Automakers Worldwide Will Spend More Than Half a Trillion Dollars on Electric Vehicles This Decade – New Report

(Washington, D.C. – April 7, 2022) Automakers worldwide will spend more than $515 billion through 2030 developing new electric cars and passenger trucks and battery manufacturing, according to the latest report by ERM for the Environmental Defense Fund.

The Electric Vehicle Market Update, the most recent in a series of reports, shows the rapidly accelerating momentum for electric vehicle development and production both globally and in the U.S. Switching to electric vehicles will slash climate and air pollution everywhere. In the U.S. it will improve our economy by creating new jobs, will strengthen our national security by reducing our dependence on imported oil, and will save families money on fuel – all of which are especially critical now.  

“This report shows the strong momentum toward a zero-emitting future,” said Peter Zalzal, EDF Associate Vice President for Clean Air Strategies. “We are at a pivotal moment. To accelerate the progress toward zero-emitting vehicles in the U.S. and ensure that the health, climate, consumer savings and job-creating benefits they create are widely shared, it is critical that we adopt protective, durable and equitable public policies – including strong pollution safeguards.”

Today’s release is the fifth update to a report tracking the current status and projected growth of the U.S. electric vehicle industry. The original report was released in May of 2019. Today’s report found robust growth indicators for the electric vehicle sector just since the last update was published one year ago:

• Global automakers are project to spend more than $515 billion by 2030 to develop and build electric vehicles. In the U.S. alone, 13 manufacturers have already announced plans to spend more than $75 billion to open manufacturing plants in six states.
• By 2025, more than 100 battery electric vehicles are expected to be on the market and available to U.S. customers, including cars, trucks, and SUVs. These vehicles will each save their owners thousands of dollars in avoided fuel costs. 
• In the U.S. there has been strong demand for newly-announced electric vehicles. Ford has announced it will double production of its electric F-150 Lightning and there are more than 100,000 reservations for GM’s Chevy Silverado EV.
• Both global and U.S. electric vehicle sales remained strong in 2021 – up 40 percent and 4 percent year over year, respectively – even though supply chain disruptions and material shortages made the year difficult for sales of some other vehicles.
• In the U.S. the electric vehicle sector employed more than 250,000 people across the country in 2020.  Newly-announced plants will employ tens of thousands of additional American workers.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has also recently proposed standards for medium and heavy-duty vehicles like freight trucks and buses and asked for comments about strengthening those standards to help ensure greater deployment of zero-emitting vehicles. Today’s report underscores the important opportunity these standards present and offers more detailed information on the rapidly-expanding market for zero-emitting freight trucks and buses in the U.S., including:

• Two new reports, including one done by Roush Industries for EDF, found that electric heavy-duty vehicles like freight trucks and buses could also reach cost parity with diesel versions this decade, many by as soon as 2027.
• Fleets are making substantial commitments to zero-emitting vehicles. FedEx has said its entire global parcel pickup and delivery fleet will be zero-emitting by 2040 and Amazon has ordered 100,000 zero-emitting vehicles from Rivian.
• Other major orders since last year’s report include electric school and transit buses and Class 8 trucks.
• Manufacturers have invested almost $2 billion in medium and heavy-duty assembly plants, investments that will support approximately 15,000 direct U.S. jobs.

The transportation sector is the largest source of climate pollution in the U.S. and is a main source of other pollutants that cause smog and damage human health. Zero-emitting vehicles will help reduce this harmful pollution and are a powerful tool to address the climate crisis.

You can read the full Electric Vehicle Market Update here.

Read other recent EDF reports: Clean Cars, Clean Air, Consumer Savings here and Clean Trucks, Clean Air, American jobs.