The Trump Department of Energy is restructuring $1.7 billion in grants that were designed to support the conversion of major automakers' factories into electric vehicle plants. The funding will now be used to increase the production of hybrid vehicles and other advanced car technology, such as regenerative braking systems.
Grant Recipients
The grants include $584.8 million given to Stellantis, $500 million given to General Motors, $285 million given to Mercedes-Benz, and $208 million given to Volvo for various EV and electric truck projects, according to internal DOE documents. The DOE froze the grants last year as part of a sweeping review of green energy spending, but in recent weeks initiated negotiations with the car companies to discuss modifying their grants.
A senior DOE official involved in the review noted that the Biden administration's selections did not take into account market forces, and that EVs are no longer as cost-useful as they were when the companies first applied for the funding three years ago. The official said that the grants would also enable the manufacturing of related advanced car technology, and that the opportunity to create optionality was huge for this.
The DOE's actions reflect President Donald Trump's agenda to boost car manufacturing in the United States while increasing consumer choice in car buying. They also represent the latest rollback of the Biden administration's green agenda, which involved phasing out production of gas-powered autos.
Since taking office, Trump has moved swiftly to slash Biden-era regulations that were designed to force Americans to buy EVs and eliminate generous tax incentives for EV buyers. Those actions have contributed to the rapid decrease in EV sales, while hybrid sales have far overtaken EV sales, according to the Energy Information Administration.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for Stellantis said the company was grateful the DOE is moving forward with the grants, which would be used to expand operations at an assembly plant in Illinois and a transmission plant in Indiana. A Volvo spokesman added that the grant would help the company and its workers be more competitive, and would be used to increase truck manufacturing in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland.