Electric Vehicles

The South Korean government has decided to lower the price of an electric vehicle by at least 10 million won by 2025. In addition, it is planning to introduce electric vehicle battery lease so that electric vehicle buyers’ initial purchase cost can be halved.

The electric vehicle price cut is slated to be based on dedicated platform development and domestic battery material development. In the case of passenger cars, Hyundai Motor Group’s dedicated platform E-GMP is already being applied to the IONIQ 5. The government is going to support the same development for electric trucks and buses.

The battery lease will be applied to electric taxis and trucks and pilot projects to that end will be launched this year before the same projects for hydrogen buses in 2022. At the same time, the government is considering extending the green car tax benefits scheduled to expire in December this year. Also, the government is planning to maintain at least some subsidies even after the electric vehicle price cut by 2025.

A person who purchases an electric vehicle this year can receive a subsidy of up to 19 million won from the central government and a local government. It is up to 37.5 million won in the case of hydrogen vehicles. The subsidies for mini trucks and taxis are larger. However, the subsidy is zero for an electric vehicle priced at 90 million won or more and a 50 percent subsidy is applied to an electric vehicle priced at 60 million won or more and less than 90 million won.

After fierce opposition in debate, sponsor pulls the bill to rework it.

A Tesla manager that helped bring the firm’s network of high-powered superchargers to life is back — and he’s got a new idea for the future of electric vehicles.

Doug Alfaro worked on the supercharger rollout in its earliest phases, from 2013 to 2018. He’s now the North American general manager of charger manufacturer Wallbox. But rather than simply using home energy to charge electric cars, Wallbox also wants to enable the reverse: electric cars that can send power back to the home.

“It’s kind of uncovering a functionality that’s quite obvious but to date has not been available to folks,” Alfaro tells Inverse.

Want to find out more about when vehicle-to-grid could make its way to the mainstream, how it could affect your car’s battery, and how it could benefit more than just car owners? Read the full interview, only in MUSK READS+.

Vehicle-to-grid technology could help more homes transition to clean energy. A solar panel can pair with a battery to provide 24-hour clean energy even when the sun’s not shining. But at $7,500 for a 13.5-kilowatt-hour Tesla Powerwall, it’s not cheap. Vehicle-to-grid could enable the electric car, with battery capacities that reach 100 kilowatt-hours, to take on some of the work.

It’s not a new idea. Nissan has been pushing the technology with its electric vehicles, and the firm claims to be the only volume automaker with vehicle-to-grid enabled electric cars currently available. BMW, Audi, and Volkswagen have also expressed interest.

Wallbox could help bring it to a broader market. In August 2020, Wallbox started deliveries in the United Kingdom of its product Quasar, which it claims is the world’s smallest and lightest bi-directional home charger. Quasar measures less than 14 inches by 14 inches by six inches, and weighs less than 50 pounds with the cable.

Alfaro has helped make electric cars more useful before. Just after Tesla launched the Model S sedan, Alfaro and the rest of the team helped build out the supercharger network. While the Model S could travel up to 265 miles per charge, the new chargers enabled users to stretch those 265 miles over multiple rapid recharges. That enabled much longer road trips, improving the EV’s usefulness.

But while superchargers fueled Tesla’s early success, CEO Elon Musk is relatively cool on the idea of bi-directional chargingvehicle-to-grid. At the September 2020 Battery Day, he said that “I think very, very few people would actually use vehicle-to-grid.” bi-directional charging.

With more automakers taking an interest, and planned improvements to charging standards, it could find itself making its way to more cars in the future.

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(TNS) — Amid tightening environmental regulations driving an industry-wide shift to electric vehicles, Ford Motor Co. on Wednesday detailed a major step forward in its path to an all-electric future.

The Blue Oval pledged that almost its entire European vehicle lineup would be electric in the coming years — a commitment it plans to fulfill in part by converting its Cologne, Germany, plant currently producing internal combustion engine cars into an EV manufacturing center. The automaker plans to invest $1 billion to convert the site, and the plant’s first all-electric model is slated to begin rolling off assembly lines in 2023.

Ford of Europe President  Stuart Rowley  in a statement dubbed the announcement “one of the most significant Ford has made in over a generation. It underlines our commitment to Europe and a modern future with electric vehicles at the heart of our strategy for growth.”

