President Joe Biden has announced that an Australian company that makes chargers for electric vehicles will build a manufacturing facility in Tennessee, while reiterating his commitment to turn the United States government's fleet of cars electric.
The new plant will produce up to 30,000 electric vehicle chargers per year and create 500 local jobs, according to Mr Biden and the Brisbane-based company, Tritium.
State officials said production is scheduled to start in the third quarter of 2022.
Mr Biden touted "an American manufacturing comeback."
Tritium's chargers will "use American parts, American iron, American steel," and will be installed by union workers, Mr Biden said on Tuesday.
He said the federal government's fleet of 600,000 vehicles will "end up being electric vehicles."
"The benefits are going to ripple through thousands of miles in every direction and these jobs will multiply," Mr Biden said, adding the manufacturing plants will lead to a growth in steel mills, small parts suppliers and construction sites throughout the country.
Australian Connection
Tritium CEO Jane Hunter appeared alongside Mr Biden at the White House and said Mr Biden's policies "have contributed to enormous demand" for Tritium products in the United States.
This "directly led us to pivot and change our global manufacturing strategy."
The news is also being welcomed back home by Dr Jake Whitehead, Head of Policy at the Electric Vehicle Council in Australia.
"It's such exciting news for Tritium, which is a Brisbane-based company, founded out of a backyard shed 20 years ago," he told SBS News.
"I've known this team for a long time, they've been working super hard and now, they've gone from strenght to strength recently being listed on the NASDAQ and today taking the stage with the President of the United States."
But in Australia, the industry is lagging behind.
Jane Hunter, CEO of Tritium, inside the Tritium Electric Vehicle Charging Test Facility in Brisbane. Source: AAP
"In Australia we have such a great position, we have many of the minerals that are required to manufacture batteries, we have a legacy of high, advanced manufacturing of vehicles, there's no reason why we couldn't have a plan for the next 10 to 15 years to bring back advanced manufacturing into our country," Dr Whitehead said.
"Making batteries using Australian minerals, turning those batteries into different products like electric vehicles and creating a whole wealth of new jobs for our economy.
"But we need leadership, we need national leadership to deliver that and we don't have that today."
Mr Biden also announced that this week that the White House will roll out a state-by-state allocation of $5 billion in funding for electric vehicle chargers.
He used the speech to highlight contributions by US companies involved in manufacturing electric vehicles including Tesla, a company Mr Biden has refrained from naming in the past.
Mr Biden has made rebuilding American manufacturing a key plank of his economic agenda, including pushing for billions of dollars of public and private investments in the electric vehicle industry.
The bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last year provided money for a sprawling network of electric vehicle charging stations across the country.
Mr Biden has said electric cars will be more climate-friendly and affordable for American families, and the White House has set a target of half the vehicles sold in the United States to be electric or plug-in hybrids by 2030.
The Tritium announcement is the latest in recent weeks by major companies announcing investments in US manufacturing and jobs, including Intel Corp , General Motors Co and Boeing Co. More than $200 billion (A$279 billion) in investments in domestic manufacturing of semiconductors, electric vehicles, aircraft, and batteries have been announced since 2021.
With additional reporting by Jennifer Scherer.
