General Motors Vice President for Electric and Autonomous Vehicles, Ken Morris, believes the automaker will eventually make a complete transition to electric vehicles.
Speaking to Automobile Magazine, Morris said the automaker’s long-term future is all-electric and that eventually, all of its products will be battery powered. While this may seem like it’s far in the future, Morris believes it could happen relatively quickly.
“I see for sure a day when we’re all-electric, and how many years is that from now? Maybe sooner than people would think,” he added.
While GM is targeting a full electric lineup, the automaker still has a long way to go. The only electric vehicle in its lineup right now is the Chevrolet Bolt EV, which was introduced in late 2016. However, it plans to introduce 10 all-new EVs before 2025, which will include the refreshed Bolt EV, the new Chevrolet Bolt EUV crossover, the Cadillac Lyriq crossover and the GMC Hummer EV pickup and SUV.
Morris also noted that many vehicles are being discontinued to make way for new crossovers and SUVs, and said that if these products ever return, they will likely be electric only.
“You’ll start to see some vehicles going away and frankly, it’s already happening a little bit,” he said. “Industry-wide, sedan lineups are really, really shrinking. We’re replacing those sedans with CUVs and SUVs, and things that the customers really are wanting more than they want sedans. I think you’ll see a natural evolution. There may come an end of the run for certain vehicles, and they’re replaced with an EV versus us redoing it as an ICE. And you know the life cycles on cars. It’s not like this is going to happen overnight.”
2021 Chevrolet Bolt EUV prototype
There’s one elephant in the room for GM’s EV ambitions, however. Electric vehicles are often more expensive than their ICE equivalents, which may drive some customers away – especially with the budget-friendly Chevrolet brand. However, Morris assures GM fans the automaker is working on bringing battery costs down, and says it plans to offer a wide variety of EVs covering many market segments.
“It’s going to have a broad band of price entry points,” Morris said. “That’ll come very quickly between now and 2025.”
In the near-term, however, the automaker is focusing on high-priced EVs to offset some of the cost and ensure it makes money on its EV programs from the outset. The Lyriq, Hummer EV and Cadillac Celestiq sedan (which may cost $200,000 or more) will help the company recoup some of the cost of developing EV battery technology.
“And I do think the price of vehicles that are higher in the food chain, like the Cadillacs and Hummer EVs and the bigger SUVs, makes a more palatable business case,” Morris said. “What we have to do is evolve over time like I said, where we can hit top-to-bottom in our portfolio.”
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Comments
I expect it begins soon. Ford was behind GM, but the Mach E is nicer than every GM vehicle, except Camaro and Corvette, and it’s electric!
Bolt EV is meh, probably Bolt EUV too.
Yeah good luck with that
Exactly.
IDK about most of the country, but I know a lot of people who have zero interest in an electric pickup truck….no matter how much power it has!
“I see for sure a day when we’re all-electric, and how many years is that from now? Maybe sooner than people would think,” he added.”
Just toeing the corporate bs line. Has he looked at gas prices lately?
The question is whether GM can actually sell this all-electric lineup. There’s a waiting list for the Corvette and the Tahoe is always in high demand while the Bolt generates no such enthusiasm. I know this is anecdotal but the Bolt has been for sale four years and I’ve only seen one on the road and I live in a highly populated, major metropolitan area. I know sales have been around 20,000 units per year but most of those apparently have been in California prompting GM to slow production. So the question is not whether Mary Barra can bring her all-zero future into reality for GM. She most assuredly can. The question is whether the public, outside of the Golden State, will buy what she’s selling.
