General Motors has announced its plans to completely halt all production of gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles worldwide by the year 2035.
This means that the company has over a decade to completely phase out the production of diesel and gasoline vehicles. The American carmaker will transition to producing more electric-powered vehicles.
GM made the announcement on Thursday, Jan. 28, as part of the company's goal to become carbon-neutral by the year 2040. To meet this goal, not only do all of the company's vehicles have to be electric-powered, but all of its production facilities must also be powered by 100 percent renewable energy.
"General Motors is joining governments and companies around the globe working to establish a safer, greener and better world," announced Chairperson and CEO Mary Barra in a statement.
"We encourage others to follow suit and make a significant impact on our industry and on the economy as a whole." (Related: The big electric vehicle LIE: Electric cars are not "zero emissions," and their ecological impact is actually dirtier than diesel trucks.)
GM said that, by the middle of the decade, it will offer at least 30 new all-electric vehicle models, and by the end of 2025, around 40 percent of the models the company will manufacture and offer to consumers will be battery-electric vehicles.
To achieve this monumental feat, the company announced that it is investing $27 billion into the development and production of new electric and autonomous vehicles within the next five years. Before the start of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, GM only planned to invest around $20 billion into electric vehicles.
Environmental groups and market analysts welcome GM's decision
Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), said that GM is making an "extraordinary step forward."
"GM is making it crystal clear that taking action to eliminate pollution from all new light-duty vehicles by 2035 is an essential element of any automaker's business plan," said Krupp in a statement.
"EDF and GM have had some important differences in the past, but this is a new day in America, one where serious collaboration to achieve transportation electrification, science-based climate progress and equitably shared economic opportunity can move our nation forward."
Wedbush Securities financial analyst Dan Ives said in an investors' note that GM's decision is "a shot across the bow" against electric vehicle manufacturers like Tesla, which dominated the market for years.
Ives thinks that GM is sensing where the wind is blowing with regards to how the American government feels about electric vehicles, especially now that President Joe Biden has a "Green Agenda" that he wants to implement and the Democratic Party controls both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Ives said other automakers could potentially "follow GM's lead domestically with Tesla continuing to run away with market share in this EV [electric vehicle] arms race."
"A Biden White House and a Blue Senate are very bullish and a potential 'game-changer' for Tesla and the overall EV sector in the U.S., with a more green-driven agenda now certainly in the cards for the next few years," said Ives.
Biden has already signaled that his administration will heavily favor electric vehicles. He planned to replace the government's entire fleet of roughly 650,000 cars, trucks and other vehicles with electric models.
With just over a week in office, the new administration has signed multiple executive orders relating to climate change, including calling climate change a "national security priority," conserving no less than 30 percent of federal land and oceans by the year 2030 and canceling all new oil and gas leases on public lands and waters.
Ives believes the new administration will begin providing tax credits and other consumer incentives to encourage Americans to ditch their diesel- and gas-powered vehicles for newer electric battery-powered cars.
Head over to Environ.news to learn the latest news regarding electric vehicles and other moves by corporations to supposedly become greener.
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