DETROIT — President Biden, a self-described “car man” and Corvette owner, toured the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Wednesday to begin construction of electric vehicle charging stations across the federal highway system. announced the approval of its first $900 million investment. .
The president’s announcement marked the beginning of a multi-year initiative funded by the Infrastructure Act he signed into law last year. The initiative has secured $7.5 billion for him to build a network of charging stations that will make long-distance travel more viable for owners of battery-powered vehicles.
The White House ultimately believes that will be enough to build about 500,000 stations across the vast swathes of the federal highway system and more isolated rural areas. owner.
“Whether it’s along Interstate 10 or Interstate 75 here in Michigan, America’s great road trip will be fully electrified,” Biden said. rice field. “Charging stations will be installed and will be as easy to find as petrol stations today.”
Biden’s aggressive push for Americans to use electric vehicles has been central to his climate change and economic policies.
Unless American drivers replace the gasoline cars that have transported them for the past 100 years with new zero-emission vehicles, the United States will meet Biden’s goal of cutting global warming emissions in half. Experts say it will be impossible to do so. 2030. This is the amount scientists say major economies will have to cut emissions over the next decade to avoid the most devastating effects of global warming, and automobiles are the number one source of global warming pollution. This is the biggest reason.
But achieving that goal will also require a transformation of the domestic automotive industry. Especially since most of the materials needed to make electric vehicle batteries are mined and processed in other countries.
The president’s visit on Wednesday highlighted how well his administration has achieved its goals for electric vehicles since visiting Detroit’s Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center more than a year ago.
Biden has promised to make 50% of new cars sold in the US electric by 2030, up from just 6% today, to force a meeting with domestic automakers and motorists. has promoted a series of new policies designed to that goal.
In August, we signed sweeping new climate, tax and health legislation that will reimburse anyone who buys a new electric vehicle up to $7,500 over the next 10 years. That same month, he also signed his CHIPS and Science Act. The law is intended to help semiconductor manufacturers that make some of the key components used in both electric and standard combustion vehicles.
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The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation are drafting new regulations due to be announced early next year that will likely require automakers to rapidly increase sales of electric vehicles. California, the US’s largest auto market, last month enacted new rules banning the sale of new gasoline vehicles after 2035, providing a preview of what such federal regulation could look like.
Both Biden hopes his electric vehicle policy will support US manufacturing and reduce climate warming emissions. But experts say it remains to be seen if that will happen.
New registration of an electric vehicle sharply increased It has remained a small fraction of the vehicles in service in the United States over the past year. And even with the $7,500 tax credit, battery-powered vehicles are still expensive for many consumers, and shortages of chips and other key components have resulted in waiting lists of more than a year, causing sales lots to drop. There are very few electric vehicles available.
The new climate law includes stringent requirements restricting the new electric vehicle tax credit to only automakers that assemble their vehicles in North America and source their batteries from friendly countries, so starting next year, Ford, General Motors, Tesla — Expected to be eligible for credit.
U.S. auto workers fear the shift will cost them jobs because only about one-third the number of workers needed to assemble electric cars as traditional petrol cars. .
Last year, Ford and General Motors each announced billions of dollars in investments in battery and electric vehicle plants across the United States. General Motors intends to phase out internal combustion engines entirely by 2035.
Last year, new electric vehicle company Rivian Automotive announced plans to build a $5 billion factory in Georgia.
Barry Rabe, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, says there is a great deal of complexity and uncertainty about how electric vehicle policy will play out.
“The wild card is whether these credits and incentives have enough money to drive corporate decisions about what and where to produce cars,” he said. We work closely with all our trading partners. ”
Rabe said Biden vowed that new American-made electric cars would be built by union members, but many new electric car and battery plants are already being built in non-union states such as Georgia and North Carolina. pointed out.
But Biden said Wednesday that recent investments in domestic electric vehicle production have also created thousands of construction jobs and will certainly require skilled electricians to build a nationwide charger network in the next few years. He repeatedly stressed that it would be necessary to
All in all, the vision laid out by the White House for a future dominated by battery-powered cars was very clearly reflected across the showroom floor on Wednesday.
As in years past, many manufacturers have placed their plug-in hybrid and all-electric models front and center, adjacent to the model’s charging stations, under a banner celebrating the manufacturer’s battery-powered portfolio. In the background, other companies showed off a range of portable charging stations and wireless charging technology.
The president seemed pleased with the scene.
“You know I’m a car fanatic,” Biden said. “I’m here because the auto show and the vehicles here give me a lot of reason to be optimistic about the future.”
He added: Just looking at them and driving makes me feel optimistic, but I also like speed. ”