General Motors will continue to make investments across the board for powertrains and propulsion methods, despite its ethos of zero emissions, zero crashes and zero-congestion in the future.
Automotive News reported on Tuesday that GM will continue driving toward a zero-emission future, but in the meantime, the internal-combustion engine isn’t going away. Ken Kelzer, GM’s vice president of global vehicle components and subsystems, said governments around the world will have a say in how quickly alternative-fuel vehicles proliferate. Right now, China and Europe have the most aggressive plans in action to phase out the internal-combustion engine.
Kelzer said there’s no real timeline for when the internal-combustion engine will go away, but GM will invest in battery-electric powertrains and hydrogen fuel cells to ensure it doesn’t get left behind.
“We’re placing a bet on hydrogen, electrification, and we’re still placing a bet on internal combustion,” he said. “I think it’s very dangerous to say you’re all-in on one or the other. You’ve got to play all the cards.”
Notably, GM has 20 new electric cars coming by 2023. Within the next year or so, two new battery-electric cars will come to market.
Comments
The SAE automotive magazine has a story last week about this and most MFG’s expect to continue to invest in ICE and improve them. They said it is expect they will remain a viable part of the market in some form till at least 2050.
I expect ICE engines to remain a big part of vehicle production but with ever-smaller, fuel sipping varieties in play. Expect large displacement, gas guzzling V8s to go the way of the Dodo or only be seen on drag strips / racing. [Caveat: unless they can be converted to run on an “alternate” fuel which is not fossil fuel based.]
As gas companies drive up the prices to keep paying huge dividends to the mostly Baby Boomer/Gen X generations that own them, and in particular as the cost of oil exploration continues to increase (ie. most land-based, new exploration has all but ended, while off-shore and deep sea drilling is where most of the new exploration is heading) fossil fuels will be gradually phased out. Clever gas companies will work on proving the next “alternative” fuels mentioned above and will gradually transition from fossil fuels to alternate fuels.
{Note – I’ll probably be pushing up daises in 2050 so might get to see the complete end of fossil fuels in my lifetime, but I wouldn’t place any bets just yet].
I’m sure this move may also have to do with who is currently in the position as Head of The EPA right now as he also is pushing forward with a new bill to role back the ongoing demand for increased CAFE standards towards most automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturers that was originally supported by the Obama administration, this allows for more flexibility through time for manufacturers to remain competitive and to prevent them from forcing an employee out of a job over rapidly bogus measures to get every car and truck to run on nearly a zero emissions standard.
The is also the Liquid Gaz Petrol, GM can still develops its engines, the 2.0 can go on more power especialy with port injection, the 2.5 can use a turbo and with port injection can touch the 400 hp. The 3.6 with port injection cantouch the 550 hp , more power for its V8 especially the 6.2 DOHC.