President Obama promoted a critical plank in his energy program today to an enthusiastic crowd in Elkhart, IN., an area devastated by Bush era economic mismanagement. The Vice President and several senior cabinet officials fanned out across the nation to echo the message. From the WH press release:
"If we want to reduce our dependence on oil, put Americans back to work and reassert our manufacturing sector as one of the greatest in the world, we must produce the advanced, efficient vehicles of the future," said President Obama.
"For our nation and our economy to recover, we must have a vision for what can be built here in the future – and then we need to invest in that vision," said Vice President Biden. "That’s what we’re doing today and that’s what this Recovery Act is about."
The White House released the names of dozens of new battery and electric drive projects (.pdf) that will receive funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The program will invest almost two and half billion dollars to develop better, more efficient technology for electric vehicles and other uses. The recipients were selected through a process managed by the Department of Energy with the goal of accelerating the manufacturing capacity for batteries, electric cars, and related devices made 'right here in the USA.'