As the EV market picks up speed, it will start attracting different types of buyers than it has to-date. Which is exactly what GM is doing with the Cadillac Lyriq, a crossover SUV, similar in appearance to the Cadillac XT6 SUV.
Up to this point, GM's involvement in the EV market has been very limited. Fortunately, this is about to change in a big way, as Cadillac introduces its first EV. Cadillac is an iconic brand. Popular with swaths of the American population who want a luxury, American made car.
The Lyric will appeal to these buyers. Many of them who will want a car that looks like the car they're driving, but that runs on electricity instead of gas. Some of the buyers will care about doing their part to prevent the burning of fossil fuels, while they will all care about saving money at the gas pump.
The Lyriq is a game changer for GM, showing how its commitment to building EV is intensifying. Priced at around $63,000, it’s around $10K more than the internal combustion engine Cadillac XT6 that can be considered its Internal Combustion Engine cousin.
After you factor in all the cost savings EVs offer compared to Internal Combustion Engine cars, the Lyriq willl save owners tens-of-thousands of dollars in operating costs over the life of the car.
The XT6 gets around 20 miles per gallon, and it has a 22 gallon tank. So, each fill up costs approximately $100 and will transport you around 450 miles. This means that over a year, an XT6 owner will spend roughly $6, 000 at the gas pump, if they're driving the 15K miles that American drivers average.
This adds up to the costs of filling up an XT6 with gas surpassing $18,000 over 3 years and $30,000 over 5 years. That's a lot of money spent on gasoline. While the electricity charging costs for EV are typically around 1/5 of the costs of gasoline. Even less, if you receive EV charging credits upon purchasing the car (as it the case with Lyriq) or if you have access to free or discounted charging.
Combining the gas savings, EV purchase incentives that are available in some states and savings from EV costing less to maintain than Internal Combustion Engine, Lyriq owners will happily discover that they save a lot of money from driving EVs.
These massive savings should go a long way in attracting different types of buyers into the EV fold, which is what's needed for the EV market to grow to 20% of new car sales.
It’s exciting to see GM's commitment to the EV market get real!!