U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies before a House Financial Services Committee hearing on the “Annual Report of the Financial Stability Oversight Council” on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on February 6, 2024.
Amanda Andrade Rhoades | Reuters
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday praised President Joe Biden’s investment in electric vehicles for accelerating the sector, even as the industry cools from its years-long dry spell.
Yellen touted Biden’s EV measures in Kentucky at a new $49 million electric vehicle battery factory built by Advanced Nano Products, a battery supplier that will receive tax credits from Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act for the new clean energy facility.
“It’s part of a boom in electric vehicle investment in Kentucky,” Yellen said. “The Biden administration’s policies and federal funding are stimulating private sector investment.”
The minister’s bullish stance on electric vehicles comes as the private sector tempers its sentiments towards fully electric vehicles.
According to a recent CNBC report, major automakers that had been eagerly setting deadlines to transition to all-electric cars, such as: ford And General Motorsare now tempering their expectations and adopting a wait-and-see approach rather than sticking to a tight EV transition timeline.
Investors’ initial enthusiasm for electric vehicles was fueled in part by cheap money from low interest rates as well as Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which created tax credits for both consumers who bought all-electric vehicles and the companies that manufactured them.
“The great American road trip will be fully electrified,” Biden said optimistically at an event in Michigan in September 2022.
However, the development of the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles was slower than expected. Additionally, consumer demand for the vehicles has not kept pace with initial expectations.
Biden is now also reportedly slowing down his EV targets.
City of Milwaukee Public Works Department employees install a sign near the Pieper-Hillside Boys and Girls Club where President Joe Biden is scheduled to speak on the afternoon of March 13, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Scott Olson | Getty Images
The president outlined his investments in electric vehicles with the goal of making half of all new car sales electric by 2030.
As part of that timeline, the Environmental Protection Agency last April proposed its most ambitious limits on vehicle greenhouse gas emissions, which would have required electric vehicles to take a majority share of the auto market by 2032.
Officials are now adjusting those rules to gradually increase production of electric vehicles, which would extend the emissions reduction timeline to around 2055, The New York Times reported in February.
With the presidential election approaching in November, Biden’s aggressive electric mobility push has also become something of a political liability.
In January, Biden secured the support of the United Auto Workers, a union that fears the transition to electric vehicles will leave autoworkers behind.
As the self-proclaimed “most pro-union president in American history,” Biden has had to reckon with tensions between his EV goals and his labor stance.
Biden’s election opponent, former President Donald Trump, repeatedly attacked Biden’s purely electrical goals during the election campaign.
“Green new scam… All Electric Car Lunacy and much more seek to destroy our once great USA,” Republican Trump wrote in a social media post on Christmas Day.
— CNBC’s Michael Wayland contributed to this report.
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2024-03-13 22:13:48
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