Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Thursday 5 March 2020
GM shows 13 electric vehicles as it tries to run with Tesla

DETROIT (AP) — General tric motor and transmission
Motors, trying to refashion combinations, compared
itself as a futuristic compa- with 550 internal combus-
ny with technology to com- tion powertrain combina-
pete against Tesla, rolled tions available today.
out plans Wednesday for The company said a joint
13 new electric vehicles venture with Korean bat-
during the next five years. tery maker LG Chem will
The company touted an use a low-cobalt chemistry
exclusive new battery to drive down battery costs
technology that could pro- to below $100 per kilowatt
pel some of the vehicles as hour.
far as 400 miles (644 kilome- Executives told the group
ters) on a single charge as that the next generation of
it tries to capture electric GM's electric vehicles will
vehicle enthusiasm that be profitable.
has brought wild growth to Barra said the new vehicles
rival Tesla's share price. can increase sales and
At an event for investors, market share, and the bat-
dealers and analysts at its teries and drive units could
sprawling technical cen- be licensed to other com-
ter in the Detroit suburb of panies to bring in more rev-
Warren, Michigan, GM ex- enue.
ecutives said the new ve- This photo provided by General Motors shows GM's all-new modular platform and battery system, She said the company
hicles would be built using Ultium, at the Design Dome on the GM Tech Center campus in Warren, Mich., on Wednesday, plans to sell more than 1
modular chassis and drive March 4, 2020. million electric vehicles in
systems for manufacturing Associated Press North America and China
simplicity. by the middle of the de-
GM will be able to build in an EV, and we have brands starting this year, mer SUV, a Chevrolet full- cade. To get there, GM will
trucks, cars, SUVs and even what it takes to do it," she beginning with the Cadil- size pickup with 400 miles spend more than $20 billion
an autonomous shuttle said at a presentation for lac Lyriq luxury SUV to be of range, a luxury Cadillac developing the vehicles
based on the new systems, investors. unveiled in April. car and the Cruise Origin, through 2025, she said.
the company said. The Some of the new vehicles A new Chevrolet Bolt small an autonomous electric Electric vehicle sales will
global vehicles will include will be able to go from zero SUV comes in the summer shuttle. have to grow substantially
affordable transportation, to 60 mph (97 kilometers of 2021. There's also the With fewer parts than pe- both worldwide and in the
work trucks, luxury SUVs and per hour) in as little as three GMC Hummer EV pickup troleum-powered vehicles, U.S. for GM to meet its tar-
performance vehicles. CEO seconds — performance coming to dealers in the fall electric vehicles will be gets. Last year manufac-
Mary Barra said GM will be that rivals electric vehicle of 2021. much cheaper and simpler turers sold just over 236,000
able to build at a large sales leader Tesla Inc. GM also has plans for three to build, reducing manu- fully electric vehicles in the
scale, similar to its profit- New all-electric models will more Cadillac SUVs, a mid- facturing costs, GM said. U.S., about 1.4% of total
able full-size truck business. come from the Chevrolet, size Chevrolet SUV, two The company plans 19 dif- new vehicle sales, accord-
"We want to put everyone Cadillac, GMC and Buick Buick SUVs, a GMC Hum- ferent battery and elec- ing to Autodata Corp.q

Ex-Google self-driving car

project picks up new investors

Other investors in the deal car technology becomes projects and companies
announced Monday in- advanced enough to be- known as “Other Bets.”
clude Mubadala Invest- gin generating significant That division lost $4.8 billion
ment Company, auto part revenue. last year on revenue of just
makers Magna Internation- Waymo CEO John Krafcik $659 million.
al, venture capital firm An- said a spinoff has “always But analysts think Waymo
dreessen Horowitz and Au- been on the road map” could turn out to be a gold
toNation, the largest auto during a Monday confer- mine because it is consid-
dealership chain in the U.S. ence call with reporters. ered to be the leader in the
Until now, Waymo had “”We look at this invest- race to build robotic cars
In this May 8, 2018, file photo, a Waymo logo is displayed on the
door of a car at the Google I/O conference in Mountain View, been exclusively relying on ment as another valida- that could eventually elimi-
Calif. the deep pockets of its par- tion of what we are doing,” nate the need for humans
Associated Press ent company, Alphabet, Krafcik said. He declined to behind the steering wheel
which also contributing to disclose how much Waymo and revolutionize the way
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — vestors led by Silver Lake the $2.25 billion investment. is being valued by the in- people get around.
Google’s former autono- and the Canadian Pension The infusion of money from vestors, but said the com- So far, though, Waymo
mous vehicle project is Plan Investment Board to new investors marks Way- pany is still in discussions to is only operating a small
becoming a more autono- help the company con- mo’s biggest step yet to- raise even more money. ride-hailing service in the
mous business by bringing it tinue to develop its self- ward eventually spinning Alphabet doesn’t disclose Phoenix area, although it
in its first investors besides its driving technology for its out of Alphabet. That’s specific about Waymo″s still plans to branch out into
corporate parent. ride-hailing service and a something analysts have financial performance, other parts of the U.S. and
Waymo has secured $2.25 recently launched trucking speculated will eventually but bundles its results with eventually internationally,
billion from a group of in- division. happen once its self-driving a group of other high-risk too.q