General Motors says the move to electric vehicles provides increased flexibility with vehicle design – and could eventually bring down prices.
General Motors says it is working overtime to cut the cost of its next generation of electric vehicles.
Tim Grewe, General Motors’ Director of Electrification Strategy told Australian media in Detroit the design and research effort directed towards electric vehicles has shifted.
“We’ve gone from what was possible, to what was practical, to what is preferred,” said Mr Grewe.
The General Motors executive said advancements have already been made in battery technology to increase range and efficiency.
Now the company is working on the next barrier: cost.
Early electric vehicles were heavily compromised by the limited capacity of the battery packs.
But changes to the way the battery packs are designed and built will make the next generation of electric vehicles more capable, the company claims.
General Motors is working with tech giant LG to create battery packs that are as efficient and compact as possible.
“We’ve also changed the way the bodies mount to the chassis, and our Ultium battery technology led they way,” said Mr Grewe. “We believe it’s world’s-best battery chemistry, and the structure of the battery pack is now harmonised with the overall vehicle structure.”
Crucial to driving the price down is the shift to a battery pack architecture that forms part of the platform and structure underpinning the vehicle, but one that can be adapted to work across a range of models and body types.
General Motors has already executed such a plan with the vastly different Cadillac Lyric, and Hummer EV.
“That platform works for a medium to large (SUV), as well as a full-size SUV, full-size truck,” said Mr Grewe. “Development time goes down, and we can react to the market and what the (customer) wants.”
That means the development time of future electric vehicles could come down significantly compared to the development time for petrol and diesel cars.
Electric cars also enable a more streamlined manufacturing approach, the General Motors executive said.
“We can easily move from front or rear-wheel drive, to all-wheel drive for markets that need or want it,” said Mr Grewe.
“As we upgrade through (model) generations, we’ll see battery improvements, and higher-speed electric motors. We’ll have the best batteries, the best chemistry, and be ready to upgrade for the future.”
The rollout of electric vehicles will gather pace as governments around the world introduce strict regulations that make it next to impossible to build petrol and diesel cars.
Car giants need to adapt to those changes to stay in business.
“You can see the roll out now, the cadence is happening really quickly and it will allow us to bring the price down as well as options and flexibility of models,” said Mr Grewe.
The post General Motors reveals its electric-car rollout plans appeared first on Drive.