GM promises it can make money on all-electric cars by 2021

2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV pre-production vehicles at Orion Township Assembly Plant, March 2016Radically new powertrains are widely assumed to lose money for the companies that launch them. Toyota's hybrid-electric system, launched in Japan in 1997, likely didn't break even until sometime after the 2004 launch of the second-generation Prius. Long-range battery-electric vehicles are the same, according to analysts and insiders: the question...

GM taps Bolt EV, Volt, Super Cruise chief for new EV lead role

Pamela FletcherGeneral Motors announced Friday that it would promote Pamela Fletcher to a newly created role to lead the automaker's global electric vehicle program. Fletcher most recently oversaw development of the Chevy Bolt EV and Super Cruise programs. The newly minted role for Fletcher—vice president of Global Electric Vehicle Programs—has...

GM’s view of hydrogen fuel cells: great for military use

General Motors’ Silent Utility Rover Universal Superstructure (SURUS)General Motors thinks there's a future for hydrogen fuel cells, but it's not in your driveway. Unless you're a member of the armed forces and your driveway is, say, Fort Bliss. The Detroit automaker is and the U.S. Army are collaborating on a modular experimental light- and medium-duty fuel-cell truck platform with a name so military that it could...

GM to launch two new electric vehicles within 18 months, 20 by 2023

Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car with future GM electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, Oct 2017 General Motors said on Monday it will unveil two new battery-electric vehicles within the next 18 months, and will offer 20 electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles globally by 2023. The news came in a conference call for reporters with Mark Reuss, GM's executive vice president of global product development. GM's announcement follows similar...

CEO Barra attacks China gas-car ban, suggests buyers should decide

One of 130 second-generation self-driving Chevrolet Bolt EV electric cars, with GM CEO Mary BarraGeneral Motors CEO Mary Barra met with reporters in Shanghai on Friday, discussing the company's vision of the future: "a world with zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion." The company doesn't think, however, that China should be quite so hasty in pushing to ban cars that actually do have tailpipe emissions, however. Barra argued...