U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on the Annual Report of the Financial Stability Oversight Council on February 6, 2024, at the Capitol in Washington, DC.
Amanda Andrade-Rose | Reuters
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday praised President Joe Biden’s investments in electric vehicles for accelerating the sector even as the sector cools from years of strong momentum.
Yellen touted Biden’s EV actions. kentucky A new $49 million EV battery factory to be built by Advanced Nano Products Inc., a battery supplier that will receive tax credits from Biden’s Inflation Control Act for new clean energy facilities.
“This is part of an electric vehicle investment boom in Kentucky,” Yellen said. “Biden administration policies and federal funding are stimulating private sector investment.”
His bullish stance on EVs comes as the private sector has softened its mood toward fully electric vehicles.
According to a recent CNBC report, major automakers were eagerly setting deadlines to transition to fully electric vehicles. ford and general motorsthey have now tempered their expectations and are taking a wait-and-see approach rather than sticking to a strict EV transition schedule.
Initially, investor excitement for EVs was driven in part by cheap money from low interest rates, as well as by Biden’s Anti-Inflation Act, which introduced tax credits for both consumers who bought fully electric vehicles and the companies that produced them. It was spurred on.
“The great American road trip will be completely electrified,” Biden said optimistically at an event in Michigan in September 2022.
However, the construction of EV charging infrastructure has been slower than expected. Additionally, consumer demand for cars has not kept pace with initial expectations.
Biden is also reportedly delaying achieving his EV goals.
Workers with the City of Milwaukee Department of Public Works place a sign near the Piper Hillside Boys & 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 introduced EV investment with the goal of making half of new car sales EV by 2018. 2030.
As part of that timeline, environmental protection agency In April last year, it proposed its most ambitious regulation of vehicle greenhouse gas emissions, mandating that EVs account for a majority share of the car market by 2032.
Officials are currently adjusting these rules to allow EV production to increase more slowly, which would extend the emissions reduction schedule until roughly 2055. new york times Reported in February.
With the presidential election in November approaching, Mr. Biden’s aggressive promotion of EVs has become, in a sense, a political responsibility.
In January, Biden won support from the United Auto Workers, a union concerned about autoworkers being left behind in the transition to electric vehicles.
Biden, who calls himself “the most pro-union president in American history,” has had to consider the tension between his EV goals and his stance on labor.
Mr. Biden’s electoral opponent, former President Donald Trump, repeatedly attacked Mr. Biden’s all-electricity goal during the campaign.
Republican President Trump wrote in a social media post on Christmas Day: “The Green New Scam… All Electric Vehicle Madness, etc. is trying to destroy our once great America.”
— CNBC’s Michael Wayland contributed to this report.
