The largest American and one of the world’s largest automobile manufacturers General Motors has decided that it was time for them to enter into the EV race. General Motors released its latest sustainability report last week, in that bulky report the company has shed some light on its plans to manufacture Electric vehicles. The automotive giant intends to introduce 20 electric models by 2023 to its customers worldwide, many of these vehicles are aimed at the ever-expanding Chinese market where the demand is huge, but GM will sell at least 12 of these models in its home market, the United States.
General Motors Reveals Plans For 400-Mile Electric Pickup Truck
The highlight from the report was the news of a full-size pickup truck from Chevrolet that has reportedly a maximum range of 400 miles on a single charge. Chevrolet already has a fossil fuel-powered full-size pickup truck, the Silverado. It has not yet been confirmed whether the new Electric truck will be based on the Silverado or something that will be made completely from scratch. The announcement of the electric truck is in no doubt, aimed as a response for Tesla’s stalwart Cybertruck which has been the object of attention of the media and the customers ever since its reveal last year.
Due to the possibility of an electrified future, GM could no longer stick with good old fashioned combustion engines for their vehicles, however, there have been reports regarding whether GM plans to phase out its existing line-up. As of now, its certain that the company will keep producing both gasoline and diesel engines for the foreseeable future. The timeline for the electric pick up is not certain, but by 2023 GM will possibly begin production and the same is expected from the rest of the industry.
Other EVs that GM plans on launching
According to Autoblog, Chevrolet also plans to introduce a mid-size electric SUV and there is a chance that this might be based on the Chevy Menlo which is available in China, a new version of the bolt is also going to be introduced a year from now. According to CNET, this car will be the first one that is not a Cadillac model to offer GM’s semi-autonomous driver assistance technology-Super Cruise.
The 12 vehicles from the General Motors umbrella that will be coming to the US will be 3 from Chevrolet, 2 Buicks and 5 Cadillacs. The remaining two will be sold under the Hummer brand (it has been revived), one will be a pickup truck and the other will be an SUV. Gm yet reveals any significant details about this, but like how GM has always operated, it is going to rely on badge engineering to make one model perform double or triple duty within the company, this means that the same vehicle can be sold by Chevy, Buick or Cadillac by upping or lowering the luxury quotient and the practicality.
Cybertruck vs GM’s Electric Pickup Truck
We all know that this comparison is inevitable, these two cars gonna go mano a mano. Tesla’s Cybertruck even with its polarizing styling, which has attracted a fair share of criticism, has managed to attract at least 250,000 refundable $100 preorders since its unveiling in November. The Tesla brand has become so popular that they could design a car with just a slide rule and sell it to the public, and there will still be hundreds of thousands of takers. The Cybertruck has been launched with three battery options, there is Single Motor RWD, a dual-motor RWD and Tri-Motor AWD with an EPA estimated range of 250+ miles, 300+ miles and 500+ miles respectively.
The fastest one with the triple motors is staggeringly fast with a 0-60 mph acceleration time of less than 2.9 seconds. This makes this full-size pickup truck quicker than many supercars. It has a mega towing capacity of more than 14000 pounds and a storage capacity of 100 CU FT. It comes with all the bells and whistles Tesla is known for and is offroad ready. The base model of the Cybertruck starts from $39000 and range-topping one costs $69000.
GM definitely has its work cut out, if they are planning on going head-on with the Cybertruck, GM’s decades long truck building prowess will definitely work to its advantage, there isn’t however much details revealed about this truck at present to conduct a fair comparison between this and the Cybertruck, all we know is that the truck will an estimated range of 400+ miles and will be launched by 2023.