Ford said its entire European passenger-vehicle lineup will be “zero-emissions capable, all-electric or plug-in hybrid” by mid-2026 and all-electric by 2030. On the commercial vehicle side — the driving force behind Ford’s profitability in Europe — the automaker said its lineup will be “100% zero-emissions capable, all-electric or plug-in hybrid” by 2024. It expects two-thirds of commercial vehicle sales to be all-electric or plug-in hybrid by 2030.

Ford shares were down 0.26%, to $11.51, at market’s close Wednesday. The dual announcements signal Ford’s intention to push forward with a turnaround in Europe, including on the passenger vehicle side of the business that has proved more challenging for the automaker to crack.

In announcing its fourth-quarter and full-year 2020 financial results earlier this month, Ford reported that it made its highest quarterly profit in Europe in more than four years. The results come amid an ongoing restructuring that has netted a more than $1 billion reduction in annual structural costs. Those cost savings have been achieved in part by Ford reducing its employee and plant footprint in the region.

The company also announced a near-doubling of its global investment in electrification, to $22 billion by 2025; the $1 billion investment in Cologne is part of that planned allocation. That news came on the heels of crosstown rival General Motors Co.’s pledge to exit gas- and diesel-powered engines by 2035 and be carbon neutral by 2040. GM plans to spend $27 billion on EVs and autonomous vehicles through 2025.

“We successfully restructured Ford of Europe and returned to profitability in the fourth quarter of 2020,” Rowley said in a statement Wednesday. “Now we are charging into an all-electric future in Europe with expressive new vehicles and a world-class connected customer experience.”

Ford of Europe remains “on track” to deliver a 6% profit margin before interest and taxes, he said. Wednesday’s announcement comes amid a company-wide assessment of where to most effectively allocate capital, as part of a plan detailed by CEO  Jim Farley  to turn around the Blue Oval’s automotive operations and hit profit goals.

Ford has announced major shakeups and investments in other regions in recent months, including a restructuring of its South America operations that includes ending manufacturing in Brazil and a $1.05 billion investment in its South Africa manufacturing operations.

The investment in Cologne — home to one of Ford’s largest manufacturing centers in the region as well as its European headquarters — will be used to “modernize” the site and convert it into what will be dubbed the Ford Cologne Electrification Center. Ford said it would be the company’s first such facility in the region. Currently, the Cologne plant employs more than 4,000 people and builds the Ford Fiesta.

The automaker said its first European-built, all-electric passenger vehicle, which will be sold to customers in Europe, will begin production at the facility in 2023, “with the potential for a second all-electric vehicle built there under consideration.”

In a statement,  Martin Hennig , who heads up Ford of Europe’s workers’ council, called the move “an important signal to the entire workforce. It offers a long-term perspective for our employees and at the same time encourages them to help shape this electric future.”

Ford confirmed that the first all-electric passenger vehicle it’s planning for 2023 is part of its strategic alliance with Volkswagen AG, under which the two automakers have agreed to collaborate on commercial vehicles, EVs, and autonomous driving. The new vehicle will be built on VW‘s MEB platform.

“However, while alliance vehicles will share certain technologies under the skin, Ford’s first volume all-electric passenger vehicle built using the MEB technologies will look, feel and drive every inch like a Ford,” Ford spokesman  John Gardiner  said.

Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, a professor of automotive economics at the Center for Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, said the use of VW‘s technology could bring competitive advantages to Ford over its European rivals: “They are now in a position, together with VW, to be a very strong competitor to Opel, Peugeot, Citroën and Fiat.”

The move on Ford’s part to drastically reduce its lineup’s carbon emissions comes as environmental regulations continue to tighten. Dudenhöffer noted that stronger regulations from the European Commission are slated in the coming years, making it impossible for automakers to avoid regulatory scrutiny and fees with hybrid and combustion engine vehicles alone.

Also key to its plans for the region, the Blue Oval signaled, is the incorporation of digitally-connected offerings into its commercial vehicle lineup, which leads the segment in Europe.

Ford executives have said that they see potential for lucrative new revenue streams generated by data-driven services — a direction underscored by a new strategic partnership the Blue Oval recently inked with Google. Among other areas, the two companies plan to work together on developing new tech- and data-driven offerings for customers.

Ford said it would have additional details on the Cologne site and its electrification plans to share in “the coming months.”