That’s not to say I am anti-electric. I’m not. I just don’t see the wisdom of going all-in on something that the public has not embraced en masse. GM went all-in on downsizing in the late 1970s and it was a brilliant move. They followed it up with Round 2 in the 80s with another aggressive plan to further reduce the footprint of their cars and go to an all-FWD lineup. Round 2 was a disaster that GM has never recovered from. They lost significant sales volume especially in their mid-sized and luxury car offerings where some models saw 65 percent sales declines after their redesigns. The aggressive downsizing killed their Cadillac brand by building things the public didn’t want and taking away what they did want. I hope Maty Barra remembers what can happen when a carmaker stubbornly embraces a future the public doesn’t want.
building things the public didn’t want <- THIS is GM. GM doesn't know what its doing, they are absolutely clueless.
@xjug
Hmmmmmm. Were Car Manufacturers clueless when they switched to Gasoline Powered Vehicles that nobody was asking for with literally Zero Infrastructure to back it up? Progress is constant. Things always change and so will the form of Propulsion we use to move our Transportation. Once people use EV’s and realize how much simpler their life will be once the Instruction catches up, ICE will be plunging at an exponential clip. That is called the S curve. Happens with every single Disruptional technology in human History. Quick question, how many people use Landlines more than they use cellular?
Unless I can plug my car/truck in, have it ready to go in 3 minutes (the same amount of time it takes to fuel up), drive 400-500 miles without stopping….I MAY consider even looking at an electric vehicle.
Not to mention, it also has to sound like a V8.
Your analogy using phones is not applicable. Cellphones added increased functionality from their onset… currently EV cars decrease functionality in most cases. You could make the argument that EV cars have increased performance and decreased maintenance over their ICE counterparts. Overall, I think electric vehicles will be better for the environment, but I’m pretty sure heavy metals, like those in batteries, are pretty bad for organic life, too.
@h4cksaw
Well there are already batteries in use with much less heavy metals compared to say even a couple years ago. Heck some do not even use Cobalt.
More money is being invested in Wind, hydro, and especially Solar right now around the World than in Oil and Coal. So the Environment will be cleaner and that would mean all of our Energy needs will be renewable. So we will never be in fear of running out like we are with Coal and oil right now. So those are the Environmental purposes I would say. Some care about that and others do not.
Now as far as Cars go….Technology changes so quickly that there will come a time where it literally will make Zero sense for an auto Maker to continue and spend money on ICE technology to keep up with Regulations when Battery Packs will be much, much cheaper to produce. This Train is not going to Stop anytime soon. China and Europe have Set Dates where New Car sales need to be EV instead of ICE. I understand we in the States are far, and I do mean far behind in Legislation but it will happen here as well. And the Biggest reason for going Pure EV in Auto Makers minds is for Autonomy. From everything I read and hear it is just much easier to convert and update on a regular basis and most importantly waaaaaay cheaper for Maintenance. I understand that some Prefer ICE over EV’s but all I am saying is that it is inevitable that the Switch will happen. I think ICE will become somewhat of a novelty on like Vette, Ferrari and Niche vehicles but I doubt in say 30 years a Camry/Accord will be ICE or whatever Car is popular by then.
don’t @ me
Cobalt, “the blood diamond of batteries”, is going to be essential for production of EV batteries for at least the next decade. Currently, reducing cobalt content in the cathode of a lithium-ion battery directly corresponds to reducing the life cycle and safety. Batteries that don’t use cobalt are less dense in energy and do not have any significant range, as far as I know. Throwing out a claim like “Heck, some don’t use any” is extremely misleading because I would be willing to bet that over 97% of current batteries use Cobalt, including all Teslas, the bolt, the leaf, the kona, all the major EVs. I agree that EVs will be the future, but the future is not now, they have a long way to go.
Ok I will NOT @ you if that Triggers you for some Stupid reason. Not Sure how else I can respond to someone directly. A little FYI….Oil refineries use the Worlds MOST Cobalt soooooooooo yeah about that. There will come a Time when Battery Tech advances so much that Cobalt will not be needed but Oil Refineries will always need it.
