Obama touts electric delivery truck, but still a long haul to market?

President Obama visited one of America’s first makers of electric delivery trucks Thursday, touting the job-creating advantages of reshaping the US automotive fleet with an emphasis on running not just cars, but trucks, on batteries.

Entering a hangar-like building at Smith Electric Vehicles in Kansas City, Mo., Mr. Obama was shown a rack of lime-green batteries the company now installs into delivery trucks, converting them from diesel to electric power.

“They ought to travel across America and meet the people I’ve met at places like Navistar in Indiana, where folks are being hired to build new electric trucks.”
— President Obama

A nearby Frito Lay truck had “Good fun — powered by electricity” plastered across its exterior. The private company, which received a $32 million Department of Energy grant in March, is the US offshoot of a British parent that does the same thing.

President Obama tours the Smith Electric Vehicles facility in Kansas City, Mo., on Thursday. Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters“They ought to tell the workers of Smith Electric that we’d be better off if your jobs didn’t exist,” the president said, taking issue with critics who oppose his program to provide government funding to promote electric vehicles. “They ought to travel across America and meet the people I’ve met at places like Navistar in Indiana, where folks are being hired to build new electric trucks.”