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"I'll be there. I'm a car guy - as you kind of noticed," Biden
said at an event. The Commerce Department on Friday awarded
$52.2 million to a Detroit regional program called the "Global
Epicenter of Mobility" to help Michigan’s automotive sector
transition to EVs and autonomous vehicles.
The Commerce Department said despite more than $5 billion in
private investment the Detroit region’s "prospects are
threatened by rising global competition in the electric and
autonomous vehicle market, by the rapid pace of innovation in
new mobility solutions and by an aging workforce that needs
continuous reskilling to keep up with new products and
technologies."
The White House has heralded a string of recent major investment
announcements from U.S. and foreign automakers to build new
battery plants and electric vehicles.
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
Sept. 17 to Sept. 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 electric hybrids.
When he served as vice president in the Obama administration,
Biden attended the Detroit auto show and was a strong advocate
of the 2008-09 bailouts of GM and Chrysler, which is now part of
Stellantis NV.
EV battery makers are looking to increase U.S. production as the
country implements stricter regulation and tightens tax credit
eligibility.
Japan's Honda Motor Co Ltd said on Monday it will build a new
$4.4 billion lithium-ion battery plant for electric vehicles in
the United States with Korean battery supplier LG Energy
Solution Ltd.
Also this week, Toyota Motor Corp said it will boost its planned
investment in a new U.S. battery plant from $1.29 billion to
$3.8 billion, partly in response to rising consumer demand for
electric vehicles.
General Motors Co and LG Energy Solution said this week
production had begun at their $2.3 billion joint-venture battery
production plant in Ohio. The companies said last month they
were considering a site in New Carlisle, Indiana, for a fourth
U.S. battery cell manufacturing plant expected to cost around
$2.4 billion.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Matthew
Lewis)
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