General Motors (GM)

The myChevrolet mobile app allows drivers to do things like remote starts, unlock doors, and gain access to vehicle data. The app’s Energy Assist feature for Bolt EV drivers has been available since 2017. But GM over the past few months has been enhancing its features, including the presentation of dynamic information about a public charger’s status.

The company wants the myChevrolet app to become the only app a Bolt driver uses, but that might be a hard sell.

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General Motors outlined its EV strategy yesterday at the company’s Capital Markets Day. GM President Mark Reuss confirmed that the first vehicle to use GM’s next-generation electric architecture will be badged as a Cadillac. It will be unveiled in April.

Reuss emphasized that GM’s flexible architecture can be applied to a wide array of segments. “Nobody we know has this combination of these levels of flexibility, speed, and scale,” he said.

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The General Motors team dedicated to electric vehicle infrastructure is looking beyond the early-adopter market to when mainstream buyers are buying and charging EVs. Electrek spoke last week with Rick Spina, vice president of autonomous and EV commercialization, and Alex Keros, lead architect for EV infrastructure. They believe “normal” in the EV world might not be here until 2025.

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General Motors this morning released the full 30-second television commercial for the upcoming GMC Hummer EV, after teasing short clips earlier this week. While the ad doesn’t reveal any more details or images of the vehicle, it formally introduces NBA star LeBron James as the pitchman, complete with a one-minute, behind-the-scenes video.

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Earlier this week, Electrek spoke with Mark Reuss, GM’s president, about the dedication of the company’s first all-EV manufacturing plant. Our first question to Reuss was about why GM sides with the Trump administration and against California emission standards. He replied that GM’s motivation is about one thing: avoiding further investments in conventional hybrids, instead leapfrogging to an all-electric future.

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General Motors is officially entering the electric pickup race with the GMC Hummer EV, a possible answer to Tesla’s Cybertruck. The company released clips today from the Super Bowl ad, titled “Quiet Revolution,” which will run on Sunday during the big game. The ad juxtaposes the power and speed of the vehicle with its ‘quiet-ness’. The ad doesn’t build to a crescendo but to complete silence which should be quite interesting for the GMC/Hummer audience.

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After GM’s official dedication yesterday of its Detroit-Hamtramck plant strictly for electric cars, Electrek spoke with Mark Reuss, the company’s president. We wanted to hear directly from GM leadership about its level of commitment to quickly deliver on multi-billion-dollar, global EV plans. Here is an edited version of Reuss’s discussion with us and a small group of reporters.

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It was hardly a secret that Detroit-Hamtramck would be GM’s assembly plant for electric pickups and SUVs. But with the official announcement moments ago, the American auto industry made a big leap toward its EV future. GM’s storied Detroit-Hamtramck plant ­– where 4 million vehicles have been built over 35 years – from now on will produce nothing but pure battery-electric models of a size and shape most favored by American consumers.

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As Electrek reported, Cruise yesterday unveiled its van-like, self-driving, all-electric vehicle. For the past four years, Cruise (a GM subsidiary) has been repurposing Chevy Bolts — including its four-generation self-driving Bolt that doesn’t have a steering wheel. But now GM’s Cruise has the Origin.

The two essential things to consider is that the Origin is the first of many vehicles built using GM’s up-and-coming new EV platform. Second, GM and Cruise want to build the vehicle on a massive global scale.

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Cruise, GM’s self-driving startup, has unveiled the Cruise Origin, a new autonomous electric vehicle that will power an all-electric, completely autonomous ride-sharing service.
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General Motors will soon start selling first-time diesel versions of the Chevy Tahoe and Suburban SUVs, and the Silverado pickup. GM is not alone in making a play for diesel, which is being propped up as an alternative to EVs. The Detroit News today makes the wild claim that diesel’s “resilience is creating doubts about the electric future touted by governments and manufacturers alike.”

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General Motors is not talking about it, but multiple news agencies are reporting that a Superbowl ad featuring LeBron James will tout the return of the Hummer name. This time, Hummers will be a family of electric pickup trucks and SUVs.

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GM was planning to introduce one or more new electric vehicles at CES next month. But the company said it failed to meet the deadline because of the United Automobile Workers’ (UAW) strike, according to Motortrend.

The delay is not stopping GM CEO Mary Barra from making a push on autonomous vehicles (AVs) while nixing future plug-in hybrids. “All AVs should be EVs,” she said.

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Tesla and GM are getting their hopes of an EV tax credit reform squashed as Donald Trump reportedly intervened and threaten to kill the bill if it gets to his desk.
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The recently revealed Tesla Cybertruck is running neck-and-neck in popularity with upcoming electric offerings from big-name truck brands GM and Ford, according to a survey from Autolist.

The survey also included Rivian, which is similarly popular. Among people who have never owned a truck, all four brands fared roughly equally. Among current and former truck owners, GM and Ford had an advantage, with Rivian trailing closely and Tesla quite far behind.

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When Reuters broke the news last night about GM’s $2.3 billion battery gigafactory, it made little mention of what vehicles the company will build with those batteries. We know there will be a GM electric pickup by 2021. But CEO Mary Barra said there will be “more than one product.”  Today’s news, plus a trickle of stories over the past year, paint a picture of GM’s EV future. It’s filled with trucks, upscale Cadillacs, and even an electric Hummer.

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GM has announced a new joint-venture with LG Chem to build their own battery gigafactory, which will have 30 GWh of annual capacity, in Ohio.

The two companies promise a new “industry-leading cost per kilowatt hours” in GM’s future electric vehicles.
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In July it was announced that LG Chem was working on a potential new billion-dollar US battery cell factory for electric cars. Today in a security filing in South Korea, LG Chem confirmed that investment, and that GM will invest another billion.

Reuters reports that the location is expected to be in the area of Lordstown, Ohio, where GM (pictured in Detroit) recently sold its factory to an EV startup affiliated with Workhorse. This follows news earlier this week that Piedmont Lithium received an important federal permit to proceed with its lithium mine in Gaston County, North Carolina — the second in North America. Looks like Interstate 77 will be America’s hot new lithium corridor.

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General Motors president Mark Reuss penned a missive on CNN’s website titled, “Electric Cars Won’t Go Mainstream Until We Fix These Problems.” This title conveys three things:

1. Electric vehicles have big problems
2. They’re not suitable for the “mainstream,” aka most people, and
3. GM will fix (future tense) these problems, and normal people should just stand by until GM says so.

Below we deconstruct this corporate PR hit piece and take a look at who it’s coming from.

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GM has announced the timeline for its electric pickup truck, which the automaker says will go on sale in the US in 2021.
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GM announced two weeks ago that it would be supporting Donald Trump’s rollback of EV emissions standards by siding with the administration versus California. You would think that GM — with its pioneering Bolt EV and “zero emissions future” initiatives — would support lowering emissions. But something has gone terribly wrong at GM over the past few years in EVs.

The latest indication of this is an announcement that the company would be releasing a Menlo crossover EV — which would likely do well in a US market — in China alone.

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