Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is one of several electric vehicle stocks that gained a boost on Wall Street following the announcement of a $174 billion aid package that would assist the growth of EV companies.
On Wednesday, the White House announced that President Joe Biden was planning to assist the United States’ rollout of electric vehicles to keep up with the highly competitive and robust Chinese EV market. After indicating that the U.S. EV market is only a fraction of the size of the Chinese sector, the White House said Biden was planning to boost the expansion of EVs by offering a massive $147 billion investment package to expand electric vehicle infrastructure.
“U.S. market share of plug-in electric vehicle sales is only one-third the size of the Chinese EV market,” the White House said in a statement. “The president believes that must change. He is proposing a $174 billion investment to win the EV market.”
China has had a vastly expanding EV market over the past few years. Tesla sees the market as one of its biggest focuses moving forward, and CEO Elon Musk recently said that China is the key to Tesla’s long-term growth and will be its biggest market in the coming years.
Musk said:
“China in the long term will be our biggest market, both where we make the most number of vehicles and where we have the most number of customers. I’d like to strike an optimistic note, and I’m very confident that the future of China is going to be great and that China is headed towards being the biggest economy in the world and a lot of prosperity in the future.”
The massive plan from Biden includes enhancing “domestic supply chains from raw materials to parts, retool factories to compete globally, and support American workers to make batteries and EVs,” the White House added.
Manufacturers are not the only ones who will benefit from the plan, the Biden White House added. “It will give consumers point of sale rebates and tax incentives to buy American-made EVs, while ensuring that these vehicles are affordable for all families and manufactured by workers with good jobs.” Additionally, “it will establish grant and incentive programs for state and local governments and the private sector to build a national network of 500,000 EV chargers by 2030, while promoting strong labor, training, and installation standards” for the government sector.
Upon the news of the EV plan, Tesla shares shot up and are currently trading at $665.16, up $29.54 or 4.65%. Workhorse Group and Fisker also saw gains of .37% and 2.81%, respectively, according to The Street.
Tesla will report its production and delivery figures sometime next week upon Q1 2021 ending. Wall Street has predicted 162,000 vehicle deliveries, according to FactSet. Analysts at various firms are expecting up to 174,000 deliveries for the first quarter of 2021.
Disclosure: Joey Klender is a TSLA Shareholder.