You’ve done your homework. You know the 2020 Bolt EV delivers an impressive 259 miles of range, the price is finally within reach, and then you see it: two badges, LT and Premier, staring back at you from identical-looking cars. Your stomach tightens. One’s $2,500 cheaper. The other has leather and cameras. And suddenly, you’re paralyzed, wondering which one you’ll regret in six months.
Here’s what’s eating at you. It’s not really about features or dollars. It’s about that sick feeling you’ll get every time you slide into cloth seats when you could’ve had leather. Or worse, kicking yourself for dropping extra cash on bells and whistles you never actually use.
But here’s the truth that changes everything: Same 259-mile battery. Same zippy 200-horsepower motor. Identical instant torque that makes merging onto highways feel like a magic trick. The bones of these two cars? Completely the same.
So what’s the real difference? And more importantly, which one won’t keep you up at night second-guessing yourself? Let’s cut through the noise together. I’ll show you exactly what that price gap buys, what really matters on real roads, and the one critical gotcha most comparison guides bury at the bottom.
Keynote: 2020 Bolt EV LT vs Premier
The 2020 Bolt EV offers identical 259-mile range and 200-hp performance across LT and Premier trims. The Premier adds leather seats, advanced cameras, and premium features for $4,400 more when new. Used market gaps shrink to $2,000–$3,000, making Premier a strong value. Both require verification of optional DC Fast Charging capability before purchase.
The Peace-of-Mind Foundation: What’s Identical (And Why It Matters)
Same Bones, Zero Compromise
The headline number is 259 miles of EPA-estimated range on both the LT and the Premier. No tricks. No asterisks. No “up to” weasel words. That’s the same battery pack delivering the same freedom from gas stations, whether you spend less or more.
Under the hood, or more accurately, under the floor where that battery lives, you’ll find the same 66-kWh lithium-ion pack feeding the same single electric motor. That motor cranks out 200 horsepower and 266 lb-ft of torque to the front wheels. Both trims accelerate with that signature EV punch that makes stoplights genuinely fun. The suspension tuning? Identical. The regenerative braking feel? Exactly the same. Even the weight distribution is nearly indistinguishable.
Translation for your wallet: Performance isn’t your tiebreaker here. Every dollar of difference between these trims is about comfort and convenience, not capability. You’re not sacrificing speed or range if you choose the cheaper option.
Both Get the Essentials Right
Walk into either cabin and you’ll find the same 10.2-inch color touchscreen dominating the dashboard. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto come standard in both, so your phone integration is covered regardless. The climate control works the same way. The seats adjust through the same range. The cargo space behind those rear seats measures an identical 16.9 cubic feet.
Both trims give you that addictive one-pedal driving experience, where lifting off the accelerator slows the car aggressively, harvesting energy back into the battery and making brake pedals feel almost obsolete in city traffic. That quiet, smooth, effortlessly torquey driving character that makes EVs so compelling? You get the full experience in the LT just as much as in the Premier.
The driving experience, the silence, that grin-inducing instant torque when the light turns green. That’s yours either way.
What the Premier Actually Adds (The Honest Inventory)
The Comfort Upgrade You’ll Feel Every Single Day
Here’s where things start to diverge. The Premier comes standard with heated front seats, heated rear seats, and a heated steering wheel. The LT? You can get heated front seats and a heated steering wheel, but only if you opt for the Comfort and Convenience package, which was a $555 add-on. And those heated rear seats? Not available on the LT at any price.
Now, if you live in Arizona or Florida, this might not matter. But if you’re in Chicago, Denver, or anywhere that sees actual winter, that heated steering wheel on a freezing January morning isn’t a luxury. It’s the difference between white-knuckle gripping a frozen wheel for five minutes and comfortable driving from the moment you pull out of the driveway.
The seat material makes a jump too. LT gets cloth, which honestly isn’t bad. It breathes well in summer and doesn’t get brutally hot in the sun. Premier gets leather-appointed seats with perforated inserts, giving you that premium look and feel. Some drivers swear by cloth for comfort. Others feel like leather just makes a car feel finished and serious. This one’s personal preference, but it’s worth sitting in both if you can.
