GM is accelerating Chevrolet Bolt production due to strong demand.



In a speech by CEO Mary Barra at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, she made remarks regarding the increase in the number of EV miles driven, with exponential growth from Dec. 2012 to Dec. 2017.

“In December 2012, the Chevrolet Volt was GM’s flagship electrified vehicle, and its owners hit a milestone 100 million all-electric miles just two years after it went on sale, “ wrote Barra in a speech. “By December 2017, drivers of five electrified models, including the Bolt EV, racked up more than 2.6 billion EV miles.”

In a nutshell, Bolt EV sales grew nearly 50 percent from Feb. 2017 to Feb 2018, with roughly 26,000 total vehicles sold versus 579 Bolts in 2016.

Production will take place at GM’s Orion Assembly plant in Michigan, which will also create new jobs with the total number of new employees and other logistics with existing employees to be determined.

Also, the speech marked a strong play by Barra to appease energy industry leaders in building out EV charging infrastructure, along with an expansion of tax credits and unification of fuel economy and emissions standards, where the government would have one set of requirements for all states to follow.

In a Jan. 2018 draft analysis by the NHTSA, Trump’s administration has considered lowering the average fuel economy standard from 46.6 miles per gallon to 35.7 miles per gallon by 2020. This mandate may considerably low the number of all-electric and hybrids produced. Any automakers who do not meet standards would be hit with fines or other penalties. At the moment, some states have more stringent standards than others, hence Barra’s call for unification.

This article originally appeared on HybridCars.com