POMONA, CA --- During last week's visit to southern California, President Obama made a stop at an electric-vehicle testing facility in Pomona and announced a $2.4 billion competitive grant program aimed at making electric vehicles more widely available, the Los Angeles Times reported. 

Obama spent about 20 minutes touring Edison International's Electric Vehicle Technical Center on Thursday morning, March 19. He toured the facility with Edison International's CEO and leading engineer. The tour included a model of Edison's "garage of the future," where an electric car battery would be charged each night with energy produced from solar panels on the garage roof. 

After the tour, Obama pledged to put a million plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road by 2015 and highlighted his offer of up to $7,500 in tax credits for Americans who purchase electric vehicles. The grant program, he said, would be part of his broader recovery program and would encourage companies to compete for federal money to bolster the manufacturing of batteries and parts used in the electric cars.