The Tech That Changes Your Parking Game
This is where the Premier pulls away with features you literally can’t buy on the LT. The HD Surround Vision system gives you a bird’s-eye, 360-degree view of your car on that center screen. It’s like having a drone hovering above you, showing curbs, parking lines, and obstacles in real time. If you’ve ever scraped a wheel on a curb or sweated bullets backing into a tight spot, this system is a genuine confidence booster.
The Rear Camera Mirror is Premier-exclusive too. Instead of a traditional mirror showing whatever’s behind your rear seats, you can flip a switch and the mirror becomes a wide-angle camera view. It eliminates blind spots created by rear headrests and passengers, giving you an unobstructed view of what’s actually behind your car. It’s polarizing. Some drivers love the clarity. Others find it disorienting and prefer the standard mirror view. But love it or hate it, you can only get it on the Premier.
The LT gets a perfectly functional standard rearview camera when you shift into reverse. For most drivers, that’s completely adequate. But if you park in tight urban spots daily or navigate crowded structures, the Premier’s camera tech is a different league entirely.
The Premium Polish You Might Not Notice
The Premier upgrades the audio to a Bose premium 7-speaker system with an amplifier. The LT gets standard Chevy speakers. If you’re someone who genuinely cares about sound quality and spends time listening to music or podcasts, the Bose system delivers noticeably richer bass and clearer highs. If you mostly listen to talk radio or don’t think much about audio, you probably won’t miss it.
Visually, the Premier adds roof rails, giving you the option to mount a cargo box or bike rack. The wheels get an upgrade to 17-inch “Ultra Bright” machined-aluminum wheels that look sportier than the LT’s painted aluminum ones. Inside, the Premier adds chrome accents, a leather-wrapped shift knob, and a rear center armrest with cupholders, which is shockingly useful for rear passengers on longer drives.
The overall cabin feel shifts from “functional and efficient” on the LT to “refined and near-premium” on the Premier. It’s that collection of small touches that add up to an environment that feels more complete.
STOP: The One Thing That Trumps Trim Level Every Time
The DC Fast Charging Reality Check
Before you get lost comparing leather versus cloth, we need to talk about the elephant in the charging port. Here’s the gotcha that trips up tons of buyers: DC Fast Charging was an optional $750 add-on in 2020 on both the LT and the Premier. It wasn’t standard on either trim until the 2021 model year when GM finally made it standard on the Premier.
Without DC Fast Charging capability, your Bolt can only charge using Level 2 charging at home or public stations. That means about 25 miles of range added per hour of charging. For overnight charging at home, that’s fine. But for road trips? You’re dead in the water. No DC Fast Charging means no access to the fast charging networks along highways. It’s like buying a phone that can only slow-charge overnight.
This isn’t about trim preference anymore. This is about basic usability for any owner who might occasionally drive beyond their single-charge range. A Bolt without DCFC is fundamentally limited in a way that changes what kind of vehicle it is.
How to Check Before You Buy
When you’re looking at a used 2020 Bolt, this is step one. Open the charging port on the driver’s side front fender. Look at the connector. If the car has DC fast Charging, you’ll see two large pins at the top for Level 2 AC charging and two additional smaller pins at the bottom for DC fast charging. Many Bolts with DCFC also have an orange or colored flap covering those lower DC pins.
No orange flap? No extra pins at the bottom? Walk away or negotiate hard, because you’re looking at a crippled EV that can’t take advantage of the nationwide fast-charging infrastructure.
Before you hand over any money, ask the seller directly: “Does this car have the DC Fast Charging option?” Get it confirmed in writing or on the window sticker if it’s from a dealer. This single feature matters more than any trim-level debate.
Safety and Driver Confidence: The Packages That Change Your Day
Understanding the Driver Confidence Tiers
Chevy offered two different Driver Confidence packages in 2020, and understanding which features come with which package gets confusing fast.
Driver Confidence Package I includes the foundational active safety tech: Lane Change Alert with Side Blind Zone Alert, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, and Rear Park Assist. These are the sensors and warnings that beep at you when someone’s hiding in your blind spot, alert you to cars crossing behind you when you’re backing out of a parking space, and help you gauge distance when parallel parking. On the Premier, this package is standard. On the LT, it was a $495 option.
Driver Confidence Package II takes things further with interventional safety features: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Alert, Lane Keep Assist with Lane Departure Warning, Pedestrian Braking, Following Distance Indicator, and IntelliBeam automatic high beams. This package was optional on both trims for $495.
