providers getting you a front row seat to democracy. o insist to discuss president biden's visit to the detroit auto show and his administration's effort to promote electric vehicles in the u.s.. good morning, david. guest: good morning. host: president biden's comments will be carried on c-span networks and platforms later today so folks continue in around 1:45 p.m. but can you start by giving us a little preview about what brings president biden to the motor city? guest: president biden vos cars. he loves auto shows. he routinely came to the auto shop by himself to make good auto companies and look at new cars. i once saw him with his family

as vice president going to the d.c. auto show just for fun. he really likes vehicles. the electric vehicle push at the auto industry has been a central focus of the administration's push towards reducing emissions and meeting climate goals as well as trying to boost u.s. manufacturing. a lot of what he will be talking about is a big jump in the number of battery plants, joint ventures between auto companies and battery cell and you factures to build those batteries for electric vehicles. i think the message is going to be the vehicles are more expensive but ultimately they see the vehicles as a solution for high gas prices. people to a to go to the gas pump and they can recharge their vehicles for much less.

of course they are still more expensive and they are still relatively few for sale outside of tesla. what he is going to see is the detroit companies making billions of dollars in investments to rollout of lot of -- a plot of new versions. the ford f-150 lightning has been on sale for a few months. gm is featuring a new suv that's going to come out next year. they are making a huge push towards of electric vehicles and i do think you are going to start to see much more dramatic ramp ups in the number of vehicles. he is going to talk about other things. the government's purchase of electric vehicles that calls for ending the sale of the purchase of nearly all not electric or

plug-in hybrid vehicles. as well as the first $100 million in funding from the infrastructure bill that money is going to go to put those charges in. one issue with electric vehicle adoption is there are not enough ev chargers. it is critical that there are enough turgid capacity and not just in both the areas or people already have evs. he is going to see a lot of cars. he will see a lot of new models. host: i did see you posted an article just this morning about the $900 million in electric vehicle charging stations on the

website this morning. for those watching and listening we do want to get to your calls. what questions do you have for david about electric vehicles or president biden's policies? what comments do you have about the transition from gas powered to electric vehicles? the numbers are for democrats (202) 748-8000. republicans you should call (202) 748-8001. independents doyle (202) 748-8002. you can start calling you can start calling in now and we will get to you in just a few moments. i just want to ask you can you tackle little bit about how the big three automakers, how are they transitioning their business models to adapt to this future with electric and hybrid vehicles? guest: it is a really

challenging time for the auto companies. the good and bad stories, congress in august past of the inflation reduction act which provides auto companies with tens of billions of dollars in tax credits, grants, low-cost lung programs to make the transition to retool the plants that are building gasoline engines. to make the new electric vehicles. that is the upside. the more difficult part is the new or expanded tax credits up to $7,500 for new vehicles that were adopted by the law. the law -- the problem is it makes all vehicles assembled and eligible. so you have hyundai and kia and volkswagen have lost these

credits they were getting for electric vehicle sales. a lot of vehicles and this is something the president will talk about, the production is moving to the u.s. or north america which makes them eligible for the credits. however there are other restrictions in terms of battery components, critical minerals that are designed to shift the u.s. supply chain away from china and other countries. that is a real challenge for the auto companies. in the short term it's possible almost no vehicles qualify for the $7,500 tax credit but there is a new used tax credit that will begin next year for people buying those cars from dealers. companies are, you need to manage that to build buttery

plants which cost, each of them at least $2 billion apiece. plus retool the factories to build ev so it is very challenging. at the same time, they are facing challenging mandates. in california, the sale of gasoline powered only cars means you have to have a plug-in hybrid model by 2035 or a full electric vehicle. as well as the federal government is in the process of setting stricter emissions standards for the next few years. it will put pressure on companies to continue to improve the efficiency of gasoline models. host: let's take some of your calls now. i can democrats (202) 748-8000. republicans (202) 748-8001 and independents (202) 748-8002.

first up is derek in pennsylvania. your thoughts? caller: hello. my concern is with the supply of lithium needed for the batteries. from what i understand there is only one source in the united states. the rest of it is mind in foreign countries because it requires a strict mining and material once it is extracted from the earth, that is my comment. host: can you address that question about lithium? guest: there is no question that critical minerals, lithium, it is a big focus of the administration and senator joe manchin who but the provisions in the bill to incentivize the u.s. production and the production of critical minerals

in countries where u.s. had a free-trade agreement. that is a concern, a significant concern. there is a big push to try to boost u.s. mining of those minerals to rely more on u.s. allies like canada which is doing significant mining as well. but no question, there is a lot of grappling with the environmental impact. batteries are zero emission. there is a significant amount of emissions to produce the batteries. then to actually get the electricity from the grid. onslaught of how environmentally friendly ev is, is the source of electricity being used to recharge the vehicle. the grid is largely coal fire. that is going to have a much

