General Motors Co. will reportedly boost its worldwide expenditure on electric and autonomous vehicles by 30%, reaching USD 35 billion through 2025. The leading U.S. automaker will build two more battery plants in the U.S. costing USD 2 billion each and make headway for its EV investments as part of the spending.

In November, GM had raised its plans for spending from USD 20 billion which was announced in March before the closing of the auto industry due to the pandemic. The latest announcement comes after its competitor Ford Motor, earlier this month, announced that will increase its EV spending to over USD 30 billion by 2030.

The collective USD 65 billion by the leading U.S. automakers along with heightened expenditure by Tesla Inc and other startups like Rivian and Lucid has left other automakers contending to increase their funds.

It is worth noting that GM disputed with democrats over vehicle emission rules but recently it supported California’s 2019 deal on emission reductions along with other automakers. It has also asked for flexibility to achieve the carbon reduction targets by 2026, cited sources close to the matter.

Previously, in January, the automaker had stated that it was aiming to sell all its new vehicles with zero tailpipe emissions by 2035, a significant change from diesel and gasoline engines. Whereas, in November of the previous year, the automobile giant confirmed the accelerated rollout of launch 30 models worldwide by 2025.

General Motors together with partner LG Energy Solution are already building a battery plant in northeastern Ohio and are planning to build another in Spring Hill, Tennessee, worth USD 2.3 billion.

In another major development, a Senate committee promoted legislation that would raise tax credits to USD 12500 for EVs assembled by the union workers in the U.S. The present maximum tax credit is USD 7500.

The bill also covers a 30% tax credit for manufacturers to build new facilities for the production of advanced energy technologies, further supported the GM’s plans for the battery factory.

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