ALBAWABA - The United States government is providing roughly $2 billion in assistance to eleven car companies, including General Motors and Stellantis, to support the production of electric vehicles and their parts, as well as to assist relaunch or enlarge electric vehicle assembly and production facilities in eight states.
According to the White House on Thursday, the Energy Department will award funds worth $1.7 billion to help auto-based areas that have consistently powered the American economy and generate or preserve thousands of union jobs. Grants will be awarded to EV facilities in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, and Virginia in addition to Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
A wide spectrum of the automobile supply chain is covered by the awards, the White House adds, encompassing heavy-duty commercial truck batteries, electric SUVs, hybrid powertrains, and components for electric motorbikes and school buses.
The funding is made as 81-year-old Biden fights demands to withdraw from his re-election campaign following his appalling debate performance against Republican Donald Trump last month. The president is under fire for not acting more quickly on green loans, as the Washington Post notes, highlighting his rush to get environmental funds into the open ahead of the November election.
In a statement, president Biden said that “building a clean energy economy can and should be a win-win for union autoworkers and automakers,” adding that “his investment will create thousands of good-paying, union manufacturing jobs and retain even more — from Lansing, Michigan to Fort Valley, Georgia — by helping auto companies retool, reboot and rehire in the same factories and communities.”
General Motors stated on Thursday that it would use a $500 million government subsidy to help transform a Lansing, Michigan assembly plant to an electric vehicle production facility, with GM vice president of North America Manufacturing and Labor Relations, Camilo Ballesty, saying that “the federal grant “underscore our commitment to U.S. leadership in manufacturing and innovation.”
