Electrifying GM

After two decades of hybrid development, General Motors puts its full futurepropulsion focus on BEV technology-with vertically integrated development and production.

General Motors' long, convoluted journey toward vehicle electrification has finally arrived at an earlier-than-expected destination: total commitment to a battery-electric future. GM is officially “all in” on BEVs as its future propulsion strategy, with some 20 electric models slated for launch by 2023. The Detroit-Hamtramck plant is being transformed into GM's first dedicated EV production facility. Its product cadence, set to begin within the year, will be led by electric Chevrolet and Cadillac crossovers. Joining them is GM's first electric pickup that will resurrect the still-popular Hummer nameplate within the GMC brand.

The company aims to sell one million EVs globally by 2026, asserts CEO Mary Barra, while it continues to evolve its profit-driving IC-powered trucks and crossovers (and develop self-driving vehicles with tech partner Cruise). It's an ambitious plan that ends GM's 20 years of hybrid-vehicle development. That extensive HEV roster included belt-alternator “electric assist” systems; “Two-Mode” transmissions co-developed with Daimler and BMW; 42-volt starter-generator pickup trucks and two generations of Volt range-extender hybrids that included Volt's Cadillac spinoff, the obscure ELR.