It is a also a country with big plans to convert its automobile industry to electric vehicles – and not just little town cars, but the big pickup trucks that are so popular here – like the Ford F150 Lightning – a battery version of Americas top selling vehicle.
But that will change. Battery technology will get better, the infrastructure for charging EVs will roll out across this large nation, starting with the freeway network. They are designed to bring as much manufacturing back to America as possible in these strategic industries. Last year saw CHIPS acts on both sides of the Atlantic, authorizing public subsidies to persuade chip makers to set up vast new manufacturing sites.The Bipartisan Infrastructure Act piles public funds into industries like battery material processing and reprocessing.
Americas motorists seem as keen as anyone else to adopt the new automotive power system: they have the same concerns over range and recharging and price. The EU are out. But when President Biden was confronted by a livid President Macron of France before Christmas, he said it was not intended to be that restrictive – he said it was for the benefit of US allies.Autos Drive America, the lobby organisation for European, Japanese and Korean carmakers with factories in the US, is also pressing the case.
Volvo is converting its plant to make electric Volvos and the battery only brand Polestar there, while Mercedes Benz makes Sprinter vans for the US market there.South Carolina’s Secretary of Commerce, Harry Lightsey, told RTÉ that battery makers and companies that recycle battery components are also setting up in the state to complete the circle of production and re-production in the drive to grow the auto industry and protect the environment.
RTE keeps pushing pro government spin. Average people can't afford battery cars. Our media isn't living in the real world