General Motors invests heavily in EVs. The company announced today that it plans to have 30 EVs on the market by 2025 and is investing $ 27 billion (€ 22.7 billion) in the electrification of its model range until then. According to GM, this means more money in the development of electric cars than in fuel cars.
The thirty EVs that GM wants to market are divided among the brands that the group has in its portfolio. Cadillac, GMC, Chevrolet and Buick are represented there. According to GM, much has been learned from the development of the GMC Hummer EV, reducing the development time of twelve EVs. They will all be placed on GM’s Ultium platform. In addition to the Hummer, three other electric GMCs will be launched, including a pick-up. Chevrolet will initially also receive four EVs: a compact crossover and a pick-up are already in the pipeline. Cadillac will also have four EVs in the range, for which the Lyriq will be the start in the first quarter of 2022. According to GM, development of the Lyriq is nine months ahead of schedule.
In addition to this, Buick also comes with two EVs. The plans for the remaining sixteen models with which GM wants to arrive at the total of thirty are not yet known. Perhaps this also includes models intended for the Chinese market. Before the outbreak of the corona virus, the group wanted to invest € 16.8 billion in EVs, but that amount has been increased by almost € 4 billion. GM expects a lot from Ultium battery technology and expects to be able to reduce costs by 60 percent by 2025. In addition, the energy density must be twice as high by then. GM also wants to sell the technology to third parties under license.
The competition
GM naturally has Tesla as a major competitor in the EV field in America. GM’s plans with the Ultium batteries are somewhat like what Tesla is doing now: a new cell design with a higher energy density and better integration of the battery pack with the car. If we look at what other major players in the market are planning in the coming years, the investment that GM wants to make now is actually not that big at all. Volkswagen is investing € 35 billion in the development of EVs up to and including 2025 and also has a very large budget for the development of software and autonomous driving. Whether GM can eventually keep up with the killer pace of development remains to be seen.