(c)2021 The Detroit News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Electric vehicles (EV) are a hot investing topic these days. Not so much because they constitute a significant share of auto sales, but more because the prices of EV-related stocks are skyrocketing on future speculation.

President Joe Biden has said he wants the entire federal fleet of vehicles to be replaced with EVs. Such action will be an expensive undertaking and is unlikely to happen quickly, but it’s significant news. That’s on top of recent government bans in parts of the European Union and elsewhere on the sale of gas-powered vehicles by some point in the next 10-15 years.

All these moves are creating an extra buzz in the EV investment sector at the moment and EV stocks are jumping. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock spiked about 350% in the past 12 months alone. Even veteran carmaker General Motors‘ (NYSE:GM) stock is getting an EV boost too, reaching all-time highs relative to its bankruptcy protection filing back in 2009.

For investors, the price spikes for EV-related stocks lately make it a hard industry to ignore. But which EV stocks are actually solid long-term investments? Some would tell you to go with the young upstarts. But I think the advantage — and value — actually lies with the stocks of traditional automakers.

Image source: Getty Images.

Four pure EV plays that could be appealing

Undoubtedly the best known of the EV stocks right now, Tesla, is also the most financially viable. It has actual products and plenty of sales. Tesla reported revenue of $31.5 billion for the full year 2020. Under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), Tesla reported 2020 earnings of $0.64 per diluted share, giving shares a trailing 12-month P/E ratio of 1,275 times earnings. Tesla shares carry a market capitalization of around $783 billion. Tesla shares seem to be perpetually valued based on future speculation. Estimates of $4 per share in earnings in 2021 would give the stock a forward P/E ratio of around 212 times earnings potential.

So what has investors so enamored of Tesla? The obvious pull here is the company’s production lead over other upstart rivals.

Lordstown Motors (NASDAQ:RIDE) attained its EV popularity for one key reason: a focus on truck production. Pickup trucks are the single most popular sales segment in the auto industry, which makes Lordstown Motors an interesting option. Lordstown’s focus initially is on commercial sales, which is wise because it can make “fleet” deals for large numbers of vehicles. Focusing production in a former General Motors plant in Ohio positions Lordstown to take advantage of Biden’s goal of the government EV fleet being built in America.

But Lordstown Motors has yet to sell any trucks. All it has at the moment is a business plan and about $4.4 billion in total market capitalization. As of September, the company said full production wouldn’t start until 2022. As of Jan. 21, Lordstown had non-binding reservations for about 100,000 EVs but no confirmed sales — yet. With its Endurance pickup priced at about $45,000 after a federal EV rebate (total base price of $52,500), the company has $5.25 billion in revenue potential for non-binding orders thus far. That suggests Lordstown shares are currently trading at a discount to future sales (so long as those 100,000 reservations are fulfilled).

Another EV company to consider is Lucid Motors. Investors have been pouring big money into Churchill Capital IV (NYSE:CCIV) on a rumor that this SPAC might be merging with Lucid. Lucid Motors also currently has no sales (the Lucid Air is set to come to market this spring), but it is intriguing because of its ties to Tesla. Lucid’s CEO is Peter Rawlinson, a former chief engineer for Tesla’s Model S. Lucid is a highly speculative investment, as the enthusiasm for it is based on the vehicle’s engineering (Lucid claims a range of over 500 miles per charge).

My favorite pure EV play is one you can’t even buy yet. Privately held Rivian has designed two “adventure vehicles” that offer some appealing utility to the consumer. Through its R1T pickup and R1S SUV, Rivian has what I consider to be the EV equivalent of Stellantis‘s Jeep brand and should appeal to outdoor enthusiasts with an environmental interest and financial means.

Rumor has it that Rivian will IPO this year with a $50 billion valuation. That valuation seems highly speculative, even if Rivian has some appealing attributes. Rivian has financial ties and support from Amazon and Ford Motor (NYSE:F). Aside from its sports utility vehicles, Rivian is making electric vans for Amazon’s shipping needs. Those order reservations put it further along than some other EV makers.

Tesla is the best-known EV name among these four pure plays, but Rivian is likely the best bet for investors. Its products are the most in line with what the American consumer wants, and its deals with Amazon give it an extremely reliable customer.

Image source: Getty Images.