What this means in practice: Premier buyers get critical safety features like blind-spot monitoring baked into the price. LT buyers have to opt in and pay extra, or go without. If you frequently drive on highways or in dense traffic, these aren’t nice-to-haves. They’re the features that prevent accidents.
The Feature Comparison That Ends the Debate
Let’s put this in a table so you can see exactly what each trim offers.
| Feature | 2020 Bolt LT | 2020 Bolt Premier | Real-World Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heated Front Seats & Wheel | Optional Package | Standard | Daily comfort in cold climates |
| Heated Rear Seats | Not Available | Standard | Family-friendly feature |
| Blind Spot Monitoring | Optional Package | Standard | Confidence on highways |
| HD Surround Vision (360° Camera) | Not Available | Standard | Parking anxiety relief |
| Rear Camera Mirror | Not Available | Standard | Wide, unobstructed rear view |
| DC Fast Charging | Check the Port! | Check the Port! | Road trip capability (non-negotiable) |
| Seats | Cloth | Leather-Appointed | Personal preference varies |
| Audio System | Standard Speakers | Bose Premium | Matters most to audiophiles |
Notice that last row about DC Fast Charging. You have to verify it on both trims. The badge on the back doesn’t tell you if the original buyer checked that box.
The Real-World Decider: Three Buyer Profiles
Profile #1: The Value-First City Dweller
You drive predictable commutes. Home to work, work to home, maybe a grocery run and errands on the weekend. You park in your driveway or apartment garage where you’ve got a Level 2 charger installed. You see your car as a practical tool that saves you money on gas and reduces your environmental impact, and you’re not interested in paying for features you won’t use.
Your priorities are simple: range, efficiency, and low cost of ownership. You’ll happily skip leather seats and fancy cameras if it means keeping more money in your pocket. You value substance over flash.
Your perfect match is the LT, ideally with the Comfort and Convenience package if you live anywhere with cold winters, and DC Fast Charging confirmed for occasional longer trips. This setup gives you every functional benefit of the Bolt platform without paying for premium touches that don’t enhance your daily driving reality.
Profile #2: The Comfort-Seeking Road Warrior
You spend serious hours behind the wheel. Your commute is long. You take weekend road trips. You drive clients or colleagues around occasionally. A car isn’t just transportation for you. It’s your second office, your podcast studio, your temporary sanctuary, and you genuinely appreciate a refined cabin that doesn’t fatigue you on long drives.
Your priorities lean toward heated everything, comprehensive driver-assist tech, premium audio for those hours of podcasts and audiobooks, and a “finished” interior that doesn’t feel cheap or austere. You don’t want to be constantly wishing you’d spent a bit more for creature comforts you’ll use literally every day.
Your perfect match is the Premier with its standard Driver Confidence I package and all the comfort tech baked in from day one. The leather seats, heated rear seats for passengers, Bose audio, and advanced camera systems justify the premium for someone who lives in their car.
Profile #3: The Tech-First Parking-Phobic Driver
You parallel park daily in tight city spaces. You navigate crowded parking structures. You’ve scraped wheels or bumpers before and you’re determined never to do it again. You love tech that makes your life easier and gives you confidence in situations that used to stress you out. You listen to a lot of music or podcasts and genuinely appreciate good sound quality.
Your priorities center on that 360-degree HD Surround Vision system, which you’ll use multiple times per day. The Rear Camera Mirror gives you peace of mind. The Bose audio upgrade is the cherry on top for your daily podcast addiction. You’re not just buying a car. You’re buying a technologically advanced cocoon that takes the anxiety out of urban driving.
Your perfect match is the Premier. It’s your only real answer. The tech features exclusive to this trim justify the price jump for someone with your driving environment and priorities. The LT can’t give you what you need.
The Bottom Line: A Question of Daily Value, Not Just Sticker Shock
Let’s Talk Real Numbers Without the Fluff
When these cars were new in 2020, the MSRP gap was substantial. The LT started around $37,495 while the Premier began at $41,895. That’s a roughly $4,400 difference right off the showroom floor. Factor in the optional packages buyers commonly added to the LT, like Comfort and Convenience for $555 and Driver Confidence I for $495, and a loaded LT could approach the price of a base Premier.
