Santiago Chamorro rejects hybrid car idea, says country’s turn will come when cost falls

07/05/2022

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Santiago Chamorro — Foto: Ana Paula Paiva/Valor

Some automakers are preparing to produce hybrid cars in Brazil. This group understands that the vehicle with two engines (one combustion and one electric) is the best way for Brazil to join the global transition to electrification. And to also save its large industrial park, since fully electric cars, which require plug-in charging, are not yet manufactured in the country due to the high cost of this technology. This is not, however, what the management of General Motors thinks. For Santiago Chamorro, GM’s CEO for South America, Brazil does not need an intermediate phase and can, when the technology is more accessible, have an electric car industry of its own.

Mr. Chamorro says he is convinced, from what global studies show, that the fully electric car is superior to the hybrid one in terms of environmental gain. “The other technologies become transient, temporary,” he said.

Fully electric vehicles still represent a very small portion of vehicle sales in Brazil. And they are all imported. The share of this type of car represented 0.1% of sales in 2021 and 0.3% until May this year. Although still small, the share of hybrids in sales was larger – 1.6% and 2%, respectively.

“Volumes are still low; but everything starts this way,” Mr. Chamorro said. The executive points to the premium category, with more expensive models and where sales of fully electric cars are concentrated today, as the gateway to transformation. Consumers in this range, the “early adopters,” as they are called in the United States, are willing to pay for technology that allows driving to be “more fun” and quieter, among other things, the executive said.

“But in the future, cars will be electric in all segments where we have a presence,” he said. When will this be? He replies, with good humor, that this is a topic “for a future conversation.” GM also does not breaks down its electrification schedule per region to achieve the global goal of being carbon neutral by 2040. In Brazil alone, the company has three vehicle plants and one engine plant.

“We produce where we sell,” Mr. Chamorro said, highlighting the vocation of Brazil, ninth largest producer of vehicles in the world and seventh largest market, besides other countries with car assembling in the region, such as Colombia and Ecuador.

With the electric car, the processes will change. “There will be a manufacturing transformation; our employees will have other skills and use other tools,” he said. “The transition will not be immediate, and by then we will have combustion cars with less polluting engines.”

To those who ask him if the electric car technology is not too expensive to be produced in the region, Mr. Chamorro replies with some facts. Besides Brazil being a source of renewable energies in expansion, such as solar and wind power, he recalled that South America offers mineral reserves, such as cobalt and nickel, which favor the development of the vehicles of the future.

Furthermore, he says, the cost of the technology tends to fall. GM has developed a modular platform, with battery packs that can be assembled in various formats for use in different types of vehicles. The flexibility of this platform, called Ultium, allows to meet the needs of those who seek a more affordable car and also of those who want a more luxurious one, with battery packs for longer or shorter range.

Recently, GM and Honda signed a global agreement that will use new generations of this platform to develop economical cars. The companies expect that, in the next generations of electric cars, the cost will be the same of a combustion car.

Mr. Chamorro points out that in the urban environment, the owner of a car used for day-to-day routine travels on average 45 kilometers a day. One charge a week, in this case, would be enough. And for those who think that no farmer is interested in an electric pickup truck, Mr. Chamorro says that today farmers invest in solar and wind power sources. “Many report difficulties in getting to a gas station,” he said.

For Mr. Chamorro, there is no reason to be afraid of the electric car. “If we asked anyone a century ago if they would like to exchange their horse for an automobile, surely many would say they would rather have a second horse. Big changes involve strong emotions.”

Mr. Chamorro points to the expansion of private investment in public charging stations. For him, this market will continue to attract investors as the demand for electric cars grows.

GM plans to invest $35 billion to launch 30 new electric vehicles by 2025. Three of them will come to the Brazilian market. The three models – Bolt EUV, Blazer EV, and Equinoix EV – were presented a few weeks ago on Youtube by Mr. Chamorro. The audience, he says, has already hit 6 million people. “The consumer is curious,” he said.

Mr. Chamorro does not directly criticize competitors that show interest in hybrid cars and defend the use of ethanol in these engines. But he indicates that the subject generates dissent in the sector. “While other companies see this as a small matter, we see it as a central issue,” he says in relation to fully electric cars.

GM’s direct competitors, such as Volkswagen and Stellantis, intend to go this way. Toyota already produces this type of vehicle, and two Chinese brands – CAOA Chery and Great Wall – have already announced they will produce ethanol hybrids in Brazil.

The electric car is, however, only a part of the vehicle transformation process. Mr. Chamorro talks about GM’s autonomous car tests in San Francisco and says that taking the driver out of the wheel will be one of the ways to put an end to traffic accidents.

Connectivity is another part of the transformation. Mr. Chamorro envisions the expansion of the car’s communication with people’s lives. GM is already collecting picturesque moments with its Onstar, a subscription-based communication service for navigation and emergencies. This service has helped, for example, in the rescue of stolen vehicles.

But one of the cases that moved Mr. Chamorro happened in the U.S. The emergency service was called by the mother of a woman about to give birth inside the vehicle. Trained for this too, the operators assisted in bringing the baby into the world. “There is a wave of possibilities coming,” says Mr. Chamorro.

*By Marli Olmos — São Paulo

Source: Valor International

https://valorinternational.globo.com/