"This Car Is Amazing" Biden Gives Thumbs Up Riding Electric Car Equipped with LG Battery

Visited GM factory and test drove Hummer vehicle
Promoted investment in electric vehicle infrastructure
Controversy over excluding non-union electric vehicle companies from subsidies

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] U.S. President Joe Biden test drove an electric vehicle equipped with a battery jointly developed by LG Energy Solution and General Motors (GM) and praised it.

On the 17th (local time), President Biden visited the GMC plant in Detroit, Michigan. To promote the infrastructure investment bill he pushed, Biden visited an electric vehicle factory for the second time after Ford, toured the production line, and personally test drove the vehicle.

The electric vehicle President Biden drove that day was the Hummer electric pickup truck. Hummer was discontinued in the past due to poor fuel efficiency but has been reborn as an electric vehicle and is gaining popularity.

After getting into the vehicle and accelerating rapidly to check its performance, President Biden told reporters, "Would you like to ride on the trunk or the roof? This car is really amazing," showing a thumbs-up and continuing the test drive.

The source of power for this vehicle that impressed President Biden lies in Korean technology. It is the Ultium battery jointly developed and produced by LG and GM. The Korea Society, a private U.S.-Korea friendship organization, has highlighted the Ultium battery as a prime example of cooperation between Korean and American companies and awarded LG and GM the ‘Van Fleet Award’.

Earlier, President Biden visited the Ford plant and personally drove a camouflaged Ford F-150 electric pickup truck, further promoting American-made electric vehicles. Since taking office, Biden has actively fostered the electric vehicle industry to advance eco-friendly policies and expand infrastructure investment. The $1.2 trillion infrastructure investment bill signed on the 15th includes a $7.5 billion budget for installing electric vehicle charging stations.

On the other hand, conflicts over subsidy discrimination in the process of fostering the electric vehicle industry under President Biden are intensifying.

Japanese automaker Toyota placed full-page ads in major media such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and local media in Dallas and Detroit, demanding fair subsidy payments. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also criticized the Biden administration as a puppet of labor unions. This stems from concerns that they may be excluded from electric vehicle subsidy eligibility and suffer losses.

The Biden administration and the Democratic Party are pushing for subsidies through an additional $4,500 tax credit per American-made electric vehicle.

With a pro-union stance, the Biden administration plans to provide purchase subsidies only to American automakers with unions. Foreign automakers without unions, such as Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Hyundai, are dissatisfied because they cannot receive subsidies.

Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat who has repeatedly opposed the Biden administration’s policies, is also against this policy. West Virginia, where Toyota’s plant is located, is Senator Manchin’s constituency.

In his speech that day, President Biden emphasized, "Detroit is leading the world in the electric vehicle sector."

U.S. media noted that while President Biden praised automakers with unions, he did not mention Tesla, which leads the American electric vehicle industry.

Tesla accounts for 80% of electric vehicle sales in the U.S. but was not invited to the White House electric vehicle showcase due to the absence of a union.