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GM welcomed
President
Biden to
Factory
ZERO on
Wednesday,
Nov. 17,
2021, as
the
company
opens
the
doors to
its
all-electric
assembly
plant in
the
heart of
Detroit
and
Hamtramck,
Michigan.
(Photo
by HB
Meeks/Tell
Us USA
News
Network) |
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Biden
pushes
electric
vehicle
chargers
as
energy
costs
spike
By AAMER
MADHANI
and TOM
KRISHER
apnews.com
DETROIT
-
President
Joe
Biden
punched
the
accelerator
on a
battery-powered
Hummer
on
Wednesday,
causing
the
wheels
to
squeal
and the
truck to
jet
forward
as he
tried in
his own
way to
drive
the
country
toward
an
electric
vehicle
future.
The
engine
was
quiet as
the
president
pulled
up to a
waiting
delegation
of
reporters
and
officials.
“Anyone
wanna
jump in
the
back?”
Biden
asked.
The
president
had just
toured a
General
Motors
plant in
Detroit
to
showcase
how his
newly
signed
$1
trillion
infrastructure
law
could
transform
the auto
industry.
He is
highlighting
billions
of
dollars
in his
giant
bipartisan
infrastructure
deal to
pay for
the
installation
of
electric
vehicle
chargers
across
the
country,
an
investment
he says
will go
a long
way to
curbing
planet-warming
carbon
emissions
while
creating
good-paying
jobs.
It’s
also an
attempt
to
leapfrog
China in
the
plug-in
EV
market.
Currently,
the U.S.
market
share of
plug-in
electric
vehicle
sales is
one-third
the size
of the
Chinese
EV
market.
The
president
noted
that the
U.S. was
not yet
leading
with
electric
vehicles,
something
he
believes
his
infrastructure
package
can
change
with
plans to
build
500,000
charging
stations.
The
Hummer
he drove
has a
starting
price of
$108,700,
as the
electric
market
seems
designed
so far
to serve
luxury
buyers
instead
of a
mass
audience.
“Up
until
now,
China
has been
leading
in this
race —
that’s
about to
change,”
he said.
“We’re
going to
make
sure
that the
jobs of
the
future
end up
here in
Michigan,
not
halfway
around
the
world.”
Two top
White
House
advisers,
writing
in the
Detroit
Free
Press,
said the
legislation
will
help
America
regain
its
global
competitiveness,
which
has
waned,
they
contend,
“after
decades
of delay
and
decay.”
“Nobody
knows
this
better
than
Detroit,
which
has been
at the
heart of
American
industrial
strategy
in the
past and
now can
again,
which is
why
President
Biden is
coming
today,”
wrote
Brian
Deese,
director
of the
National
Economic
Council,
and
national
security
adviser
Jake
Sullivan
in an
opinion
column
published
Wednesday.
Republicans,
even
some of
those
who
voted in
favor of
the
infrastructure
package,
are
criticizing
Biden
for
being
preoccupied
with
electric
vehicle
technology
at a
time
when
Americans
are
contending
with a
spike in
gasoline
and
natural
gas
prices.
Senate
Republican
leader
Mitch
McConnell
took the
Senate
floor
Tuesday
to make
the case
that
“the
Biden
administration
doesn’t
have any
strategic
plan to
snap its
fingers
and turn
our
massive
country
into
some
green
utopia
overnight.”
“They
just
want to
throw
boatloads
of
government
money at
things
like
solar
panels
and
electric
vehicles
and hope
it all
works
out,”
said
McConnell,
one of
19 GOP
senators
who
voted in
favor of
the
infrastructure
bill. He
added,
“American
families
are
staring
down the
barrel
of
skyrocketing
heating
bills,
and the
Democrats’
response
is to go
to war
against
affordable
American
energy.”
White
House
press
secretary
Jen
Psaki
has
stressed
that the
administration
is
looking
at
“every
tool in
our
arsenal”
to
combat
high
gasoline
prices,
saying
that
Biden
and his
economic
team are
“quite
focused”
on the
issue.
Biden
has
asked
the
Federal
Trade
Commission
to
monitor
gasoline
prices
and
address
any
illegal
conduct
being
observed
and is
engaging
with
countries
and
entities
abroad
like
OPEC on
increasing
supply.
Biden
went a
step
further
Wednesday,
sending
a letter
asking
the FTC
chair to
consider
investigating
“whether
illegal
conduct
is
costing
families
at the
pump.”
The
letter
noted an
“unexplained”
gap in
the
price of
unfinished
gasoline
and
prices
for
consumers
at the
pump.
The GM
plant
Biden
visited
was
slated
to be
closed
in 2018
as the
automaker
tried to
shed
excess
factory
capacity
to build
sedans
as
buyers
shifted
toward
SUVs and
trucks.
But the
plant,
which
built
cars
with
internal
combustion
engines
since it
opened
in 1985,
was
rescued
a year
later
and
designated
Factory
Zero to
build
zero-emissions
electric
vehicles.
Currently,
the 4.1
million-square-foot
plant,
which
straddles
the
border
between
Detroit
and the
enclave
of
Hamtramck,
is
making
pre-production
versions
of the
electric
GMC
Hummer
pickup
truck.
Next
year it
will
start
making a
Hummer
electric
SUV. The
plant
will
start
cranking
out the
Origin,
an
electric
vehicle
for GM’s
Cruise
autonomous
vehicle
subsidiary,
in 2023,
and an
electric
Chevrolet
Silverado
pickup
at an
unspecified
date.
The
plant
won’t
see much
direct
impact
from the
infrastructure
spending,
but it
will
benefit
from
$7.5
billion
designated
to help
build an
electric
vehicle
charging
network.
Biden
wanted
$15
billion
to build
500,000
chargers
and
hasn’t
given a
number
for how
many
could be
constructed
for half
that
amount.
It’s
likely
$7.5
billion
won’t be
enough.
The
International
Council
on Clean
Transportation
says the
U.S.
will
need 2.4
million
charging
stations
by 2030
if 36%
of new
vehicle
sales
are
electric.
Currently
there
are
about
45,500
charging
stations
nationwide
with
about
112,000
plugs.
Biden is
hoping
to do
even
more to
promote
electric
vehicles,
including
a
provision
for a
$7,500
tax
credit
for
consumers
who buy
electric
vehicles
through
2026
that’s
been
floated
as part
of his
proposed
$1.85
trillion
social
services
and
climate
bill.
The
following
year,
only
purchases
of
electric
vehicles
made in
the U.S.
would
qualify
for the
credit.
The base
credit
would go
up by
$4,500
if the
vehicle
is made
at a
U.S.
plant
that
operates
under a
union-negotiated
collective
bargaining
agreement.
Only
auto
plants
owned by
GM, Ford
Motor
Co. and
Stellantis
NV
qualify.
———
AP
writer
Alexandra
Jaffe
contributed
reporting.
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