higher emissions profile. host: let's go to kevin in clearwater, florida. caller: good morning. i, david. question i have is can you tell the american people the crush test rating of every one of the electric vehicles out there currently and what do they have to do to come to the same standards? thank you. guest: the two sources you can go to, certainly mensa.gov the report crush test ratings. they have to meet the same requirements. the insurance institute and the highway safety is another really good source of information. they do testing of vehicles that are sometimes tougher than what

the government does. you do raise a good point. some states, electric vehicles are much heavier than the comparable gas powered vehicle because they are carrying around a very large battery pack. there have been some concerns that in a frontal crash that the heavier electric vehicle could pose higher safety risks to the occupants of the other vehicles. that said, all of these vehicles have to meet government crash tests. they all have the same five-star rating through the government's program, ratings program. so there is no question they are all going to meet the standards but i do think there is going to be more interest in more scrutiny of those battery packs.

i want to point out that we hit the first three months of this year a 20 your hyper vehicles fatalities for the first quarter of the year since the covid pandemic. people were speeding, they were not wearing seatbelts, they were driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. this is really a crisis on american roads that we have seen such a dramatic spike in traffic deaths. we have seen no indication that those numbers are going in the right direction. host: again that's nhtsa.gov let's talk now to roger in forest city, iowa. caller: good morning. i grew up in iowa where we make motorhomes.

in winter of 78, 79 we had a man come to our school and gas prices were $.66 a gallon. and he told us with his technology he could produce hydrogen for a nickel for any equivalency of hydrogen. that year, that winter they were supposed to start changing the power center over to hydrogen. executives flew into town and everything was shut down. we never heard another word about hydrogen again. can you talk a little bit about that? guest: there is a lot of interest in hydrogen especially, some foreign auto companies. general motors has spent decades working on hydrogen fuel cells.

there are two problems that remain. that seems far more expensive than the equivalent of an electric vehicle. the second problem has been the lack of refueling infrastructure. to build the infrastructure, to build the stations themselves. the production of hydrogen needs to be done in an environmentally friendly way. there is a lot of attention on fuel cells if you look at what the president sows. if you look at the website today the white house talks about electric vehicles they talk about hydrogen fuel cells. the only byproduct is water from the combustion of hydrogen. i think a lot of the focus shifted from hydrogen because they're saying at least in the

shorter-term it is a more quickly adoptable solution. but there is no question, there is still hundreds of i hydrogen vehicles being driven around, california especially. a lot of people believe ultimately that is the best solution to addressing transportation emissions. part of the solution, california sees it as well but it is really unclear how quickly it's going to take to get significant numbers of vehicles in charge. host: let's hear from harry in pittsburgh, pennsylvania. you are on. caller: thank you, i have a couple things. i watched the series. it was the process to change oil and take us.

ford and the other companies built their own cars. they did not do taxpayers money. and now we have this, you know, that's 30 years away. right now, i'd rather have a gaspar. who could afford an electric car nowadays with all the damage biden did to the country? this is ridiculous. everybody knows, somewhere there is a like -- young child that's 30 years away. we paid $9 billion for that company and it closed the taxpayers lost their money. people behind it. there is nothing in this country that is making sense. host: dave, can you respond

specifically to the portability issue? because we hear that a lot. guest: absolutely and it is a big republican talking point that electric vehicles are expensive and they are to an extent. they would say you got a $7,500 tax credit if you have general motors which already has around $30,000 electric cars is introducing another suv that will also be in the same price point of $30,000. will the tax credit be significantly less? there is no question which vehicles our incentive. people view electric vehicles only, tesla obviously dell dominates -- still dominates.

battery prices have to come down. it has reduced the prices of electric vehicles but the administration the are working on the affordability issue and they are focusing on the total cost of ownership not just the sticker price but what are you going to pay in gas, oil changes, to operate the electric versus gas model. doesn't require you to fill up with the gas. that is a big focus and i think the argument might be a little easier when the auto companies start rolling out higher volumes of those lower cost electric vehicles.

a lot of vehicles we were talking about whether it is the hummer or tesla, by and large those vehicles are much higher than the average transaction price of a vehicle today. host: was good to paul in arizona. what are your comments? caller: i would like to ask the gentleman if he has that any research on the batteries. i understand there is a company in texas that is looking for money and they say that the imp batteries would be better than the lithium battery. i just wanted to know if he knew anything about it. guest: i am not familiar with that chemistry battery but there is a lot of different battery chemistries that are being looked at today it is not just

lithium-ion. there is a lot of energy research being done on battery back here in detroit. there is a huge battery conference with hundreds of companies. there is so much money and intention that, you know, we can definitely end up with a totally different battery chemistry that ends up winning out. just in the last few months we have seen battery plants. some are in the u.s. there is negotiations. the going to need to billion dollars to meet these very aggressive electric vehicle production targets. for announced the huge

investment in batteries in tennessee and kentucky. honda is building and a battery. so there is an enormous amount of investment in this sector and you are going to see in the next couple of years just this very big volume of vehicles. the battery manufacturers have invested so much money and you are going to start to see a lot more vehicles. host: let's go to john iles -- john in arizona. what do you think, john? you might want to turn your tv down and you are on. caller: about, ok. i have a previous and it is a hybrid. it gets 13 miles a gallon.

