GM Just Changed Course On Plug-In Hybrid Electric Cars
General Motors, a company that was seemingly full steam ahead on electric vehicles, has potentially changed its tune for its Ultium-branded future. On an investor call, Mary Barra, the CEO of GM, said: "Our forward plans include bringing our plug-in hybrid technology to select vehicles in North America."
Electric vehicle demand has calmed down a bit after the proverbial rocket ship that was the past couple of years, according to GM. To compensate for that, GM is slowing its roll a bit and investing more time and subsequent cash into plug-in hybrids. This can not only acclimate people already set on an EV to a more electrified lifecycle, but plug-ins, like the automaker's own Chevy Volt, have a number of benefits outside of just acting like a transit point between gas-powered and electric cars. Plug-ins can really be considered its own segment of vehicle.
Just because GM is taking its foot off the EV accelerator doesn't mean it's giving up on EVs and Ultium altogether. In fact, it's quite the opposite.
GM's future
In the same call, Mary Barra also said that GM plans to produce 200,000 to 300,000 EVs across all of its brands this year. GM still plans to transition to a fully electric light-duty fleet by 2035, a mere nine years from now.
That all sounds well and good, but at the beginning of 2024, General Motors, across all brands, only offered six electric cars: the Chevy Bolt EV and EUV, the Chevy Blazer EV, the Cadillac Lyriq, and the GMC Hummer truck and SUV. Both variants of the Bolt are not Ultium-based. It's also worth noting that GM has had a very difficult time in past years selling any meaningful amount of EVs.
As of now, GM has not released any info as to what the new plug-ins will be or what the exact timeline is. But if it wants to get everyone in an electrified car, it has to start actually shipping models out sooner rather than later.