GM announces transition to all-electric future

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https://www.wired.com/story/general-motors-electric-cars-plan-gm/


AFTER MORE THAN a century peddling vehicles that pollute the atmosphere, General Motors is ending its relationship with gasoline and diesel. This morning, the American automotive giant announced that it is working toward an all-electric, zero-emissions future. That starts with two new, fully electric models next year?then at least 18 more by 2023.
That product onslaught puts the company at the forefront of an increasingly large crowd of automakers proclaiming the age of electricity and promising to move away from gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles. In recent months, Volvo, Aston Martin, and Jaguar Land Rover have announced similar moves. GM?s declaration, though, is particularly noteworthy because it?s among the very largest automakers on the planet. It sold 10 million cars last year, ranging from pickups to SUVs to urban runabouts.
?General Motors believes the future is all-electric,? says Mark Reuss, the company?s head of product. ?We are far along in our plan to lead the way to that future world.?

Reuss did not give a date for the death knell of the GM gas- or diesel-powered car, saying the transition will happen at different speeds in different markets and regions. The new all-electric models will be a mix of battery electric cars and fuel cell-powered vehicles.

To be sure, GM?s sudden jolt of electricity is planned with its shareholders in mind. The Trump Administration may be moving to roll back fuel efficiency requirements in the US, but the rest of the world is insisting on an electric age. France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Norway have all said they plan to ban the sale of gas and diesel cars in the coming decades. More importantly, China?the world?s largest car market?and India, a rising star, plan to join them. No automaker can compete globally without a compelling stable of electric cars.
GM intends to grab as large a slice of the Chinese market as possible. It has previously announced plans to launch 10 electric or hybrid electric cars in the country by 2020. This summer, it started selling a two-seat EV there, for just $5,300. Last year, it sold more cars in China (3.6 million) than it did in the US (3 million).

The crucial question for the American automaker will be how, exactly, to make money from all these cars. By one report, GM loses $9,000 on each Chevy Bolt it sells. Reuss? strategy hinges on bringing costs down thanks to steadily dropping battery prices, more efficient motors, and lighter cars. Massive scale and global supply chains helps, too. ?This next generation will be profitable,? he says. ?End of story.?
It's not impossible. ?If they?ve really been laying this groundwork, they could be closer to not just having this tech but having a profitable and high volume way of supplying it," says Karl Brauer, an auto industry analyst with Kelley Blue Book.

General Motors? history hasn?t been especially kind to electric mobility. Its invention of the automatic starter helped kill the first wave of electric cars at the start of the 20th century. This is the company that experimented with battery power in the EV-1, only to recall the two-seater from its owners, crush them all, and pile the carcasses up in a junkyard. In the first years of the 21st century, while Toyota was making hybrids popular with the Prius, GM was hawking the Hummer.

Over the past decade, the Detroit giant has positioned itself for a different sort of future. First came the hybrid electric Chevy Volt. Then came GM?s great coup, the Chevy Bolt, the 200-mile, $30,000 electric car that hit market long before Tesla?s Model 3. GM is seriously pursuing semi-autonomous and fully driverless cars. It offers the first car on US roads with vehicle-to-vehicle communication capability. Now, it talks about its plans to eliminate vehicle pollution, congestion, and traffic deaths.
?GM has the ability to get all of us to that future so much faster,? Reuss says. Now it just has to deliver?and make enough money doing it to stick around for that future.
 
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Watch this *not* meet its goals. Although I must say, I don't see anything wrong with more electric cars around for people who just don't give a shit (at least not until my electricity rates surge up to keep taxes rolling in.)
 
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Watch this *not* meet its goals. Although I must say, I don't see anything wrong with more electric cars around for people who just don't give a shit (at least not until my electricity rates surge up to keep taxes rolling in.)

My thoughts exactly. Let it happen, but I don't believe it will happen.
 
