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GM has a plan to dethrone Tesla as EV king in North America

1177 Views 17 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  azbill
If it wasn't clear already that GM is all in on EVs, CEO Mary Barra says they're committed to becoming the number 1 EV seller in North America.


General Motors says it has a plan to dethrone Tesla: the undisputed king of electric vehicles.

GM CEO Mary Barra said in November that the company responsible for the Chevy Volt would build a million EVs in 2025. The question is, how will it get there, and what steps will it take to dethrone Tesla, who produced more than 509,000 EVs in 2020 and delivered 98% of them.

“We are committed to fighting for EV market share until we are number one in North America,” Barra said after detailing the plans for 30 EV models by 2025. The project requires a $27 billion investment from one of the U.S’s most notorious automakers. But in the past, car companies have outlined their plans to beat Tesla, and they’ve continuously fallen short, not accounting for Tesla’s planned growth.

In 2012, GM was the undisputed leader in EVs. The Chevy Volt sold 23,461 units that year. Then Tesla came along with the Model S. Five years later, Tesla had figured out that it could build a mass-market vehicle with the Model 3, proving that it’s not about the number of models. Still, the focus should be on affordability and efficiency. Tesla showed that it had figured out the formula for a fun, fast, efficient, and affordable electric car. It was a riddle that legacy automakers that had the cash and infrastructure to develop hadn’t solved.

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Despite the Model 3 giving Tesla and its frontman Elon Musk significant production issues, the vehicle has become the most popular EV in the U.S., China, and other territories. Led by the Model 3, Tesla held 58 percent of the U.S. EV market share in 2019, and Financial Post states that the automaker could own as much as 80 percent of the market share for 2020.

GM’s plan is simple: depend on its Ultium battery, which will amplify production and the development new, all-electric models. It plans to decrease the cost of battery production to the $100/kWh threshold, which will activate price parity with gas cars, in three years. It then plans to get that down to $75/kWh in 2025. These projections come from Emmanuel Rosner, an analyst with Deutsche Bank.

The problem is: Tesla detailed its complete roadmap to decrease the cost of its price per kWh during the company’s Battery Day event in September 2020, and it shows prices as low as $50/kWh.

This brings in significant possibilities for GM moving forward, especially if it can continue to leverage more affordable battery costs past 2025. However, it will need more help beating Tesla, which at this time, analysts see as the leader for the foreseeable future.

“Price is going to be what determines who is the market leader, and Tesla looks set to win on price for the foreseeable future,” Luke Gear, an analyst at IDTechEX, says.

Past the financials, Tesla’s growth, which is fueled by a strict and non-diversified focus on EVs only, gives the company an explicit advantage moving forward. On the other hand, GM has to combat the development of its 30 planned EVs with its existing fleet of gas-powered vehicles. Tesla can continue developing its EVs without any other distractions. Its name and reputation as the leader in the sector will help attract young and fresh engineering talent, especially in software and manufacturing, which are some of the company’s main focuses.

GM’s goal is considerably lofty, and its words will not win over the Tesla faithful who are critical of the companies who talk a big game but fail to back it up. Many automakers have come along with a plan to disrupt Tesla’s domination in the EV sector, only to figure out that building an effective EV goes past putting a battery pack into a familiar chassis. But even if they don’t become the leader, will it be considered a complete failure?

“If they keep putting out tons of great products…and they take a ton of share from Tesla, are their EV efforts a failure then? I would say no,” David Whiston of Morningstar said.
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30 EV models by 2025 is bold, I hope they can execute it and do it well.
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30 EV models by 2025 is bold, I hope they can execute it and do it well.
I wonder if that includes the vehicles they're going to make for Honda/Acura.
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I wonder if that includes the vehicles they're going to make for Honda/Acura.
My interpretation from the wording is that its 30 EV models from General Motors. With Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and Buick under them that seems very doable. It also helps that we recently learned about how flexible the new EV platform is.
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My interpretation from the wording is that its 30 EV models from General Motors. With Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and Buick under them that seems very doable. It also helps that we recently learned about how flexible the new EV platform is.
That's my interpretation as well. On last count, we had:

  • At least 5 Cadillacs
  • At least 5 Chevrolets
  • At least 4 GMC's
  • At least 2 Buicks
  • Cruise Origin

These are exclusively for the North American market. My guess is the other 13 will be sold in China, South America, Europe, etc.
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That's my interpretation as well. On last count, we had:

