announcer: we will have more from the u.s. conference of mayors. the next panel will be focusing

on women in leadership. we will hear from the u.s. small business administrator, isabel guzman. and representative sheila jackson lee. while we wait for this to begin, we will take a look at today's's 's washington journal -- at today's washington journal. he is at general motors, vice president of global public policy. what is gm highlighting at this year's show? guest: good morning and thank you for having me. i'm a big fan of c-span in this program so this is a personal thrill for me to be with you this morning. what do i think about the cars? this is super exciting. if you watch the local news channels in washington they have visited the chevrolet exhibit with the lamp of ev's including the super exciting electric corvette that was just announced earlier this week, so it is a thrill to be here. i am happy to take the questions

coming in. i was listening to the most recent two callers. critical minerals is an important part of the discussion and gm as a part of all that work developing critical minimal -- critical mineral resources and bringing the process to north america so we are localizing the production and taking advantage of the technology and the american economy. host: how much does gm strategy depend on electric vehicles? guest: we announced a couple years ago and have made a commitment to going fully electric with our light-duty vehicles by 2035. the republican caller just shared right before i joined, this is a transformation of a product portfolio that will occur over the next several years. we are super excited with that. we are introducing new ev vehicle models every year and we

will grow in that regard. how much does it depend on the transformation? this is the future of transportation. general motors started out with a wagon. then we transformed our portfolio to vehicles, to the automobile, and then we grew. different propulsion units. being the best and for most manufacturer in the world today and introducing electric vehicles, introducing a lot of technology. america has always led the future of transportation and we want to ensure americans continue to lead the future of transportation. host: what are the costs of your ev models? guest: first we have

ev's, battery technology, this year, they are coming out with a 600 mile range battery you can recharge. any word on that? guest: sure, first, thanks for the question. love new mexico. fabulous date. -- fabulous estate. you were talking about the history of ev's. in general motors' articles of incorporation, we referenced -- the founders of the company, more than 100 years ago, talked about proposing electric and flying cars. to think about the visionaries that launched general motors again more than a century ago, the technology has been available. it is there, from the very start

of mobility here in the u.s. and the technology is just wow, where we are today. our battery technology in some of our vehicles, we are looking at 300-400 miles, depending on the vehicle and the price range, but -- actually one other very important point is that battery technology continues to improve, we are developing the battery technology right here in the u.s. with the technical prowess we have in america. and we are confident the range for batteries will continue to improve. host: steve and fort charlotte florida in a text, why isn't biodiesel being explored? no emissions except water vapor. farmers can produce it. the technology is there. seems like a true pass to energy independence. omar vargas? guest: there's a variety of fuel

sources for vehicles, that goes into the propulsion systems. biodiesel certainly is a technology that has been around and is available. but when we look at a variety of other factors, including our quality -- air quality, emissions, and where technology is steady and transportation, we want to be competitive. if countries and markets and auto manufacturers around the world are advancing in the electric vehicle space, we want to continue to lead that. another promising area is hydrogen fuel cell. the technology is robust. it works. but we've got to get the economics right to be able to mass deploy that. i think sometime in the future you will see that as an option for propulsion, hydrogen fuel cell. that is a long time away, but we continue to work in that space as well. host: wisconsin, independent color. good morning. caller;: good morning --

caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. it's about 20 degrees out. the previous caller said we are going to have a vehicle with a 600 mile range. how heavy are these batteries, not have to -- that have to be in order to go 600 miles? i recently read an article in my local paper that these vehicles are extremely more destructive because of the batteries weighing so much more than the actual car. one other question -- are the trucks coming up four-wheel-drive or two wheel drive laser that is electric? thanks for taking my question. guest: sure, happy to talk about both aspects. i think you were commencing on the weights of the batteries and