GM chief challenges gas car bans
CARS should run on petrol for a little while longer. So argued Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors, who on Friday cautioned against the growing trend of officials in China and a number of other countries making plans to phase out sales of petrol- and dieselpowered cars.
Speaking in Shanghai, Barra said her company was making a big push to develop electric cars but that consumers, not government dictates, should decide how cars are powered. China this month joined other countries, including Britain and France, to say they will eventually ban sales of petrol- and diesel-powered cars.
When it comes to China, the issue is more than academic for the Detroit automaker. More GMbranded cars are now sold in China than in the United States.
The potential bans call into question GM’s plans to tackle the next generation of new energy vehicles. GM has focused much of its efforts on developing plug-in hybrid vehicles. These cars, like the latest version of the Chevrolet Volt, have batteries that can allow them to travel 160 kilometres or more per charge.
But they also carry petrol engines and tanks that then allow them to travel several hundred kilometres farther. The announcements of Britain, France and
China could be read as possibly prohibiting plug-in hybrids because they call for cars not to emit any greenhouse gases, which internal combustion engines produce.