• Detroit Free Press, Wednesday, July 14, 2010 12 PM

President Barack Obama is visiting the site of a future battery plant in Holland, Michigan, tomorrow and will use the occasion to promote his administration's $2.4-billion efforts to boost electric-vehicle production in the U.S., Justin Hyde reports.

Along those lines, the U.S. Department of Energy will release a report this week claiming the push to produce electric and hybrid-vehicle batteries could sharply lower their costs. Four plants are expected to be running by the end of the year and the Holland factory is set to open in 2012 with $151 million of its $303-million cost backed by government grants.

Obama can score political points tomorrow by underscoring the number of high-tech jobs created by government stimulus as well as the ability to reduce our dependence on oil. The Obama Administration already has set a goal of one million electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road by 2015.

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