Oh man, I gotta fact check you again. Batteries use over 50% of the worlds supply of cobalt. Oil refineries use the most cobalt, only in the catalyst sector of cobalt consumption. Again, the largest use sector of cobalt is battery production. You should really educate yourself before making unsupported claims.
source: https://www.cobaltinstitute.org/rechargeable-batteries.html
GM knows exactly what it is doing. It is kissing ass and being “yes men” without anyone doing any thinking! I assume Mary Barra sounds like the lady who used to host the weakest link and I assume she probably hears any rebuttal and in her response is “goodbye”. Does the same name go for “little man’s syndrome” for women, do we call it “little woman syndrome” or do we just call it unexcusable management?
If i was in the market for a vehicle in the next couple years, the two GM models I would be looking at would be the Bolt and the CT-4 rwd. The Malibu with the 2.0t is nice too, but the asking price is just too high for what it is.
Don’t see an EV in my future. My drives are normally too long and the range mostly too short. Also, I tend to keep a vehicle longer than most and I understand the cost of replacing batteries is pretty stiff. I’ve been a GM owner since I bought my first car, but if they go all electric I’ll look elsewhere.
Yeah I agree. I don’t have anything against electric cars, but I travel too far, too often. I’m really not interested in trying to recharge a car for hours, multiple times per day on a long drive.
I’m with you 100%. I guess I won’t need Nostradamus to predict when I will stop buying GM products!
@Hyrolr
If you do not mind me asking, how far do you drive in one sitting?
Also, Fast Charging is down to 20 Minutes right now. That is way more than enough time to grab a bite to eat during your Road trip. Also, technology changes extremely fast. I can see in the next 10 years where Fast charging a Battery will be the same time (maybe a minute or two longer) than filling up your Gas Tank. Right now there are only a hand few Companies working on Charging Infrastructure. That will change very quickly the faster the adoption of EV’s happens. Atlis is stating they have a Battery that can charge in 15 Minutes now. So faster than Tesla but obviously Atlis is a Start Up that doesn’t have a real vehicle so take their claim with a Grain of Salt. But other companies are working like mad right now to make Batteries cheaper and much faster to charge.
Momolos:
It’s not unusual for me to drive 500-600 miles in any given day. My job takes me on the road nearly every day of the week.. Sometimes it’s only 200-300 miles but others it can be twice that. I’m mostly driving to and through small, rural communities where finding a charging station is not just difficult, it’s impossible. Besides, my work days are planned out to make 3-5 stops during that drive and I’m usually gone from about 7 am to 7 or 8 pm on those days. EV may never work for me.
@Hyrolr
Yeah that is my main point. Right now an EV Infrastructure is completely unable to meet your current needs in Rural areas. The Main point I was making is that will change but who knows how quickly that will be. It all Depends on how quickly prices keep Dropping.
I have stated here a while ago that my biggest fear in the EV Switch is that rural areas might be Left behind. That better and should not happen.
@momolos
Absolutely. And it doesn’t matter where the rural area is, and there are still plenty of them in the U.S. I live in a cold climate location which makes it even less attractive given the decrease in range that goes with running the heater or a/c in an EV, or at least that’s what I have heard. Outside of putting a charging station in my house, there isn’t one within 50 miles. We routinely travel to see our families in the rural Midwest and there are still no reliable charging stations along the way and none at all where our families live. It would literally turn a one day, 780 mile trip into a 3 day vacation. Maybe things will change but I don’t see a realistic 600 mile range or 10 minute highway charging station in my near future.
My grandmother’s doctor’s appointments are three and a half hours one way(240 miles). we make that trip once a week . The appointment rarely lasts more than 30 minutes before driving all over town shopping…. It’s OKC, nothing is close after all. Then driving back home. Range anxiety about not using HVAC to make sure we can make it isn’t something I’m willing to accept, especially if she’s complaining about being cold!
My greatest mileage run was just over 11,000 miles in 2 weeks. Can you tell me how that’s going to work?
Also, during college, twelve times a year I would drive from Michigan to Texas in a 17-hour blitz only stopping to fill the car with gas before getting back on the road. Just not seeing it being economical for the motel rooms!
