Detroit: President Joe Biden showcased his administration’s efforts to promote electric vehicles during a visit Wednesday to the Detroit auto show.
Biden traveled to the massive North American International Auto Show to plug the huge new climate, tax, and health care law that offers tax incentives for buying electric vehicles. He toured a mix of American-manufactured hybrid, electric, and combustion vehicles from Chevrolet, General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis on a closed-off convention center floor, and greeted union workers, CEOs, and local leaders.
“You all know I’m a car guy,” Biden told a roaring crowd of autoworkers, adding that cars “just give me a sense of optimism — although I like the speed too.”
While Biden has been taking credit for the recent boom in electric vehicle battery and assembly plant announcements, most were in the works long before the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law on Aug. 16. Biden’s 2021 infrastructure legislation could have something to do with it — it provides $5 billion over five years to help states create a network of EV charging stations.
In Detroit, Biden announced the approval of the first $900 million in infrastructure money to build EV chargers across 53,000 miles of the national highway system in 34 states and Puerto Rico.
The president credited the United Auto Workers and other unions with supporting him in his 2020 bid for the White House. He highlighted how his administration has worked to promote union contracts for big projects, calling union workers the “most skilled” in the nation. “The middle class built America, and unions built the middle class,” Biden said.
