Ford, GM, and Stellantis announce joint 40-50% EV sale goal in 2030 – who is going to buy other 50%?

Ford, GM, and Stellantis, also known as the Detroit Big Three, announced today a joint goal for electric vehicles to achieve 40% to 50% of their sales in the US by 2030.

Who is going to buy the other 50% of their cars?

Over the last year, Ford, GM, and Stellantis (mainly Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, and Jeep in the US) each independently announced plans to accelerate the electrification of their respective vehicle portfolio.

GM says that it “aspires” to be fully electric by 2035.

Ford recently announced a goal for 40% of its sales to be all-electric vehicles by 2030.

Last month, Stellantis said that it aims for “over 40 percent of sales in the United States to be low emission vehicle (LEV) by 2030.“

Today, the Big Three got together to release a joint statement about their joint goal to “achieve sales of 40-50% of annual U.S. volumes of electric vehicles (battery electric, fuel cell, and plug-in hybrid vehicles) by 2030“:

“Today, Ford, GM and Stellantis announce their shared aspiration to achieve sales of 40-50% of annual U.S. volumes of electric vehicles (battery electric, fuel cell and plug-in hybrid vehicles) by 2030 in order to move the nation closer to a zero-emissions future consistent with Paris climate goals. Our recent product, technology, and investment announcements highlight our collective commitment to be leaders in the U.S. transition to electric vehicles. This represents a dramatic shift from the U.S. market today that can be achieved only with the timely deployment of the full suite of electrification policies committed to by the Administration in the Build Back Better Plan, including purchase incentives, a comprehensive charging network of sufficient density to support the millions of vehicles these targets represent, investments in R&D, and incentives to expand the electric vehicle manufacturing and supply chains in the United States. With the UAW at our side in transforming the workforce and partnering with us on this journey, we believe we can strengthen continued American leadership in clean transportation technology through electric vehicle innovation and manufacturing. We look forward to working with the Biden Administration, Congress and state and local governments to enact policies that will enable these ambitious objectives.”

The statement comes just as President Biden is expected to make an announcement about electric vehicles today:

The Biden administration already pushed for a $15 billion investment in electric vehicle infrastructure and transit as part of the infrastructure bill currently being pushed through the legislative process.

But the federal government is also expected to reform its EV incentive program, which currently gives up to $7,500 in tax credit at the purchase of some electric vehicles.

Strangely, the biggest US electric vehicle manufacturer, Tesla, was not invited. Perhaps 50% at the end of the decade doesn’t seem as exciting with Tesla just sitting at 100% the whole time. Also, previously Biden’s EV events have been closely tied to unions and Tesla has been quite anti-union.

Electrek‘s take

While these types of commitments from automakers are better than nothing, most of them are starting to look opportunistic and uninspired at this point.

40-50% sales of all-electric, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles combined is a weak goal in my opinion and frankly doesn’t meet climate goals.

I believe that there’s going to be a massive shift in consumer demand that will happen within the next four years where the vast majority of the market is going to realize that their next car will have to be all-electric.

Anything else will lose greatly in resale value as people will see the internal combustion engine as the “old” technology and battery-electric vehicles as the future.

It’s hard for these automakers to see that right now with EV sales reaching only a single-digit percentage of US sales, but as more compelling electric vehicles hit the market and become the best vehicles in their respective segments, consumer demand is going to shift fast.

While these automakers might not be ready for 100% EV sales by 2030, I think the market will be.

Also, these types of announcements feel opportunistic:

“We look forward to working with the Biden Administration, Congress and state and local governments to enact policies that will enable these ambitious objectives.”

GM wasn’t talking like that when Trump was in power and they were siding with him to lower emission standards in US vehicles.

It’s not like that was a long time ago. They only dropped out of Trump’s lawsuit against California’s CARB back in November when he lost the elections.