March 30 (UPI) -- The White House on Thursday announced it will team up with a number of major American companies and nonprofits in an effort to ramp up electric vehicle production and transition the country from gas-powered cars and trucks by 50% through the next decade.
A number of major corporations and nonprofits have signed on to the effort, including Mercedes-Benz, Siemens, Prologis, Hertz, Amazon, Google, Wells Fargo, and Consumer Reports, among others -- who have committed to expand EV fleets, boost the current number of charging stations, and promote clean energy efforts through national awareness campaigns, the White House said in a statement.
The White House said Thursday that federal agencies have already acquired 13,000 light- and medium-duty zero-emission vehicles in the 2023 fiscal year, about four times the number it acquired last year.
The initiative is part of President Joe Biden's Investing in America plan, which has so far spent billions of dollars to boost U.S. manufacturing, strengthen supply chains, and give the country a competitive edge globally while creating thousands of good-paying jobs at home.
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Biden's plan seeks to expand the number of EVs in the federal government fleet, and allow only zero-emission vehicles to be purchased by 2027.
Over the next year, the administration plans to install an additional 24,000 charging stations at federal facilities nationwide, the White House said.
The Energy Department has set up an interactive Station Locator Tool to help drivers find charging ports nearby, and it will soon feature measurements for charging cost and charging speed for every location.
Since Biden took office in 2021, electric vehicle sales have tripled -- with more than 3 million EVs currently on the road -- and the number of public charging ports across the country has grown by more than 40% to about 132,000 total outlets, the White House said.
The latest move builds on a major clean energy initiative announced by the White House in February that is designed to expand EV manufacturing while using federal dollars to help create 500,000 electric vehicle chargers across the country.
To incentivize Americans to buy electric, Biden's Inflation Reduction Act has also provided expanded tax credits to those who purchase new and used EVs, and to companies and municipalities that convert to clean heavy-duty vehicles.
Biden's EV directive also utilizes funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and other federal initiatives to shore up the effort while working to bring down the cost of EVs and the EV charging infrastructure, the White House said.
Last August, Biden signed an executive order setting a goal for half of all new vehicles made in the United States to be electric in some form by 2030. As part of the plan, the president stressed the importance of EV parts and components only being "made in America" as it was key to strengthening the U.S. economy.
"It's electric, and there's no turning back," Biden said at the time while reinstating vehicle emissions and fuel-efficiency standards that had been rolled back by the previous administration. "The question is whether we'll lead or fall behind in the race for the future."
Biden's agenda also calls for standards for car companies to gradually decrease emissions over the next five years.
