At this point they are so far behind, it's hard to imagine GM or any American company will ever make money on electrics. To be viable, the cars have got to be small, and Detroit (especially GM) has pretty much ceded production of even their own small car lines to foreign companies. Plus, half the cost of those cars is the batteries, which will almost certainly be produced in China. Though not given much attention by the media, the big breakthrough, LiFePO4 cells, has already been made and further improvements, at GM or elsewhere, will likely be only incremental. China already has multiple companies in brutal competition mass-producing LiFePO4 cells. Unlike the old lead-acids, they are light, stable and easily transported, so there's no reason not to make them in China where labor is cheap and technical know-how will soon surpass the US if it hasn't already. In five years, a lot of electrics will be sold here, maybe even by GM, but they won't be made here.