President Biden says future of vehicles is electric during Dearborn visit to see F-150 Lightning
DEARBORN, Mich. - President Joe Biden visited Dearborn on Wednesday to tour Ford's Rouge Electric Vehicle Center.
He was seeing the new F-150 Lightning, an electric version of the popular pickup truck.
During his visit, he told automakers the future of the industry is electric. He also made it clear that batteries made in other countries will face a fight from union workers who will make them here.
"They think they’re going to win, but I got news for them – they will not win this race. We can’t let them come up. We have to move fast, and that’s what you’re doing here," Biden said.
Biden has been pushing for a more electrified fleet of American cars since getting into office. His trillion-dollar infrastructure plan also included a large investment in electric vehicle charging stations and manufacturing.
What is the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center
Most may know about Ford's historic Rouge car plant; a mile-long facility where raw material went in in the back and a fully-built car came out the front. But an additional facility tapped onto that complex was completed to usher in the company's new electric vision.
A part of a $700 million investment in the F-150, the Electric Vehicle Center will exclusively construct the company's new electric F-150.
It's located between the Dearborn Truck Plant's body shop and the assembly building at 3893 Miller Rd, Dearborn.
Biden's infrastructure bid
Nuzzled in the president's $2 trillion infrastructure package that targets all aspects of American life is a $174 billion proposal that supports electric vehicle infrastructure.
Much of that money is going toward electrifying public transportation like city buses by replacing diesel-powered buses. Some of it would also go toward installing electric vehicle chargers that would install 500,000 of them by 2030.
Other parts of the package offer prospective buyers tax incentives and sale rebates for purchasing an electric car, which would keep the cost of them down.
Ford's new electric F-150
Against the backdrop of Biden's electric vehicle center tour is the soon-to-be-unveiled F-150 Lightning, Ford's flagship truck franchise, and the country's best-selling truck.
As symbolic as it is pragmatic, offering an electric version of the model is a significant move for the company which relied on the 800,000 F-series trucks it sold last year to help keep profits coming in.
With an electric model, which will be revealed tomorrow during a virtual companywide event, Ford could continue to chip away at the dominance of gas-powered vehicles. It also is a sign of changing consumer attitudes about what kind of vehicle they want to be driving.
The electric F-150 will be built at the building that Biden is touring.
Republican rebuke
The Republican Party is planning to deliver a response to the president's visit to Dearborn Tuesday.
A release from the party said officials, regional business leaders, and local leaders will be in attendance at the Renaissance Center in Detroit at 11 a.m.
There, they plan to discuss Biden's economic agenda and needs to protect the Line 5 pipeline - the controversial oil pipeline that the governor is trying to stop from operating.