The United States based auto giant General Motors hopes to offer zero emission vehicles only by 2025 and has set a target of becoming carbon neutral by 2040 in its global operations, the company said on Thursday.
It is planning to manufacture only electric vehicles in the future, the largest US automaker GM had previously announced but had not set any deadline of reaching that goal.
In order to achieve its target of zero emissions, GM will make a transition from making conventional vehicles to battery powered electric vehicles or vehicles using other zero emissions technologies. The company said that this transition will need an investment of $27 billion which was higher than the pre pandemic estimates of the company of $20 billion.
By 2035, the automaker will also eliminate tailpipe emissions from new light duty vehicles and would be collaborating with the Environmental Defense Fund for this purpose. This timeline was referred to as more of an "aspiration" rather than a deadline or hard promise, said company CEO Mary Barra in a blog post.
This announcement by the auto giant follows a flurry of executive orders signed by the new US president Joe Biden on his first day in office earlier this week aimed to address the issue of climate change and included an order of the US rejoicing the Paris Climate Agreement.
The company will use 100 per cent renewable energy for powering its US plants by 2030 and its global factories by 2035 in order to reduce the company’s own emissions, GM said. Previously the company had set a goal of 2040 of achieving zero carbon emissions. The company also became a part of a global initiative of 300 companies that have pledged to achieve a target of net-zero carbon emission.
"For General Motors, our most significant carbon impact comes from tailpipe emissions of the vehicles that we sell -- in our case, it's 75%. That is why it is so important that we accelerate toward a future in which every vehicle we sell is a zero-emissions vehicle," said Barra in a LinkedIn post.
The company had previously announced its target of electrification of at least 40 per cent of all of its US models by the end of 2035. The Chevrolet Bolt is the only zero emissions electric vehicle that GM currently offers in the US market. Last year, the company sold 20,754 units of the car which was less than 1 per cent of the total sales of the company in the US market.
In comparison, 231,600 electric vehicles were sold last year by Volkswagen, the second largest auto company of the world, which accounted for 2.5 per cent of the global sales by units of the company.
So far, an investment of $2.2 billion in its Detroit-Hamtramck plant, $2 billion in its Spring Hill, Tennessee, factory and another $300 million in Lake Orion, Michigan have been made so far by GM – all aimed at increasing ability of the company to assembly all-electric vehicles.
"We are excited that President Biden shares our enthusiasm for American manufacturing as well as electric vehicles and think that adding EVs to government fleets and the needed infrastructure to support them is a great way to get more EVs on the road as we work towards a zero-emission, all-electric future," GM said in a statement.
(Source:www.cnn.com)
It is planning to manufacture only electric vehicles in the future, the largest US automaker GM had previously announced but had not set any deadline of reaching that goal.
In order to achieve its target of zero emissions, GM will make a transition from making conventional vehicles to battery powered electric vehicles or vehicles using other zero emissions technologies. The company said that this transition will need an investment of $27 billion which was higher than the pre pandemic estimates of the company of $20 billion.
By 2035, the automaker will also eliminate tailpipe emissions from new light duty vehicles and would be collaborating with the Environmental Defense Fund for this purpose. This timeline was referred to as more of an "aspiration" rather than a deadline or hard promise, said company CEO Mary Barra in a blog post.
This announcement by the auto giant follows a flurry of executive orders signed by the new US president Joe Biden on his first day in office earlier this week aimed to address the issue of climate change and included an order of the US rejoicing the Paris Climate Agreement.
The company will use 100 per cent renewable energy for powering its US plants by 2030 and its global factories by 2035 in order to reduce the company’s own emissions, GM said. Previously the company had set a goal of 2040 of achieving zero carbon emissions. The company also became a part of a global initiative of 300 companies that have pledged to achieve a target of net-zero carbon emission.
"For General Motors, our most significant carbon impact comes from tailpipe emissions of the vehicles that we sell -- in our case, it's 75%. That is why it is so important that we accelerate toward a future in which every vehicle we sell is a zero-emissions vehicle," said Barra in a LinkedIn post.
The company had previously announced its target of electrification of at least 40 per cent of all of its US models by the end of 2035. The Chevrolet Bolt is the only zero emissions electric vehicle that GM currently offers in the US market. Last year, the company sold 20,754 units of the car which was less than 1 per cent of the total sales of the company in the US market.
In comparison, 231,600 electric vehicles were sold last year by Volkswagen, the second largest auto company of the world, which accounted for 2.5 per cent of the global sales by units of the company.
So far, an investment of $2.2 billion in its Detroit-Hamtramck plant, $2 billion in its Spring Hill, Tennessee, factory and another $300 million in Lake Orion, Michigan have been made so far by GM – all aimed at increasing ability of the company to assembly all-electric vehicles.
"We are excited that President Biden shares our enthusiasm for American manufacturing as well as electric vehicles and think that adding EVs to government fleets and the needed infrastructure to support them is a great way to get more EVs on the road as we work towards a zero-emission, all-electric future," GM said in a statement.
(Source:www.cnn.com)
