The world’s fifth largest car manufacturer, General Motors, has decided that they will not manufacture any cars that run on fossil fuels after 2035. In addition, their entire business will be emission neutral by 2040.
What makes this extra interesting is that GM has previously been one of the car manufacturers that has struggled when it comes to the transition to fossil-free cars. For example, together with Toyota and Fiat, they tried to stop California’s plan to raise the environmental requirements for cars so that they could be sold in California.
GM recently gave up that resistance and now the company is taking another step towards reducing its environmental impact. Now it may seem that GM comes into the game late, but better late than never. And it also shows that the fossil-fueled cars will soon belong in a museum.
The immediate plan now is for 40 percent of all cars GM sells in 2025 to be electric cars. This means that GM will invest 27 billion dollars until then in developing about 30 electric car models in all price ranges.
That GM is willing to go this far is also extra important considering which car models they sell. GM is big when it comes to selling gas-thirsty SUV models . Switching from these models to electric and perhaps hydrogen powered cars will cost big money. But GM believes that this is the only way forward and that a major investment is necessary.
The second part of GM’s environmental investment is to make production emission neutral. To cope with this, GM intends to switch to purchasing only renewable electricity for its factories and offices in the United States by 2030 and worldwide by 2035. The remaining emissions will be addressed by GM by 2040 through various climate compensatory measures. Another sign that coal power will have a difficult time in the future.
The other major manufacturers of fossil-fueled cars are also investing in electric cars, but they have not promised as much as GM. So now GM hopes to be able to get the other companies to speed up their transition as well.
– General Motors is now working together with governments and companies around the world to create a safer, greener and better world. We encourage others to follow our example and make a great contribution to our industry and the economy at large, says Mary Barra, CEO of GM in a statement.
