White House pledges $100m to aid EV transition

As the EV transition emerges as a contentious issue in the 2024 presidential election, the Biden administration aims to sweeten the deal for small- and medium-sized auto suppliers in the Midwest.

Vice President Kamala Harris, as part of a national tour to tout the White House’s economic agenda that brought her to Detroit on Monday, announced $100 million in federal funding to help those businesses and their workforces navigate the EV transition.

The money is designated for two separate programs: The first is the Department of Energy’s Automotive Conversion Grants Program, which will get $50 million to aid its mission of partnering with states to assist small- and medium-sized automotive suppliers transition from making parts for internal combustion engine vehicles to supplying EVs.

The other $50 million, per the White House, is slated for DOE’s Industrial Assessments Center Implementation Grants program, which gives grants of up to $300,000 to companies to upgrade their facilities.

Harris also announced support from the Small Business Administration, which will use its Small Business Investment Company program to direct private capital to the EV supply chain. The SBA also will establish a pilot program to offer lines of credit to small businesses “to support their domestic or export finance needs.”

The latest announcements come on the heels of numerous other recent initiatives the Biden administration has announced to support auto manufacturers and workers as they navigate the clean-energy transition. The administration, for example, recently announced plans to establish an EV hub in Michigan that will focus on workforce training.

DOE has committed up to $15.5 billion in grants and loans to help auto manufacturers convert existing facilities for EV-related production.

The latest steps “build on the Biden-Harris administration’s ongoing commitment to ensuring that the workers and businesses that built the auto industry remain community anchors for generations to come, including the more than 250,000 auto workers in small- and medium-sized auto parts suppliers across the country,” the White House said.

Per the White House, more than $170 billion in EV and battery supply chain investments and more than 20 new auto and battery plants have been announced since Biden took office.