Why General Motors boss Mary Barra is slamming the brakes on lofty EV ambitions

Falling consumer demand and shriveling government support undermine GM's all-electric plans

- Sharon Terlep

Not long ago, Chief Executive Mary Barra declared that General Motors was a decade away from quitting gas-powered cars, setting the course for a new mission, one that would safeguard the planet for generations.

"We have an opportunity and frankly a responsibility to create a better future," Barra said in a 2022 speech. She promised to launch 30 electric-vehicle models globally within a few years and, soon after, convert more than half of GM's North American plants to EV production.

Her ambitious quest to command new markets and save the Earth has since stalled. GM has gone from one of the industry's loudest EV champions to a leading opponent of government emissions rules and fuel-economy standards that for decades fueled the consumer market for cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Many car companies, faced with softening EV sales and a Trump administration hostile to green-energy initiatives, have called for looser regulations. None has backtracked as quickly and dramatically as GM.

"GM sold us out. Mary Barra sold us out," California Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a recent news conference. He was still fuming over GM's successful campaign to help strip the state of its authority to set clean-air regulations more strict than the rest of the nation.

The Detroit-based automaker this year has spent more to lobby the federal government than any company other than Meta, using much of the money going to fight clean-air and fuel-economy rules. GM's $11.5 million in reported spending through June is nearly double Toyota's tally and roughly six times that of Ford's.

One GM lobbyist called the office of Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) earlier this year to support his efforts to weaken 50-year-old federal fuel-economy rules that over the years significantly reduced fuel consumption and emissions, as well as helped birth such cars as Toyota's Prius.