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General Motors might be sleeping on the off-road SUV market, but they're not letting the EV train leave the without them. Lets dig in a little into their future plan for electric vehicles.
GM teased the picture on the right showing off their new electric battery platform that they call "Ultium". GM partnered with LG Chem to develop this new technology that makes batteries interchangeable between different vehicles. As you can see, the same battery can be used for a car, crossover, pick-up truck, or a van. GM said in their 2019 sustainability report that they plan to have 20 EVs available for purchase worldwide by the year 2023. Out of those 20 vehicles around 12 of them would be for the American market. GM did not specify too much on what vehicles would be electrified for this line up, but we do have some reports on a few Cadillac vehicles and the Volt.
Apparently the Chevy Volt, GM's only EV, will designed to be a crossover for the American market due to the growing popularity of that vehicle category. The Chevy Volt is set to be GM's first vehicle to be equipped with Cadillac's SuperCruise system.
For Cadillac, GM is planning to put the Lyriq on sale mid-2021. The Lyriq is a fully electric SUV that retains the classic look of a fossil fueled vehicle. Reports also suggest that the Escalade will be fully electric, however, Cadillac does plan to release an ultra-luxurious hand-built SUV called "Celestiq". This SUV will be 100% hand-buit so GM only plans to build around 1.2 Celestiq's a day. Rumors flying around say that this luxury SUV can come with a price tag of around $200,000.
With the growing popularity of off-road SUVs, GM also teased the return of the infamous gas-guzzling Hummer. The Hummer is set to be released in two versions for sale around 2021. One would be a fully electric pick-up with a 5ft bed, and the other an electric SUV. With the release of the Ford Bronco Gm really needs this to be a home run.
Chevy confirmed that they will be releasing a fully electric pickup capable of 400 miles of range. This is a very optimistic goal but according to GM their Ultium battery technology gives them that possibility. It has not been confirmed whether this truck would be called a Silverado or not.
For the rest of GM's brands there is not much concrete information to report about. This is exciting because we finally have some big moves by GM being made. GM is usually viewed as the more conservative company of the big three to take such risks. If this plan is executed the way it is planned, then Tesla will have competition with the more affordable market. We know that electric vehicles are the future, and the only reason we do not see more EVs on the road is because of the price and convenience. Whichever company figures that out will most likely take the lead in the EV race. Thanks for reading, stay buzzed.
-Bear 07.27.2020
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