General Motors stated today that it would accelerate its investments in electric and self-driving vehicles, raising expenditure commitments a little over six months after they were first revealed.
According to the release (via Reuters), GM aims to boost global spending on EVs to $35 billion ($42.8 billion CAD) through 2025. The new number is a 30% increase over what the carmaker indicated it would spend in November and a 75% increase over its original commitment before the pandemic.
GM’s projected boost in investment comes less than a month after competitor Ford Motors boosted its EV expenditure to more than $30 billion ($36.7 billion CAD) through 2030.
Additionally, GM aims to sell more than 1 million battery-powered vehicles a year and use part of the excess cash to develop two additional battery plants in the United States, in addition to the two that are currently under construction in Tennessee and Ohio.
The new investment makes sense when you consider GM’s goal. GM intends to launch 30 new electric vehicles globally by 2025, with more than two-thirds of them accessible in North America. The cars will be available in various pricing ranges and will span GM’s complete brand portfolio, including Cadillac, Buick, GMC, and Chevrolet.
GM’s commitment through 2025 will be greater than the $30 billion ($36.7 billion CAD) indicated by local competitor Ford, but it still less than Volkswagen’s $86 billion ($105 billion CAD) investment in EV development and other new technologies over the same period.
Tesla, whose Model 3 was the world’s best-selling plug-in car in 2020, provided capital expenditure projections last year when it announced intentions to invest up to $12 billion ($14.7 billion CAD) on new models and battery facilities over two years.
Source: Reuters
