Last year, General Motors announced plans to launch two new all-electric cars in the next 18 months (by 2020), as well as 20 new EVs by 2023. Now, GM Authority has discovered that the automaker will utilize the platform that underpins the Chevrolet Bolt EV for the two upcoming vehicles.
In a presentation entitled Changing The World With AV delivered in November 2017, the automaker’s upper management told investors and industry analysts that it will leverage its existing BEV architecture currently used by the Bolt EV in the near term by introducing two new CUV entries by 2020.
A slide from a GM Presentation entitled “Changing The World With AV” indicates plans to use the Bolt EV’s BEV architecture for two new CUV entries (November 11, 2017)
The platform that underpins the Bolt EV started out as a heavily-modified variant of the electrified version of the Gamma platform used by the Spark, and Spark EV, which preceded the Bolt. During the course of the Bolt’s development, however, engineers ended up creating an entirely new electric vehicle platform that is internally known as Battery Electric Vehicle 2, or the BEV2 platform.
A slide in GM’s presentation during the 2017 Barclays Global Automotive Conference showed this photo depicting a future GM electric crossover
It’s currently unknown what two future GM crossovers the architecture will underpin, but reading the tea leaves gives us reason to believe that one of the two future GM electric cars might be a production version of the Buick Enspire concept revealed earlier this year in China. GM showed a photo (above) of an unbranded future electric crossover during a presentation at the 2017 Barclays Global Automotive Conference. Hours after posting slides of the presentation online, the automaker quickly replaced the above image with one of a covered vehicle.
The second future GM electric crossover is unknown at this point. The model could be a longer version of the Bolt EV with three rows of seating, or perhaps the long-awaited subcompact GMC crossover.
Stay tuned to GM Authority for more GM electric car news, and for ongoing GM news coverage.
Comments
Why can Tesla and Jaguar offer a Frunk but the Chevy Bolt does not?
Both the Tesla and Jag are very large cars by comparison, and have plenty of room to put things like the battery charge controller and motor controller out of sight. The Bolt is a true compact by exterior dimensions but has class leading interior room, and all of that hardware still has to go somewhere. Look at the picture at the top of the page; the Bolt’s tiny front compartment under the hood is completely packed full. With a large hatchback in the Bolt, I don’t think many consumers will miss having a front trunk.
The Tesla Model S is huge.
The white crossover in the photo is going to be a Chevrolet…likely a Trax- sized electric vehicle.
I hope the Buick concept doesn’t change much for production.
I don’t expect a Trax sized EV, because the Trax and Bolt are for practical purposes the same size. Yes, Trax is slightly larger outside, but not by much. That extra exterior length is swallowed up by the larger size of the ICE powertrain over the Bolt’s EV setup.
Sit inside both, and there is hardly any difference.
I’m hoping for 2 vehicles in two difference size classes.
First, something around 180-183″ to size with Equinox/Rav4/CR-V/etc.
Second, the article discusses “stretching” the platform to allow 3 rows. If they could actually stretch it to the Acadia class and give it 3 rows, that would be a game changer. It would be the first comfortable family hauler with long EV range at a somewhat affordable price. Probably should be sold as a Buick, since it can then command the $55,000 price tag that will be needed. This would have to be around 190″ in length to at least have a kids third row. This would be perfect to replace our 2018 Acadia Denali in a few years.
Right, what Brian said. The Bolt is nearly the same size as the Trax.
I Hope the buick electric cuv, becomes a production model, remember the Toyota prius which started the electric car craze, It changed the face of the automotive industry forever, as much as I hated the vehicle, it paved the way for better electric cars.
No, you are wrong! The Toyota didn’t start the E V craze. It was the Gm EV1 that started it.
Buick, don’t tease us with concepts, we already know you’ll never produce them.
We bought Chevy Bolt December 2017. We absolutely love it and of all cars we have owned it is my wife’s favorite. We have solar panels on our home to power both home and car and we anxiously await the EV SUV. We look forward to being able to get one.
what a cluster f##k of a design, GM needs to clean out the engineering departments, did they not learn anything from the model3 teardowns ?