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Inside GM’s Plans to Convert Its Factories for EVs
The Wall Street Journal ^ | Feb. 20, 2021 | Mike Colias

Posted on 02/20/2021 3:49:17 PM PST by MinorityRepublican

General Motors Co. GM 0.79% is betting its future on electric cars. By mid-decade it plans to spend $27 billion on manufacturing 30 electric models and developing driverless cars. By 2035, it expects to have phased out gasoline-engine options completely and to be selling only electric vehicles, a technology that currently generates about 2% of sales and no profit for the company.

Planning for this transformation at the factory level is the responsibility of Gerald Johnson, a GM lifer who took over global manufacturing operations in 2019, and who is spearheading a $2.2 billion gut rehab of a factory in Detroit, recently renamed Factory Zero, to serve as GM’s electric-vehicle hub. Two more conversions of North American factories for production of electric vehicles, or EVs, are in the works.

Mr. Johnson, 58 years old, calls it the most far-reaching strategic shift he has seen in his career at GM, which he began 40 years ago as an intern.

“There has always been incremental change,” he says. “This is transformative.”

GM factories around the world employ more than 100,000 workers. Some plants exist solely to assemble gas-powered engines and transmissions that won’t be needed if the company successfully reaches its 2035 target, portending big changes for both workers and GM’s factory footprint.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: automotive; electric; gm
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To: Tejas Rob
Good question. I have no idea, but I do know batteries don’t like cold weather.

I'm thinking we should ALL KNOW the answer before we run headlong into this government mandated physics defying business.

61 posted on 02/20/2021 5:07:29 PM PST by BipolarBob (Biden/Harris - the regime our Founding fathers warned us about.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Someone will provide an alternative to these two Woke Companies’ attempt to Force Americans into a choice they otherwise would not make.
There will be millions upon millions of pre-owned vehicles in the marketplace. When the market for those vehicles exceeds the market for the EV’s something will give. Depending upon who is in gov’t at the time. If it’s Dems they will attempt to outlaw those used vehicles and shutdown gas stations.
Then the grid will collapse under the burden it was never designed to accommodate. Our future is so bright under the direction of Nanny-State Control Freaks.


62 posted on 02/20/2021 5:10:41 PM PST by ocrp1982
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To: PA-RIVER

Question: what kind of climate do you live in? Do you operate at 10-15 degrees commonly and even much colder than that? It so, can you please share how that affects your range? Thanks


63 posted on 02/20/2021 5:11:05 PM PST by Stingray51 ( )
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To: ocrp1982
If it’s Dems they will attempt to outlaw those used vehicles and shutdown gas stations.

I give it 90% that scenario will happen. The Dems will just flood our borders with immigrants and get them to turn Florida and Texas Blue.

64 posted on 02/20/2021 5:15:50 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: BipolarBob

Well they might get you down the road about 5 miles. Where you freeze and die.


65 posted on 02/20/2021 5:16:40 PM PST by Revel
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To: MinorityRepublican

I know a lot of folks see this as an issue between woke greenies
and the thought to be wiser folks who are skeptical about
the value of electric vehicles.

To be sure, there will be some issues with weather until
those are overcome. They will be overcome though.

In my opinion, this is going to come down to range and the
cutting of the cost of these vehicles, the costs of upkeep,
reductions in losses by insurance companies and the resulting
lower premiums, and the benefits of self-driving.

In the not too distant future we’re going to see batteries
that charge in ten minutes or less, and ranges that exceed
one thousand miles.

Trucks are expected to get massive amounts of torque. Towing
will become easier with electric.

What is not a good argument for these vehicles is the idea
they will eliminate greenhouse gases. This last year showed
that the elimination of vast numbers of our vehicles in the
United States had negligible impact on green house gases.

There will be issues with what it takes to build batteries
and eventually dispose of them. There again, some of the
upcoming batteries are going to be a lot less of a problem
than current batteries are.

I don’t think we should develop a brick wall mentality
regarding electric vehicle. I may be wrong, but in five
to ten years, and some are predicting less, improvements
in these vehicles are going to make them a lot more desirable
than some people currently think.

It may in fact NOT come down to government entities outlawing
ICE cars. The new electrics may cause consumers to want to
change over.

We should keep an open mind about it.

I do not approve of the government forcing anything. The
benefits are just not there as far as green house gases go.

Consumers and the marketplace will work this out.