A case for the traditional automakers being the best EV investments

While investors seem hot for the pure-play EV makers, they are ignoring the fact that major automakers are not going anywhere. Nor are traditional vehicles (at least not for some time).

The major automotive companies are all working on their own EVs and their traditional vehicles. GM and Ford, for instance, have the infrastructure and industry know-how to produce EVs right now. They also still control the traditional gas-powered car market, thus offering investors the best of all worlds at a fraction of the stock price. General Motors trades at 12 times earnings and Volkswagen (OTC:VWAGY) at just under 20 times earnings.

EVs have yet to truly alter consumer demand for cars. Names like Ford, General Motors, or Toyota (NYSE:TM) still control the car industry. They have the dealer network necessary for maintenance and servicing, as well as sales. Their move to EVs will likely help maintain their current leadership positions.

Image source: Getty Images.

Ford’s electric F-150 is expected in 2023, with a price tag estimated at around $70,000. As the best-selling pickup of all time, any EV edition of an F-150 is bound to be a fierce competitor. General Motors has its new electric Hummer that supposedly has 350-plus miles of range and the ability to get 100-mile chargeability in 10 minutes. This Hummer EV (slated for fall release) is the foremost competitor to Rivian’s lineup.

Volkswagen’s Porsche brand is targeting the upcoming Lucid Motors Lucid Air and the higher-end Tesla models with its Porsche Taycan. The car has a weak range at under 250 miles, but Volkswagen will continue pushing engineering here.

Anyone who believes that all of these companies are just going to disappear is being naive. Tesla and Lucid Motors won’t replace BMW (OTC:BAMXF) and Daimler (OTC: DMLR.Y). These companies are going to blend a lineup of internal combustion engines and electric cars and continue to be major players in the automotive industry.

Heightened competition will change the story

For investors focused on short-term returns, the EV startups have more appeal than a stock like General Motors. But if you’re more interested in the broader dynamics of the EV industry, there is a lot of potential in the traditional names. As traditional automakers get more involved, the consumer segment will get more and more EV options. Consequently, each and every automaker will be facing more competition for market share. As that happens, do you want to be invested in companies that are trading at 20 times their actual sales?

When investing, remember that these pure-play EV companies are competing for market share that the larger companies already control. General Motors’ recent pledged EV investments strongly suggest the big guys are not going to give it up easily.

SINGAPORE: Few available models, high prices and a lack of charging stations –  these are some of the reasons why it may be some years before motorists in Singapore switch to electric vehicles (EVs) in large numbers.

This is even as the country is set to introduce a wide range of incentives aimed at encouraging the adoption of EVs here.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced in his Budget speech on Tuesday (Feb 16) a slew of incentives aimed at narrowing the “cost differential” between EVs and internal combustion engine (ICE) cars.

These include lowering the Additional Registration Fee (ARF) floor to zero for electric cars from January 2022 to December 2023, as well as revising road tax bands to allow “mass-market” electric cars to have road tax comparable to an ICE car equivalent. 

Meanwhile, the EV Early Adoption Incentive kicked in last month, allowing those who buy electric cars or taxis a rebate of up to 45 per cent on the ARF, capped at S$20,000. 

“It has been proven in other countries that incentives are the most effective way to increase the sales of EVs,” said Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) urban transport expert Park Byung Joon. 

READ: Budget 2021: More incentives to encourage early adoption of electric vehicles

Government incentives for EVs led to a significant uptake of such vehicles in China – where more than 1.3 million EVs were sold last year – and Norway, where more than half of all new cars sold last year are electric-powered.

However drivers here may not be switching to EVs anytime soon.

“The models of EV cars are still very limited,” notes Singapore Vehicle Traders Association (SVTA) president Eddie Loo. 

Even though electric car giant Tesla is set to reenter the local market after almost a decade, there are still only a handful of electric car models available for sale in Singapore, such as the BYD e6 and the Nissan Leaf. 

Affordability is another issue, said Mr Loo, who is also the managing director of motor dealer CarTimes Automobile. 

A Hyundai Ioniq Electric currently costs upwards of S$150,000 here, while the hybrid version of the Ioniq costs a little over S$100,000.

Although Mr Melvin Lim – who recently sold off his car – is open to buying an electric vehicle, cost is a major consideration for him. 

“My main consideration is budget, I will set a target of how much monthly installment I want to finance, and the next factor will be if the car is a hybrid fuel type,” said the 40-year-old technical manager.

