Only 19 percent of Americans are interested in purchasing an electric vehicle, while Tennessee makes a massive investment in a Ford plant that will produce electric vehicle batteries.
The General Assembly in 2021 passed a law to spend $884 million to push the Ford deal through.
Ford will spend $5.6 billion on a plant in Haywood County to build electric vehicle batteries.
“Structural steel is erected less than one year after Ford and SK On announced their $5.6 billion investment to build a revolutionary all-new electric truck and advanced batteries for future Ford and Lincoln vehicles in West Tennessee,” Ford announced in September, providing an update on the job. “The nearly 6-square-mile mega campus will create approximately 6,000 new jobs when production begins in 2025.”
Gov. Bill Lee (R) celebrated the investment in March.
“Ford’s decision to bring BlueOval City to West Tennessee is a testament to our state’s skilled workforce and leading role in the future of American automotive manufacturing,” he said. “With the single largest investment in state history, this historic project brings thousands of jobs and new opportunities for Tennessee families to thrive. I thank the local leaders and legislators who made this day possible and look forward to BlueOval City’s long-term success in West Tennessee.”
But according to a report compiling data regarding Americans’ affinity, or lack thereof, for electric vehicles, Americans are not interested in going electric.
According to the report, only 19 percent of Americans say that they are very likely to purchase an electric vehicle, and 60% of Americans oppose the phasing out of building new gasoline-powered cars.
Citing a Pew Research Poll, the report noted that “almost 60% oppose ‘phasing out the production of new gasoline cars and trucks by 2035,’” and that “opposition has grown by 7 percentage points in just two years.”
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has given $9.2 billion to Ford for the production of electric vehicle batteries.
“A deep-pocketed US government program designed to finance futuristic energy businesses is issuing a conditional $9.2 billion loan to Ford Motor Co. for the construction of three battery factories,” Bloomberg reported in June. “The enormous loan — by far the biggest government backing for a US automaker since the bailouts in the 2009 financial crisis — marks a watershed moment for President Joe Biden’s aggressive industrial policy meant to help American manufacturers catch up to China in green technologies.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter.
