General Motors CEO Mary Barra was among a handful of auto industry CEOs and executives that attended a meeting at the White House this week to discuss EV adoption and charging.
Mary Barra in 2018
According to Reuters, one of the central talking points of the meeting surrounded federal funding for the Biden Administration’s plan to install 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations across the U.S., which was first outlined in the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law the U.S. Senate passed last November.
In addition to GM CEO Mary Barra, the meeting was also attended by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Ford CEO Jim Farley, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares and Nissan Americas chair Jeremie Papin, among other auto industry execs. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy were in attendance, as well.
President Biden drives a GMC Hummer EV
In a statement provided to the media, the Biden Administration said that during the meeting, “there was broad consensus that charging stations and vehicles need to be interoperable and provide a seamless user experience, no matter what car you drive or where you charge your EV.”
Access to charging has been an important topic for the Biden Administration, which is looking to promote EV adoption among Americans by proposing new federal tax incentives for the purchase of EVs and introducing stricter emissions regulations for internal combustion engine vehicles. Beyond installing the stations, automakers, private charging companies and the government face hurdles ensuring these charging stations are easy to access and use for owners of EVs from a wide variety of auto manufacturers. Payment is another complicated aspect of public charging stalls, with different charging stations often requiring different third-party apps to operate.
The Biden Administration said previously that it is aiming to ensure that 40 to 50 percent of all new vehicles sold by 2030 are either electric, hydrogen fuel cell, hybrid or plug-in hybrid. The White House has also expressed a desire to replace the entire federal fleet, which consists of 645,000 vehicles, with battery-electric equivalents – a move that may cost upwards of $20 billion.
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Comments
The dynamic duo, Biden & Barra.
You can say what you want but all the MFG’s are basically committed at this point.
It is a matter of survival.
They just do these meetings because they know the automakers have to show up and they need someone that looks like they support Joe no matter if they like him or not.
Everyone showed up for a meeting with the last guy too. CEOs know they need to play nice with whoever is in charge
IDK, seams like their paying lip service and praying for a change at this point. BEV interest is down, new car sales interest is down generally as inflation is up.
That’s just not correct Jake. Car sales are down because of the chip crisis. GM can’t keep anything on the lots. I live near a Buick GMC dealership and every time I drive past I glance at the lot. Where they used to have 6 rows of cars, they now only have enough new cars to stock one row. GM is selling as many BEVs as they can make, especially with high gas prices. The issue is one of supply chain problems. They can’t get enough batteries to supply their needs. That will resolve itself going forward, but as new vehicles roll out, battery availability will continue to be a challenge for the next decade.
Hey C8 what’s up? When I saw this one I knew we were going to have field day, I’m waiting for David Alan and C2 to weigh in and esko’s just an idiot who doesn’t know what he’s talking about! The only thing that I’m going to say about this article is that there is so much ass kissing going around, the need for tissue will be overwhelming! The other is that their are two Bill’s on this site and I don’t want us to be confused, we kind of have different view points. So I’m hoping since I have been on this site the longest the other Bill could add a 2 to his name or something, so our fans can differentiate between us. I don’t to be accused of flip flopping on the issue’s!
Yeah I like that, what do you think Bill 2?
Everyone at Jonestown was “committed” too…..
Didn’t work out that well back then either…..
Dump GM. Dump Tesla. Buy my stock DWAC.
If you are a multi-millionaire, I’ll make you a millionaire. That is a promise.
You don’t own anything. You’re broke with no stock and you have never invested in anything, you are infatuated with a man that doesn’t even know you exist.
If the goal is to replace the entire federal fleet with EVs, then why are they buying ICE mail trucks?
@A
The Trump Administration approved their Proposal for the new Vehicles prior to leaving office. Nothing Current Administration can do. The USPS can use that Budget (Fortunately or Unfortunately) as they see fit. The sitting President can’t even remove the Postmaster General.
Sure there is something they could do. Sleepy Joe could just sign another executive order like any good dictator does.
A- Because its the government, and they usually have no clue what they are doing.
B-You do actually want the mail to get to your home right?
MrR, mail has been delivered with EVs in the past. There wasn’t enough production to support a dedicated mail EV, but now with economies of scale, the technology is available to convert almost the entire fleet of USPS to EV.
They tried to do it in the 70’s with mail vans made by Sebring Vanguard and it was so successful that the project was abandoned and all the mail vans were scrapped and cannibalized for golf cart parts. I knew a country club that had about 10 lying around for spare parts.
