President Joe Biden plans to replace the government’s fleet of cars and trucks with electric vehicles assembled in the United States, he said on Monday when he signed a new executive order “Buy American”.
The government is a major buyer of vehicles. However, replacing such a fleet with electric vehicles produced in the United States will be expensive and time-consuming. Currently, there are only a handful of fully electric vehicles being assembled in the United States. Tesla, General Motors and Nissan Motor produce EVs domestically, while Ford Motor and others have announced plans to do so.
“Current offerings are very scarce, but the industry is about to unleash an avalanche of new products, many of which are built in North America,” said Kristin Dziczek, vice president of industry, labor and economics at the Center for Automotive Research CNBC . “Almost all plants in the United States will have a hybrid or electric product.”
It is not clear whether Biden’s plan includes plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, which use a combination of EV engines and traditional internal combustion engines. When discussing the plans, he said that the new fleet consists of electric vehicles “with zero net emissions”.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A man drives his Tesla car while SpaceX’s Starship SN8 is seen behind him, days before a test launch of the company’s new superheavy Starship rocket from its facility in this small town of Boca Chita, Texas, December 4, 2020.
Gene Blevins | Reuters
Biden did not specify a deadline for exchanging the government’s “huge fleet” for EVs, which cost substantially more than traditional vehicles. He said the fleet change will help his government’s plan to create 1 million new jobs in the U.S. auto industry.
Biden also announced plans for the stricter use of American-made parts in vehicles purchased by the government, which will make fleet change even more difficult. He said that current standards require vehicle parts to be at least 50% of the U.S.
“The 50% content limit [isn’t] high enough, and the way we measure content does not take into account US jobs and economic activity, “said Biden.” We will change that too. The executive measure I’m signing today will not only require companies to make more of their components in America, but that the value of these components is contributing to our economy, as measured by factors such as a series of American jobs created and / or maintained. “
GM, in a statement, said it was “encouraged by President Biden’s commitment to support American manufacturing and hopes to review the details of the order”.
Ford, which launched a “Made for America” advertising campaign last year, said it “believes that investing in America, its people, goods and services, should be a national mission.”
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.