General Motors looks at an electric future, to expand on its Chevrolet Bolt which began life as the Chevrolet Volt, which was the Bob Lutz baby. (Bob will always be remembered for dismissing climate change, saying “Global warming is a crock of sh*t.”)
Pamela Fletcher, currently GM’s vice president of global electric vehicle programs, takes a new role beginning Oct. 1 as vice president of innovation. GM confirmed Fletcher’s newly created position is directly under the CEO Mary Barra.
Fletcher led the team that launched the Chevrolet Bolt EV, which now serves as the platform for GM Cruise’s steering wheel-free Cruise AV, before she was put in charge of global EVs at the end of last year. GM being an equal opportunity organization, I am sure, with her move to Barra’s team represents the latest female at GM to take a high-level leadership role.
Fletcher’s former boss GM’s vice president of autonomous and electric vehicle programs, Doug Parks will continue in that role, as well as taking over Fletcher’s EV duties.
“Pam’s new role leverages her engineering and entrepreneurial background to focus on identifying, integrating and accelerating new growth opportunities that will directly benefit our customers,” Parks said.
GM’s vice president of global strategy, Michael Ableson, moves to a newly created position of vice president of electric vehicle infrastructure. His global strategy team will now report to Fletcher.
Ableson will lead GM’s efforts in developing necessary partnerships or identifying incentives and investments that could lead to a strong EV charging infrastructure. Improving existing charging infrastructure and making charging stations more widely accessible will be crucial as GM looks to remove barriers to electric vehicle ownership. GM is expected to hit the 200,000-vehicle cap as soon as the end of this year for a $7,500 federal tax incentive designed to encourage electric-vehicle sales.
The executive restructuring, was first reported by Automotive News, comes as GM is readying to kick its 20 EVs by 2023 initiative into high gear by the end of this year.
 |
 |
