GM jump-starts its EV strategy
Company announces plan to offer 20 all-electric fuel-cell vehicles by 2023
General Motors joined a growing group of automakers promising an emissions-free future for cars by pledging to sell 20 all-electric vehicles by 2023.
The largest U.S. automaker, which generates most of its profit with large SUVs and pickup trucks, plans to have a lineup of both battery-powered and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, which also run on electricity. Two new EVs will debut in the next 18 months, to follow the Chevrolet Bolt that started selling early this year.
“GM believes the future is all electric, a world free of automotive emissions,” Mark Reuss, executive vice-president of global product development, told reporters this week at the company’s technical centre north of Detroit. “It’s real.”
The planned lineup demonstrates GM is doubling down on electrification, despite the Bolt’s slow start in U.S. showrooms and the auto industry’s inability to profitably sell EVs. GM has delivered fewer than 12,000 units of the Bolt, which goes about 238 miles (383 kilometres) between charges. Deliveries have primarily been concentrated thus far in California, which mandates sales of zero-emissions vehicles.
Carmakers are rushing to develop electric technology to meet tougher regulations. China is moving to cap carbon emissions by 2030, which means automakers will need battery-powered vehicles for the market.
— Bloomberg News