TIME magazine has released their annual list of the 100 most influential people of the year and it’s filled with the usual assortment of celebrities and politicians.
However, there are two big names from the automotive sphere, and they’re General Motors CEO Mary Barra and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Needless to say, they’re two of the most talked about executives in the automotive industry and they’re both pushing the country to embrace electric vehicles. TIME makes note of this as the publication says “Barra is orchestrating a major pivot at the 113-year-old automaker” as she “spearheaded GM’s commitment to sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2035 because, as she said, ‘it’s the right thing to do.’”
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We’ll add in the caveat this only applies to their light-duty portfolio, but it’s still a major change and the company will offer 30 electric vehicles globally by the middle of the decade. That’s a speedy transition and GM has previously said 40% of their U.S. models will be electric by the end of 2025.
Musk’s inclusion on the list is pretty self-explanatory as the world seemingly hangs on every tweet he sends. While this has gotten him into trouble on more than one occasion, Tesla has played a huge role in pushing the auto industry to go electric.
While there were plenty of EVs before Tesla, the Model S showed they didn’t have to be ugly, slow and limited to pathetic ranges. Consumers responded and the company now has a market cap of over $750 (£542 / €634) billion. Not too shabby for someone who just turned 50 this summer.
