General Motors (GM)

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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GM’s Lordstown, Ohio, plant has been sold to an EV startup, “Lordstown Motors Corp.,” which is affiliated with Workhorse Group, the company behind the Workhorse W-15 plug-in pickup truck.

Workhorse shares no ownership with Lordstown Motors Corp., but the two companies are affiliated. They plan to share intellectual property, and Workhorse’s ex-CEO Steve Burns is now CEO of Lordstown Motors.

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The UAW strike of GM workers is interestingly making the automaker reveal some of its plans for electrification as part of the negotiations with the union.

One interesting thing to come out is that GM might revive the Hummer brand with electric vehicles.
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GM’s union employees are currently on strike over a labor negotiation dispute and the automaker is using the promise of electric pickup truck production at a Detroit factory slated to close in 2020.
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The Chevy Bolt EV 2020 is getting a slight range upgrade from 238 miles to 259 miles of range, according to an update from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
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GM has unveiled the first official images of the Chevrolet Menlo EV, an electric car that is expected to become the utility version of the Bolt EV.
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Chevrolet just unveiled its new mid-engine Corvette, the 2020 Stingray, and though it’s an ICE car, comments from GM brass leave the door open for future electric versions of the sports car — possibly even an all-electric version.

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As the Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration prepare to unveil the planned rollback of fuel economy standards soon, major investors in auto companies are the latest group to publicly voice their concerns about the proposal.

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One of the most notorious gas-guzzling brands of all time, Hummer, is reportedly being considered by GM for an electric reboot.

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