General Motors BEV2 platform

Despite having a "2" in its name, which usually indicates a second generation of a platform in GM nomenclature,[2][3][4] BEV2 had no direct predecessor. The concept of "BEV1" actually refers to the General Motors EV1.[5] However, the EV1 and vehicles on BEV2 differ greatly, in part due to the two-decade gap between them.[6]

In 2011, GM announced that they had finished development of an EV supplier base in China.[7] This coincided with the introduction of the Springo, an EV based on the Gamma platform's Chevrolet Sail.[8] Two years later in 2013, a similar EV variant was released of the Sail's American-market equivalent, the Spark.[9] This Spark EV was sold until 2016, the same year as the introduction of the Bolt,[10] and, though GM openly stated that the Bolt's platform was not derived from Gamma, the Bolt's model codes began with G2, suggesting influence of these vehicles upon it.[11]

In 2016, Chevrolet unveiled a production version of the Bolt, the first vehicle on BEV2,[12] and the first dedicated EV from GM in 20 years.[5] LG Chem and other LG divisions reportedly develop and install most of the components that make it an electric vehicle, per an agreement for the model.[13] This vehicle is the first to be underpinned by BEV2[14] and also the strongest-selling, with over 16,000 sold at the end of 2018.[15]

On October 2, 2017, GM announced a plan to introduce two new main EV models in the next eighteen months,[16] followed by an additional eighteen electric models by 2023.[17] The next month GM extended their commitment,[18] aiming for a production volume of one million electric vehicles by 2026.[19] On November 15, 2017, further clarification was made by GM CEO Mary Barra as to what the next five years of electric models would be:[20]

• "Expressive luxury low-roof" vehicle (possibly a grand tourer)[21]
• 5-passenger luxury SUV
• 5-passenger compact SUV
• "Shared" autonomous vehicle
• Functional light commercial vehicle
• "Efficient low-roof" car
• Small SUV
• Compact CUV
• 7-passenger large SUV
• 7-passenger luxury SUV

None of these promised actions, however, have been enacted in full.[22] In China, the SAIC-GM joint venture has announced[23] and launched the Buick Velite 6 (2019),[24][25] also available with a PHEV drivetrain,[26] and the closely related Chevrolet Menlo (2020).[27] Since the end of the eighteen-month period, the Velite 6 and Menlo are the only main brand EVs that GM has produced, and both are limited to the Chinese market.[28] Much of the incentive to market EVs in China can be explained by the zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) mandate that country's government has put in place, requiring manufacturers to have 8% percent of their volume be ZEVs in 2012, and 12% in 2020.[29] The Velite 6/Menlo have a different wheelbase and motor than the Bolt EV[30][31] and do not use the BEV2 platform.

In March 2019, GM announced its intentions to build another BEV2 platform-based vehicle very similar to the Bolt at Orion Assembly;[32][33] the new BEV2 vehicle was developed alongside the GMC Hummer EV.[34] The vehicle was launched first in 2020 as the Buick Velite 7 for the Chinese market.[35][36] This crossover had been mentioned in the 2017 GM announcement, but it was later removed.[37] A variant with revised styling for the United States was marketed as the Bolt EUV (electric utility vehicle),[38][39] which is built on BEV2[40][41][42] and was launched in spring 2021.[43]

Production of the Bolt and Bolt EUV were stopped in August 2021 due to a battery recall;[44] production did not resume until April 2022.[45]

GM began publicizing its Ultium battery technology and BEV3 platform in 2019 and 2020.[46][47] Although both a refreshed Bolt EV and new Bolt EUV were announced at the same time, to go on sale in late 2020 and summer 2021, respectively,[48] the Bolt EV and EUV did not move to Ultium/BEV3. The newer platform is intended to support a wide variety of battery electric vehicles,[49] including the Cruise Origin, which was intended to be the first GM vehicle on Ultium/BEV3.[47] On April 25, 2023 GM CEO Mary Barra confirmed that the BEV2-based Bolt and Bolt EUV would be discontinued at the end of 2023 to make room for GM's "new generation of electric vehicles,"[50] and a new Ultium/BEV3 Bolt was announced a few months later.[51]

From its inception until 2020 (shortly after GM's sale of Opel/Vauxhall to Groupe PSA), the Chevrolet Bolt was sold in Europe as the Opel Ampera-e.[63]

• 
  2017 Chevrolet Bolt
• 
  2017 Opel Ampera-e
• 
  2020 Buick Velite 7
• 
  2021 Chevrolet Bolt EUV