Jeffrey Sauger for Chevrolet

Jeffrey Sauger / Chevrolet

Jeffrey Sauger for Chevrolet

One of our highlights at CES this year was an opportunity to get behind the wheel of Chevrolet's Bolt electric vehicle. Priced at under $30,000 after a $7,500 IRS tax credit, it's set to be the first mass-market EV on sale in the US with a battery big enough to take you 200 miles (321km) between charges.

Chevrolet promised that the Bolt would go on sale later this year, and the company looks set to meet that goal—pre-production vehicles are already working their way through the production line in Orion Township, Michigan.

"We’re at another critical and important point in the development of the Bolt EV,” said Josh Tavel, Bolt EV chief engineer. "We’ve moved from working in math and building cars by hand to building Bolt EVs on the line. We’re now testing the tooling used in the plant so that we deliver high-quality, 200-plus-mile EVs that our customers are eagerly anticipating."

General Motors looks set to beat Tesla to the market in the race to deliver an affordable long-range battery EV. We'll see the Model 3 prototype next week at the unveiling event, but production of that car isn't slated to begin until 2017. Regardless of who gets to market first, 2017 is going to be an exciting year for anyone in the market for a new EV.