Yesterday, General Motors announced bidirectional charging — the ability to send power both to and from an EV’s battery — across its entire Ultium EV lineup. But the announcement video, in its list of vehicles types that will receive V2H charging, included a curious item: Ultium-based coupes.
So far, Ultium has been reserved for big vehicles: Hummers, Lyriqs, Escalade IQs, the kinds of transportation that can roll over a child, cyclist, or child cyclist without batting an eye. GM has talked about using the architecture to revive the Bolt, but it hasn’t deigned to shrink the design further — the Corvette E-Ray, GM’s only electrified coupe, doesn’t use Ultium batteries.
The specific mention of an Ultium coupe, then, can’t mean that Corvette. It must mean something else — perhaps an abandoned name and design, a two-door 2+2 that’s more practical than the ‘Vette, a car too cool for this world. That’s right: GM is bringing back an electrified Buick Avista.
Okay, yeah, fine, it’s probably the Camaro. When killing off the car’s sixth generation, Chevy even announced that it wasn’t the end for the nameplate — just that iteration of the car. Still, given the company’s approach of starting Ultium off in the ritziest, highest-dollar models, it may be some time yet before the humble Camaro shows up as an EV.
Will GM begin with an electric Cadillac flagship coupe? It would certainly be an interesting way to update the V line, and to show off the brand’s performance chops in the electric era. Then, once the early adopters have had their six-figure payments extracted, the platform could trickle down to Chevy, where it could wear a Camaro badge.
This is all speculation, of course, but it seems viable. More viable than a production-ready Avista, anyway. But, if you’re reading this and you work at GM, just at least consider the Buick. Please?