The announcement last Thursday by auto major General Motors (GM) about its plans to be carbon neutral by 2040 in its global operations and offer only zero-emissions vehicles by 2035 ought to inspire competitors to follow suit. This move from GM, one of the world’s largest automobile manufacturers and the top American player in the industry, has set a timeline and plans to cut emissions by transitioning to battery-powered electric vehicles or other zero-emissions technologies, will require an investment of $27bn, up from the $20bn announced before the Covid-19 pandemic. The plans also include fuel-efficiency gains for vehicles with internal combustion engines.
GM will work with the non-profit Environmental Defence Fund to eliminate tailpipe emissions from new light-duty vehicles by 2035. However a blog post from CEO Mary Barra referred to this timeline as an “aspiration” rather than a deadline or hard promise. To help curb the company’s own emissions, GM said it will source 100% renewable energy to power its US plants by 2030 and global sites by 2035 – five years earlier than previously announced. The company also joined 300 global companies by signing a pledge to reach a net-zero carbon emission target. “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 towards a future in which every vehicle we sell is a zero-emissions vehicle,” said Barra in a LinkedIn post.
GM’s previously stated goal was to have 40% of all US models run on battery power by the end of 2025. At the moment the only zero emissions electric vehicle GM offers in the US market is the Chevrolet Bolt, which saw sales of 20,754 last year, accounting for less than 1% of the automaker’s total domestic sales. By contrast, Volkswagen, the world’s No 2 automaker, sold 231,600 electric vehicles last year, making up 2.5% of its global sales. To date, GM has invested $2.2bn in its Detroit-Hamtramck plant, $2bn in its Spring Hill, Tennessee, facility and another $300mn in Lake Orion, Michigan, to better enable assembly of all-electric vehicles. GM will dedicate 50% of its capital spending and product development teams to work on its electric and electric-autonomous vehicle programmes.
GM is in the process of launching 30 all-electric models by 2025 and expects the roll-out to accelerate in the following years. The 2035 goal applies to cars and light-duty trucks, with heavy and medium-duty trucks following by 2040. GM currently sells 137 different models worldwide. With the move, GM becomes the first major legacy automaker to put a hard date on finalising an all-electric vehicle lineup. Along with its Ultium battery-powered vehicle platform, GM is also developing its Hydrotec hydrogen fuel cell powertrain and currently working with Navistar and Nikola Motors to bring it to market for use in semi-tractor trucks. Navistar’s test trucks are expected on the road by late 2022.
GM’s Hydrotec Power Cube is equipped with 300 fuel cells that combine hydrogen with atmospheric oxygen to generate electricity, along with the thermal management and power control systems needed to operate it. Installed on a truck equipped with hydrogen storage tanks, each Power Cube can send 80kw of power to an electric drivetrain. Navistar has partnered with shipping giant J B Hunt to pilot the technology and hopes to have the vehicles commercially available in 2024 with a range of over 800km and a refuelling time of 15 minutes. Hydrogen supplier OneH2 is partnering with the effort to provide supply and refuelling systems for fleet customers. Navistar is one of several truck manufacturing giants working on hydrogen powertrains as a carbon-neutral alternative to diesel, along with Toyota and Hyundai, while Tesla and Freightliner are focused on developing battery-powered electric semis.
