DETROIT – The US will overtake China in electric vehicle leadership, President Joe Biden said Wednesday at the opening of General Motors’ EV facility in Detroit, Factory Zero.
If the US stops investing in the future, “we will lose our lead as a nation. China and the rest of the world are catching up, ”said Biden. “We are about to change that by and large.”

China leads the way, but the infrastructure bill signed this week that Biden signed will move the US forward, he said.

Factory Zero, formerly called the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, will launch the first of GM’s electric vehicles powered by its proprietary Ultium batteries. The GMC Hummer EV Supertruck, the first vehicle built in the factory, will be delivered to dealers at the end of the year. GM also plans to build an SUV version of the Hummer, an electric Chevrolet Silverado and the Cruise Origin self-driving van at the plant. GM will soon announce another electric truck plant in the US, CEO Mary Barra said on Wednesday.

GM is committed to a future of electrification by devoting $ 35 billion to the development of electric and autonomous vehicles, and plans to bring 30 electric vehicles to market worldwide by 2025. The automaker aims to have an all-electric light vehicle portfolio by 2035.

GM’s EV goals align with an executive order signed by Biden in August that aims to make half of new car sales electric by 2030. The target is not legally binding and includes plug-in hybrid models with gasoline engines.

IHS Markit anticipates that battery electric vehicle sales will account for 15 percent by 2025 and 34 percent of US light vehicle sales by 2030.

the Infrastructure bill Covers $ 550 billion spending, including $ 7.5 billion on electric vehicle charging stations and $ 65 billion on upgrading the country’s electric grid.

Still on the table is the $ 1.75 trillion Build Back Better Act, which includes a controversial bonus tax credit for union-built electric vehicles. Volkswagen Group of America, American Honda Motor Co., Toyota Motor North America, which have non-union plants in the United States, and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin have publicly opposed the tax credit. Some people called the credit “fake” and “not American”.

Biden on Wednesday emphasized the value of unions and union-built US-built vehicles.

“The middle class built America and the unions built the middle class,” he said.

US Senator Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Said she supports consumer discounts on unionized vehicles from the US to US automakers.

“It takes a lot of nerve against our efforts to get a consumer bonus for purchases of United Auto Workers vehicles,” she said at the Factory Zero event. “I call leveling the field and I am committed to supporting the home team.”