Chevy pushes out Tesla for 'best EV' in U.S. News awards

The 2021 Chevy Bolt EV earned top status in the U.S. News and World Report's annual electric vehicle awards, announced early Tuesday morning.

Tesla eked out a single slot: for the best luxury EV title. Its Model Y "budget" SUV, which starts at $50,490 and gets 326 miles on a single charge for the standard version, won in that category.

The Bolt won the best electric vehicle award based on U.S. News' overall car rankings, price, charging time, and range. The base vehicle with 259-mile range is $36,500. A dead Bolt EV needs 9.5 hours to be fully recharged with a Level 2 type of plug, which is usually available at a public charging station. A Tesla takes about 8 hours on the same type of charger.

A new Bolt is coming out this summer with a lower starting price tag and some slight design changes. A new, bigger Bolt EUV will make its debut as well.

Other U.S. News category winners included:

• Best plug-in hybrid electric vehicle: Hyundai Ioniq PHEV

• Best hybrid: Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid

• Best hybrid SUV: Ford Escape Hybrid

• Best luxury hybrid: Lexus ES Hybrid

• Best luxury plug-in hybrid: Audi A7 PHEV

Hyundai swept with three awards, the most of any carmaker. The news outlet looked at 73 different EVs and hybrids for the seven award categories. The EV awards first started in 2018.

Last week, car buying site Autotrader listed its "10 Best Electric Cars for 2021" for cars under $75,000. None of the "cheaper" Tesla options, like the Model 3, which starts at $38,490, made the cut. But the Chevy Bolt EV and new all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E and Volkswagen ID.4 were included in the top 10.