Though I’m sure whatever mail EV eventually gets government money poured all over it, it will be late to delivery, not meet its price or range target and not last anywhere near as long as the 30 plus year old 1987 Grumman LLV the USPS is still using today……
Biden loves the unions. I guess thats why Tesla wasn’t invited to the previous EV events.
GM needs new leadership that listens to the customers rather than the government!!!!!
@Old School
What Government did GM listen to?
Correct me if I am wrong but GM announced their Zero/Zero/Zero vision a couple of years ago while Trump was in office correct? They have been working on their Ultium plan for two years now and prior to that they had the Volt and then the Bolt.
It is comical to me that some think Automakers are basing their decision on the American Government which doesn’t actually even have a NO ICE Date set at all as China and Europe does. BEV’s are the Future and if you do not want one, buy used in the Future…very simple. I as a GM fan am very Happy they started their switch early enough which might save them in the Future. There will be either many Mergers or many Legacy Companies going Down by 2030!!!
I don’t personally know anyone who wants an EV. I’m going diesel, that will be available forever due to farm, construction, and heavy transport needs.
@Old School
I think Tesla knows over 2 Million people so far and they will be selling 5 Million per year by 2025 but sure whatever you say.
This is a little misleading, they have sold nearly 2 million cars since Tesla formed in 2003….9 years ago or about a year and a half of Silverado sales if you want gauge it against something.
Tesla may add another 3 million to that tally by 2025 to reach 5 million. Saying that Tesla is going too sell 5 million cars a year, even worldwide, by 2025 when they sold 930,422 cars in 2021 seems fairly ambitious, by comparison, Toyota sells about 10,000,000 cars a year.
Not really misleading at all as 1.5 Million have come the last three years. And will be selling at least 5 Million Vehicles annually no later than 2025
Nothing like ash kissing from gm or all union manufacturers to get that joe fed money.
Oh, wait, that’s taxpayer money… so when you buy a union made ICE/EV, you’re paying twice, sometimes three times.
Keep attending those optic meetings to keep that taxpayer money…
Little gm sold 27 EVs in 4th Q while Tesla sold over 30k The numbers might be off by 1 or 2 but its clear Tesla is out selling Am Auto Mfgrs w/o kissing Joe’s ash for gov’t taxpayers money like gm. No electronic shortages at Tesla. …um, maybe because they already sell EVs and don’t have to stall building ICE vehicles with shortages to focus on building EVs.
“In addition to GM CEO Mary Barra, the meeting was also attended by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Ford CEO Jim Farley, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares and Nissan Americas chair Jeremie Papin, among other auto industry execs.”
How is it that Elon wasn’t in there ass kissing right beside Mary and the rest of the auto elite. You at the meetings too?
Of course she follows her leader! Funny will the chip shortage come to a complete end once they fall to the “Woke America clan” of elimination of fossil fuel vehicles. Anyone what to bet on this? A miraculous recovery in chips! Sick of GM and this CEO is the worst GM as ever hired.
Biden is a clown.
Sure, let’s burden an already crippled infrastructure more by adding the charging stations. Rolling black-out in California, roads going to hell in a hand basket…now let’s add additional stress to them with the heavy-weight EV’s and needing to charge to go 200-300 miles.
I was just at my Cadillac dealer getting a wheel replaced after hitting a pothole and he can’t get inventory to sell, or orders done for his customers. He told me to keep my 2 Cadillacs and Corvette when I asked him about ordering a Lyriq. When I talked to the road commissioner about the pothole, he said he can’t get materials to repave or fix potholes in any kind of timely fashion. Our town is trying to order 2 large transformers for a new business. The business needs them now, but the supplier is 40-50 weeks out and you can only order 1 at a time. We have major supply chain issues and it’s not just because of the pandemic. We are too reliant on foreign manufacturing for everything…microchips, clothes, oil, cars, batteries, etc.
I’ll keep my 3 ICE cars until the wheels fall off and I can’t get a part anywhere for them.
Let’s go BARRA !
I swear I saw Mary driving a Subaru yesterday.
What kind of car/truck are you driving? Anyone. Just curious.
The “resident ” in the white house is a lying , incompetent , dementia ridden embarrassment whose inept administration is ruining this once great country. # FJB and corn pop too!
Biden the clown can’t remember to wipe his own arse after taking a dump without being reminded to do so.