READ: ‘It’s really unfair’: Delivery, ride-hailing drivers baulk at petrol duty hike

LISTEN: Electric cars: When’s a good time to start thinking about buying one?

TACKLING RANGE ANXIETY

Motorists may also be hesitant to latch on to new technology, said SVTA’s Mr Loo, adding that the widespread adoption of EVs here may not happen until at least 2030. 

He pointed to Singapore’s experience with compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles. 

CNG – once touted as a cleaner alternative to petrol here – failed to take off due to factors such as a lack of refuelling stations and higher costs once Government rebates on CNG fuel dried up. 

Singapore motorists who are used to driving into Malaysia may also face difficulties in recharging EVs across the Causeway when borders reopen, added Mr Loo. 

Software engineer Justin Lee, who is planning to buy a Tesla Model 3, said he would “definitely keep a petrol car around” for trips to Malaysia to avoid range anxiety.

The 39-year-old said while the Government now aims to encourage the use of EVs, he hopes there will not be a hard deadline for motorists to make the change. For instance when it was announced in 2018 that older motorcycles would be banned from the roads from July 2028, said Mr Lee.

READ: Amid push for electric vehicles, getting charging points installed in condominiums remains a challenge

One of the measures aimed at encouraging the use of EVs is the provision of 60,000 charging points at public car parks and private premises by 2030 under the Singapore Green Plan 2030. 

“To ensure that the mass adoption of electro-mobility has a viable chance here, a developed charging infrastructure is key,” said BMW Group Asia managing director Christopher Wehner. 

“While the deployment of 60,000 charging points by 2030 is an encouraging step in the right direction, it’s also important that we continue discussions with the relevant industry bodies to better facilitate the installation of chargers at HDBs and private developments such as condominiums, for example,” he added. 

Software engineer Mr Lee suggested the authorities could design a payment framework that can be shared across different EV charging networks, similar to how in-vehicle units (IU) are now used for payment across different carparks in Singapore. 

“This would allow people to park and charge anywhere,” he said. 

READ: Local firm to install 4,000 electric vehicle charging points in 1,200 condos by 2030

BMW’s Mr Wehner said incentives should also be extended to plug-in hybrids, describing them as a “stepping stone” for consumers while Singapore’s EV charging infrastructure grows. 

The German automaker – which has two fully-electric vehicles and five plug-in hybrids on the market in Singapore – has sold more than 500 EVs in Singapore to date, a number it expects to grow as more electric models are introduced here. 

Although there are environmental considerations with EVs – such as the replacement and disposal of depleted car batteries – they remain the “sole practical alternative” for ICE vehicles, noted Associate Professor Park of SUSS.

Motorists here are still likely to choose larger ICE cars for now, as has been the trend, he said, although Government incentives may push more to choose electric cars over time. 

“We will definitely see more EVs on the road,” he said.

With new green targets announced by the Singapore Government, when will we be seeing more electric vehicles on our roads? And will town council and condominium committees get involved? An energy expert and a business professor weigh in on CNA’s Heart of the Matter:

General Motors executives last year reassured auto body shops that the OEM is thinking of the collision industry as the automaker pursues electrification.

GM aftersales engineers and a GM collision program manager examined electrification with a nod to the auto body industry during a virtual OEM Collision Repairer Technology Summit session released in November 2020. The GM video and more than a dozen other Society of Collision Repair Specialists’ virtual Repairer Driven Education courses will be available for replay through Aug. 31.

The OEM Summit video came on the heels of GM’s fall 2020 reveal of the 2022 HUMMER EV. Less than three months after the video aired, GM pledged to make 40 percent of its models fully battery electric by 2025. The OEM said it wants “to eliminate tailpipe emissions from new light-duty vehicles by 2035.”

Thirty all-electric models will be available worldwide midway through this decade, GM said.

GM Global Aftersales Mechanical Engineering director Jennifer Goforth told the OEM Summit audience to expect electric vehicles to be “more mainstream” and to expect electric crossovers, SUVs and trucks.

“These are all very high-volume vehicles,” she said during the virtual “Global perspective on electrification, safety systems, emerging trends and collision repair” event.

GM said in January it would dedicate more than half of its capital budget and product development team to “electric and electric-autonomous vehicle programs. And in the coming years, GM plans to offer an EV for every customer, from crossovers and SUVs to trucks and sedans.”

