GM set to go all in on electric vehicles with new tech

General Motors (GM) laid out its strategy for ratcheting up its electrical vehicle (EV) plans with a modular arroyo that will include new vehicles, manufacturing its ain batteries and increasing charging stations for drivers.

For GM, this is almost like putting all its chips in at the poker tabular array. Only rather than betting the farm on the chance of getting good cards on the flop, the company's brain trust sounds convinced its strategy will reinvigorate information technology for decades to come.

As part of a 2-day media event in Michigan, the automaker made its case by unveiling a holistic arroyo aiming to impress prospective customers, while serving observe to competitors and investors.

New EVs, new battery

Tesla was the elephant in the room for the elementary fact the make has go synonymous with electric cars. GM wants to pale its own claim in the still-nascent EV market by spending upward of $20 billion (U.S.) by 2025. The money is spurred by renewed confidence that developing and making its own batteries would requite GM a competitive border in the automobile manufacture.

While the new vehicles were interesting in their own correct, the lynchpin of the presentation was the new 'Ultium' battery. Developed in tandem with LG Chem, who has supplied GM with lithium-ion batteries and other electronic components, its chemistry is made up of nickel, cobalt, manganese and aluminum.

GM is fifty-fifty calling it NCMA to note the composition officially, merely in addition to that, it's taking a dissimilar tack on design. The "pouch cells" are rectangular and flat, stacked together vertically or horizontally to squeeze in more capacity over what cylindrical cells typically offer.

In sticking with the modular strategy, it's designed to exist adaptable to all EVs in the lineup. GM says it can configure the battery and drive units in 19 dissimilar ways, both in 400-volt and 800-volt builds and a range of 50-200 kWh in capacity. There was too talk of vehicles with 350 kWh chapters capable of a theoretical range of roughly 640km on ane charge.

For reference, Level 2 chargers max out at xix.four kWh, while DC chargers can become much higher. A DC fast charger at 800 volts could fill an EV with 100 kWh capacity upwards to 80 per centum charge in almost xv minutes. GM'due south business organisation goal is to reduce the cost of developing and manufacturing the battery to below $100 per kWh. The resulting price-efficiency would presumably brand EVs cheaper to buy or charter (not to mention profitable), thereby tackling i of the large roadblocks for mass EV adoption.

Rolling out more EVs

As of now, the Chevrolet Bolt is GM's only foray into EVs, though there will be another 20 by 2023 under the current road map. With a wider portfolio, the company endeavours to sell a million EVs every year, with a detail focus on the U.South. and Chinese markets. But Canada isn't being left out, as these models are probable heading due north of the edge, too.

"Everything you see here today is existent," said GM president Mark Reuss, addressing media at the event. No cameras were allowed inside the venue, with smartphones locked downwards, then in that location are no photos of the actual prototype vehicles, just suffice information technology to say, they were at that place.

A new Bolt is coming this year, albeit without the new Ultium battery onboard. In summer 2021, the 2022 Bolt EUV, a slightly longer version of the electric current model that sort of looks like a minor crossover SUV, merely actually isn't. It didn't seem to be any college than the upcoming 2021 Bolt, either. Somewhat surprisingly, the Bolt EUV will exist equipped with Super Cruise, GM's autonomous driving system, making it the first EV to use it out of all iv brands under the company's umbrella.

If you watched the Super Bowl and saw the American ads, yous may have noticed a teaser for a new Hummer. Well, it'southward real, and it'due south electric. Oh, and there are actually 2 variants. Under the GMC brand, the electric Hummer will come up in both an SUV and pickup, with the about powerful getting a 1,000 horsepower powertrain and the ability to go from 0-60 mph in less than iii seconds.

Neither concept looked like the prototypical Hummer's wide and boxy design. These are big vehicles for sure, all the same wait less traditional to that make, in my view. The roof panels come up off to become a total view higher up, and at that place'southward storage space for them under the hood.

The Cadillac Lyriq looks to be the crossover SUV teased already. Information technology looks smooth on the exterior, and shows enough on the infotainment cease inside. There was a 34-inch OLED curved brandish stretching from the commuter'due south side over towards the passenger end. The screen was in the same vein every bit the one already seen in the 2021 Escalade recently showcased at the Canadian AutoShow in Toronto.

Cadillac will be turning the lights onto the Lyriq for the public in Apr, though it's less clear when the Celestiq might see the aforementioned light. The concept luxury sedan had no rearview mirrors or door handles, making information technology literally 1 of the smoothest cars I've seen to date. Information technology also harkens back to a gilded age for Cadillac with the roomy interior and trunk space. Remember the old 'boats' from the 70s and 80s that mobsters could use to hide a body or two? Yeah, that's the kind of space this vehicle had. The interior had a large curved brandish inside, plus another one sticking out betwixt the commuter and passenger.

There were nine vehicles in full, all EVs representing all four brands (Cadillac, Chevy, GMC and Buick). Well-nigh, if non all, are going to eventually go into product every bit part of the EV rollout over the next few years.

Charging forward

Beyond cost, CEO Mary Barra acknowledged the other obvious adoption hurdle: charging. Or more than acutely, where to charge and how long information technology takes. To get the ball rolling and set an example, the company added three,500 new EV charging plugs at its facilities in Canada and the U.S., marking a three-fold increase over what it had before. These would exist Level ii chargers capable of giving the Bolt 40km in range for every hour of charging.

Information technology makes sense that a company coming out with several EVs in the coming years would incentivize its ain employees to bulldoze them and charge at work, and GM hopes other enterprises follow suit and practise the aforementioned. Market place inquiry is telling the company that EV sales tin can become up six-fold when workplace charging is bachelor, and then there'south also that.

Notwithstanding, there's however the nagging issue of charging stations out in the wild. Currently, 80 percentage of Commodities owners charge at home or work because of the convenience and economics in calculating those options relative to range. There are virtually 25,000 Level 2 charging stations in Canada and the U.South., all the same just 2,800 DC fast charging stations. GM says the latter number is growing amid partnerships with charging vendors, similar ChargePoint, EVgo and EV Connect.

GM's mobile apps, starting with myChevy for the Bolt, volition map out all charging locations, and determines which are the best to go to for a navigated route. I take hold of is that none of this plugs into CarPlay or Android Auto, pregnant if you're using Waze, Google Maps or Apple Maps, the mapping and charging info from myChevy doesn't appear there. You would substantially accept to mount your phone where information technology'due south visible to go wind of where the charging stations along the route are.

To be off-white, Google Maps already offers EV stations as an option when setting a route, including real-time availability, simply like in myChevy. Waze hasn't yet, whereas Apple tree Maps does. It's merely not equally intricate in exploring range like myChevy does, which uses a dotted line to indicate a prophylactic distance for a roundtrip road, and a highlighted area noting how far the car tin get until it runs out of power.

Electric artery

Given GM's resources and history, a strategy similar this might have resonated strongly in, say, 2014, merely like other automakers, battery technology was cited as a reason for them dragging their feet. It's a debatable consequence beyond the telescopic of this story, merely in any case, the company is fully committed to seeing this through, no matter where it leads.

The Ultium battery is a critical element — then much then, in fact, that GM and LG Chem are building a massive $2.3 billion (U.S.) facility in Lordstown, Ohio to produce them. It's still unproven as the game-changer GM is touting it to be, and it looks similar its performance will be a determining gene in how vigorous this EV strategy turns out to be.

Epitome credit: GM