Obama tours electric car facility and announces $2.4bn grant for industry

Southern California Edison's facility one of two approved by the US energy department to investigate electric car performance

Daniel Nasaw in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 19 March 2009 20.06 GMT

President Barack Obama today toured a California electric car plant and announced a $2.4bn grant programme to develop plug-in vehicles.
Obama visited the Southern California Edison electric vehicle technical centre, one of two test sites approved by the US department of energy to investigate electric car performance.
Managed by one of the largest electric utilities in the country, the 16-year-old facility researches battery-powered and hybrid engines, and studies the potential impacts of having massive numbers of electric vehicles taking power from conventional utility networks.
The facility says its fleet of battery-electric vehicles have logged more than 17m "tailpipe-emission-free miles". It is likely to be a major recipient of federal research dollars under Obama's programmes.
"The problem's not a lack of technology - you're producing the technology right here - the problem is, for decades we've avoided what we must do as a nation to turn challenge into opportunity," Obama said.
Under George Bush's energy policy, which was based almost solely on exploitation of fossil fuels, the proportion of US energy derived from renewable sources grew only 0.7 percentage points between 2003 and 2007, to 6.8% of total energy consumption.
Before a crowd of workers and local public officials, Obama touted the massive outlays in tax dollars his administration plans for research in wind and solar power and fuel-efficient cars. He laid out an ambitious programme, calling for doubling America's supply of renewable energy in the next three years and 1m hybrid vehicles on American roads by 2015. Obama also announced a $7,500 tax credit to encourage the purchase of hybrid vehicles.
"We can remain one of the world's leading importers of foreign oil, or we can make the investments that will allow us to become the world's leading exporter of renewable energy. We can let climate change continue to go unchecked, or we can help stem it," the president said.
Obama said technological innovation comes in the "crucible of a deliberate effort", but added that "they often take an investment and a commitment from government," citing the development of the internet and the US space programme.
In addition to meeting long-term goals of energy independence and greenhouse gas emissions reduction, Obama hopes that the massive investment – he has pledged $15bn a year for research on green energy and transportation – will create job that can revive America's crumbling manufacturing sector.
Obama spoke as he and his treasury secretary Timothy Geithner were being pummeled in Washington by Republicans over large bonuses paid to executives at bail-out insurance company AIG.
"It's always nice to get out of Washington for a little while," he said, "and recharge your batteries".