General Motors CEO Mary Barra says the company supports the emissions reductions put forth in a 2019 agreement between major automakers and the state of California, however the automaker is still looking for additional eco-friendly government support through federally-backed electric vehicle mandates.
A handful of major automakers, including Ford, BMW, Honda and Volkswagen, reached a deal with California Air Resources Board in 2019 that mandates a fleetwide average fuel economy of 50 miles per gallon by 2026. The deal stood in opposition to the Trump Administration’s looser federal fuel economy regulations and came as the White House attempted to block California’s ability to set its own separate emissions standards. GM previously backed the Trump Admin’s efforts to bar California from settings its own emissions standards, saying it supported a one size fits all approach with regard to fuel economy regulations, but later backtracked on the stance in November of last year.
In a letter sent out on Tuesday, GM CEO Mary Barra said the automaker supports the rules contained in the 2019 agreement between the automakers and CARB, but wants to see additional wording referencing electric vehicle adoption.
“We believe an electric vehicle compliance pathway is a key component to setting the industry on an irreversible path towards a zero-emissions future, which can only be achieved with a tailpipe-free light duty fleet,” Barra said in the letter.
Michael Regan, a spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Agency, told Reuters his organization“spoke this week with leaders from auto manufacturers to discuss EPA’s priorities to reduce climate pollution from the transportation sector.”
“These conversations have been constructive as the agency moves forward on actions to address emissions from cars and light duty trucks,” Regan said.
Earlier this year, the UAW, GM and other major automakers called on the Biden Administration to put forth a “comprehensive plan,” to boost EV sales, saying the current level of demand for EVs is not enough to bring forth its vision of an emissions-free future. In a
“Neither the current trajectory of consumer adoption of EVs, nor existing levels of federal support for supply- and demand-side policies, is sufficient to meet our goal of a net-zero carbon transportation future,” an auto industry trade group said in a letter sent to the Biden Administration.
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Comments
Poor little old Mary wants her Federal incentives on EVs again because they don’t sell without. If you want more folks in EVs why not design something that looks good first? Not to mention an AWD in the EUV would help.
Bolt will sell mostly to fleet, and be a great car in that role… Hummer and Lyriq look good…
At the current rate not many fleets nor anyone else are buying Bolts.
I have sold 2 in the last 5 months. I still have a 2 2020s collecting dust because GM didn’t have DC fast charge standard…
I guess poor little Germans are as clueless as Marry. Because they’re champion of EV transition by far. The fact that the real clueless ones are average joes which they see this a political football game and cheer for their team without even trying to learn about simple facts.
EVs are much better than gas cars and not only much better in every metric; fuel efficiency, service savings, torque, acceleration… also are much cheaper to produce: recently GM announced that they now abandon their platform summarization program because thanks to EVs it has become unnecessary. You don’t need different complicated engines, transmission and therefore body types with EVs. The EV skateboard platform is the foundation, you only decide how much you stretch the wheelbase. Basically you can make all your vehicle gamut with two platforms one for trucks one for cars. Do you know how much GM gonna save by getting rid of all those platforms, platforms specific engines, transmissions , serial production bands and thousands of components.; billions and billions.
Get over it already; ICE is death, it can’t support day by day increasing electronic components of the cars; computers, chips, sensors, cameras, autonomous driving, 5G connectivity, over the air updates, upcoming vehicle to vehicle communication, bigger and bigger screens… You need sustained high powered electricity source for those, your old school twelve volt acid battery doesn’t work.
How far can they tow 9600lbs without a long delay for recharging or a fire?
The problem is gm offers no hybrids on any of their vehicles. Just imagine if they had a hybrid Equinox and GMC Terrain that had 40mpg.
Hybrids lose money, they cost too much to develop, and do not offer the greatest experience, and as they age the complexity of the systems are a drag for their owners. Voltec was a good system, but a loser on the balance sheet.
EV’s are the way to go… Spend your hybrid dollars developing better battery tech, and get the cost down. EV’s are hard to beat for 90% of buyers lifestyle.
I agree Voltec was too costly, but there are simpler versions now. For example, the new Ford Maverick is a hybrid that costs less than $20,000 USD. Every vehicle like that moves the company closer to the government targets.
Volt was a range extended EV, not a basic hybrid like Maverick. When you look at GM, there is a finite number of engineers, and resources, so they have to pick and choose where to make their plays. GM has decided to push into EV’s big time (I think the smart choice long term). If you prefer Ford’s strategy, invest in Ford, and let’s catch up in 5 to 10 years to see which is working out better better strategy? Personally I invest in both, although Ford to a much smaller extent. Climate change is real, and we will never get better Ev’s until we invest and really try. GM is smart to get on the boat now, before Tesla sails too far out, and cannot be caught.
