The Biden administration's electric vehicle ambitions are getting another boost, this time in the form of $1.7 billion in public funding to convert 11 at-risk and shuttered auto manufacturing plants into electric vehicle (EV) factories. 

Plants in eight US states - Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Virginia - will be getting portions of the cash to convert internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle production lines to EV assembly and component manufacturing. It's not just the usual giant American automakers getting the funding this time around, either.

Blue Bird Body Company, which builds school buses in Georgia, will be converting an ICE vehicle manufacturing facility into an electric school bus plant, while engine maker Cummins will be upgrading portions of its Columbus, Ohio facility to crank out zero-emissions components and electric powertrain systems. 

Of course, most of the big three manufacturers are still getting their share, with Fiat Chrysler planning to use some government money to bring a shuttered Jeep plant in Belvidere, Illinois, back online as an EV assembly complex, and GM scoring funds to convert its ICE assembly plant in Lansing, Michigan into an "efficient" EV production facility. Ford was not given any money in this round. 

Funding for the factory conversions was awarded through the US government's Domestic Manufacturing Auto Conversion Grants program announced last year, and is the first batch of handouts under the initiative. 

Most notable about the projects is that every factory getting an upgrade - or being re-opened - is a union shop and no one will be fired as part of the conversion, as qualifying for the award included a commitment to retraining existing workers for jobs in the EV world. Projects that would create jobs in disadvantaged and underserved areas were also prioritized.

"This investment will create thousands of good-paying, union manufacturing jobs and retain even more by helping auto companies retool, reboot, and rehire in the same factories and communities," President Biden said of the funding announcement today.

We'd be remiss not to mention the fact that several of the projects announced today are in locations considered hotly contested battleground states in the upcoming 2024 presidential election. Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, in particular, are all considered critical to the upcoming electoral contest. 

Biden's recent polling in those states indicates they're still a tossup, or that he's losing ground, making it hard to not spot the political maneuvering on this deal. 

EV boom, transition bust, or ..?

Jump-starting the EV and EV component manufacturing chain by paying manufacturers to convert aging factories is all well and good - if you're OK with these huge corporate subsidies - but whether it'll spur the US EV industry onward isn't exactly a guarantee.

Depending on who you ask, American interest in electric vehicles is up and down for the first time, particularly for those considering Tesla. Much of the decline in US interest in EVs may be due to many people souring on Elon Musk, with much of the drop in recent EV sales attributable to Tesla's falling star.

Tesla's share of new EV sales slipped beneath 50 percent last quarter for the first time in its history. EV sales reached a new record of eight percent of all vehicles sold last quarter - a record at a time when Tesla' sales continue to slide. 

So while American buyers might not have abandoned EVs entirely, there's more that'll have to be done than just injecting cash into new factories to improve the prospect of a transition away from ICE vehicles. 

"[This] investment should help the EV market," Cox Automotive director of industry insights Stephanie Valdez Streaty told The Register. "However, the infrastructure needs to continue to grow and be accessible, reliable, equitable and easy to use."

Valdez Streaty told us that a lack of EV infrastructure is a top barrier to adoption. Multiple awards from the Biden administration to expand EV infrastructure have been doled out in recent years, and most of that funding has produced few results.

Two years after the White House earmarked $7.5 billion in funding for an EV fast-charging network, only seven stations have been built.

Valdez Streaty said that there's been progress in EV infrastructure expansion, but it's been slow. Public-private partnerships have also emerged to speed things up, and she predicts "significant growth of EV charging stations" in the next few years. 

Even that might not be enough to get the public onboard, though, and focusing solely on fortifying the supply chain isn't the only focus officials should be taking. 

"Consumers can be swayed to consider an EV by tech enhancements, more education, and better pricing," Valdez Streaty told us, adding that still "more needs to be done to convince this next wave of [EV] adoption." ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/07/11/feds_award_17b_to_automakers/