Which brands are going fully electric and by when?

Since the beginning of 2021, barely a month has gone by without an automotive brand announcing it will ditch internal-combustion engines (ICE) in favour of electric motivation.

With plans evolving at a breakneck pace, it can be hard to keep track of when brands will be cutting off their petrol and diesel umbilical cords, so we’ve gathered all dates together in one easy-to-follow place.

As you can see in the table above, European brands are leading the charge to go fully electric. This is driven both by a general consensus about climate change, and tightening regulations in the EU.

With diesel going out of fashion and the EU fining automakers which step over the 95g/km of CO2 limit for their new car fleet, brands have recently rushed to embrace hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric drivetrains.

In July, the European Commission proposed to cut the CO2 limit to zero by 2035, effectively banning the sale of new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars.

Most of the brands going electric-only before 2030 are smaller players, such as Smart, DS, and Alpine, with little to lose and plenty to gain by getting a head start on the competition.

Mainstream brands which have committed to going all electric by around 2030 are often doing so with caveats.

Ford and Opel/Vauxhall, for instance, will only have electric ranges in Europe, while Audi and Mercedes-Benz will sell cars with internal-combustion engines in China or where market conditions aren’t favourable.

With sales of around 660,000 cars last year, Volvo is the highest-volume brand promising to switch to an all-electric range across the globe by 2030.

General Motors’ plan to ditch petrol and diesel by 2035 in “light-duty vehicles” is purely aspirational, while Honda won’t be internal-combustion-free for another 19 years.

The manufacturers without a publicly-stated electric-only goal are planning to massively expand their EV offerings, many based on dedicated electric architectures.

As you can see in the table below, most of these automakers have also provided guidance as to their expected EV/ICE sales split in the coming years.

With the even US setting a 50 per cent electrified vehicle sales target for 2030, it’s clear automakers will continue ploughing more of the research and development dollars in EVs.

We will update this article as brands and automakers announce new targets or plans to go fully electric.