  • At least 5 Cadillacs
  • At least 5 Chevrolets
  • At least 4 GMC's
  • At least 2 Buicks
  • Cruise Origin

My interpretation from the wording is that its 30 EV models from General Motors. With Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and Buick under them that seems very doable. It also helps that we recently learned about how flexible the new EV platform is.
30 EV models by 2025 is bold, I hope they can execute it and do it well.
I would rather see them make 5 great EV models that have mass appeal, and are segment leaders than 30 average EV's
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That's my interpretation as well. On last count, we had:

  • At least 5 Cadillacs
  • At least 5 Chevrolets
  • At least 4 GMC's
  • At least 2 Buicks
  • Cruise Origin

These are exclusively for the North American market. My guess is the other 13 will be sold in China, South America, Europe, etc.
That's true, they should have a lot to offer the Chinese market especially.
GM showed some of their upcoming vehicles (mostly Buick) during their keynote for CES 2021.

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Does anyone know if GM will be using Plug and Charge for their EV's? The new Ford Mustang Mach E and supposedly it makes it easier to charge - just plug it and go which is basically just like a Tesla. This standard would make the Supercharger network superfluous since almost every new EV would work on it.
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Does anyone know if GM will be using Plug and Charge for their EV's? The new Ford Mustang Mach E and supposedly it makes it easier to charge - just plug it and go which is basically just like a Tesla. This standard would make the Supercharger network superfluous since almost every new EV would work on it.
I sure hope so.... It does make a big difference, I have an E-Tron which does not have this feature, and a Tesla that does...
I think all the major car makers have now agreed on using the plug and charge standard as well as migrating to the CCS quick charge connectors. Tesla is already placing CCS connectors on their cars in the EU and have announced a CCS adapter that will be available here soon.
Does anyone know if GM will be using Plug and Charge for their EV's? The new Ford Mustang Mach E and supposedly it makes it easier to charge - just plug it and go which is basically just like a Tesla. This standard would make the Supercharger network superfluous since almost every new EV would work on it.
I hope so but I don't think they've officially announced anything yet. The most I can find so far is being able to pay for charging with the myChevrolet app.

I don't mean to derail this discussion again, but it's interesting that Tesla has announced a "new" Model S Plaid version which starts at $119,000 and gets only 390 miles of range. I know they are not comparable to a Hummer in most respects, but that's about $6500 more than a Hummer for only about 40 more miles of range in a sedan - not a truck. For all those Tesla fans out there, that doesn't sound like that great a deal considering they both have tri motor setups. There is a better looking interior (but still not great). Check it out online. Look at that steering wheel? It's a very impractical yoke. Who thought that would be good idea?

More relevant though are the equivalent changes to the Model X SUV which should be comparable to the Hummer EV SUV! The Plaid for that costs $120,000. I expect the Hummer SUV will maybe be $2000 more than the truck, so it should still be less than the Model X. The Tesla Plaid will have a range of 341 miles and 2.5 seconds to 60 miles an hour. Again, we can assume the Hummer SUV is close to the trucks 350 mile range and 3 second time which make it more than competitive. It's possible that the SUV gets better on both the range and acceleration times than the SUV because it should have better aerodynamics (no truck bed) and possibly lighter weight as it will be shorter than the truck. With a nicer interior and more practical overall shape (boxy) in the Hummer, I would see Tesla having some real competition now in that upper end market. I almost wish that GMC came out with the SUV version first as I think the competition will not be as good!
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I don't mean to derail this discussion again, but it's interesting that Tesla has announced a "new" Model S Plaid version which starts at $119,000 and gets only 390 miles of range. I know they are not comparable to a Hummer in most respects, but that's about $6500 more than a Hummer for only about 40 more miles of range in a sedan - not a truck. For all those Tesla fans out there, that doesn't sound like that great a deal considering they both have tri motor setups. There is a better looking interior (but still not great). Check it out online. Look at that steering wheel? It's a very impractical yoke. Who thought that would be good idea?

More relevant though are the equivalent changes to the Model X SUV which should be comparable to the Hummer EV SUV! The Plaid for that costs $120,000. I expect the Hummer SUV will maybe be $2000 more than the truck, so it should still be less than the Model X. The Tesla Plaid will have a range of 341 miles and 2.5 seconds to 60 miles an hour. Again, we can assume the Hummer SUV is close to the trucks 350 mile range and 3 second time which make it more than competitive. It's possible that the SUV gets better on both the range and acceleration times than the SUV because it should have better aerodynamics (no truck bed) and possibly lighter weight as it will be shorter than the truck. With a nicer interior and more practical overall shape (boxy) in the Hummer, I would see Tesla having some real competition now in that upper end market. I almost wish that GMC came out with the SUV version first as I think the competition will not be as good!
Yeah, I saw the Plaid version .75 Model S, Hmm, I think this is just the new performance model, amazing 0-60 time of <2 seconds. Steering wheel is lame, having driven the C8 corvette, It is hard to get used to the steering wheel, and the new Model S wheel is far more odd.

