GM Plans An All-Electric Future

In January 2021, General Motors (GM) made a stunning announcement. It aspires to eliminate tailpipe emissions from new light-duty vehicles by 2035, meaning that GM intends to stop selling gas-burning cars.

Over the past several years, GM executives have made announcements touting the carmaker’s commitment to winning an all-electric future. But, of course, rivals such as Tesla, the world’s most valuable automaker somehow, sell only electric vehicles. So GM saying they are going to win electric comes with stiff competition.

GM plans to introduce 30 EVs by 2025. It is part of GM’s strategy to attack an emerging market and seize the first-mover advantage. Their goal is to become competitive and introduce technologies that other companies will attempt to emulate.

GM executives are quick to say that no tailpipe emissions by 2035 are a goal and not a guarantee. But even with the walk back, GM’s plan has skeptics. Concerns linger among auto industry insiders. They don’t know if consumers are ready to fully adopt electric vehicles, at least not where they are today. Vehicle ranges are improving, but charging an EV still takes a lot longer than filling a gas tank. Moreover, many areas don’t have sufficient charging stations, especially when comparing them to their gas counterparts.

GM is not the only one that has made a significant commitment to electric vehicles. But some other automakers are spreading their bets out among electric hybrid and even more efficient internal combustion engines. So GM’s commitment to going all-electric by comparison is a considerable risk. GM is expected to spend upwards of $35 billion on its electric investment by 2025. They have diverted numerous skilled engineers and designers off of gas vehicles and invested significant resources to develop the best electric cars possible.

The automaker is planning crossovers, cars, SUVs, and trucks. That means the fantastic lineup you have today will be essentially unchanged except for the power source. This includes all four of the US brands.

The only pure electric vehicles that GM sells are the BOLT EV and BOLT EUV. However, that will change soon after January 5th. The Silverado EV will be announced, and reservations will begin taking place. You can see our post about what we expect the reservation process to be like here. The GMC HUMMER deliveries will start sometime next year. The Silverado EV will be produced in the same American plant as the HUMMER, with deliveries sometime in the following year. Ultium batteries will be built in the Ohio and Tennessee plants making the electric future GM envisions a very American one.

Underpinning most of these new electric vehicles will be the aforementioned Ultium batteries—a newly designed battery in partnership with LG CHEM. GM has said it aims to reduce battery cost well under $100 per kilowatt-hour by 2025, compared to the current $150/kW today. They also expect the new batteries to last for a million miles or more, with driving ranges of 500-600 miles between charges. These Ultium batteries will hopefully eliminate the two biggest concerns of EV adoption: range and battery life.

GM’s plans don’t stop with just retail customer vehicles. They plan on producing a massive line of commercial vehicles. Therefore, it will be imperative for GM to establish itself in the commercial market and have a viable passenger and cargo van. GM is trying to accomplish this with their Brightdrop venture, including vehicle equipment and service for commercial electric fleets. FedEx is the project’s first customer. 

General Motors released the EV 1 from 1996 to 1999, making it the first automaker to sell a mass-produced electric vehicle. However, despite customer satisfaction, the company could not make the business case for EVs and scrapped the project and crushed most EV 1s. Nevertheless, the market is more ready than it was in the 90s for EVs, and a report from Merril Lynch forecasts that by 2035, electric vehicles will make up about 31% of total light-vehicle sales worldwide. Boston Consulting Group estimates that pure electric cars will comprise 45% of light vehicle sales worldwide by 2035. Those of you who are good at math might have noticed something important. If these forecasts are for at best 45% adoption, why is GM making 100% electric by that year a goal?

In 2020 GM had a market share of 8.7% of the world’s automotive market. That market share is down since 2008, but GM has also drastically cut back on lower profit sales such as rental fleets. GM has mostly exited Europe and India and is currently heavily dependent on the US and Chinese markets. Now compare that market share to the overall electric vehicle market share of 2%. An increase from 2% to 45% would represent a paradigm shift in the auto industry. Maybe GM thinks it will gain more considerable worldwide appeal by leading the way in electric. China and Europe are already demanding more EVs, and the US has shown a growing taste for them. The question will be, can the infrastructure change fast enough to accommodate the growth GM expects?

There are several barriers a consumer has to consider with an EV today. The first is the upfront cost. Electric vehicles are, on average, more expensive than their gas counterpart. However, the Ultium batteries should narrow that gap considerably. The next is the availability of charging stations. As of August 2021, there were 5,325 DC fast-charging stations in the US, compared with roughly 150,000 gas stations. Of course, you can charge your vehicle in your garage or the office, but many Americans may not have access to those conveniences. While the electrify America initiative is making strides towards decreasing that gap, it may be a few years still until that divide is no longer a factor.

With all the doubts and concerns about electric vehicles, it does help to keep in mind the positives. First, an electric car is a simple and reliable piece of machinery at its core. The engineering masterpieces of an internal combustion engine, drivetrain, transmission, and all of the belts, hoses, and pipes that make an ICE vehicle run are vastly simplified in an electric vehicle. An ICE vehicle has over 2,000 moving parts that have to move in sync to ensure the car runs efficiently. An electric vehicle, by comparison, only has around 20 moving parts. You can make an electric motorcycle with nothing more than a battery, electric inverter, control unit, motor, and driveshaft. An electric car is only a little more involved than that. You will never have to worry about an oil change with an electric vehicle.

Another reason to buy an electric vehicle is that it is simply fun to drive. I am sure you have seen Elon Musk talk about the insane 0-60 times Teslas can achieve. He doesn’t tell you that that is a characteristic of all electric vehicles. It is insane to think that the GMC HUMMER EV has a faster 0-60 time than the ZL1 Camaro. If you have never driven an EV, I encourage you to give one a test drive. One foot driving with regenerative deceleration is a game-changer and hard to put into words. You will feel more in control behind the wheel than almost any ICE vehicle. We expect the Silverado EV to have similar performance numbers to the HUMMER.

We don’t know if GM will achieve its goal of no tailpipe emissions, but we are excited to see how the auto industry changes as electric vehicles become more mainstream. Like GM, we are taking a bet on EVs and are taking steps to become one of the top EV dealers in the nation. That means hiring knowledgeable electric technicians and investing in vehicle supply and accessories, so you will get precisely what you are looking for.

We are working on getting the BOLT EV, and BOLT EUV recalls completed, but you can shop our current inventory by clicking here. If you want to save a little money and start your electric vehicle journey shop our used BOLTs by clicking here.

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