later moved to PSA-based electric cars such as the Corsa-e and the electric Opel Mokka.

Opel Ampera-e vs rivals

Compared with the Zoe, the Ampera-e has 82 kW more power and a battery about 46 % larger, by our calculation. The Kona Electric arrived a year later with similar figures and a crossover body. For a side-by-side view of electric models, see the 1cars electric cars section.