Former Vice President Joe Biden told an audience at a small drive-in rally in Cleveland, Ohio, on Monday that he would build electric vehicles — the same promise he made, and broke, during the Obama administration.
Biden said Monday:
I see Americans working to build and install 500,000 charging stations all across this country. American consumers switching to clean electric vehicles. We can own the electric vehicle market. Creating millions of jobs here in Cleveland, and in Ohio, and in Detroit. Folks, I see the federal government harnessing the purchasing power, by buying these electric vehicles, made in America, made in Ohio. Made in Detroit. Made in America. It is going to mean, one million, according to experts, one million new good, paying auto jobs in the automobile industry alone. Folks, if we don’t act, China will own the market. China is gonna own it all.
Biden has made similar promises before, when he was in charge of the “stimulus” under Obama.
As Breitbart News reported in September:
In 2009, Biden promised that $529 million in new Department of Energy loan guarantees to Fisker Automotive to produce electric cars in Delaware would provide “billions of dollars in good, new jobs.” Four years later, Fisker filed for bankruptcy — without producing a single car in the U.S.
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Fisker filed for bankruptcy failed in 2013 and taxpayers lost $139 million on the venture. Republicans noted: “The jobs that were promised never materialized and once again tax payers are on the hook for the administration’s reckless gamble.”
Along with failed solar panel manufacturer Solyndra, Fisker was one of the highest-profile failures of the stimulus, which Biden oversaw, and which he has touted on the campaign trail as proof of his ability to handle America’s economic recovery.
Moreover, Vice President Biden admitted pushing for Fisker to build its new “Karma” plant in his home state of Delaware.
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Fisker produced exactly zero cars in the U.S. Instead, it produced its first cars in Finland. In addition to the losses for the federal taxpayer, Delaware had committed over $20 million to the deal by the time the company filed for bankruptcy in 2013.
As for China “owning” the market, the best way to ensure Chinese dominance would likely be to rush the production of electric vehicles, because China currently has a “stranglehold” on the supply chain for manufacturing electric car batteries.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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