The company’s statement — exclusive to Electric Autonomy — coincides with Cadillac Lyriq “reveal” and follows GM’s commitment to fund 2,700 charging stations in the U.S. in partnership with EVgo

General Motors of Canada says that it is committed to “investing, incentivizing, and working with companies” to develop EV charging solutions in Canada as its luxury brand officially enters the battery electric vehicle market for the first time.

The statement — provided exclusively to Electric Autonomy Canada — follows the official launch of the Cadillac Lyriq, which was revealed in an online presentation on Aug. 6 as the first in an expected succession of new Cadillac electrified vehicles to be unveiled on average once every six months. 

The Lyriq will be built on a new, dedicated EV platform, will have an estimated 482-kilometre range, and will be capable of DC fast-charging rates of more than 150 kilowatts and Level 2 charging rates of 19 kW. To address the need for additional charging infrastructure able to take advantage of these capabilities, GM paired the announcement with news a few days earlier of a partnership with public charging network EVgo to install 2,700 charging stations in 40 metropolitan areas in the United States over the next five years.

Charging ecosystem vital

GM’s executive vice-president and president of North America, Steven Carlisle, told Bloomberg that the company is also working on at-home charging options for customers and that GM wants to have the EVgo infrastructure “substantially in place” by the time the Lyriq hits the market in late 2022.

“Having this whole ecosystem to support sales and ownership [is really important],” Carlisle said.

When asked whether a similar charging arrangement will be established for Canada, General Motors of Canada spokesperson Philippe-André Bisson confirmed that the company is “actively” working with charging station operators in this country as well.

“In Canada we’re also committed to investing, incentivizing and working with companies to bring charging solutions to the Canadian market,” Bisson says. “We’re actively collaborating with charge point operators on approaches to EV infrastructure using a shared charging network to make the charging experience easier for our customers.”

Bisson said that additional information on these arrangements — “more news to come” — will be announced at a later date.