“I’ll be there. I’m a car man – as you noticed,” Mr Biden said at an event. The Commerce Department on Friday awarded $52.2 million to a regional Detroit program called “Global Epicenter of Mobility” to help Michigan’s auto sector transition to EVs and autonomous vehicles.
The Commerce Department said that despite more than $5 billion in private investment, the Detroit area’s “prospects are threatened by growing global competition in the market for electric and self-driving vehicles, by the rapid pace innovation in new mobility solutions and by an aging workforce that needs continuous retraining to keep up with new products and technologies.”
The White House has welcomed a series of recent announcements of major investments from US and foreign automakers to build new battery and electric vehicle factories.
This month’s Detroit auto show will be the first time the event has been held since 2019. The show, open to the public from September 17-25, is expected to focus on the shift to EVs.
Biden wants at least 50% of new vehicles sold by 2030 to be electric or plug-in hybrids.
When he was vice president of the Obama administration, Mr Biden attended the Detroit auto show and was a strong supporter of the 2008-2009 bailouts of GM and Chrysler, which is now part of Stellantis NV .
EV battery makers are looking to ramp up production in the United States as the country implements tougher regulations and tightens eligibility for tax credits.
Japan’s Honda Motor Co Ltd said on Monday it will build a new $4.4 billion lithium-ion electric vehicle battery factory in the United States with Korean battery supplier LG Energy. Solution Ltd.
Also this week, Toyota Motor Corp said it would increase its planned investment in a new battery plant in the United States from $1.29 billion to $3.8 billion, partly in response to growing consumer demand. for electric vehicles.
General Motors Co and LG Energy Solution said this week that production had begun at their $2.3 billion joint venture’s battery production facility in Ohio. The companies said last month they were considering a New Carlisle, Indiana, site for a fourth US battery cell manufacturing plant expected to cost about $2.4 billion.