Obama Visits Wakarusa, Touts $2.4B In GrantsWAKARUSA - President Barack Obama Wednesday announced the government will award $2.4 billion in grants for advanced battery and electric vehicle projects.
Obama made the announcement at the Monaco Coach RV plant in Wakarusa.
The grants are under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that creates jobs doubling the capacity to generate renewable energy.
Monaco announced in July 2008 it was closing plants in Elkhart, Wakarusa and Nappanee, laying off 1,400 workers. Some of those workers have since returned.Navistar, Elkhart County, will receive a $39 million grant to manufacture 400 advanced battery electric trucks.
Obama said the funds will create or save hundreds of jobs when full-scale manufacturing at the site begins.
He said he came to Wakarusa because he believes the ability to recover and prosper as a nation depends on what happens in communities like Wakarusa.
"Innovation will be won by making places like Elkhart what they once were and what they can be again," Obama said, "and that's centers of innovation and entrepreneurship and ingenuity and opportunity; the bustling, whirring, humming engines of American prosperity."
Obama said Hoosiers know the challenges all too well in Wakarusa and Elkhart County and said the area has been hit with a "perfect storm" of economic troubles. He said the area has felt the impact of the struggles of the American auto industry and the repercussions that have hit the Midwest especially hard.
"We are providing the incentive for businesses large and small to help us lead a new and clean energy economy by developing new technologies for new kinds of vehicles," Obama said.
He said the economy tests the strength of families and the spirit of good people - hardworking folks who have given their all to a company and now don't know where to turn.
He said with part of the recovery plan comes an historic addition to innovation.
Obama said innovation is the key to the 21st century, and that is how we will ensure a high quality of life for this generation and future generations.
"For too long we have failed to invest in this kind of innovative work," Obama said. "I'm committed to a strategy that ensures America leads in the design and deployment of the next generation of clean-energy vehicles."
The breakdown of the grants also includes:
n $1.5 billion in grants to U.S.-based manufacturers to produce batteries and their components and to expand battery recycling capacity.
n $500 million in grants to U.S. based manufacturers to produce electric drive components for vehicles, including electric motors, power electronics, and other drive train components
n $400 million in grants to purchase thousands of plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles for test demonstrations in several dozen locations.
