Biden to tout Australian company's new electric vehicle charging plant in Tennessee

President Joe Biden on Tuesday will laud the decision by an Australian company that makes chargers for electric vehicles to build a manufacturing facility in Tennessee.

The company, Tritium, and the White House say the new plant will produce up to 30,000 electric vehicle chargers per year and create 500 local jobs. Tritium's CEO, Jane Hunter, is scheduled to appear alongside Biden at the White House at an afternoon White House event focused on boosting American manufacturing.

Biden has made rebuilding American manufacturing a key component of his economic agenda. One way the President wants to boost manufacturing and create more jobs is by building a sprawling network of electric vehicle charging stations across the country.

The President argues future electric cars will be more climate-friendly and affordable for American families, and he wants half the vehicles sold in the US to be electric or plug-in hybrids by 2030. His administration has outlined a plan to use $7.5 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure law to build 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations across the country. There are currently fewer than 47,000.

The President is scheduled to deliver remarks at the Tuesday event on his administration's efforts to revamp American manufacturing, create jobs and lower energy costs for Americans, the White House says. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm are also expected to attend.

The event comes as the US grapples with supply chain issues and high consumer prices and struggles to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic. Inflation has hit record highs and economic anxiety among the American public has caused Biden's approval ratings to dip significantly.

Tuesday's event follows another manufacturing event at the White House where Biden praised the decision from Intel to build a new $20 billion chip manufacturing complex in Ohio. The President said the new factory would create 7,000 construction jobs and another 3,000 permanent jobs and said it would help address the semiconductor shortage the US is facing.

The chips are essential to produce smart phones, medical equipment, cars and a number of household appliances, and the shortage has most notably contributed to an increase in automobile prices.