General Motors leads fleet professionals on their journey into the future.

More than 1,200 North American fleet professionals, including over 50 from Canada, attended the 2024 GM Envolve Solutions Summit, which took place in Las Vegas this year, from April 24-26.

Besides a full roster of GM vehicles on static display, a robust ride and drive program, and a GM Canada reception, the Summit included a keynote presentation highlighting new GM products and services.

Sandor Piszar, Vice President, GM Envolve kicked off the keynote by explaining how GM is catering to the needs of fleet customers. “A year ago, at this very event, we launched GM Envolve,” Piszar said, “and from the very start, the brand, the products, the solutions we bring were built for you, and with you. GM Envolve is about giving you access through a single point of contact to our full suite of products and solutions.”

Building on Piszar’s comments, and commenting after the keynote presentation, Sham Ahluwalia, Director, GM Envolve added the following: “GM Envolve is a customized approach to meet our fleet and commercial customer needs through a one-stop shop point of contact. This will allow GM to continue offering the best products, solutions, and technologies to customers, and further reinforce the breadth of our product, depth of our fleet knowledge and strength of our large Canadian GM Dealer Network.

“Through holistic account management with our GM Envolve account managers, our field team is backed with a dedicated team of experts in an effort to gain efficiencies through the GM ecosystem. In an ever-changing business environment, we are seeing several companies reduce their carbon emissions and work towards more sustainable fleets. GM Envolve will prepare customers to stay ahead of change through a streamlined set of ICE and EV products, and services tailored to current and future business needs.”

Committed to ICE and EV vehicles

Scott Bell, Vice President, Global Chevrolet took to the stage next, explaining how important driver safety is to GM. “Safety is at the core of everything we do, and I’m sure it’s at the core of everything you do,” he said. “That’s why we offer more standard safety features than ever before, across our entire lineup. And at Chevy, we have what we’ve branded Chevy Safety Assist. This is six of our most advanced safety features, and they’re all standard, giving your drivers more confidence, each time they drive.”

Bell talked about electrification, and how it’s a journey, and not a single step. “We understand that this transition is going to take some time,” he added, “and that’s why we are committed to keeping a foot in both camps: We’re not just committed to have ICE and EVs, but to having the best ICE and EVs, bar none.”

He then introduced a number of Chevy vehicles, including the all-new 2025 Equinox, which boasts a new design, and a wider stance. It also sits higher, and feels more truck-like than before. “This is our big volume vehicle,” Bell added. “It’s been with us for more than 20 years, and we’ve sold over three million of them. It’s by far, our best-selling Chevy SUV.”

Next, Bell unveiled a number of exciting EVs, including the Blazer EV, Equinox EV, and Silverado EV. “We launched the Silverado EV to fleet customers first,” he added, “which is something we have never done before. I hope this demonstrates to all of you just how confident we are in the capability of this truck.”

Ongoing EV support

Jennifer Costabile, General Director of Marketing and Sales, GM Envolve explained how GM is supporting fleets as they transition from ICE to EVs. “Making the transition to electrification is complex, with a lot to consider,” she said. “You can’t just flip a switch and convert your fleet to EVs. For your business to be effective, you need support throughout the process, with tools that are designed specifically for you.”

In addition to helping fleets choose the right vehicles, the right chargers, and getting everything up and running, GM is committed to helping fleet managers and their drivers flatten the EV learning curve, with the goal of making the transition as simple, and as painless as possible.

“We want to be your easy button,” Costabile added. “No matter where you are in your EV journey, and no matter how many EVs you start with, doing EV right requires a core set of essentials. These are items that you need to have in place before your first EV even arrives.”

With that thought in mind, Costabile explained how GM is helping fleets make key decisions. “Charging is just part of the bigger picture,” she said. “We’ll make sure all your options are reviewed, and then help you execute the best charging methods for your business, whether that’s depot, home or public.”

GM Envolve will prepare customers to stay ahead of change through a streamlined set of ICE and EV products,and services tailored to current and future business needs.”
—Sham Ahluwalia, Director, GM Envolve

Fleet customers who decide that home charging is the best option, can count on GM to offer home charging solutions, as well as assistance with the installation process. “Home charging has its own unique set of variables that can be complicated to navigate,” Costabile added. “For example, choosing the right charger, and then realizing that your employee’s home requires electrical upgrades. We can help you with those challenges, delivering a turnkey solution, including a project manager to work with you every step of the way.”

In addition, GM is offering software solutions that can help fleets manage the costs associated with home charging. “We have software solutions that can help make reimbursing your drivers for EV charging as easy as ICE vehicles and fuel cards,” Costabile said. Moreover, GM’s software solutions can help fleets determine which employees, and which routes are best suited to take advantage of an EV. “Then, we can help you put all this together to create an electric vehicle business case, which you can use to secure the support needed from your management,” Costabile concluded.

OnStar solutions

Director of OnStar Business Solutions, Michelle Calloway spoke about how GM can help fleets leverage the power of data. “No matter the makeup of your fleet,” she explained, “whether ICE, EV or a combination of both, OnStar has the solutions that connect everything, and allow you to analyze millions of data points from your vehicles.”

Calloway announced that OnStar is offering three core plans for fleets to choose from, including a new OnStar One Business Standard plan. Available on 2025 model year vehicles, it comes with OnStar automatic crash response, low oil life notifications, low battery levels for EVs, diagnostics tools, and other vehicle health information.

Vehicle security is another issue OnStar is ready to tackle. The subscription-based OnStar Security Plan includes tools that can help combat vehicle theft.

Stolen Vehicle Assistance, for example, can automatically notify local police of a theft, and help them locate the vehicle.

Finally, the OnStar Insights Plan can help fleet managers monitor driver behaviour and provide realtime in-vehicle coaching. This plan is available with a dual-camera feature, so that if an accident should occur, the fleet manager can access the vehicle data, along with the video, and determine what happened.

Customer care

The keynote concluded with a presentation by Dave Marsh, Global VP of Customer Care and Aftersales for GM who stressed GM’s commitment to customer satisfaction. “Our mission is to provide exceptional experiences for all our customers,” he said, “so we create and keep customers for life.”