Coming soon: clean cars for all of us

By Shanti Menon

Published August 5, 2021

Today, the Big Three U.S. automakers and the United Auto Workers union will stand alongside President Biden as he announces his goal of making half of all new cars sold by 2030 free of tailpipe pollution.

The move makes it clear that the industry is ready for a major shift that will get more people driving clean vehicles, sooner. Ford, GM and others envision rolling out EVs to meet the needs of every driver, not just a select few.

This farmer wants an electric pickup truck

For Robert McKeon, who runs a 550-acre farm in Red Hook, New York, they can't come soon enough.

McKeon has been waiting for a clean vehicle to replace his conventional pickup, which died three years ago. He needs a pickup to haul his livestock trailer — he has cattle, horses, goats and a few llamas — and to transport bales of hay from his fields and apples from his orchards. He’s been making do with his old SUV for moving smaller loads and contracting out big hauling jobs to a fellow farmer — but what he really wants is to go electric.

“Throwing goats in the back of the Subaru got old pretty quick,” says McKeon, whose daughter Natalie works for EDF. “I’m dying for a pickup, but I don’t want another gas vehicle. It’s bad for the environment. And it’s a bad investment. The maintenance costs are high and they depreciate right off the lot. I’m waiting for electric.”

More clean vehicles, more economic benefits

McKeon's wait will soon be over.

Next spring, Ford will roll out its new all-electric F-150 Lightning. Ford’s F-series pickups have been the top selling vehicles in the country for nearly 40 years. The Lightning is the fastest yet, with a 10,000 pound towing capacity and a near-instant torque that prompted noted automotive expert Joe Biden to announce, after a test drive this spring: “This sucker’s quick!”

More than 100,000 people across the country have already put down a $100 deposit to reserve the Lightning, which has a starting price under $40,000. GM plans to make an electric Silverado pickup; Tesla’s Cybertruck, also priced under $40,000, is expected to enter production in 2022.

Automakers are betting on a wave of EV customers like McKeon. Worldwide, they plan to invest more than $340 billion in electric vehicles by 2030; about $51 billion is destined for the United States, where two factories in Michigan alone are expected to create more than 5,000 jobs.

Ford is plowing $30 billion into EVs through 2025 and expects nearly half its global sales to be electric by 2030. General Motors plans to introduce 30 new EVs globally by 2025, and aims to build only zero-emission cars and light trucks, such as pickups, by 2035.

Many experts predict that the lifetime cost of EV ownership will equal that of a gas-powered vehicle by 2025.

“The transition is happening,” says EDF Senior Counsel Peter Zalzal. “But if we want to protect climate and health, how fast it happens matters. And that is where Washington comes in.”

Clean cars and trucks can cut 15 billion tons of carbon pollution

Transportation is the number one source of climate pollution in the United States and a major source of air pollution. Making all new passenger cars and trucks pollution-free by 2035 and freight trucks and buses pollution free by 2040 is critical for the U.S. to reach its climate goals and protect people’s health.

“I’ve been waiting a long time for this,” says McKeon. “I can even use an electric truck for backup power if I need to run some equipment in a field or in an outbuilding. I can’t wait to show other folks the benefits. Everyone’s going to want one.”