INTERNATIONAL – General Motors Co. has made nearly $ 50 billion in adjusted net income in the past five years, while Tesla Inc. has lost nearly $ 5 billion.
Still, investors believe the automaker Elon Musk is the stock to own, assuming that he has an almost unassailable lead over all challengers in electric cars.
GM general manager Mary Barra and her skunk team working at GM’s technical center north of Detroit said on Wednesday that they could catch up to, and possibly overtake Tesla in the race for. electrification. GM thinks it has a killer app in a battery platform that reduces the use of cobalt, one of the most expensive elements needed to store energy, and has a Lego-like structure that can be reduced or enlarged as a chassis for anything from a compact Chevrolet Bolt sedan to a 1,000 horsepower Hummer pickup.
For GM or any other automaker who wants to take on Tesla in the EV race, the battery is vital. Its cost can put the car out of reach for many consumers and undermine its chances of profitability before the vehicle even reaches a showroom. And according to Barra, if this battery can’t cover 300 miles on a single charge – a bragging point that only Tesla has with a model on sale right now – most consumers will not consider it. But if GM pulls it off, and consumers are confident it will come, the Detroit automaker might have what established automakers have been looking for for several years – an Android-style antidote to Tesla’s position as the iPhone of electric cars. .
“What matters most is the cost of the battery. If you can cut costs, you can get better range. Large automakers like GM have an advantage in terms of scale and global reach, “said Colin McKerracher, responsible for transportation analysis for BloombergNEF. GM said, he said, “they’re not giving up.”
Today, GM sells the electric Chevy Bolt, and new models include the Audi e-Tron and the Jaguar I-Pace. None of these models reduced Tesla’s global lead, which totaled 368,000 electric vehicles sold worldwide last year, more than triple the number of the next challenger, the Chinese BAIC. But give GM its due. He’s been working on electric cars since the EV1 went on sale in 1996. The automaker released the Chevy Volt plug-in in late 2010; he has in-depth expertise. But Tesla stole the show with the Model S sedan in 2012, and the rest of the industry has been wondering how to fight back ever since.
FILE – This archive photo from January 27, 2020 shows a General Motors logo at the General Motors Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant in Hamtramck, Michigan. General Motors Co. has generated nearly $ 50 billion in adjusted net income in the past five years. (AP photo / Paul Sancya, file)
Here’s how GM’s new system works and why management says the company cant back in the game:
1. Its battery cells are flat pieces about 2 feet long and 9 millimeters thick. Their design allows each cell to dissipate heat more easily than the cylindrical versions used by Tesla, which, according to GM engineers, will improve the performance of their batteries and give them a longer lifespan. Battery chemistry, developed jointly with the Korean company LG Chem Ltd., uses 70% less cobalt, the most expensive element in batteries. The reduction in cobalt content brings GM’s future electric vehicles closer to the cost of a conventional car and should make them profitable.
2. GM puts 20 of these cells in a pocket. It puts 24 sachets in each module, essentially an energy storage brick. GM has shown a dozen modules placed in a metal tray which constitutes the floor and the chassis of the vehicle. It could use fewer or more modules depending on the car model (this also provides the safety structure of the car). Since GM can stack the modules side by side or on top of each other like Lego bricks, designers can pack more in all kinds of vehicles to get more energy storage on board. This is how GM says it can travel up to 400 miles on a charge, beating any current Tesla.
3. The modular battery allows GM to manufacture vehicles of different lengths and widths. This means that the company can host a variety of vehicles, car or truck, by simply adjusting the size of the metal tray and the number of modules installed. GM has introduced small cars for Chevrolet, mid-size SUVs for Chevy, Buick and Cadillac and two large Hummers to be sold by the truck brand GMC. There’s even an ultra-luxury sedan called Cadillac Celestiq that targets buyers who love Bentleys.
4. The battery can be coupled to one of three different electric motors. GM has said it will be able to make front-wheel drive runabouts like the Bolt, luxury rear-wheel drive sedans like the Celestiq, or Chevrolet all-wheel drive pickups and Hummers. Using three engines for as many models is also much cheaper than producing the dizzying array of gasoline engines sold by GM. The combination of cheaper battery chemistry, low-cost batteries and low-cost motor families allows the company to save enough to sell its electric vehicles at a more affordable price than traditional combustion engine vehicles.
“Tesla has an advantage in terms of brand value and a little technological advantage, but I wouldn’t count GM,” said McKerracher of BloombergNEF. “They all make the right choices to be competitive.”
BLOOMBERG
