President Obama Speaks After Tour of Electric Car Plant

Because these cars of tomorrow require the batteries of tomorrow, I am announcing that the Department of Energy is launching a $2 billion competitive grant program under the Recovery Act that will spark the manufacturing of the batteries and parts that run these cars, build or upgrade the factories that will produce them, and in the process, create thousands of jobs right here in America.

Show us that your idea or your company is best-suited to meet America 's challenges, and we will give you a chance to prove it. And just because I'm here today doesn't exempt all of you from that challenge - every company that wants a shot at these tax dollars has to prove their worth.

We are also making a $400 million down-payment on the infrastructure necessary to get these cars on the road; and because these cars won't leave the showroom unless consumers buy them, the Recovery Act includes a new tax credit of $7,500 to encourage Americans to plug one in at home.

True to form, California has already forged ahead with its own plans rather than wait for Washington . It's fitting that the state home to the first freeway and the first gas station is already at work devising the next freeway and the next gas station. This "green freeway" you're planning with Oregon and Washington would link your states with a network of rest stops that allow you to do more than just grab a cup of coffee; but also charge your car, refuel it with hydrogen or biofuels, or swap out a battery in the time it takes to fill a gas tank. Charging stations have begun to pop up around downtown San Francisco , and that city has joined with San Jose and Oakland with the vision of becoming the "electric vehicle capital of the United States ."

Here at Southern California Edison, and all across the country, in factories and laboratories, at the Big Three and at small startups, these innovations are taking place right now. In Michigan , and Ohio , and right here in California , we are seeing exciting developments in this field as hardworking men and women are already laying the groundwork for this new industry. Even as our American automakers are undergoing a painful recalibration, they are retooling and reimagining themselves into an industry that can compete and win, because millions of jobs depend on it.

This is the critical work you're doing. But it's just one component of what must be a comprehensive energy plan. That's why we are making an $11 billion investment in upgrading our power grid, so that it can carry renewable energy from the far-flung places that harness or produce it to the cities that use it. That's why we will create jobs retrofitting millions of homes and cutting energy use in federal buildings by one quarter, saving the American taxpayer $1.5 billion each year.

These are challenging times, but we know we can do this. It won't come without cost, nor will it be easy. We've got 240 million cars already on the road. We've got to upgrade the world's largest energy grid while it's already in use. And other countries aren't standing around and waiting for us; they are forging ahead with their own bold energy plans.

But we have faced tough challenges before. And at our best, we have never relied on hope and chance alone. Time and again, we have tapped those great American resources: industriousness and ingenuity. That, after all, is what California is all about. This is a state that has always drawn people who've had their eyes set on the horizon; who've always dreamed of a future that others thought beyond reach. That is the spirit that you are reclaiming here at the Electric Vehicle Test Center , and that is the spirit we need to reclaim all across this country. Thank you.

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