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Way back in 1996, General Motors was at the forefront of decarbonizing transportation. In response to a California state mandate, the company had developed a quirky-looking compact car, dubbed the EV1, that ran on 26 12-volt lead-acid batteries. But GM soon reversed course, moving from EV booster to principle litigant in a 2001 case suing California over the state’s efforts to promote zero-emission vehicles, and scrapping the EV1 project in 2003.
Following Tesla’s rise to EV dominance, and a consensus among governments that the vehicle industry could not keep pumping out gas-powered cars and trucks indefinitely, GM has joined a scramble for pole position in the new industry. Early last year, GM announced the launch of a new electric Hummer “supertruck,” and has since committed $27 billion to EV development as part of what it has termed an “aspiration” to sell only electric vehicles by 2035. At the 2022 CES conference on Jan. 5, the auto giant showed its next hand in its electric gamble—a new electric version of the company’s top-selling Silverado pickup, aimed at converting longtime truck owners to a battery vehicle age.
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The stakes couldn’t be higher for GM. At this point, it’s apparent that any automaker that fails to convert to battery offerings might find itself trapped with shrinking profits in the next decade or two. While losing ground to makers of EV sedans and sports cars isn’t much to the big-three American automakers—GM, Ford and Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler)—which all make their real money in trucks and SUVs, an assault on their core pickup business, and its fat profit margins, would hit them where it hurts. “They’re not joking around when it comes to trucks,” says Jessica Caldwell, an analyst at Edmunds, a car buying guide. “That’s the majority of their business right there.”
Few mass-market electric pickups have hit roads yet, but competition is heating up. Among the longer-tenured companies, Ford unveiled an…
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Source : time
