Iconic automaker General Motors has boosted its spending on electric and autonomous vehicles and is fast tracking plans for two US battery plants.

GM says it will now spend US$35 billion through 2025 on EVs, an increase of 75 percent from March 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the industry.

As part of the spending, GM will build two additional US battery plants with details to be announced later.

The new battery plants are expected to account for more than half of the latest $8 billion increase in spending.

The company’s CFO, Paul Jacobson, said EV adoption was increasing and reaching an inflection point and GM wants to be ready to be able to produce the capacity that we need to meet demand over time.