GM is always behind , electric cars are lame and do nothing to improve anything. Google motors has been born.
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Makes scence in California , GM is way behind and late as usual to the dance. They are a sinking ship and it's only a matter of time. Lots of people in charge but nobody does anything that is GM's mission statement.
Like they did for the Sedans, GM will realize there are zillions of competitors for AV cars, and that the final product will be more expensive to produce than their rivals.
As for EV, I am in South California these days and tesla cars are everywhere, a lot in parking lots. EV is a reality in So. Cal.. GM ev's no where to be seen.
GM has a problem of processes, which is killing any present and future products doomed to failure. I don't know how GM will survive.
Nice post 1ewy. Utopian schemes and selling a load are good phrases for what's happening at GM and a lot of other places.
1ewy "I write software for a living. I would not trust my fellow GM coworkers code enough to sit in an AV run by code they wrote."
1000% agreed
I've worked on dev projects @GM with little/no code review and archaic testing and verification process. I hope the AV team has more fine-tuned development practices given the stakes - likely not!
I look forward to the expose 10 years from now when a GM AV drives off a cliff.
1ewj - this is the best response , very true and logical. Thank you for the response 😊
Realistically in dense urban settings there are far better mass transit alternatives to moving people and goods around that AV. Ditto for EV
Long haul trucking along interstates can be more cheaply and safely be addressed with rail.
In more sparsely populated areas the insfrastructure costs for AV and EV will ensure that adoption is many decades off, if ever. The history of electricity, telephone, cable, cell coverage all following the same arc where 50-100 years pass before “technology” spreads out across the country.
Since nearly all the AV utopian schemes depend on all vehicles on the road being AV, it ain’t gonna happen in USA in most of our life times.
I write software for a living. I would not trust my fellow GM coworkers code enough to sit in an AV run by code they wrote. We do not have anywhere near the caliber of employees / quality assurance and controls that NASA had/has — and quite frankly we need to have much better than NASA employees to have a prayer of having a safe AV on the road. GM leadership is suffering from Dunning–Kruger effect. Or they know they are selling a load and and are just hoping others are gullible.
Companies that have to pay truck drivers want autonomous. People who drive cars don't want autonomous so much.
EVs are a more realistic investment than autonomous, which almost no one wants.
I wouldn't say that electric cars are useless, but with the current infrastructure they are indeed much hindered. Personally I wouldn't buy one here in Michigan, but from friends in California it seems the infrastructure and gas costs over there make it a much more worthwhile investment over there so there is definitely potential for those vehicles to run alongside engines.
Now whether GM will actually play a role in that movement is debatable, I do agree that it seems every manufacturer is out there today surfing on the electric hype to hype up their investors with vague statements ( 20 EV by 2023!!! ZERO EMISSIONS !!! MUSTANG INSPIRED ELECTRIC CUV AND ELECTRIC F150!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), so we will see in 10 years who are the major players left and whether or not the electric car will surpass the ICE (my guess is no way in america but potentially in other markets around the world such as europe or china)
I'm a skilled technician looking to learn all I can about EVs , does anyone know out there if all of the tech jobs are handled by the Union in Warren? I'm actually very excited and positive about new technology and seek employment , I'd like to get back to what I love doing. Any help or insights would be appreciated. Thanks
Everyone already knows China is GM's biggest market , that's way the majority of engineering and R&D jobs are going there. Maybe you can move to China and be apart of it.
I think all electric is cool , it will just take some time is all. Hoping GM allows all the engineering teams to develop the best on the market , I try to remain positive but honestly the culture has to change at the company in order for great things to happen.
GM is obviously developing EV's for the Chinese market. Which is our biggest market. Are these people that incompetent? GM hires too many stupid people. If the majority of people that laid off have this ignorant mind set then I'm glad they found a home somewhere else because we sure do not need them! Thousands of new graduating engineers from top schools are very interested in developing and "buying" electric vehicles once solid state batteries hit the industry.
The culture at GM is flawed and has been since the end of the 50s , that would have to change first. Barra can't change it as she is apart of the problem , all of the managers at GM with the exception of a select few good ones can't change the culture not now or in the future , until that occurs it will be more of the same year after year . At the moment big vehicles are selling because the Cafe standard has loosened , tariffs are a small part of it political issues at GM are the biggest problem. Gas prices will climb and people will want cars again , watch. Ev won't solve anything
Because of their "old club" culture and incompetent, GM will never become a leader in EV & autonomous driving in the future. In the past they hired the talents from the outside with higher salary to do those work and dumped them when the projects are finished. The above game won't work as more and more people are realizing it. Their announcement of the investment for EV & automous driving, just for stock market. Many US companies are doing the similar things - announcing new investment & hiring more people on new technology. Nobody really know if it is true, just "cheat" stock market. It shows how US companies desperately depend on the stock market, and also the root cause that they are going down in the long run.
Hydroelectric, solar, wind, etc. generate no pollution.
And natural gas is way less dirty than a gasoline or diesel engine.
Coal is dirtier, though, especially when the power plant has no pollution control scrubbers.
More pollution is created to generate the electric charge than by fossil fuel.
Good for China , they need it then.
China is rolling out electrics because they have a huge pollution problem, not because consumers demanded them.
And since they're not a democracy, the government can make it happen.
I dunno. China is rolling out electric buses in massive massive numbers and the rest of the world is taking note and starting to roll out plans of their own. It's working. It's hard to believe that GM employees are generally unaware of this. Are we really this clueless?
Xql- exactly , a novelty. All I can say is all of you that are going through this , I wish nothing but the best in life for all of you. To many good people are suffering right now unnecessarily.
They tend to be a novelty for people with lots of money that like to virtue signal.
Like a Corvette or a classic car , it's a toy. Thirty years from now it will still be gas engines on the road , unless they have some Star trek up their sleeve for propulsion , it's a gas engine.
I'm a base vehicle kind of person. No extras, keep it cheap and simple. Walked away with a good looking 30mpg sedan for 20k out the door.
I actually considered the volt as an option when I was looking, as I considered many cars.
In a side-by-side by the numbers comparison, with monthly electric fees vs gas, insurance, the price of the vehicle even with the AV rebate, the volt was still outrageously overpriced when compared to its gas counterpart, on an overall basis.
Sure the numbers might come out slightly different if you live within the charge radius, but many individuals also commute.
I know a lot of people buy what they want, numbers or details be damned. I'm a keep it simple numbers person, and I didn't want to screw myself by purchasing the least efficient product for my situation. I think if most people actually priced out multiple vehicles, they would find the volt/EV to lose in a side by side cost comparison. But, that's not to say price is the only thing people look for. I also happen to think that most EVs just look plan dirt ugly.
I know I will never buy EV until price is aligned with its gas counterpart, and the infrastructure is in place to make charging convenient.
Loved my 2013 Volt. Had a 220 charger on the garage, made it to VEC on electric only. Then a free charge in the parking deck ( thanks GM) for the ride home. Only bought 10 gals of gas in the first year, not bad.
When you're driving to work and notice that your battery is low, just pull out your phone, find a charging station within 50 miles of your location, limp over there hoping you'll have enough charge to make it as you pass by dozens of gas stations, plug in, and wait a few hours to charge your battery.