Posted on 02/07/2020 6:23:52 AM PST by karpov
General Motors, the auto maker that sells millions of cars and trucks each year, has a new production target: zero.
CEO Mary Barra hasn’t lost her mind. Instead, GM’s goal is a future with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion, the company said at an investor event following the release of its fourth-quarter earnings. It’s a bold vision to say the least.
Zero Emissions
No greenhouse gases coming from a tail pipe, of course, is all about vehicle electrification. GM, it seems, is leaving the traditional motor behind.
“We believe climate change is real, it’s a global concern and the best way to remove automotive ambitions from the environmental equation is an all-electric zero emissions future,” said Barra at the investor event. “The National Zero Emissions Vehicle Program that we have proposed across all 50 states will help accelerate the transition to EVs.....it would also position the United States as a leader in electrification.”
The GM plan calls for credits for zero-emission vehicles and incentives for battery development, among other things.
GM isn’t waiting for federal regulation, though. The company said in January that its Detroit-Hamtramck plant would be its first devoted to just making electric vehicles.
...
Zero Crashes
No accidents is all about active safety. That’s industry jargon for what the rest of America thinks of as self-driving cars.
The company’s Cruise division is the core of its autonomous driving. And on Wednesday, GM touted its growing engineering and software expertise when talking about gains its technology is making.
“The Cruise portion of the day was extremely compelling,” Levin Easterly Partners portfolio manager Christopher Susanin told Barron’s. “GM’s rate of improvement on their internal safety metrics have been [huge].”
GM says self-driving safety features can eventually save millions of lives.
(Excerpt) Read more at barrons.com ...
They are following a politically correct narrative instead of doing serious market research. People do not want EVs. Get woke, go broke. Best to sell GE and Ford stock.
OK GM, keep drinking that koolaid.
Electric cars are stupid until the power grid can handle the load.
Have fun with those cars during CA style blackouts.
GM is one of the worst auto companies in the world today. I’d buy nothing they make.
The Tesla Model S has a 373-mile range. OK, with AC on a hot day, let’s say 300 miles. Charge it to full, drive it five hours, grab lunch. Within 20 minutes, it’ll be 70% charged again, good for another four hours at highway speed. Time for dinner.
Magical power from the wall. No one ever talks about what largely generates that magical “emission free” energy.
...Oh, and the new Tesla Roadster will have a 620 mile range.
They are banking on federal mandates that ban gas powered cars.
Place your bets.
But........................
Liberals don’t look at systems. They get this ONE grandiose idea and think technology will solve problems.
I would hope most conservatisms here understand systems
A time for all of us to read the Ten Principles of Conservatism as guideposts:
https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2010/07/russell-kirk-ten-principles-of.html
Read it, Read it again, and let your lips move..................
All I want to know is where the electricity is going to come from. The sun? we’ve been closing more real sources of generation than we are building in favor of unicorn farts. P.S. the sun has been absent here for 3 solid weeks with the exception of about 4 hrs the other day, and oh yeah the wind is not blowing either.
Give me an answer to the power issue and I’ll consider listening to the rest.
Government Motors.
I mean, not even Elon Musk is that “visionary”....
Sure he is, we’re going to have his underground pneumatic tubes any day now. That’ll fix it. do I need the /s?
How about when its 20 below and you gotta run the heater and defroster on high. Still get 300 miles on a charge. I never met a battery I liked. Just when you really need them they do a face plant.
Electric cars are stupid until the power grid can handle the load.
Enzo Ferrari’s plan was to let others perfect new technology. You never know which new technology will succeed, so let others spend their funds trying to perfect it.
Yes there are early innovators and early adopters who will pay a premium for new technology, but in the automotive market we are past that. GM missed that boat, now GM believes we are entering a majority market situation for electric automobiles. One, no one knows when that will occur and two, the price delta between the cost of the internal combustion driveline vs the electric driveline is very great. Mercedes discovered that they are having major issues with producing electric automobiles.
GM built the Volt, nice car but died in the market. GM built the Bolt, nice car but died in the market. What has changed where GM can succeed in this market?
Bottom line is I do not think GM is going to increase their profits by concentrating on electric automobiles at this time.
+
Man this is the death of the oil industry.
I can’t afford a new electric car.
The fallacy about carbon dioxide being bad for the planet will send us back to the dark ages. If energy (meaning fossil fuels or nuclear) is not cheap and readily available, say good-bye to your current cushy lifestyle.
It’s 2020...where’s my flying car?
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