Nathaniel Skutt of GM body structure advanced serviceability of design engineering said repairers would need to perform a “gap analysis” between their businesses today and where they would like it to be. They must decide if they wish to handle repairs on what was likely to be an booming population of electric vehicles, he suggested.

GM electric vehicles will carry new innovative battery technology, new electrical systems — and body structure changes to protect the high-voltage powertrain, according to Goforth.

“We must expand the number of repair professionals who are skilled at working at battery-electric vehicles,” she said.

She said the OEM wants to be sure collision repairers are ready for the repair processes related to electric vehicles.

General Motors has developed a battery architecture known as “Ultium,” which will represent a change from the electric powertrain repairers encountered on the 2017-present Chevrolet Bolt EV, according to Goforth and GM collision manager and session moderator John Eck.

The first Ultium electric vehicle will be the 2022 HUMMER EV late this year, according to GMC. This appears to be followed by the Cadillac LYRIQ going into production next year. A refreshed 2022 Bolt and brand new Bolt “EUV” crossover come out this summer but they use GM’s current, pre-Ultium electric vehicle architecture.

Goforth said the Ultium framework relies on a “really great technology” enabling wireless battery management. She said this is a “primary driver” for GM’s ability to adapt a standard set of battery parts into different EV types and allows the automaker to launch EVs “a bit faster.”

She said the wireless setup cuts wiring within the battery by 90 percent, which she called a “big enabler” for lighter vehicles and more battery range. The wireless technology also permits upgrades via software and real-time battery health checks.

Goforth said GM would need to “work very, very closely” with the collision industry and learn its needs. She said that while the OEM couldn’t answer all repairer questions at that time, “we know that you need this information.”

Nathaniel Skutt of GM body structure advanced serviceability of design engineering said each new battery electric vehicles would likely present some challenges to the collision industry. However, GM’s service engineering teams were working on these challenges, he said. He said many of them came out of the collision and mechanical repair industries and desired to produce serviceability in vehicles.

GM would “absolutely” have repair procedures for electric vehicles just as it does for internal combustion engine ones, he said.

Eck asked Skutt if electric vehicles would have a separate post-collision inspection process than internal combustion engine models.

“The industry seems to be struggling a bit with some of the OEM inspection processes,” Eck said, noting that GM might examine if it could improve or clarify the process for ICE vehicles.

“There will be a separate inspection process for those BEVs,” Skutt said. Auto body shops would find it within GM OEM repair procedures, he said. GM desired shops to “immediately go there” and reference the documents, according to Skutt. He said in the fall 2020 video that the OEM was working as far ahead as possible in writing them.

GM collision program manager Christopher Blackmore said electric vehicle work requires a “fundamental change” as an auto body shop.

“There’s a basic level of risk” to examine as one plans their business and expansion, he said.

“It’s more than just purchasing tool and equipment these days,” Blackmore said.

Blackmore said then his collision branch was working closely with GM engineers on determining necessary tools and equipment to work on electric vehicles. (It’s been a couple of months since the GM video, but it appears this is still under development based upon the current list, dated December 2020.).

“We know that the market is asking,” Blackmore said, and while GM recognized they “owe the market answers,” they’re not available yet.

Asked about restricted electric vehicle structural parts, Blackmore said restricted parts creates a distribution optimization challenge for GM. It imposes a new manual process — an “abnormal process” — on both dealerships and the automaker, he said. Cycle time is also a concern.

GM would continue to examine the idea, but “I can’t make any promises right now” on restricted electric vehicle parts, he said. To our knowledge, the 2017-2021 Bolt’s parts weren’t restricted, and Blackmore in the fall 2020 said GM only restricted parts on the Cadillac CT6 and Corvette C8.

“It’s all about ensuring safe, proper repair, with a focus on the customer and the overall brand protection,” Blackmore said.

More information:

“Global perspective on electrification, safety systems, emerging trends and collision repair” featuring General Motors (replayable through Aug. 31, 2021)

Society of Collision Repair Specialists, November 2020

Virtual Repairer Driven Education courses (replayable through Aug. 31, 2021)

GM OEM repair procedures

General Motors’ “EV News” media webpage

Featured image: General Motors showed off its modular battery-electric platform on March 4, 2020, in Warren, Mich. (Steve Fecht for General Motors)

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