GM commits to electric light duty fleet by 2035

General Motors on Thursday announced it would shift to production of an all-electric light duty fleet by 2035, part of a broader goal for the company to reach carbon neutrality by 2040.

Under the pledge, all light duty cars, trucks and SUVs would go electric by 2035, with 40 percent of the company’s U.S. models going electric by the end of 2025.

Medium- and heavy-duty vehicles would still use gas under the current plan, but the company plans to look for ways to offset any emissions from those vehicles by 2040.

GM said the plan is part of an effort to join “governments and companies around the globe working to establish a safer, greener and better world.”

GM is investing $27 billion in electric and autonomous vehicles in the next five years — up from the $20 billion planned before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also plans to operate its factories on 100 percent renewable energy in the U.S. by 2030 and globally by 2035. 

GM was the first company after the election to switch its position on a case challenging the Trump administration’s rollback of mileage and tailpipe emissions standards for vehicles, walking away from those who had intervened in favor of weakening the Obama-era standards.

Several other major automakers, however, had previously signed agreements to meet more strenuous standards regardless of the Trump rollback.