GM distances itself from the plug-ins it pioneered

DETROIT — It's the end of an era that barely began.

When the last Chevrolet Volt rolled off the line at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant Feb. 19, it dimmed the lights on one of General Motors' most significant technological breakthroughs, the Voltec plug-in hybrid system, whose highly fuel-efficient, extended-range powertrain promised a solution to range anxiety and a bridge to broader consumer acceptance of electric vehicles.

Even as competitors from Ford to Mercedes to Porsche embraced plug-in hybrid technology, the Voltec system never came close to reaching GM's ambitious sales targets in the two generations of Chevy Volts or the Cadillac coupe that used the technology. Nor did the Voltec come to support the larger family of global vehicles as GM envisioned.

With GM now turning its attention to a new generation of full-electric vehicles, the plug-in hybrid system it pioneered appears to be fading, if not disappearing, from the U.S. And with mainstream consumers still skeptical of alternative powertrains, that means those future EVs will have to prove that they can overcome the psychological barrier of range anxiety with their batteries alone.

GM executives have offered little reassurance that plug-in hybrids will be in the automaker's future. GM President Mark Reuss, who controls all aspects of product development and planning, has said the company is focused on full-electric vehicles rather than hybrids. A big reason is the cost of putting two powertrains in one vehicle.

"If I have to make decisions on the general deployment of resources on what the real answer here is, it's BEVs," he told Automotive News in January. "I can't do everything for everybody. We can't. We've seen that before, and it doesn't work."

Reuss said he's making sure GM's product portfolio "has options moving forward." He didn't say what those options could be, but GM could have additional technologies in the pipeline that build on Voltec. In China, GM still produces a Voltec-derived Buick Velite 6 and a Cadillac CT6 plug-in hybrid, which uses a different electrification system developed with lessons learned from the Volt.

GM, led by the Volt, has sold more plug-in hybrids in the U.S. than any other automaker. The large-capacity battery in vehicles such as the Volt, Cadillac ELR and Cadillac CT6 plug-in hybrid qualified them for the full $7,500 federal tax credit. And with contributions from the full-electric Bolt EV and the short-lived Spark EV, GM was second only to Tesla in reaching the 200,000-unit sales cap to qualify for the full EV credit.

Cadillac killed the ELR after the 2016 model year, and discontinued the CT6 plug-in hybrid in the U.S. after the 2018 model year.

As GM slips out, the plug-in hybrid market is getting more crowded, with several luxury brands adding more plug-in variants to meet stricter emissions rules around the world. Among mainstream brands, Subaru, Honda, Ford, Toyota, Chrysler, Kia, Mitsubishi and Hyundai field plug-in hybrid cars, crossovers or minivans.

Retired GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, who championed the costly Volt project when the company was bleeding cash, blames the Volt's sluggish start on its high price and a rough political environment surrounding GM's federally sponsored bankruptcy. But he argues the Volt was just what the automaker needed at the time, even if it never achieved sales or profit targets.

"The Volt was a huge success in the sense that it changed the GM image as it was often depicted 10 years ago as the big, dumb giant that couldn't do anything but big sport-utilities and full-size pickup trucks," Lutz told Automotive News. "It certainly put a stop to that, and that alone was worth everything we spent on it."

Other GM executives have hailed the Volt as a breakthrough that paved the way for the Bolt EV and GM's forthcoming second-generation EV platform, which the company has promised will be profitable.

That's where the EV market, thin as it is, appears to be headed as the range and selection of pure EVs improve. The full-electric Bolt EV, with a 238-mile range rating, easily outsold the extended-range Volt in 2017 and came close in 2018. Meanwhile, despite production problems and management turmoil, Tesla's Model 3 — a sedan — outsold every luxury vehicle last year.

"People are more interested in full electric," Cadillac President Steve Carlisle said in September, four months before his brand was tapped to spearhead the development of GM's next-generation EVs.

Still, as long as mainstream consumers continue to harbor doubts about the range of EVs and the availability or convenience of charging stations, the plug-in hybrid remains a compelling choice, said Karl Brauer, executive publisher of Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book, and GM may be ceding that market too quickly to competitors.

"If they feel they can get there faster with EVs than they could with PHEVs … then it would be the better way to go," he said. "I still feel it is a great alternative to a pure internal combustion engine or a pure EV because it offers zero range anxiety and incredibly high fuel efficiency."

Lutz said that if he was still at GM, he would have argued to keep it "for sentimental reasons" but understands that it was time for it to go.

"It was just trickling along, and GM no longer needed it for corporate reputation reasons because they have the Chevy Bolt and other EVs that are capable of doing that," he said. "All in all, I think GM is very, very glad that it took that leadership position and did the car."