GM is making the Hummer EV in record time. Here's how CNN Business
By Peter Valdes-Dapena
November 21, 2020
As a general rule, the process of designing and making a mainstream car has typically taken about five years. With only a year to go before production is expected to start, GM is only now starting to build fully working prototypes of the electric truck.
But GM executives don't seem too concerned. This is not a matter of last-minute scrambling, GM executives say, but part of an overall shortened time frame for the entire vehicle development process. In the case of GM's new 1,000-horsepower Hummer EV, engineers say they have cut the time down to just two years.
As a result, the company claims to be saving about $1.5 billion annually in company-wide product development costs compared to just a few years ago. That amount is part of a targeted $4.5 billion in overall cost savings GM had previously announced.
The techniques and technologies GM is using to cut development and production costs aren't unique to the company. But it shows how new technologies, such as virtual product testing and hardware-in-the-loop tests, which mixes computers and machines, are speeding up what had long been a slow and expensive process.
But computing power will also play a huge part in the Hummer's quick turnaround. And it's something that impacts all modern vehicle development -- electric or not. Not all vehicle design programs will be as short as the Hummer's, but they can be shorter, according to GM engineers.
Engineers and designers can now design parts virtually before they actually have to produce them. That way they can see how reshaping the piece or making it from different materials would effect performance and weight without having to actually make it first.
Engineers and designers can now design parts virtually before they actually have to produce them. That way they can see how reshaping the piece or making it from different materials would effect performance and weight without having to actually make it first.
Interesting; having much of our lives being thrown into the "virtual world" I hope "virtual product testing" has better results than some of the other "virtual" experiences I've been a part of over the past 9 months.
Having said that, on the surface I know what our product team is currently having to overcome; decreasing timelines in the current environment seems suspect.
It's didn't commonly take 5 years to develop a new vehicle. I've seen clay variants photographed in April of Year A, and production cars rolling off the line 16 months later at GM in the past.
Yea; I realize there's a LOT more components and pieces now, just saying.
Its misleading to claim that its taking less time, since the development work has already been done to develop major vehicle sub systems such as propulsion, batteries, software architecture, thermal management systems etc.
Essentially they are speaking of vehicle systems integration as the 'development cycle'
Its misleading to claim that its taking less time, since the development work has already been done to develop major vehicle sub systems such as propulsion, batteries, software architecture, thermal management systems etc.
Essentially they are speaking of vehicle systems integration as the 'development cycle'
It's not the physical design that is going to take the longest to go from concept to full production - GM knows how to make control arms for trucks.
It's going to be the lines of code their software engineers are going to have to program into the vast computers that will operate the truck. If you saw Doug DeMuro's review of it, GM is leaping into the future with this. Not, like, 2 or 3 generations, but I don't know, 10-20? Yes, this is going to be a whole new thing.
If you haven't seen his video on it, you need to check it out:
Got my first software update on my car a week or so ago! Kind of scary when you think about it - I just got an update on my iPhone and iWatch, now the activity app isn't properly synching up my workouts into my total calorie counts for the day. What's going to happen when GM (or any other make) screws up the software update? Hey boss, can't make it into work today, after a software update my car can't make left turns.
The auto industry "caught on" to how the aerospace industry was designing things 3 decades ago.
But yes, computers, and their abilities, have been constantly improving for those 3 decades.
And I'm not sure the aerospace industry has kept up.
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