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General Motors and Honda Motor Co. will collaborate on technology that will underlie a variety of less-expensive electric vehicles (EVs), the companies announced on 5 April.
Products will include compact, all-electric sport utility vehicles for China, North, and South America that will be priced under $30,000 and come to market in 2027, they predicted.
In the U.S., the average price paid for an EV is about $60,000, compared to around $47,000 for a comparable gas or diesel car, according to Edmunds.com, a vehicle-industry data service.
Eventually, the resulting technologies will power millions of cars sold by both companies, they said.
Partnering on technology will reduce development costs, especially for batteries, which can make up a third to as much as 40 percent of an EV’s price.
To date, low-priced EVs are available only in China as tiny, stripped-down runabouts with limited range. The Wuling brand’s Huanggong Mini sells there for the equivalent of about $5,000.
The new collaboration extends the companies’ development partnerships in other areas, including autonomous vehicles.
TREND FORECAST: Ford and Volkswagen also have joined forces to produce EVs with shared technologies and have been working together since 2019.
Sharing a single technology across brands and models is a key strategy for not only reducing costs and sticker prices, but also making it easier for EV owners to find knowledgeable technicians able to work on their cars and trucks.
China, through its command economy and state-owned enterprises, has led in this strategy, which has allowed Chinese automakers to field more than 300 models of EVs so far.
Especially as costs rise for raw materials, more automakers will seek ways to cut their costs. Sharing EV development among companies will become even more common.