U.S. President Joe Biden took a spin in an electric Hummer on Wednesday, appealing to America’s love affair with the automobile to promote the sale of all-electric vehicles as motorists face sharply higher gasoline prices.
Biden arrived at the General Motors plant in Detroit, Michigan, in his presidential Cadillac limousine, nicknamed the “Beast” for its size, heavy armor and numerous extra options. He hopped out and got behind the wheel of the 1,000-horsepower Hummer.
“Anyone want to jump in the back, or on the roof?” Biden asked reporters after taking a few laps, screeching the tires for effect. “These suckers are something else!”
He told reporters he was not sure how fast he was driving.
Biden, out to highlight provisions of the trillion-dollar infrastructure package he championed and signed into law on Monday, visited an electric vehicle assembly plant at General Motors, the biggest U.S. carmaker in terms of light vehicle sales, that says it plans to go all-electric by 2035.