Electric vehicles are increasing in popularity, but they only grabbed a 1.8% market share in the United States last year.
This has caused a number of people to question whether or not consumers will embrace the onslaught of upcoming electric vehicles.
GM doesn’t seem worried as CEO Mary Barra used the Aspen Ideas festival to reveal the automaker wants people to “choose” EVs, because they provide a “better customer experience and they never feel like they’re giving anything up” by going electric.
While there are a number of obstacles to increase electric vehicle adoption, Barra said consumers want beautiful vehicles, a robust charging infrastructure and a range of at least 300 miles (483 km). She said once those boxes are checked, consumers are very excited about EVs. The executive also noted having a range of at least 300 miles (483 km) is important as that’s the point where range anxiety ceases to be an issue, aside from long distance trips where consumers need to have “confidence” in the charging infrastructure.
More interestingly, Barra briefly mentioned one electric vehicle that hasn’t been talked about much – the company’s upcoming compact SUV. The automaker has been hinting at the “centroid” model since 2017 and has previously confirmed it will be a five-passenger vehicle, which will be joined by a luxury variant.
Barra didn’t say much about the model, but it’s believed to be a high volume EV for Chevrolet. This suggests the vehicle could potentially challenge the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Tesla Model Y and Volkswagen ID.4. The Bolt EUV is currently doing battle with these models, but the upcoming EV is set to be far more advanced and ride on GM’s new Ultium platform.