Ja’Crispy/iStockBy CATHERINE THORBECKE, ABC News
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden announced the ambitious plan of replacing the entire fleet of autos owned by the federal government with electric vehicles as his administration takes steps to embrace clean energy.
Biden also pledged that these new electric vehicles will be made in the U.S.
“The federal government also owns an enormous fleet of vehicles, which we’re going to replace with clean, electric vehicles made right here in America, by American workers,” Biden said Monday during remarks as he signed his “Made in America” executive order.
The president added that this will create “a million autoworker jobs.”
Pres. Biden: “The federal government also owns an enormous fleet of vehicles, which we’re going to replace with clean electric vehicles made right here in America, by American workers.”https://t.co/figJbDMrpt pic.twitter.com/racgwk9VGw
— ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) January 25, 2021
The federal government owns some 645,000 vehicles total, according to a 2019 General Services Administration report, with more than 225,000 of those belonging to the U.S. Postal Service and more than 170,000 of those belonging to military agencies.
Of the total vehicles owned by the government, however, only 4,475 are electric vehicles, according to the report.
The president did not give a timeline for when this massive vehicle replacement goal will be implemented.
Shares for U.S.-based electric vehicle companies spiked on Tuesday after Biden’s announcement, with Lordstown Motors trading nearly 20% higher and Workhorse Group trading nearly 30% higher.
Biden’s “Made in America” executive order, signed on Monday, aims to fulfill a campaign promise to increase the amount of federal spending that goes to American companies. The order essentially closes loopholes that allowed foreign products to be purchased, among other measures to boost American manufacturing.
Biden’s push toward electric vehicles is in line with environmental goals and policies he campaigned on that contrast sharply with actions of the previous administration. Biden notably rejoined the international Paris climate agreement — which Donald Trump took the country out of — on his first day in office.
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