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Major automakers and the Biden administration are mapping out a route toward a future where Americans drive a lot more electric vehicles.
A decade from now, electric vehicles could make up half of new vehicle sales in the U.S., according a voluntary pledge from automakers that will be unveiled Thursday at the White House.
President Biden, surrounded by union officials and carmakers, will sign an executive order setting a target that half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 be zero-emission cars, which would include plug-in hybrids.
His administration is also expected to announce new stricter emissions standards for gas cars. Transportation is the country’s largest source of greenhouse gases, and pivoting to electric vehicles is a central plank in Biden’s plan to fight climate change.
Ford, General Motors, Stellantis – which makes Jeep, Ram and Chrysler vehicles – all issued statements expressing support for the 40% to 50% target.
BMW, Honda, Volkswagen and Volvo also said they supported it.
Currently electric vehicles account for about 2% of new car sales in the United States, so a 40% to 50% target by 2030 is ambitious. But the global auto industry has recently embraced electrification. Many automakers, though not all, had already announced similar or more ambitious targets independently — for instance, Volvo plans to be entirely electric by 2030.
“These sales targets are certainly not unreasonable, and most likely achievable by 2030 given that automakers have already baked in large numbers of electric vehicles into their future product cycles,” noted Jessica Caldwell, an analyst at car data site Edmunds.
“Regardless of who has been in the White House, automotive industry leaders have seen the writing on the wall for some time now when it comes to electrification,” she added.
The United Auto Workers union expressed support for expanding U.S. electric vehicle manufacturing but noted that “the UAW focus is not on hard…
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