Biden administration announces a $1.7 billion plan to juice electric vehicles in America

By CNN Newsource

Published July 11, 2024 2:00 AM

By Sam Fossum and Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN

(CNN) — The White House on Thursday said it would hand out $1.7 billion to help convert closed-down or at-risk auto manufacturing and assembly facilities to make electric and hybrid vehicles.

The funding comes as growth in new electric vehicle sales has slowed, even as the Biden administration wants to keep US EV manufacturers competitive with a surging Chinese industry. Just earlier this year President Joe Biden quadrupled tariffs on electric vehicles from China.

“This announcement is a hallmark of the Biden administration’s industrial strategy, which is a strategy to bring manufacturing jobs back to America after years of offshoring,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told reporters.

The plants selected by the Department of Energy for the money, which comes from the landmark Inflation Reduction Act, cover eight states, including critical battlegrounds like Michigan and Pennsylvania.

“Building a clean energy economy can and should be a win-win for union autoworkers and automakers. This investment will create thousands of good-paying, union manufacturing jobs and retain even more—from Lansing, Michigan to Fort Valley, Georgia – by helping auto companies retool, reboot, and rehire in the same factories and communities,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.

The projects, according to the administration, create an estimated 2,900 new jobs and save 15,000 jobs that would otherwise have been lost. The awardees include major automakers like GM and Volvo as well as suppliers, like American Auto Parts.

The plants also include facilities from vehicle component manufacturing to full vehicle assembly, according to a senior administration official.

The move comes as the growth rate of EV sales has slowed even as total EV sales have continued to rise. The industry, according to experts, has entered a phase where automakers are struggling to bridge the gap from early adopters to mass market consumers.

This has led to some automakers taking an increased interest in the hybrid space, with sales up across the country and GM and Ford both announcing that they plan to make more.

And notably, the facilities in Thursday’s announcement work on both electric and hybrid vehicles.