That’s sort of my point. Other hybrids on the market today are more affordable than the Voltec system and they still offer good emissions and fuel savings for consumers. The fact gm doesn’t have any hybrids is probably why they are resisting California’s stringent standards. Other companies are transitioning to EVs while selling hybrids. Surely gm could do the same?
No the investment is in getting the stock price up which takes ev’s on paper not actual products that people buy especially in your home market. Tesla as a company generates profit mainly from the credits it sells not from auto sales currently but hey it’s stock price is up which is all that matters at the end of the day.
Investors are betting big that Tesla’s next generation of vehicles will redefine EVs. I’m skeptical, to say the least, since their vehicles are years past their promised release date and Tesla continues to increase costs on existing products all while Musk flipflops cryptocurrency. I hope it works out for everyone’s sake in the industry.
Not exactly, but on the right track. If GM can get the stock out of the doldrums, it brings in new money, new investors, and easier financing for new development programs.
Tesla is quite profitable on their cars if you exclude the stock based compensation for Musk and crew, and take out their losses on service and solar. The problem for Tesla is Musk, other executives and board members are way over paid, that that all hits them on the earnings report. take that out and they would be profitable without the credit sales. Now as sales and revenue increase, Tesla can overcome that big drag of executive pay, and become sustainably profitable.
The basic laws of supply and demand win out. IF PEOPLE WANTED ELECTRIC VEHICLES THEY WOULD BE BUYING THEM. All government subsidies and tax breaks should be eliminated. THEN let’s see which vehicles people want to purchase instead of propping up the market using tax dollars.
I’ve read different articles claiming gasoline would be in the neighborhood of $12.00 per gallon without all of the tax dollars used to subsidize it. This includes Defense Dept. spending propping up the failed states as well as keeping Sea Lanes open to all shipping.
My guess, the switch to BEV’s would happen overnight if gasoline was priced at its true cost.
Just a self-serving, political BS move on the part of Barra. Remember a year ago she was against raising fuel economy standards. I hope she is not that dumb to realize you cannot get people to buy what they don’t want to buy.
Well of course it was. She snuggled up to Mango Mussolini, and right after the November loss even she could see that ole Mango had a better chance at reserved seating at the Gray Bar Hotel than the Resolute Desk.
Mary goes with whatever direction the wind blows. Nothing new here
If I can institute more regulations in the USA I can send more of those jobs to the Chicom slave labor camps as well as to hand them technology which will be used against us later.
THis is the only way these will sell. And besides the Hummer maybe the only way General Motors other electric offerings will sell. Isnt it interesting the paragraph that says Earlier this year, the UAW, GM and other major automakers called on the Biden Administration to put forth a “comprehensive plan,” to boost EV sales, saying the current level of demand for EVs is not enough to bring forth its vision of an emissions-free future. In a
“Neither the current trajectory of consumer adoption of EVs, nor existing levels of federal support for supply- and demand-side policies, is sufficient to meet our goal of a net-zero carbon transportation future,” an auto industry trade group said in a letter sent to the Biden Administration.” Close quote I think this summarizes and says it all. The market is voting and the returns are not there.
At best electric cars will be a niche player, the thing is electric cars are not the future, they are actually the past, roll back to the first generation cars back in the 1900s there were electric vehicles, that was going to be the standard, there was actually car makers that made electric cars most notably Detroit Electric who was producing electric cars up until 1930. THroughout automotive history there has been flirtation of electrification and if it was and is so feasible than why did GM abruptly cancel, force the owners of its EV1 cars to . turn them in and why did GM Crush them?.
It is political manuevering as a way to sell these Turds. So far it is a question that some but not many consumers have asked. It is sad when you have to go to the government and ride off the governments coattails to sell cars. What is more pathetic is car makers going to the Biden administration pushing for the green initiative to move because consumers are not adopting these or accepting. Why should we as tax payers have to subsidize these if they are want consumers want than consumers will adopt and make them profitable, if not than you move on and admit defeat. Time will tell but history for over 100 years of auto design and manufacture whethr it be German, Japanese, any European or AMerican history has not been kind to electric vehicles. Just ask Detroit Edison who went under in 1930. And Gm who decided to cancel there EV1 program take the cars from there owners and crush them.