GM’s ‘EV Live’ online showroom is here to answer your most pressing EV questions

It’s been a while since electric vehicles shed their fringe status and become a mainstream transportation technology, but they’re still not ubiquitous enough for the general public to be truly satisfied with the vagaries of their everyday use. Basically, electric vehicles are the shiny new toy and people still have questions. GM is here to answer them. The company announced Monday that it will launch an online showroom/studio called EV Live, which will host Q&A sessions with the general public about electrification, the pros and cons of owning EVs, and the Ultium 360 charging network and GM’s electric vehicle offerings will take place.

The free service will allow anyone in the US over the age of 18 with an internet connection to contact one of GM’s EV contacts to “answer EV-related questions in real time and provide virtual tours of the EV Live studio.” This studio will feature mockups of GM’s home and public chargers, the company’s battery technology and, of course, GM EVs. The liaisons will be able to talk about a wide range of topics – from the engineering and chemistry that goes into the batteries to explaining the home charger installation process and selecting a certified provider – but don’t expect that the answers are all inclusive .

“If anyone has a question about a Tesla battery pack, I’m sure they’ve provided a lot of resources,” Hoss Hassani, GM’s vice president of EV Ecosystem, said during a press briefing on Friday. “We’d like to talk to people about EV considerations as a whole when the opportunity arises to talk specifically about the GM advantage.”

“We’re not looking for our EV specialists to provide editorial comment or get into a political discussion about federal politics or state politics or anything like that,” he added. The showroom mainly focuses on electric cars, trucks and SUVs, but Hassani hinted that e-bikes, electric ATVs and other off-road electric transporters could also eventually become topics of discussion.

GM expects both potential EV buyers and new buyers will find value in this service. “If you’re someone who owns an electric vehicle, if you’ve done a lot of driving and then realized – like many of us – oh fuck, I’ve got a whole bunch of unanswered questions, that’s a great one place to understand how to make the most of what you already drive,” a GM rep noted during the call.

Visitors can schedule a live, one-to-one tour with a contact — on-demand live group tours and pre-recorded walkthroughs are coming later this year — and ask questions via either voice or text chat. But before you whip out your trash on camera, know the liaisons won’t last.

“Employees are empowered,” Hassani said. “If they find that a conversation is just going in an unfavorable direction or that someone is treating them inappropriately … well, it’s very easy to end the call.” The studio is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to midnight ET , open Fridays from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET and Saturday to Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. ET.