Thursday, April 29, 2021

GM partners up to offer about 60,000 EV charging points across Canada, U.S


(Reuters) - General Motors on Wednesday announced deals with major electric vehicle charging networks to offer its customers access to nearly 60,000 charging points across the United States and Canada.



The No. 1 U.S. automaker said it had signed agreements with seven companies including Blink Charging, ChargePoint and EV Connect.

"EV customers will soon be able to easily see real-time information from nearly 60,000 charging plugs...find stations along a route and initiate and pay for charging," GM said in a statement.

The automaker also introduced "Ultium Charge 360", a platform which integrates charging networks, GM vehicle mobile apps and other services to simplify the charging experience for its electric-vehicle owners.

GM's next generation of Ultium batteries will be used in its new EVs including the Hummer EV and the Cadillac Lyriq.

Wall Street has been increasingly focusing on GM's strategy to roll out electric vehicles, as it slowly aims to catch up with EV market leader Tesla Inc.

The automaker previously announced a $27 billion investment in EV and autonomous vehicles (AV) through 2025 and the launch of 30 new EVs by 2025-end.

GM's longer-range target also includes halting sales of light-duty gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles by 2035.

(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

GM expands Canadian charging network to nearly 5,000 public plugs

Andrew McCredie 
 Driving.ca
4/28/2021

Infrastructure. Infrastructure. Infrastructure. Now that most every automaker on the planet is producing electric vehicles, and many of those committing to rolling out dozens of such models in the coming years, for EV adoption to ramp up in Canada, it’s all about the charging station infrastructure.

General Motors is one of those companies all-in on EVs — launching 30 all-new EVs by the end of 2025 — and today it announced Ultium Charge 360, a customer charging program that will integrate charging networks across North America, GM vehicle mobile apps, and other products and services.

As part of the program, GM has signed agreements with several charging providers, including Blink Charging, ChargePoint, EV Connect, FLO, Greenlots, and SemaConnect. According to GM, that represents nearly 60,000 charging plugs in North America, including 4,800 in Canada, or nearly half the 9,900 plugs currently included in the MyChevrolet, MyCadillac, and MyGMC apps. All of those chargers will be tied into the existing GM vehicle mobile apps, providing real-time information for finding stations along a route, and initiating and paying for charging.
RELATED

The creator of GM's Ultium battery tech talks towing, cold, and the future

GM will update the apps to provide more intuitive mobile experience that makes navigating to a charging station, plugging into a charger and paying for charging simple.

“Ultium Charge 360 simplifies and improves the at-home charging experience and the public charging experience — whether it’s community-based or road-trip charging,” said Travis Hester, GM’s chief EV officer.

The ‘Ultium’ in the new program refers to the Ultium platform, GM’s EV chassis architecture that the automaker estimates could provide a full-charge range of up to 724 kilometres. That platform is the underpinning of many of GM’s coming-soon EVs, including the Cadillac Lyriq, GMC Hummer EVs, BrightDrop EV600 and the Chevrolet Silverado electric pickup truck.

No comments: