When President Biden refused to let go of his Green New Deal agenda, General Motors (GM) was one of the first to back the idea of mass-producing electric vehicles (EVs) without reservation. This headfirst jump cost them billions of dollars, all seemingly in the hopes of swindling away lucrative federal contracts that were sure to follow. Now after settling their strike with United Auto Workers (UAW) union employees, GM CEO Mary Barra is planning on steering the company in another direction.
Previous plans of making 400k EVs from 2022 through 2024 have now been abandoned. Now they will be delaying retooling plans for their plant in Orion Township, MI to produce electric pickup trucks.
This comes on the heels of a massive recall of the Chevy Bolt due to battery issues, as well as a pending lawsuit for current and potential battery issues. Backed into a corner, they started bribing owners with $1,400 a piece to install a diagnostic program to see if their battery was a potential issue. This may have been the force behind the delay in the plant retooling, as well as behind the delay in the launch of numerous vehicles.
Including the Chevrolet Equinox EV, the Chevrolet Silverado EV RST, and the GMC Sierra EV Denali, this was slated to be a massive launch for the company. Coinciding with now-sunk plans to work with Honda on a joint venture EV line, GM has been failing on all fronts for their EV attempts. As noble as they might have believed the efforts were, the results have been nothing if not disastrous.
Former GM executive Bob Lutz explained the situation best on an episode of Cats Roundtable Podcast in mid-October, “The government fuel economy rules … are such that they basically cannot be met without broadscale electrification. What we’re seeing is electrification that could occur naturally because there’s a lot to be said for electric vehicles, but right now, it’s being forced by governments for environmental reasons.”
Expanding on that, “The regulation is way ahead of the public. The American public is not ready for the broad adoption of electric vehicles. There are maybe 10%-12% of people who really want an electric vehicle — and that’s good — but the remainder still want internal combustion.”
