American automotive OEM General Motors Co. plans for 40% of its U.S. fleet to be battery electric vehicles (EVs) by the end of 2025.
The company has been moving rapidly to develop and expand its EV fleet since 2018 when the company closed five production and parts plants to double its resources to develop electric and self-driving vehicles. At the time, GM said it expected 75% of its global sales to come from battery-EV architectures in the coming years.
GM planned to invest $20 billion before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to up its EV platforms, but has now committed to an additional $7 billion through 2025.
“Climate change is real, and we want to be part of the solution by putting everyone in an electric vehicle,” said Mary Barra, chairman and CEO of GM, in a statement. “We are transitioning to an all-electric portfolio from a position of strength and we’re focused on growth. We can accelerate our EV plans because we are rapidly building a competitive advantage in batteries, software, vehicle integration, manufacturing and customer experience.”
The GM plan includes:
- Launching EVs worldwide and more than two-thirds will be available in North America by 2025. This includes the brands Cadillac, GMC, Chevrolet and Buick across multiple price points.
- Advancement of GM’s Ultium lithium ion batteries to reach a range of 450 miles on a full charge.
- More than half of capital spending and product development to be devoted to electric and electric-autonomous vehicles.
- The Ultium technology is expected to bring price parity for EVs compared with combustion engines, GM said.
- Acceleration of the GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriq programs.
- Hiring 3,000 electrical system, infotainment software and control engineers plus developers for Java, Android, iOS and other platforms for in-vehicle connectivity.
- Potentially licensing its Ultium EV architecture, batteries and propulsion systems as well as the Hydrotec fuel cell technology developed with Honda.
In all, the development schedules for 12 GM vehicle programs have been moved up. These include the first GMC Hummer EV, three other GMC Ultium variants including a EV pickup truck, four Chevrolet EVs, four Cadillacs and EVs in Buick’s lineup including two Ultium-based EVs. The first vehicle to be launched will be the electric Hummer variant, followed by Cadillac’s first EV scheduled to arrive in the first quarter of 2022.
The move to increase its EV platforms in the U.S. follows a similar plan GM has for the Chinese market, the largest automotive market in the world. GM said that more than 40% of its new launches in China in the next five years will be electrified models that will be manufactured in China with most of the parts coming from local suppliers. The Ultium battery system and global electric platform will integrate GM’s technology advances with local manufacturing and supply chain in China.
