Biden administration awards $1.7 billion in grants for electric vehicle manufacturing in eight states
Summary
WASHINGTON (AP) The Biden administration is awarding nearly $2 billion in grants to help restart or expand electric vehicle manufacturing and assembly sites owned by General Motors, Fiat Chrysler, Volvo and other carmakers in eight states, including the presidential battlegrounds of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.The Energy Department will issue grants totaling $1.7 billion to create or retain thousands of union jobs and support auto-based communities that have long driven the U.S. economy, the White House said Thursday. Biden, 81, has acknowledged his poor performance but has brushed it off as a bad night, even as many congressional Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have declined to give him a full vote of confidence.Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has maintained a tight grip on the Republican party, even after becoming the first former president to be convicted of a felony.There is nothing harder to a manufacturing community than to lose jobs to foreign competition and a changing industry, said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, a former Michigan governor. Even as competitors like China invest heavily in electric vehicles, the grants announced Thursday will help ensure that our automotive industry stays competitive and does it in the communities and with the workforce that have supported the auto industry for generations, Granholm said.The new grants complement $177 billion in private sector investment in EV and battery manufacturing since Biden took office, Granholm and other officials said.READ MORE: China to challenge Bidens electric vehicle plans at the World Trade OrganizationAwards are subject to negotiations to ensure that commitments to workers and communities are met, officials said. The grants come after successful union organizing drives from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Fort Valley, Georgia, the White House said.The president will not take his foot off the pedal when it comes to supporting the U.S. auto industry, said White House national economic adviser Lael Brainard.Transportation accounts for the single largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas pollution and Biden has made electric vehicles a key part of his climate agenda.Not only are we delivering new sources of clean transit that iconic yellow school bus going green but were also delivering to the American people options to save thousands of dollars of fuel and maintenance costs over the lifetime of a vehicle by going electric, White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi said.Companies slated for awards include Blue Bird Body Co., which will receive nearly $80 million to convert a Georgia site previously used to make diesel-powered motor homes to produce electric school buses. GM production lines will further support and benefit from ongoing investments in a U.S. battery supply chain, accelerating the commercialization of advanced, affordable EVs, the White House said.Harley-Davidson will receive $89 million to expand a facility in York, Pennsylvania to make electric motorcycles, and Volvo Group will receive $208 million to upgrade three manufacturing facilities that supply and build Mack and Volvo-branded heavy-duty trucks.