{"id":249050,"date":"2023-12-19T19:19:44","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T19:19:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/?p=249050"},"modified":"2023-12-19T19:19:44","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T19:19:44","slug":"the-2024-chevrolet-blazer-ev-left-me-stranded-in-rural-virginia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/car-reviews\/the-2024-chevrolet-blazer-ev-left-me-stranded-in-rural-virginia\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV Left Me Stranded In Rural Virginia"},"content":{"rendered":"
My weeklong test of the\u00a02024 Chevrolet Blazer EV lasted 28 hours. That’s when it broke down during an Electrify America charging session that left me stranded in rural Western Virginia.<\/p>\n
A drive that should have taken about seven hours, not including two hour-long stops in Gallipolis, Ohio, and Wytheville, Virginia, turned into a 14-hour ordeal. It saw me abandoning a car that seems quite pivotal to the future of General Motors on the side of the road in small-town America.<\/p>\n
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Since then, I\u2019ve spent much of my time trying to figure out what the hell even happened here, while pondering what might be the most catastrophic road trips I\u2019ve personally had in recent memory.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This story starts shortly after the initial 2024 Blazer EV press event in San Diego. I wasn\u2019t there for the model\u2019s launch, but GM\u2019s representatives offered me a week-long vehicle loan a mere few days after the early December launch. Of course, I accepted; an afternoon in southern California is far different than a week in the Midwest in December.\u00a0I had all sorts of plans for the car, including a longer road trip from Ohio to North Carolina, which would show us exactly what the Blazer EV was capable of, as far as charging, range, livability, and consumption. You can learn a lot about a car after seven hours straight behind the wheel.<\/p>\n
And it was to be a test of GM’s Ultium battery-powered platform and software, the two prongs it’s staked much of its electric, connected future on, despite a number of production challenges and delays this past year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Sure, I had my reservations about the Blazer EV. I wasn\u2019t convinced that removing Apple CarPlay and Android Auto was as groundbreaking of a move as GM insisted it was. I hadn\u2019t driven any Ultium-platform vehicles, despite my proximity to Detroit\u2014you know, the world headquarters of GM. The GMC Hummer and Cadillac Lyriq have never been available to me for testing.\u00a0To further fuel my reservations, everyone I had talked to in person about the Lyriq, including an owner, attested to terrible software and quality issues that plagued their crossovers, sending them to service departments for weeks at a time.<\/p>\n
A couple of anecdotes aren\u2019t data, though. And one disgruntled owner with buyer’s remorse and a viral social media post can easily make even the most reliable of rides sound like a new reincarnation of the Yugo GV. So, I approached the Blazer EV with an open mind. Reviews were mixed to positive on the car, and it had even won Motor Trend\u2019s <\/em>EV\u00a0SUV Of The Year award. It couldn\u2019t be bad<\/em>, right?\u00a0<\/p>\n