The Biden administration is offering $12 billion in grants and loans for automakers and suppliers to retrofit their plants to produce electric and other advanced vehicles, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said yesterday, Reuters reported. "While we transition to EVs, we want to ensure that workers can transition in place, that there is no worker, no community left behind," Granholm, a former governor of car-manufacturing state Michigan, told reporters in a call. Speeding grants and other subsidies to fund conversion of existing auto plants to build electric vehicles could help the White House blunt criticism from automakers and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union over proposed environmental rules aimed to help usher in the EV era. The UAW has warned that a rapid change could put thousands of jobs at risk in states such as Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. Last week UAW members voted overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing a strike at the Detroit Three automakers if an agreement over wages and pension plans is not reached before the current four-year contract expires on Sept. 14.
