General Motors
GM
recently announced plans to power all of its U.S. sites with 100% renewable energy by 2025 — five years earlier than previously announced, and 25 years ahead of its initial target of 2050 that was set in 2016. With this move, General Motors aims to evade 1 million metric tons of carbon emissions that would have been otherwise produced between 2025 and 2030.
Sourcing renewable energy is a crucial component for General Motors’ plans to make its vehicle portfolio emission-free. The auto giant was able to accelerate its decarbonization timeline owing to a successful four-pillared approach. This involves increasing the energy efficiency, sourcing renewable energy through direct investments, green tariffs and power purchase agreements, creating technology to store renewable energy over the medium and long term, and supporting policies that enable a carbon-free, resilient power system.
To keep a tab on its progress, General Motors also announced the decision to team up with PJM Interconnection, a regional transmission organization, and TimberRock, a technology-enabled energy company, to track the carbon emissions at its facilities on a real-time basis.
This partnership enables the auto biggie to make strategic decisions about its electricity consumption. For instance, the company can make informed decisions about tapping into its battery-storage capacity to power operations or reducing consumption, when the power grid’s fuel mix consists mostly of fossil fuels.
General Motors is committed to its goal of providing completely carbon-free transportation and has been ramping up the company’s electrification efforts to attain this target. The company has always been at the forefront of the automotive revolution and is focused on its vision of an all-electric future. The Detroit-based automaker intends to make its entire fleet carbon neutral by 2040, and has committed to targets that align with the most ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement.
To this end, General Motors has committed to investing $35 billion to electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles, and plans to introduce more than 30 electric vehicle models globally by 2025. In fact, to advance on its commitment to lead an all-electric, carbon-neutral future, the company is aiming to achieve 100% renewable energy five years earlier in the United States. The automaker requires all its businesses to commit to using 100% renewable electricity, in order to drive the renewable power transition at an expedited pace and an enhanced scale. Further, the carmaker believes this is the sort of immediate action that is needed to reduce global carbon emissions and tackle the climate crisis.
General Motors has also announced that it has committed to participate in the Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, an initiative that brings together the public and private sector partners, to help advance the commercialization of technology that the automaker believes aligns with its equitable climate-action goals.
General Motors’ New Ultifi Platform Redefines Vehicle Ownership
In a separate development, General Motors unveiled Ultifi, a new end-to-end software platform in vehicles starting from 2023, build to unleash new vehicle experiences and seamlessly integrate customers’ digital lives. This new platform will usher in a sweeping suite of software-defined features, including giving drivers the access to in-car subscription and using over-the-air updates to offering new exciting apps and services, thereby increasing customer loyalty. This customization will re-imagine the vehicle ownership experience, as vehicles will have the access to the latest software and capabilities.
Ultifi’s functionality scales upon the Vehicle Intelligence Platform (VIP), General Motors’ advanced electrical architecture. Increased flexibility and faster software development are the two major benefits of this new technology.
The Ultifi software program is designed in a manner that makes driving extremely comfortable even for a novice driver. With the help of this program, drivers get easy access to all car facilities like sensors. Through communication with other connected devices and infrastructure, drivers could also be notified about hazards or changing road conditions.
Ultifi, which is being developed in-house, will be Linux-based, a widely-used developer platform. The technology will become available in 2023 and be easily available to all vehicles, despite the computing demands of the system. Customers can either purchase the vehicle or buy different access plans. This software marks the latest efforts by an auto giant to make new vehicles more connected than ever before. General Motors has always talked about the revenue-generating opportunities in the software and subscription services. Ultifi is another step by the company toward scaling up its software business in its pursuit to boost revenues beyond vehicle sales and earn customer loyalty for a lifetime.
General Motors, peers of which include
Tesla
TSLA
,
Ford
F
and
Stellantis N.V.
STLA
, currently carries a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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