GM today announced plans to build its own electric motors for hybrid vehicles. This is encouraging news, as it keeps engineering, manufacturing, and assembly infrastructure for advanced technology in the United States.
Clearly GM has huge challenges ahead of it (I’ll disclose that, like my whole family, I’ve been loyal to GM – Grand Am, Saturn SL2, Saturn SC2, & now a Buick Lacrosse– but that’s probably more than you care to know) but this is good news for America. If GM is going to turn the corner it will be thanks to advanced technologies that go along with their strides in quality.
Good quotes:
At a news conference in Detroit on Monday, Mr. Stephens compared the importance of G.M. making its own electric-drive motors for hybrid and electric vehicles to producing its own internal combustion engines for today’s gas-powered cars and trucks. He said that by designing and manufacturing electric motors in-house, G.M. “can more efficiently use energy from batteries as they evolve, potentially reducing cost and weight -– two significant challenges facing batteries today,” he said.
G.M. has spent the last seven years engineering its new electric motors at various research facilities in Michigan, Indiana and California. Tooling costs for the Baltimore plant will be covered primarily by a $105 million grant from the Energy Department.
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