EVs will prove their worth and thrive, or they will not and
become a forgotten fantasy.

I’m not betting on the latter.


66 posted on 02/20/2021 5:18:23 PM PST by DoughtyOne (The Republican Party is dead. Long live the Founders Party.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Hang on to your old running gasoline car. It will be worth a lot in the future.


67 posted on 02/20/2021 5:18:30 PM PST by RetiredTexasVet (Corrupt Slow Joe Biden is the Bolshevik sock puppet.)
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To: Trump Girl Kit Cat

A gas powered Hyundai Kona starts at around 18,000. The electric Kona starts at 38,000. So more than double. There were government incentives to purchase the electric Kona of 10000. Without incentives they will have to drop the price. It will still be 1.5 x. They won’t have incentives if there are only electric cars out there.


68 posted on 02/20/2021 5:18:50 PM PST by webheart (COVID was not worth the economic misery that it took to keep me from getting it for 7 months..)
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To: Shady

China is raping Africa I think.


69 posted on 02/20/2021 5:24:26 PM PST by EEGator
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To: Revel
Well they might get you down the road about 5 miles. Where you freeze and die.

Don't be ridiculous. Five miles down the road is where the bear and mountain lions are. And a nasty pack of wolves.

70 posted on 02/20/2021 5:27:40 PM PST by BipolarBob (Biden/Harris - the regime our Founding fathers warned us about.)
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To: Stingray51

I live in sunny California and honestly I love my electric car. I am sitting at a charger right now. It takes about 45 minutes to charge from 30 percent to 80 percent at 23 cents per kilowatt. At about 1 kilowatt per minute. It isn’t raining or cold so I get about 200 miles. No oil changes ever. No transmission. No clutch. No smell.

I once got so depressed I wanted to kill myself so I pulled my electric car into the garage and left the motor running. I sat there for like four days. I damn near starved to death! /joke copyright 2021 webheart


71 posted on 02/20/2021 5:29:49 PM PST by webheart (COVID was not worth the economic misery that it took to keep me from getting it for 7 months..)
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To: BipolarBob

“How do these EVs operate in below zero weather? Asking for a friend.”

Easy. They include a gas engine in the design for just such an eventuality.


72 posted on 02/20/2021 5:37:42 PM PST by 43north (Its hard to stop a man when he knows he's right and he keeps on comin'.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Reminds me of Ford and the Edsel.


73 posted on 02/20/2021 5:37:52 PM PST by AlaskaErik (In time of peace, prepare for war.)
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To: 43north

Like a Prius? Those underpowered plug in snootymobiles don’t interest me. I want a big smoke belching diesel truck that’ll smoke the wheels off’en them.


74 posted on 02/20/2021 5:40:46 PM PST by BipolarBob (Biden/Harris - the regime our Founding fathers warned us about.)
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To: BipolarBob

As suspected, they don’t like cold weather...

https://www.wired.com/story/electric-cars-cold-weather-tips/

Lots of other info about this out there.


75 posted on 02/20/2021 5:41:17 PM PST by Tejas Rob
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To: MinorityRepublican

And where will the power to change these cars come from? Will GM be offering 10 to 15 year terms on the sales. If you own stock in GM or Ford sell, they both are going down this road. Not to mention we may be entering a period of Global Cooling and they are literally betting the ranch on EV’s.


76 posted on 02/20/2021 5:44:23 PM PST by Captain Peter Blood (https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3804407/posts?q=1&;page)
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To: alloysteel

Thank you for your comment. I am currently working on a Fuel cell vehicle propulsion system for the 2023 time frame. Low volume due to infrastructure constraints.


77 posted on 02/20/2021 5:45:01 PM PST by Moleman
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To: MinorityRepublican

which is the chicken and which is the egg?


78 posted on 02/20/2021 5:45:20 PM PST by Chode (Ashli Babbitt - #SayHerNAME)
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To: webheart

Well done sir!!


79 posted on 02/20/2021 5:46:43 PM PST by Moleman
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To: PA-RIVER

And what will you do when the power goes out for days on end?
Until they expand the generating power of the Grid at least 50% or more expect rolling blackouts when everyone plugs in. Unless of course your going to a Generac Generator that runs on Diesel Fuel.


80 posted on 02/20/2021 5:49:40 PM PST by Captain Peter Blood (https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3804407/posts?q=1&;page)
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