I do have to wonder about their plans for their large trucks. And also for their iconic cars like the Camaro and Corvette. Personally, I would rather see the Camaro and Corvette names retired completely than to see them go EV. The end of an era, time to start a new legacy.
 
"AFTER MORE THAN a century peddling vehicles that pollute the atmosphere..."

You can almost tell it's written by a tech journalist.
 
:lmao: I totally skipped that line the first time.

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I do have to wonder about their plans for their large trucks. And also for their iconic cars like the Camaro and Corvette. Personally, I would rather see the Camaro and Corvette names retired completely than to see them go EV. The end of an era, time to start a new legacy.

Corvett-E
Camar-Ohm

You know it's coming.
 
GM announces transition to all-electric future

"AFTER MORE THAN a century peddling vehicles that pollute the atmosphere..."

You can almost tell it's written by a tech journalist.

Or somebody who?s still salty about GM helping get rid of the street cars and other rapid transit services.
 
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I do have to wonder about their plans for their large trucks..

I'd be in for a fuel cell pickup with 1000 torques that sounds like a spaceship with a 500 mile range.
 
Thanks to the shale revolution oil won't be going above $50 a barrel. If electric cars do become the norm it will either be because they are substantially better or governments force them onto the people (like Diesel). I predict a boondoggle as the latter happens without any thought to improve national electric grids.
 
I wouldn't be so sure about that. The industry is expecting the boom in petrochemicals to push oil prices up over the next few decades.

That would need to be a big boom. There is a lot of shale.
 
Thanks to the shale revolution oil won't be going above $50 a barrel. If electric cars do become the norm it will either be because they are substantially better or governments force them onto the people (like Diesel). I predict a boondoggle as the latter happens without any thought to improve national electric grids.

or trump gets ditched, and the shaleing is outlawed...
 
That would need to be a big boom. There is a lot of shale.

Keep in mind the world population is expected to rise from ~7 billion today to ~11 billion over the next few decades. We may very well see the number of ICE cars sold per year staying close to current levels, even if BEVs increase their share on a percentage basis.
 
Keep in mind the world population is expected to rise from ~7 billion today to ~11 billion over the next few decades. We may very well see the number of ICE cars sold per year staying close to current levels, even if BEVs increase their share on a percentage basis.

Another thing to keep in mind is that 1st world countries might have enough infrastructure to make the EV jump in decent proportion (and in certain places expand mass transit to decrease cars overall) developing nations are both increasing their car buying numbers AND don't have the infra for BEVs. I been rewatching some of the old Top Gear specials, (Botswana, South America, Baby Jesus trip, etc...) and there isn't any infra there where BEVs would make any sense. Hell half the time there isn't even pavement to drive on.
 
or trump gets ditched, and the shaleing is outlawed...

Shale is too big now. No Republican nor Democrat will outlaw it. Investors love it because it's low risk. They don't need to gamble billions on the chance a conventional well will have oil.

Keep in mind the world population is expected to rise from ~7 billion today to ~11 billion over the next few decades. We may very well see the number of ICE cars sold per year staying close to current levels, even if BEVs increase their share on a percentage basis.

Again, there is a lot of shale and it's cheaper/less risky to extract oil from. It won't be hard for the US and Canada to ramp up.

Another thing to keep in mind is that 1st world countries might have enough infrastructure to make the EV jump in decent proportion (and in certain places expand mass transit to decrease cars overall) developing nations are both increasing their car buying numbers AND don't have the infra for BEVs. I been rewatching some of the old Top Gear specials, (Botswana, South America, Baby Jesus trip, etc...) and there isn't any infra there where BEVs would make any sense. Hell half the time there isn't even pavement to drive on.

Agreed. I don't even think first world nations have power grids capable of supporting millions of BEVs, no less a place like Vietnam.
 
In most areas we can hardly handle the summer season when everyone has their A/C running, what makes anybody think our grid can handle an even heavier load?
 
That "we" is "the US", not the rest of the first world.
 
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