GE to buy 25,000 electric vehicles from GM, rivals by 2015

DETROIT (Bloomberg) -- General Electric Co. will buy 25,000 electric vehicles, almost half of them from General Motors Co., by 2015 in the biggest such order ever.

Electric autos will make up at least half of GE's 30,000-car fleet, as well as leased vehicles from its GE Capital unit, the company said in a statement today. GM's portion of the order is for 12,000 vehicles including the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

GE said it will order from other automakers as they "expand their electric vehicle portfolios."

GE's order is a boost for the Volt as GM prepares for an initial public offering after its 2009 restructuring in bankruptcy.

“Wide-scale adoption of electric vehicles will also drive clean-energy innovation, strengthen energy security and deliver economic value,” GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt said in the statement. GE's equipment generates one-third of the world's electricity.

“Electric vehicles are a real-world technology that can reduce both emissions and our dependence on oil,” GM CEO Dan Akerson said in the statement. The company plans to deliver Volts by the end of this year, he said. The sedan has an electric motor to drive the wheels and a gasoline engine to recharge the batteries once they're spent.

Immelt is positioning GE to benefit from more energy-efficient technologies by producing batteries, car-charging stations and smart-grid systems. GE said it's in a “strong position” to help 65,000 leasing customers convert to electric vehicles and sees the electric-car market adding as much as $500 million in sales in the next three years.

In the U.S., the Obama administration has committed more than $11 billion in taxpayer aid to help car and battery makers start producing electric vehicles.

Battery power

Other automakers preparing to sell vehicles powered solely by batteries in the next 18 months include Nissan Motor Co., which starts delivering Leaf hatchbacks late this year; Ford Motor Co., readying electric versions of its Transit Connect delivery van and Focus compact car; and Toyota Motor Corp., which will sell a rechargeable RAV4 SUV.

By buying so many vehicles, GE is helping drive down their price, which will spur production and increase demand for battery plants and other parts makers, Fred Smith, chairman of the Electrification Coalition, a Washington-based organization of transportation and energy executives, said in the statement. Smith is CEO of FedEx Corp.

The move will “make electric vehicles more visible and acceptable to the public at large,” Smith said. “This is good for GE, good for our economy and good for our nation.”

GE will open two customer centers to evaluate vehicle-charging, driver experience and maintenance requirements and to display an array of models and manufacturers. One will be near Detroit in Van Buren Township, Mich., as part of a new technology center GE announced last year, and the other in Eden Prairie, Minn., where GE Capital Fleet Services is based, according to the statement.

GE is investing $10 billion in the next five years in clean energy across its business lines. Its products include lithium ion batteries for cars and trucks via a venture with A123 Systems Inc. and sodium-based batteries for use in large vehicles such as locomotives.

GE Energy Infrastructure is the company's biggest industrial unit, accounting for $37 billion of the parent company's $157 billion in revenue last year. GE is also the world's largest maker of locomotives, jet engines, medical-imaging equipment and related information technology systems.