(REPOST: Express)
General Motors is looking to take on Tesla for the electric car crown.
GM has revealed its intention to develop, build and release 18 new electric car models over the next five years.
This push to electric vehicles will likely rumble car manufacturers such as Tesla and Nissan.
Of the 18 new models, two of these will be revealed and debut over the next 18 months.
These new cars will be based on the Chevrolet Bolt EV platform and will both be crossovers.
The announcements were made at the Barclays Global Automotive Conference in New York.
These 18 new cars will be sold under the brand’s subsidiary companies such as Buick.
After the first two new crossovers, based on the Bolt, are revealed, the remaining 16 will be developed on a new platform coming in 2019 and another one coming in 2021.
These will be enabled by lower battery costs, according to Barra.
During the revelation, GM also state that currently the costs of battery cells was $145 per kWh, which the manufacturer wants to reduce to under $100kWh.
Additionally the manufacturer wants to future cars to have higher energy density and improved DC fast charging.