By Marcus Vinicius Gasques
Chevrolet could start producing electric cars in Brazil by 2030, the group’s president for South America, Santiago Chamorro, has revealed.
To justify his optimism, the executive cited a survey conducted in the North and South American markets in which 86% of consumers intending to buy a new car between 12 and 18 months consider an electric one.
Considering only Brazil, the same research showed that 80% of the trips are made in the big capitals, with daily trips of up to 45 km.
“With a Bolt EUV, the autonomy of 456 km, a charged battery is enough for this easy use during the whole week.”
“And 75% of the people who travel drive up to 500 km; a charged battery is enough for that”, says Chamorro.
People with electric vehicles from GM and other brands were also heard.
According to the executive, the answers focused on four points:
“The car is fun to drive; easy to charge, like a cell phone; the operating costs are advantageous, comparing electricity and fuel; the well-being by contributing to the environment.”
“Zero percent of these consumers expressed intention to return to the internal combustion vehicle.”
Chamorro acknowledges that the price of an electric car is still high, but he argues that this should not be the only variable.
According to him, the consumer needs to consider the monthly cost of operation:
“The cost of electricity versus fuel is lower, the maintenance cost is lower, taxes in some cities are lower, and we offer a financing and insurance plan with advantages for electric cars.”
“All this put into a monthly bill, in São Paulo, for example, an electric car already has about R$2,500 (US$495) per month advantage over the internal combustion one.”
For the executive, “the governments of South America are advancing in their continuous improvements in fuel regulation and in making vehicles with internal combustion engines increasingly efficient.”
This “makes the trend of these vehicles increase in cost, with more and more technology and features incorporated, while the increase in the volume of electrics leads their cost to a downward trend.”
Thus, we estimate that there will quickly come, perhaps now in the second half of the decade, the point at which the cost of the internal combustion engine will equal that of electric batteries.
That’s why GM is going directly into the electric vehicle solution for consumers – says Chamorro.
These facts lead GM’s president for South America to state that Brazil already has the conditions to produce electric vehicles.
“There is the presence of ores necessary for battery production – lithium, cobalt, magnesium, copper – an important engineering and manufacturing capacity, manufacturing potential greater than the market is realizing today and impressive talent to embrace this new technological trend.”
Santiago Chamorro confirmed the launch of the Bolt EUV, the SUV version of the electric hatch, “for the coming days.”
And he recalled that Blazer EV and Equinox EV are still under development and homologation at the Cruz Alta Proving Ground in the countryside of São Paulo.
The Blazer has also been confirmed for 2023.
The Equinox, on the other hand, will debut next year.
With information from Auto Esporte
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