General Motors to go fully electric by 2035
January 28, 2021
General Motors (GM) plans to go fully electric by 2035 and completely end production of its diesel and gasoline powered engines for cars, SUVS and trucks. This new shift towards electric is part of its greater strategy of becoming carbon neutral by 2040.
By 2030 it plans to power its U.S. facilities with 100% renewable energy, and its global facilities would follow suit by 2035. This is five years ahead of its previously announced goal.
A huge investment of $27 billion would be pumped in to facilitate the worldwide release of 30 new EVs by 2025. We can also expect most if not all its luxury Cadillac cars and SUVs to be EVs by 2030. Currently, GM is planning to transform three of its U.S. based plants to produce electric vehicles.
GM had always touted a “triple zero vision,” including a future with zero emissions through electric vehicles, zero congestion and zero crashes through advanced safety technologies and self-driving vehicles but never announced a time frame.
This time due to factors such as regulations and infrastructure, GM says its 2035 EVs goal is an “aspiration” and can only be achieved if other factors such as regulations and infrastructure come in. David Friedman, vice president of advocacy at Consumer Reports, criticized GM’s lack of commitment to the goal. He said that strong aspirations are commendable, but strong organizational and operational policies are necessary to attain climate goals.
Dane Parker, GM's chief sustainability officer affirmed that GM plans to be profitable in its transition from vehicles with traditional internal combustion engines to EVs during a media briefing. He acknowledged that there are going to technological challenges but was confident in overcoming them with GM’s resources and expertise. He was hopeful that it would be a successful business model of the future.
GM CEO Mary Barra stressed the importance and need for the changes in a message on LinkedIn. She said, “For General Motors, our most significant carbon impact comes from tailpipe emissions of the vehicles that we sell — in our case, it’s 75 percent. That is why it is so important that we accelerate toward a future in which every vehicle we sell is a zero-emissions vehicle.” Parker also stressed the need for the change and attributed it to the convergence of favourable factors such as a reduction in pricing and advancements in technologies.
Electric vehicles are currently a niche segment of the global automotive industry as they are more expensive to produce than those with internal combustion engines due to the battery and fuel cells that power EVs. Analysts estimate their sales figures to be less than 5%. However, automotive executives and analysts are positive that the rise of EVs due to stricter regulations to reduce carbon emissions would be the future for the automotive industry.