Cars
Published in July 19, 2020 |
by Steve Hanley
July 19, 2020 by Steve Hanley
Last week, General Motors released its latest sustainability report. Buried in its nearly 200 pages, the company offered new information about its electric vehicle plans. Globally, The General will have 20 electric models available to customers by 2023, many of them destined for the Chinese market. But at least 12 will also be sold in the United States.
The biggest surprise in the report is the news of a Chevrolet pickup truck that will reportedly have a range of 400 miles. No further details are available, leaving open the question of whether it will be a Silverado clone or something completely different. Surely the Tesla Cybertruck, which destroys the segment, has people at the highest levels of GM, Ford and Dodge scratching their heads. Are they sticking to what has worked for generations (which has made huge profits for them year after year) or are they boldly launching in new directions like Tesla has? There is no timeline specified, but by 2023, we should know how GM and the rest of the industry plan to respond to Cybertruck.
According to Autoblog, Chevrolet plans to introduce a mid-size electric SUV by 2023. Could it be based on the Chevy Menlo available in China? A new version of the Bolt will also arrive in about a year from now. Expect it to look a lot like the Buick Velite 7 now on sale in China. It’s clearly a retrofitted Bolt that’s more SUV and less 5-door hatchback. We don’t know yet whether that car will be made in China and imported into the US or whether it will be built in the United States. According to CNET The car will be the first non-Cadillac model to offer Super Cruise, GM’s semi-autonomous driver assistance technology.
Courtesy of Buick.
Buick will also receive two new electric offerings: one designed as a traditional vehicle with a crossover shape to “maximize interior space and load,” and the other model with “more expressive proportions.” That could suggest something like the Buick Enspire concept that has reportedly been approved for production.
Cadillac will lead
Courtesy of Cadillac.
GM clearly intends for its Cadillac division’s electric SUVs to lead its version of the EV revolution. The Lyriq electric SUV will debut in August and will eventually join 3 more electric SUVs. One of them will be a “global size” model that emphasizes interior space and three-row seating. A smaller SUV the size of the current XT4 is also planned, as well as a vehicle the size of Escalade. As with the Chevy electric truck, we don’t know if it will be an electrified echo from the Escalade or a whole new vehicle.
Of the 12 new electric models that come from GM, only the Cadillac Celestiq is a sedan. That car will reportedly be the brand’s ultra-luxury standard-bearer, perhaps similar to Daimler’s Maybach. According to rumors, it will be built largely by hand at the rate of 1.2 cars per day and will be priced at $ 200,000, making it the most expensive Cadillac ever.
Hummer
3 Chevies, 2 Buicks and 5 Caddies. That makes 10. The other two electric offerings that will complete GM’s promise to bring 12 new electric vehicles to American buyers will be sold under the Hummer brand. One will be a truck and the other will be an SUV. Details are scarce, but General Motors has always relied on badge engineering to make a model do double or triple duty within the corporate structure. A vehicle can be a Chevrolet, a Buick, or a Cadillac by simply slipping into some more comfortable seats and slapping a different name on the tailgate.
Chances are the first Buick SUV mentioned above is also the mid-size Cadillac electric SUV or the Chevy electric van is a close corporate cousin to the Hummer. Will a Hummer SUV be materially different from the proposed Escalade-style electric SUV? It seems unlikely.
Next battery
GM has just unveiled its Ultium battery, developed in cooperation with LG Chem, and yet is said to be already working on low- or zero-cobalt alternatives for the future. There are rumors within GM of electric vehicles with a range of 400 miles or more. 600 miles may one day be possible. Fast charging of up to 350 kW is also being developed.
Clearly, battery prices will have to drop substantially before such long-range vehicles are possible. Think what the cost of a 200 kWh battery would be today! A secondary question is whether the EV revolution is better served with such large batteries. How much range is enough to convince people that they don’t need to worry about running out of battery? And isn’t building more 300-mile EV more important than a few 500-mile EVs?
GM may be working hard to bring electric vehicles to market, but it always seems to be following rather than leading the electric vehicle revolution. An electrified Suburban / Escalade or $ 200,000 sedan hardly seems to be as transformative as any of Tesla’s offerings to date, with more to follow.
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About the Author
Steve Hanley Steve writes about the interface between technology and sustainability from his homes in Florida and Connecticut or anywhere else Singularity can take him. You can follow him on Twitter but not on any social media platform run by evil lords like Facebook.
