Joe Biden.Photo: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty
Self-proclaimed “car guy"Joe Bidenput the pedal to the metal on Tuesday, test-driving Ford’snewly unveiledelectric F-150 in an effort to tout his administration’s clean energy plan.
Biden — wearing his trademark aviator sunglasses — was filmed taking the black-and-white truck for a spin after speaking to auto workers at a Ford electric vehicle center in Dearborn, Michigan.
Asked if he would buy one of the electric trucks, the president said, “I would,” and told reporters “it feels great” to be behind the wheel.
“I don’t know if anybody has a stopwatch, but it felt like we were going zero to 60 in about 4.3, 4.4,” Biden said.
After reporters asked how fast he was going, Biden then offered to demonstrate what the truck looked like traveling at 80 miles per hour, asking “Are you ready?” before stepping on the gas and driving away from the press.
Before driving off, Biden did joke with one reporter that he would not answer any questions about theongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“No you can’t [ask about that]. Not unless you get in front of the car as I step on it,” Biden said with a laugh, adding, “I’m only teasing.”
As some Twitter users noticed, Secret Service agents appeared to struggle a bit in their effort to keep up with Biden as he sped off in the electric truck.
His trip to Michigan, Biden said, brought him back to his childhood.
“For more than 30 years, my dad — when we moved to Delaware — managed automobile dealerships in Delaware, including the Ford dealership,” he said. “And, man, did I like that ‘57 Ford Fairlane. Oh, boy, it ain’t got nothing on F-150. But all kidding aside, that’s what got me through school.”
Biden continued later in the speech: “Look, the future of the auto industry is electric. There’s no turning back … And the real question is whether we’ll lead or we’ll fall behind in the race to the future; or whether we’ll build these vehicles and the batteries that go in them here in the United States or rely on other countries; or whether the jobs to build these vehicles and batteries, that are good-paying union jobs with benefits — jobs that will sustain and grow the middle class.”
The president added that setting “a new pace for electric vehicles” and competing against countries such as China will mean “reversing the previous administration’s short-sighted rollback of vehicle emissions and efficiency standards, setting strong, clear targets where we need to go.”
The Michigan trip was part of the administration’s ongoing pitch for a $2 trillion infrastructure plan that includes incentives to transition to electric vehicles.
Biden has highlighted other modes of transportation as part of his push for that plan, visiting the William H. Gray III 30th Street Station in Philadelphia earlier this month tocelebrate 50 years of Amtrak.
“We have a huge opportunity here to provide fast, safe, reliable, clean transportation in this country. And transit is part of the infrastructure,” Biden, a well-known lover of trains, said in the May 3 appearance. “And like the rest of our infrastructure, we’re way behind the rest of the world right now.”
In addition toincentivizing the use of electric vehicles, Biden’s infrastructure plan includes making investments in American highways and mass transit systems, as well as upgrades to current portions of infrastructure, including the electric grid and water pipes.
source: people.com
