Pelosi visits Novi battery site, promotes Biden EV funding

Democratic-led federal government's efforts to boost electric vehicles during a tour of the headquarters of a battery manufacturing startup — not missing an opportunity to criticize ex-President Donald Trump for a lack of leadership in the sector.

Pelosi of California joined Democratic colleagues Reps. Debbie Dingell of Ann Arbor and Haley Stevens of Birmingham ahead of the midterm elections at Our Next Energy, which was founded in 2020 and recently received support from the state of Michigan for a $1.6 billion manufacturing plant in Van Buren Township. The lawmakers touted the legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden in August known as the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides tax incentives to manufacturers of EVs and their components and subsidies to EV buyers. Michigan's largest industry is betting big on electrification, and the next 10 years are a critical time for investments into the infrastructure and supply chains to support the transition.

Hailing the legislation as the "single largest investment in transportation electrification in U.S. history," Stevens emphasized how the IRA and work by companies like Our Next Energy "will allow us to compete with the world and storage and advanced manufacturing production and onward making electric vehicles up to $7,500 cheaper."