on a previous, the raised mai tai, the little sticker you get to $100 more for the license plate. this is they are going to get margo's text money that way. is it true every state is going to raise the price on your hybrid? a friend of mine has an electric and he pays $200 more on his license sticker. if you can answer that question, is that how is going to collect more money? host: dave? guest: that is a great question. and you are right. a lot of states, not everybody, has proposed higher license

plate or annual yearly fees. call them taxes because that's what they are. for cars that are far more efficient because of the need to raise money to fix and repair roads. the gas tax has not kept up with the needs, repair needs. for most states, in fact even before the infrastructure bill the last 10 years congress has added well over $1 billion into the highway trust fund because there is no political will to raise the gas tax which has remained at 18 poor for sensor gallants -- 18.4 cents per gallon.

the argument that the advocates of those higher fees is that electric vehicles should have to pay their fair share of the taxes because they are not paying at the pump. the few cents a gallon every time they fill up. the long term benefit, how to fund repair. will the government find out how much you drive per year and come up with the fee? is there a fee on the traditionally powered models? the reality is congress has thrown up his hands and said we're just going to find the money elsewhere. they are really, the long-term requirement erodes be maintained

through fees has gone away. the administration is going to show the interest in doing anything that would be perceived supporting the gas tax hike or new fees on electric vehicles. i think when the next bill gets reauthorized there will be more discussions but this is a problem that is not going away because vehicles are getting more and for more efficient. there is going to be less money going to the federal highway trust fund. there is going to have to be some solution to figuring that out. congress is not going to want to write a check every year. host: let's hear from robert in lynnhaven, florida. caller: i have a couple of questions, how long do the batteries last and what does it

cost to replace them and what are you going to do with the old batteries? guest: those are all great questions. interestingly, california, i referenced earlier they moved to mandate gasoline to and there is a pretty aggressive warranty program. a lot of the auto companies think it might be too aggressive. about 10 years, 100,000 miles, i can't remember. much higher warranty than a typical car would have or even for your, 40,000 mile warranty or five years or something like that. so much tougher and you're right. we still don't know precisely because, if you have -- we don't know how long the batteries are

going to last. the u.s. does have a pretty good battery recycling record. the battery now in your car that is used to power electronic systems, those batteries have a high recycling rate and batteries that are even removed from tv --evs on the road. people who have had had to get electric vehicles it can be expensive. it can cost thousands of dollars to replace so that is a significant concern but it is one that california recognizes. they want to ease people's concerns about that by requiring very long battery warranties. host: next up is deborah in jamaica, new york. caller: good morning to you.

putting aside the cost of purchasing i have three questions i hope you can answer. while the federal government in any way regulate electrically? because that kind of condemns -- gives them free reign to charge whatever they want. the second thing i noticed that the cost of charging an ev and it's not being addressed. it's hard to find the information when you go to the internet. and the third thing is i'm not sure if people are aware that at the charging station the cost of charging will vary depending upon what level of charge you want. if you want to have your charge, your car charged quicker you will be paying a higher rate for that electricity. as opposed to a lower rate. those are my three questions

that i have and i think you so much for taking my call. guest: all great questions. on the electricity rate question, all states regulate the electric utilities, you know , great commissions. certainly from the state standpoint the regulations on cost of electricity but you are right. there are a lot of questions surrounding ev charging. first of all there are transparency requirements that the government is imposing on the state including telling people how much is going to cost , you know, not to be part of a club you use those chargers and to be transparent about how much it costs. there are other issues, what happens when a utility is actually surging directly versus

full sale of electricity to a gas station or some other entity that is providing the charging. so there is no question. you can see the cassation station they are charging this amount or that amount. we don't have that for the charging stations to save this is how much is going to charge per kilowatt hour. i would really expect that was the money rolls out to the states that act, the more up those competition. we are going to see more, it's kind of a market impact on what the prices on other ev chargers are charging. you are actually right. the market needs more transparency to be easier to buy charges and make sure you don't have to go to wait to get your

car charged if you are trying to get home to grandma's house. host: those talk to anne in clinton, alabama. caller: there are a lot of disabled folks that it around on older vehicles and a troll less than $800 a month. it's hard enough to make the bills. i just would like to see her -- here are some solutions on how the disabled folks that have a little bit of independence to get around to go to the doctor, go get their groceries, and go pay their bills. how we can make a solution for us because there is no way we can afford a car like that much less maintain it. so over just like information on that. how is the government supposed to help?