More investor talk rather than reality but please go ahead chase the EV only dream. The research groups are surely the ones to listen too rather than your own customers.
Without the infrastructure to support them, sales will not sustain GM as a top automaker. They are way too far ahead of the curve. The general public will not buy a vehicle that they have to hunt for places to “fuel” it and install charging equipment in their homes. What are apartment dwellers supposed to do to charge their vehicles. GM needs to rethink this. Gas prices will remain low for years to come and the mileage the new cars get are approaching that of many electrics. Time for GM to make some strategic changes at the top.
This is just one guy at GM, and he’s in the electric car business.
Stated simply, he’s wrong.
This is just like when they told us they were all in on hydrogen fuel cell cars.
I have never owned a non-GM vehicle, but they are doing their best to make it happen sooner than you might think.
besides the price of EVs, the other elephant in the room is toyota.
why isn’t the most profitable auto manufacturer in the world not jumping headlong into EVs?
gm’s embrace of EVs has an air of desperation.
As noted this is BS to woo Wall Street but it’s clear from the Reuter’s Report that both companies have little intention of going electric until forced to do so: Both companies plan to produce 327,000 electric vehicles combined in 2026 and 5 million SUV’s and pickups. Tesla produced 396,000 vehicles last year. And Barra holds a big “EV Event” making the same empty promises she made 2 years earlier while setting cost projections for 2 years from now that Tesla has already surpassed. Meanwhile cost cutting doesn’t seem to have negatively impacted her $21 million dollar salary.
The problem for GM is that Wall Street has seen through the smoke as witnessed by stock prices (Ford is now officially a “junk bond”).
And folks living in urban areas, thanks to our viral invader, are seeing blue skies for the first time.
When Henry Ford invented the assembly line there were hundreds of custom car companies that hand assembled vehicles for the super wealthy who, I’m sure, made promises that someday prices would drop to allow the average Joe to afford an automobile. Those companies are no longer in business.
Technology doesn’t tolerate intransigence very well.
Get woke, go broke again.
If I were still a GM stockholder, I’d be nervous.
I think there is no question the majority of passenger vehicles will be BEV’s , and probably fairly quickly when consumers figure out their higher purchase price is offset by much lower operating costs, higher reliability, less maintenance, better performance, and higher resale. But, the ‘elephant in the room’ is large pickups and commercial trucks. I see those vehicles staying primarily gasoline (diesel is on the way out, just too expensive to clean up) and perhaps CNG/LNG. There will likely be some low speed BEV delivery vehicles, but battery size and weight is a problem with electric trucks, not to mention recharging power requirements.
As for Toyota, I have no clue why they are still pursuing Hydrogen. H has so many issues as a transportation fuel currently Toyota must be banking on some pretty major technological innovations. Honda seems to be giving up on Hydrogen, and are throwing in with GM on BEV’s.
Yeah I think pretty much ALL German Brands just said these new Hydrogen vehicles are their last. They say it makes Zero sense as Battery Tech keeps getting better and much cheaper.
Mary you better retire. The general public are not very interested in electric vehicles
Retired from GM in 1980 and still active in this industry. Current servicing of all the current on board electronics is difficult and at a high price. With the high new vehicle price tags and IC’s on the road with reliable operation over 11 years old and 200,000 miles why do you think the public is interested in only EV’s???
30 years at GM and out Just 89
This guy is nuts!! Unless gm can build an ev as good as or better than Tesla , I don’t see them being successful. You can’t put all your eggs in one basket. Gas prices are low, ev’s are only as clean as the fuel used to generate the electricity. 40% of electricity is generated by coal fired plants. They’re planning to go all electric way too fast. It may just be the latest talking point though.
@Dougyfd
Tesla is a Modern Luxury Auto Maker. Only Cadillac needs to compete with Tesla under the GM Umbrella.
The Other GM Brands just need to be as close in Spec as Tesla is. I think GM can and will do it. I have been stating here for years that Tesla has solidified themselves as the So Called Apple of the Auto Makers. The real fight is between GM and VW as to will emerge as Google going forward.
