Yesterday at the Verge conference in San Jose, I got an up-close look at Chevy’s prototype Bolt electric vehicle, which I blogged about back in August. The good news: the car looks more stylish in person than on video or in photos. It has sleeker lines and Tesla-like door handles. It’s still kind of boxy, but it’s not as bad as many EVs, like the LEAF, Mitsubish iMiev, and Chevy Spark.  So many of those cars pretty much scream “I’m a goofy-looking eco-car!”

The other good news is that the Chevy rep I spoke to seemed pretty convinced that the car would launch in 2017. Maybe I’m scarred by the Tesla experience, where target dates have fallen by the wayside at virtually every stage of their Model S and Model X launches, but I’ll remain cautious.  I won’t be expecting a 200-mile range affordable (i.e. sub-$40K) electric vehicle until at least 2018.

Here’s a photo I took of the car’s interior:

It’s still a rough draft of the car, but the interior looked pretty spacious.

Overall, between this car, the Nissan 200-miler, and the Tesla Model III, average consumers should have some great options to go all-electric by the end of this decade.