right now, i have an older vehicle that gets me from point a to have to be. i got over of them for i have to go. that's all the places i go. that's it. so i would like to know how the government is going to help the people that only make $800 a month. host: got your point. go ahead, dave. guest: great question. first of all, let's talk about the affordability of new cars in general. setting aside set of large vehicles we have had for the last two years the shortage of semi conductor chips. so we have seen auto companies forced to halt production because they didn't have enough chips. the bill should revive building. it took a long time to get the bill. the price of a new card today is

will over $40,000 and there is very limited availability or at least her husband. recently. even if you are not going out to buy the electric vehicle people were holding on to used cars longer that that there were fewer used cars for sale we saw a record high prices for used cars which made it much harder for people with lower incomes to build a -- it's been a really tough time for auto consumers trying to buy vehicles. they really had to pay a lot of money. i usually, people have paid well over sticker price for the last couple of years. we are just starting to see the trends going in the other direction but still the thing.

one of the new things is a $4000 credit. we hope you will buy a used electric vehicle for use -- less money than a new car. the total cost of ownership we talked about is very expensive to maintain the coverage. electric cars are much simpler than a gasoline powered vehicle. it generally requires much less regular maintenance. you don't have to go to the gas station, look at the total cost of ownership let's help you with the tax credit hideaway to a vehicle that is going to save you in all public money even if the upfront policy might be a little higher. host: we are taking your calls today as we speak with david shepherdson. he is talking about all electric vehicles and president biden

talked today at the detroit auto show. democrats you can call (202) 748-8000. republicans dial (202) 748-8001. independents your number is (202) 748-8002. next up is larry in rochester. caller: good morning. good morning steve. i live appear i had a deck business for 40 years that i didn't make a lot of money. i'll live in an allergy efficient how i am off great -- grid. i have lithium, for storage that run my house perfectly well. all four seasons and i didn't

pick a lot of money. it is all about the mind it's like what do you want to do? i do what i took -- i talk to people about solar and powering your car all the time and everybody looks at me and says i we can't afford that. we need government subsidies, we need all this help for everything. i get missed because how could i do it? i worked and i decided that i wanted to live this type of life. i don't live in a little hole in the ground. i have a very efficient hundred 50 square-foot house. my next project is ongoing to save and i want to get an electric car. we decided we would wait until the newvolk came out.

as for getting fees prepaying for the roads, if you go to a charging station there is a fee built-in. what's wrong with that? is just like the gas tax. i can go on for a long time but i think a lot of people are just like, they love their gas cars at that's all there is to it. the world is changing. i would like to heat my house, make my electrolysis and store it in a tank. and get rid of my propane. host: we got your point, thanks. was good to paul in shreveport, louisiana. caller: good morning, david, how are you doing? guest: good. caller: my question is about the affordability of electric

vehicles. i usually get a used truck would you buy a used electric vehicle? guest: if you are going to buy the vehicle from a dealer or private honor is going to have a warranty and i would make sure you buy that. it is a big purchase, the second largest purchase of people make. i would say the battery technology is getting so much better and the cost has come down dramatically. there is so much energy competitive research a push on making these batteries better. like the caller said there is a lot of energy towards reducing emissions and people relieve you electric vehicles to get away from having to buy gas, go to the gas pump.

i think everyone is in the impact of gas prices. it is still not as easy, there are gas stations everywhere. close to 180,000 in america today. it is a genuine thing. and my going to be allowed to recharge and find a place? you have listen to the auto company and the administration. like yourself on we have all learned how to deal with self on charging and finding places and i really think we are going to get to a critical mass in the next couple of years where as more people get into electric vehicles and they experience them we are going to see kind of a hockey stick of demand curve of people buyingevs. the used electric truck, just make sure you have a warranty in

order to be able to use it like you want to and to get things you need to do. host: that is going to wrap up our discussion today with david shepherdson. the queue so stay up to date with book tv's podcast about books with current nonfiction book releases and best seller and news and trends through insider news and find it on our mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. middle and high school students, it's your time to shine. you are invited to participate in c-span cam competition and

picture yourself as a newly elected member of congress. what is your top priority and why. make a video that shows the importance of your issue from supporting and opposing issues. be bold amongst $100,000 is $5,000 grand prize. must be submitted by january 20, 2023. visit our website for competition rules for tips, resources and step-by-step guide. >> a conversation on u.s. and saudi arabia relations with discussion happened as chinese president xi. from the hudson institute. this is about 50