All Electric ? For those of us who do not reside with the Huddled Masses in Cities but still live in Rural areas, when your “all Electric” comes to pass, you can bend over, grab your ankles and kiss our business goodbye.
General Motors CEO Mary Barra said GM would be introducing 5 new electric vehicles within 5 years in 2017; but given that the price of gasoline is selling for as cheap as $1.00 per gallon given that Oil is trading for under $20.00 a barrel, one has to wonder what is the immediate urgency.
2 things, many here can’t think past thier shoes “derp cheep aasoline, big-block engines 4evea!!”… but whine when fuel prices shoot-up and no reasonable options available, don’t think GM wants to be in that position again like 08′.
With those statements, I think this is Wall St. talk and GM probably have E/V and fossil vehicles throughout this decade because as someone said many rual, city/apartment residents won’t have a place to charge plus competition will probably offer fossil options also.
Our electric rates are soring as fast as gas is dropping…. Despite Xcel investing in Wind and claiming lower prices are coming… If you can’t afford high gas prices you can’t afford electric prices that are high either… then it becomes a question do I pay for heating and air conditioning and running the refrigerator or do I have have enough range to get to work!
So that means no electric vehicle options?. What’s the excuse if more next-gen, low-waste nuclear plants come online?. As said ICE isn’t going anywhere but it’s foolish not to have an E/V option.
Someone in that big ugly Ivory Tower in Detroit WOKE enough to tell me why I would want to run an extension cord out to the street to charge my GM EV, as I have no driveway OR why I would want to wait in a charging “station” for cumulative hours of my life???
I was thinking the same thing, all these people in apartments wont’ be able to charge easily, Multi-car households, very cold climate areas electric cars will suck. However with the Covid things may change again because except those living in big cities on top of each other most of the US will not want a vehicle with strangers in it. It will be interesting to see how thing progress.
@Michael Moss
You are missing the key point. It is not going to be the norm in lets say 10 years as it is today. EV’s are NOT for everyone in todays market. The infrastructure is not there yet.
Meaning it will not take you 20-40 Minutes to Super Charge as it does today.
As was the case when Transportation moved to Gasoline, were there Gas Stations everywhere? Of course not.
Gas Stations make most of their money from their Stores and very little in selling their Gasoline. So why wouldn’t they just flip over to selling you you electricity instead of a Liquid? It will be mush easier and safer for them to do so as well. Charging Times will be about the same as Pumping Gas.
With this Depression in full swing expect ICE to last another decade. I’m no Ford fan but they have finally introduced technology and design on par with Hyundai, Honda and VW while GM can only accomplish this with high quality Buick China that ends up priced as premium in the US.
With the pandemic GM must either give US consumers max bang for buck and this means offering making sure sure it is Chevrolet, not Buick, that wins the auto press comparisons. No one wants to pay a premium for the aged Tri Shield logo!
Are you talking about the Chevrolet Bolt, that uses LG (Korean) batteries, or something else entirely?
Whatever Ford has introduced as far as a modern EV isn’t even on sale yet. The Bolt has been for some time.
@Steve 138
I see this Pandemic (Not the Pandemic itself just what the outcome will be in this Specific Segment) as a Huge Win for EV’s to be honest with you. Let me explain.
Now more than ever, Companies will be Desperate to once and for all get Autonomy going as soon as possible. They will not allow their Business to be potentially shut down because us Humans are sick and sitting at home. Companies like Amazon will be giving Millions to Autonomy Research.
That is going to be when the S Curve for EV’s will climb in a huge Clip. And the days of ICE vehicles will become a Novelty like riding a Horse has become per say. I obviously could be wrong but that is what I am seeing and hearing right now. It is a HUGE race to get this done. Right or wrong. History will dictate that.
Cut down on your Kool-Aid consumption or get back on your meds.
