Last year was rough for General Motors. After emerging from bankruptcy and receiving bailout loans from the government, GM may not seem like it would considered the most innovative company by any measure. But as the Washington Auto Show gets underway, GM has announced that it will be the first major US automaker to manufacture electric motors.
GM is designing and building electric motors for upcoming hybrid and all-electric vehicles within their own facilities, which should make their debut in 2013 on new rear-wheel drive two-mode hybrids.
Vice Chairman Tom Stephens acknowledges that electric motors may become as crucial in the the future as traditional combustion engines are today. By starting to develop this technology now in-house, GM is hoping to make highly-efficient motors that will someday overcome the limitations and challenges of batteries used in today’s hybrids.
Perhaps to no one’s surprise, Uncle Sam has helped GM in developing its electric motor facilities. The US Department of Energy has provided a $105 million grant to GM for improving the automaker’s electric-motor and electric drive component manufacturing capabilities. According to Stephens, this grant will help GM rapidly speed up its R&D and manufacturing capabilities, and hopefully help the “New GM” become more of an innovator than the GM we’ve witnessed in recent years.
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More on General Motors vehicles coming soon.