Fast forward to today’s used market, and the math shifts dramatically. The Premier’s higher starting price means it takes a bigger absolute depreciation hit, even if the percentage is similar. Browse current used listings and you’ll often find that the price gap between a 2020 LT and a 2020 Premier with similar mileage has shrunk to $2,000 to $3,000, sometimes even less.
This compression in price makes the Premier’s extensive list of exclusive features, including leather seats, heated rear seats, 360-degree cameras, and the Rear Camera Mirror, available at a fraction of their original cost. For used buyers, the value proposition of the Premier becomes significantly stronger than it was when both cars were new.
If you’re considering adding packages to an LT to approach the Premier’s capabilities, do the math carefully. By the time you add Comfort and Convenience and Driver Confidence I to an LT, you’re often within striking distance of a Premier’s used price anyway, and the Premier still retains those cameras and features you can’t add to the LT at any price.
The Final Question to Ask Your Gut
Strip away the specs and the price tags for a second. Here’s the real question: Does jumping from excellent to premium enhance your specific daily life enough to justify the cost?
Will you use that 360-degree camera multiple times per week because you actually park in challenging spots, or will it be a novelty you glance at once a month? Do you genuinely care about leather seats and Bose speakers because they’ll make your hour-long commute noticeably better, or are you just chasing a badge because it feels like you should get the “better” one?
If you can’t honestly articulate how the Premier’s exclusive features will improve your daily driving reality, save your money and get the LT. There’s zero shame in choosing the smart value. But if you know in your gut that those cameras will give you confidence, that heated rear seats matter for your kids, that the Bose system will make you smile every morning, then the Premier’s premium is money well spent.
Trust your instincts on this one. You know how you’ll actually use this car.
Conclusion: Your Bolt, Zero Regrets
Here’s what matters. Both the LT and the Premier deliver the same brilliant 259-mile electric range, the same fun-to-drive instant torque that makes acceleration feel effortless, and the same rock-solid EV fundamentals that eliminate gas stations from your life. This isn’t a good-versus-bad decision. It’s about customizing your experience to match your real life, your actual needs, and your honest priorities.
Your one-step action plan for today: Before you even think about trim level, confirm the car has the orange DC Fast Charging port flap or those extra pins at the bottom of the charging port. No DCFC capability? Move on to the next listing. Once you’ve found a DCFC-equipped Bolt, honestly assess how you’ll use the car. Long commutes in cold weather with highway driving? Premier gives you heated everything and the safety tech you need. Short city hops on a tight budget where every dollar counts? LT delivers the same electric excellence without the premium price. It really is that clear.
Final truth: Whether you choose the smart value of the LT or the curated comfort of the Premier, you’re choosing one of the best used electric vehicles available today at one of the most accessible price points on the market. You’ve done the research. You know what you need. Now stop overthinking it and go get the one that’s been waiting for you.
Bolt EV LT vs Premier (FAQs)
Does the Premier trim charge faster than the LT?
No. Both trims use the same 66-kWh battery and the same 7.2 kW onboard charger for Level 2 charging. If both have the optional DC Fast Charging, they max out at the same 55 kW charging speed. The trim badge doesn’t affect charging capability at all.
Which trim holds value better in resale?
The LT typically holds value slightly better in percentage terms because it starts cheaper. However, the Premier depreciates more in absolute dollars because it starts higher. For used buyers, this makes the Premier a stronger value since you can get its premium features for less of a price jump.
Is DC Fast Charging standard on the Premier?
Not on the 2020 model year. DC Fast Charging was a $750 option on both the LT and Premier in 2020. It only became standard on the Premier starting in 2021. Always physically check the charging port before buying a 2020 Bolt.
What features does the Premier add over the LT?
The Premier includes leather seats, heated rear seats, blind-spot monitoring, HD Surround Vision 360-degree camera, Rear Camera Mirror, Bose premium audio, upgraded wheels, and roof rails as standard. These features are either optional packages on the LT or not available at any price.
Are both trims affected by the battery recall?
Yes. All 2020 Bolt EVs, both LT and Premier trims, were subject to GM’s battery recall due to fire risk. Most vehicles have received new battery packs under warranty, which actually increases their value. Always verify the recall remedy status before purchasing any used 2020 Bolt EV.