The majority of your ill-conceived posts are little more than a bloviating waste of server bandwidth. If you stuck to facts and posted links to back them up, you’d end up with very little to ever post here.
ken morris is a puppet
Retired from GM in 1980???? That makes you like 120 years old.
Hey Jwl “Just the facts” For the record after 30 years at GM you could retire. You did not have to be old to retire.
So I’m not 120 years old. Just 89 pushing 90 years.
Stay with the issue EV’s
I see most of the people here are still stuck in the past. I am sure you think your 1978 Camaro with the fake piwer bulge in the hood is cool, but you are the only one. EVs are the future, whether you like it or not. Cheap gas is an anomaly, and when it ends, people will he wanting electrics, especially since governments are becoming more hostile to gas powered cars.
When GM launches an electric Silvarado or Tahoe with torque numbers that shame the Duramax and far cheaper operating expenses, you will be stuck wondering why suddenly everyone wants electric.
When you try towing your camper with an electric truck and discover you have about a 120 mile range, then you’ll see why electric isn’t a complete replacement.
@Nate
You do realize that you lose efficiency (less than Batteries do as of right now) while towing with both Gasoline and Diesel as well correct?
The main difference right now for towing with an EV is how quickly you can recharge. Tesla is Down to 20 Minutes as of right now. Tech keeps progressing and that number will come down as well. Once that happens, what is the benefit to ICE?
It’s not nearly as bad as an E/V, as TFL Tesla tow test showed It will be a while before an E/V matches the range of diesel nether less gas. Also the video soupshow of lines Teslas last summer trying to “refuel” at Superchargers on a western highway reststop while “archaic” vehicles passed them speaks volumes.
@Guestt
I have seen the video. Talk about Click Bait.
That video is done on a Vehicle that the Software is not made for Towing on a Regular basis. Tesla has never Stated that vehicle is Made to Tow. It is a Luxury CUV that you can town a little bit here and there. Also, it uses Teslas Older Battery Cell Tech. How many people will tow with an EV that costs over 100K?
We will see what happens to Towing when Vehicles are made from Scratch that will need to Tow. Like the GM, Ford, Atlis, and Tesla Pickup Trucks.
Escalade and Navigatior owners do tow and those cost $100k, again even if you upgrade the “software” you’ll still running into lower ranges then an ICE vehicle, throw in bad heat and cold and the range gets worse. Yes E/Vs will tackle certain challenges and come out on top but ICE is gonna be here for a while, kinda like diesel vs gas.
Yes those are Body on Frame vehicles that are Specifically engineered from the Get Go to be able to tow and tow well. Like I said I will wait until the EV F-150, Silverado, Sierra, Ram, and Tesla Pickup Truck numbers are out in a Couple of years. Tech keeps evolving.
I would suggest that if you are in love with the concept of an EV, you should own one. However, in places where electricity is mostly created through “green” technology and the price of a kw approaches 18-20 cents or higher, it’s not cost effective at all. Yes, gasoline will likely increase in price over time but with the vast improvements made in ICE technology and the increased fuel economy that goes with that, I think I’ll keep my gasoline powered vehicle. Driven conservatively on the highway and at highway speeds, my SUV gets almost 35 mpg. And as a bonus, I can drive 750 miles or more in a single day without having to search for a charger and wait for the battery to charge so I can drive another 200 miles.
It used to be 20 EV’s by 2023. Now 10 by 2025. What will it be next year?
Not just gm thats gonna be full ev soon. Not to much longer the customer wont have a choice regardless of manufacturer.
@Cadillac Matt
Well that statement is more True for China and Europe in my opinion. Our Regulations are much more Relaxed for ICE Vehicles here. Not sure if that will change soon or not. But even here it will become inevitable for sure.
Agreed, inevitable for sure. I still dont want one yet though.
Yes one day – the proverbial one day – how many Cadillac fans have been hearing this? One day GM will be great, One day GM will design great cars, One day…… with Mary Bara at the helm, this is the Titanic.
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