General Motors Out to Woo Investors

Top executive at U.S popular automaker General Motors Co. (GM) said they will be going out hitting the roads to persuade investors to invest in their electric vehicles business.

The executive were not afraid to reveal some of the investors they are eyeing are more attracted to Tesla Inc. (TSLA) over them.

In the United States GM is the undisputed automaker since it produces large volumes and generates more revenue than any other automaker. However when it comes to electric vehicles Tesla is indeed the undisputed leader and the company seems to be widening the gap with each passing day.

Talking of 2019 only Tesla sold 367,500 electric vehicles around the world, 223,000 of these vehicles were sold in the United States. On the other hand, General Motors only managed to sell a fraction of what Tesla sold, it sold 16,400 electric vehicles in the U.S and 60,000 to Chinese buyers in a joint venture partnership with SAIC Motor (600104.SS).

On Tuesday shares of Tesla spiked up giving the EV maker a market value of $144 billion which is around 3 times the $45 billion market value of GM.

GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra says the single largest expense in electric vehicles is the cost of producing the battery cells. GM partnered with LG Chem and Honda Motor Co (7267) to develop advanced batteries which will be charged more faster, provide more energy and will be smaller than existing EV batteries.

GM claims these advanced EV batteries will reduce expenses by at least $100 per kilowatt-hour therefore this will reduce cost of producing the EV batteries by 45%. The CEO also assured investors that by 20121 the electric vehicle business will break even.