US President Joe Biden has acknowledged Tesla’s leadership role as an American electric-vehicle maker. Speaking at the White House on Tuesday about efforts to make sure more things are manufactured in the US, like Intel’s chip-making initiatives, Biden praised the manufacturers working on EVs.
“Since 2021, companies have announced investments totaling more than $200 billion in domestic manufacturing here in America, from iconic companies like GM and Ford building out new electric-vehicle production to Tesla, our nation’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, to innovative younger companies like Rivian, building electric trucks, or Proterra, building electric buses,” Biden said.
Biden’s mention of Tesla comes after clashes with the company and its CEO, Elon Musk, including Tesla’s exclusion from a White House event for electric-vehicle makers last year. “It’s not the friendliest administration,” Musk reportedly said following that event. “It seems to be controlled by the unions.” Tesla doesn’t employ unionized labor.
Biden’s Build Back Better bill includes a $12,500 tax credit for people who purchase electric vehicles, but to qualify for it, EVs must be made in the US with union labor. The bill has been passed by the House but not the Senate.
Biden on Wednesday also pointed to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which included $7.5 billion to build out a national network of EV chargers along highways.
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“Later this week, we’re going to announce a state-by-state allocation for $5 billion of the funding for these chargers, so states can start making plans to build out what will become a national network of electric-vehicle chargers,” Biden added. “Tritium’s new facility is going to produce up to 30,000 of these chargers every year.”
This will help make sure the US is the world leader in EVs, Biden said. “America is building convenient, reliable, equitable, national public charging networks. So wherever you live, charging an electric vehicle will be quick and easy.”