We should also remember that GM rated the Hummer EV edition 1 at >350 miles of range, and knowing GM, I am sure they have some margin in there. I am thinking the EPA rating might be closer to 400, but GM did not feel confident enough to promise 400 miles of range, but of course @Aloppen could give us a hint?

While we are speculating the Hummer SUV will likely be $5K more than the truck, there is substantially more cost in the SUV, GM is not going to give that extra cost away. One caveat to that is the capabilities, would GM scale down the SUV, less payload and towing capability saving weight and cost? It will be interesting to see what comes out...
Yeah, I saw the Plaid version .75 Model S, Hmm, I think this is just the new performance model, amazing 0-60 time of <2 seconds. Steering wheel is lame, having driven the C8 corvette, It is hard to get used to the steering wheel, and the new Model S wheel is far more odd.

We should also remember that GM rated the Hummer EV edition 1 at >350 miles of range, and knowing GM, I am sure they have some margin in there. I am thinking the EPA rating might be closer to 400, but GM did not feel confident enough to promise 400 miles of range, but of course @Aloppen could give us a hint?

While we are speculating the Hummer SUV will likely be $5K more than the truck, there is substantially more cost in the SUV, GM is not going to give that extra cost away. One caveat to that is the capabilities, would GM scale down the SUV, less payload and towing capability saving weight and cost? It will be interesting to see what comes out...
Just to add to my previous comment: who knows what the added cost for the SUV is for the truck (certainly not me!), i was just basing the additional $2000 on early prices for the equivalent Rivian. The Rivians are now $2500 apart in price, so hopefully the Hummer will not be too much more than that. You are also correct that they may water down the capability a bit for the SUV version, but I hope not. I am pretty sure we are going to lose quite a bit in length for the SUV based upon early renderings they sent out. This would actually help in some offroading aspects - better breakover (due to shorter wheelbase) and better departure angle (shorter rear overhang), but due to the shorter wheelbase it may not be able to pack as many batteries between the wheels. We should see soon!
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Just to add to my previous comment: who knows what the added cost for the SUV is for the truck (certainly not me!), i was just basing the additional $2000 on early prices for the equivalent Rivian. The Rivians are now $2500 apart in price, so hopefully the Hummer will not be too much more than that. You are also correct that they may water down the capability a bit for the SUV version, but I hope not. I am pretty sure we are going to lose quite a bit in length for the SUV based upon early renderings they sent out. This would actually help in some offroading aspects - better breakover (due to shorter wheelbase) and better departure angle (shorter rear overhang), but due to the shorter wheelbase it may not be able to pack as many batteries between the wheels. We should see soon!
The wheelbase on the Hummer EV SUV looks to be the same as the SUT, just comparing B pillar to wheel center. The rear overhang is definitely shorter on the SUV. I do not think GM is going to build 2 different suspensions, and so likely capability will stay the same, however I am sure the rear of the SUV version will have lighter springs, for better 3rd row ride quality which might limit towing and payload ratings. 100% speculation here as I have no insight.
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I hope so but I don't think they've officially announced anything yet. The most I can find so far is being able to pay for charging with the myChevrolet app.

I have that app and a Bolt, I do not think it works with Electirfy America. Right now they have live status only for EVGO and ChargePoint chargers. FYI, EA is the only charging network to implement Plug and Charge so far. Taycan and Mach E are the only cars supporting it so far, but the new Lucid has announced they will also.

For EVGO and ChargePoint, using the RFID cards is simple and works very well. Fro EA you need to use their app, credit card and RFID readers for Apple Wallet are useless.
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I have that app and a Bolt, I do not think it works with Electirfy America. Right now they have live status only for EVGO and ChargePoint chargers. FYI, EA is the only charging network to implement Plug and Charge so far. Taycan and Mach E are the only cars supporting it so far, but the new Lucid has announced they will also.

For EVGO and ChargePoint, using the RFID cards is simple and works very well. For EA you need to use their app, credit card and RFID readers for Apple Wallet are useless.
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