General Motors Q1 2022 quarterly results are out, where it shows only 457 electric vehicles sales for this year so far. However, the automaker has stated that more EVs are yet to come. For years now, GM’s claim to go all-in electric has not been observed in its sales numbers.
It is to be noted that the company has major issues last year with its EV sales as the Bolt EV needed a major recall. The battery issues were also part of the battery manufacturer, LG Chem. Where LG Chem paid up to $1.9 billion for the fires. Despite the recall, not only the vehicles delivered but the production also halted on many occasions last year.
This was a major setback that not only affected the thousands of vehicles delivered but also GM’s current production since new batteries being produced needed to go to battery replacement instead of new production. It resulted in shutting down Bolt EV and EUV production for a long time, which completely dismantle GM’s EV sales. Now, GM released its Q1 2022 delivery results and confirmed that it delivered only 457 electric vehicles- Chevy Bolt EV/EUV with 358 units, GMC Hummer EV Pickup with 99 units. Bolt EV/EUV is down 96% versus the same period last year – again due to the production shutdown.
Resuming production
In the press release, GM reassured everyone that its EV sales are about to turn around by resuming production next week. “Production of the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV will resume on April 4. Chevrolet dealers continue to repair customer vehicles and recently resumed deliveries of some completed Bolt EV and Bolt EUVs in inventory.”
As for the Hummer EV, 99 deliveries doesn’t sound like much, but it is 98 more than last quarter and still significant considering that we are talking about a roughly $150,000 vehicle. We recently learned that GM received an impressive 65,000 reservations for the electric pickup truck, but most of those are expected to be for the cheaper configurations of the truck, which are launching over the next few years. Lastly, GM noted that while EV sales were low this quarter, it made some progress, especially with the start of Cadillac Lyriq production, which should start adding to EV sales this quarter.
In Q4 2021, GM delivered in the U.S. only 26 all-electric vehicles (down almost 100% year-over-year). The number includes 25 Chevrolet Bolt EV/Bolt EUV and 1 GMC Hummer EV Pickup (the first one delivered in December). It is said that more electric Hummer EVs would be delivered before the end of the year, but it was just this one symbolic unit.