U.S. Presidential candidate Joe Biden said last week the future of American manufacturing lies in renewable energy and electric vehicles, Kallanish Energy reports.

The statement was made during a roundtable discussion on the ABC network on 15 October, which was an alternative to a second presidential debate with incumbent President Donald Trump.

“What we have to do in the future rests in renewable energy — the single fastest-growing energy source in the world right now,” Biden said. “I’m going to say something that’s going to sound self-serving but I managed the Recovery Act and I was able to invest billions of dollars into bringing down the cost per BTU of wind and solar so now it’s cheaper than coal and it’s cheaper than oil right now and it has great, great promise.”

If elected, made-in-America stipulations for federal contracts are going to be a cornerstone of his administration, he added.

“I, as President, am going to invest that $600 billion we spend in government contracts only on those things that in fact also are not only made in America but building an infrastructure that’s clean and new and what we have to do is focus on the transmission of energy across the country from areas relating to solar and wind. The reason is that that has not been mastered yet.”

Biden noted that the electrification of the U.S. vehicle fleet represents further opportunities. “Electric vehicles will save billions of gallons of oil, create … one million automobile jobs,” he said. “But we’re lagging because we’re not investing. We’re not doing any of the research.”

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