"I never thought that the propulsion of a vehicle would ever become a political issue," GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra said on stage Tuesday.

When she didn't elaborate further, former President Trump had spoken before her session, denouncing EVs and stating without evidence there is a mandate to produce and sell electric vehicles in the U.S.

"General Motors's purpose is to just keep building and delivering great vehicles, support to be more robust. charge infrastructure, and of course, opening up Tesla charging network, as well-so people choose it because of it being a great vehicle," Barra said further. "And that is the journey we work with, while we work for battery cost reduction. Battery innovation to get energy density in place, cost decrease on all those things unlocks there."

Bringing down the cost of the battery can help bring down the price of EVs. For Barra, affordability is top of mind as she said that it is a major factor for consumers.

"That's why we're so excited to have the Equinox and the Blazer on that because we're getting into the affordable range, especially when you look at an Equinox EV that will be starting in that mid $30,000 range," she said.

But they want affordability with the right range," she continued. And that sweet spot is really 300 miles before people start getting range anxiety.

Finally, accessibility to working, well lit, easy to pay for charging stations is what consumers want.

"Charging is just going to continue to get better," she said, noting that GM has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to help boost charging infrastructure in partnership with companies like EVgo.

While EVs are a key component to Barra's vision for GM, autonomy, cybersecurity and a strategy for China are also important. Here are some of the highlights.

Cruise will still help GM transform the industry
I became CEO in 2014 and actually spent quite a bit of time in Silicon Valley with the leadership team, not just at Stanford, " Barra said. "What were the technologies going to really transform our business? We started looking into those. And autonomy was one.".

She further added that when GM acquired Cruise in 2016, it let Cruise's business grow as any normal startup would, keeping its hands off. This enabled Cruise to commercially launch fully driverless robotaxi in San Francisco. The permits to operate were suspended for Cruise following a safety incident last October.

Still, Barra is positive about the fact that AVs can contribute to safety. She also believes that this investment in Cruise will be helpful to GM in the future to develop personal autonomous vehicles.

A purpose-built AV will come from GM someday
Following Cruise's safety incident, the company canceled its plans to manufacture the Origin, a purpose-built AV with no steering wheel or pedals. While Barra acknowledged that there are some barriers to getting such a vehicle on public roads – namely federal motor vehicle safety standards – she believes an AV built without human controls is still in the future for GM.
Keeping data secure
Electric vehicles of today are computers on wheels, collecting a lot of data regarding the environment in which the car is driving, how the car is performing, and driving behavior. That data could contain sensitive information, which is something Barra says GM is prioritizing.

I take cyber really seriously from a vehicle standpoint because, again, if something goes wrong, it could have dire consequences," said Ms. Barra. "So that's something we've been investing in for years. Privacy, as well, treating data with respect and continuing to raise the bar on how to manage data and make sure we're doing the right thing.

It is worth mentioning that GM is on the long list of auto makers reported by NYT earlier this year, which shared the driving data of consumers with the insurers. GM also halted its sharing of the data with two data brokers: LexisNexis Risk Solution and Verisk, which have formed a risk profile for the industry of the insurer and has even hired an executive to oversee its customer privacy.
End
She called the competition for EV market share in China a "race to the bottom," and she doubled down on those comments Tuesday.

"There's a lot going on from a political perspective," she said. "Our business in China is shifting.".

Its Chinese Joint Venture lost $137 million for the third quarter versus profits of $192 million at the same time in '09. That's not surprising, since a high level of government subsidies allow domestic brands to mass produce excellent vehicles at pretty much any cost.

It is just continuing, she said. From a pricing perspective, it's lower and lower and lower. And so you have to look at what's the sustainable business? Because the situation that's there right now is not sustainable. We have 100 or so companies, less than a handful are profitable.