YOUR NEXT CAR WILL BE A VOLT:

Mercedes-Benz] has recently exhibited a range of green models, including the ultra-high-end Mercedes-Maybach EQS electric SUV, and has allocated just over €40 billion to transform its fleet to battery-only by the end of this decade (though with the notable proviso "where market conditions allow").

The company also claims it will be CO2 neutral across all operations by 2039, with a close focus on making sure such things as the rare earth metals needed for batteries are mined responsibly, and human rights are respected throughout the supply chain.

Mercedes-Benz has allocated €40 billion to transform its fleet to battery-only by the end of this decade. 

Its Factory 56, in Sindelfingen, near Stuttgart, Germany, is claimed as the world's greenest car plant.

Audi says from 2026 all its new models will be zero emission, and the internal combustion engine will be fully phased out by 2033. The company also says it will achieve net-zero by 2050; the Australian arm began using 100 per cent renewable energy this year and is making it available to buyers of its first electric car, the Audi e-tron SUV.

BMW promises 25 electrified models across its brands (Mini, BMW and Rolls-Royce) by 2023, including the fully electric Rolls-Royce Spectre. Mini will be a battery-only brand by the early 2030s. By then -- we are promised -- more than 10 million fully electric vehicles from BMW Group will be on the road. The company is already running its plants on 100 per cent renewable electricity and has bold plans for reducing CO2 over all operations and products.

It could be argued that such moves are easier in the higher-margin luxury sector, and in prosperous markets where perceived greenness is more likely to have prestige attached to it. Nonetheless, even companies in the popular price class are moving quickly. Renault has stated an ambition to be the "world's greenest brand".

"The R&D spend around the world is just astronomical and the primary focus is on low-emission vehicles," says Tony Weber, the CEO of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, Australia's peak industry body. "With so much going on, and so much focus on improving battery technologies, and also looking at hydrogen fuel cells, I think it's just a matter of when we'll all be driving some form of EV."

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